MINUTES
STATE
OF NORTH CAROLINA BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
COUNTY
OF HENDERSON MARCH 15, 2000
The Henderson County
Board of Commissioners met for a regularly scheduled meeting at 9:00 a.m. in the
Commissioners= Conference Room of the
Henderson County Office Building at 100 North King Street, Hendersonville,
North Carolina.
Those present were: Chairman Grady Hawkins, Vice-Chair Bill
Moyer, Commissioner Renee Kumor, Commissioner Don Ward, Commissioner Marilyn Gordon,
County Manager David E. Nicholson, Assistant County Manager/Interim County
Attorney Angela S. Beeker, and Clerk to the Board Elizabeth W. Corn.
Also present were: Planning Director Karen C. Smith, Public
Information Officer Chris S. Coulson, Staff Attorney Jennifer O. Jackson, and
County Engineer Gary Tweed.
CALL TO ORDER/WELCOME
Chairman Hawkins called
the meeting to order and welcomed those in attendance.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Commissioner Kumor led
the Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag.
INVOCATION
David Nicholson gave the
invocation.
DISCUSSION/ADJUSTMENT OF
AGENDA
Chairman Hawkins asked
for the following additions to the agenda:
Add one item as D-2
under Staff Reports - ALegislative Goals@ for Land of the Sky
Regional Council.
Add one item as D-3
under Staff Reports - AHealth Department
request for a full time position@.
Add one item under
Discussion Items as B - AHistoric Courthouse
Rehabilitation@
Add one item as #2 of
Staff Report C - ALitter Hotline@.
Add one item between
Nominations and Staff Reports - ALetter from the Environmental Advisory Committee@ Ken Weitzen and Dr.
Shelton was present to discuss.
It was the consensus of
the Board to approve the above adjustments to the agenda.
CONSENT AGENDA
Chairman Hawkins read
two resolutions from the consent agenda, one honoring David (Red) Anderson and
one honoring J.V. Brown. Both these
gentlemen have served their Fire Department and their community for many years.
Chairman Hawkins made
the motion to approve the Consent Agenda as presented. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
The CONSENT AGENDA
included the following:
Tax Collector=s Report
Terry F. Lyda, Tax
Collector, had provided the tax report as of March 7, 2000 for the Board=s review.
Resolutions Honoring
David (Red) Anderson and J.V. Brown
Mr. Anderson is a
founding member of the Bat Cave Volunteer Fire Department since 1974. He has
been the only chief of the Bat Cave Volunteer Department since it was founded
26 years ago. He has devoted 26 years
and numerous hours in service to the Bat Cave Volunteer Fire Department and
community. The Board recognized Mr. Anderson for his generous contribution to
the citizens of Henderson County, particularly the Bat Cave Volunteer Fire
District and for his continued dedication and loyalty to the community and his
valuable service to the citizens of Henderson County.
Mr. Brown has been a member
of the Henderson County Fire Commission since 1980. He remains a lifetime member of the Blue Ridge Volunteer Fire and
Rescue and has since 1964. He has
devoted 36 years to the Blue Ridge Fire Department and 20 years to the
Henderson County Fire Commission. The
Board recognized Mr. Brown for his lifetime of dedication and loyalty to the
community and for his valuable service to the citizens of Henderson County.
Resolution - LWCF
The Parks &
Recreation Advisory Board recommended that the Board of Commissioners pass a
resolution in support of the funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund
and HR #701.
NOMINATIONS
Notification of
Vacancies
The Board was notified
of the following vacancies which will appear under ANominations@ on the next agenda:
1. Western Carolina
Community Action (WCCA) - 1 vac.
Nominations
Chairman Hawkins
reminded the Board of the following vacancies and opened the floor to
nominations:
1. Hendersonville City
Zoning Board of Adjustment - 1 vac. (alternate)
There were no nominations
at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
2. Nursing/Adult Care
Home Community Advisory Committee - 3 vac.
Nursing/Adult Care Home
Community Advisory Committee - 5 additional vacancies for 2000
There were no
nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
3. Mountain Area
Workforce Development Board - 1 vac.
This nomination should
come from the Chamber of Commerce. We
have not heard from them yet. There
were no nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
4. Henderson County
Industrial Facilities & Pollution Control Authority - 1 vac.
There were no
nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
5. Transportation
Advisory Committee - 4 vac.
Chairman Hawkins
informed the Board that he had received a letter from Mayor Niehoff indicating
that the City of Hendersonville=s official representative would be Mary Jo Padgett and Londa
Murray would be the alternate representative.
Chairman Hawkins so moved. All
voted in favor and the motion carried.
6. Solid Waste Advisory
Committee - 4 vac.
Chairman Hawkins
nominated Terry Maybin. Commissioner
Moyer nominated Barry Wilson.
Commissioner Ward nominated William Ramsey. Chairman Hawkins made the motion to suspend the rules and make
these three appointments by acclamation.
All voted in favor and the motion carried. One vacancy remains.
7. Henderson County
Planning Board - 3 vac.
Chairman Hawkins
nominated Rebecca Nesbitt. Commissioner
Moyer nominated Jim Clayton. Commissioner Kumor nominated Mary Jo Padgett. Commissioner Gordon nominated Dean
Bonessi. Commissioner Ward nominated
Roy Huntley. Commissioner Gordon asked
that nominations not be closed. She is
waiting to hear back from someone. A
vote will be taken at the next meeting.
8. Library Board of
Trustees - 2 vac.
Commissioner Kumor
nominated Commissioner Moyer. No vote
was taken. Commissioner Moyer had some questions and asked that the County
Attorney update the Board regarding the by-laws of this committee at the next
meeting.
9. Henderson County
Juvenile Crime Prevention Council - 4 vac.
Commissioner Kumor
nominated Chief Donnie Parks, Kevin Lauritsen, Joanne Willette, and Rev. Rob
Hutchinson. Chairman Hawkins made the
motion to suspend the rules and appoint these four nominees. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
ENVIRONMENTAL ADVISORY
COMMITTEE - letter
This was an add-on,
requested by Commissioner Moyer.
Chairman Hawkins reminded the Board that this morning they received a
letter from the Chairman (Ken Weitzen) of the Environmental Advisory Committee
referencing the Sterling Plant property.
Mr. Weitzen came
forward. He apologized for the letter
from the Advisory Committee because everyone was not in agreement. He asked the Board to disregard the last two
paragraphs of the letter. He requested that the Board support the State=s efforts to continue
trying to acquire the property.
Dr. Ken Shelton then
came forward on behalf of the public and a person who has had a chance to spend
some time at the DuPont State Forest property and the adjacent land in
question. He stated that three of the
most beautiful waterfalls in this entire region are located in the 2,200 acre
property that NC General Attorney Mike Easley is trying to keep within the
State=s property. He stated that as he sees it this is a
unique, one-time, last chance opportunity that the State and this county could
benefit from acquiring this property.
He also requested the Board=s support in the continued effort to try to
acquire this property as part of the State Forest.
Following some
discussion, Commissioner Moyer made the motion that the Chairman send a letter
in support of the recommendation of the Committee and Dr. Shelton, including
that we support North Carolina=s continued efforts to try to purchase this 2,200 acres and
make it part of the DuPont State Forest reserve or to take other steps to
preserve it in it=s natural state whereby
the public would have access to it.
Additional discussion followed.
All voted in favor and the motion carried.
It was the consensus of
the Board to review the letter prior to it being mailed.
PARTNERS IN HEALTH
CONDOMINIUM
Jennifer Jackson
reminded the Board that on March 17, 1999, the Board of Commissioners approved
the creation of the Partners in Health Condominium to accommodate Pardee Care
Center and Hospice=s Elizabeth House, both
located near Blue Ridge Community College off South Allen Road and College
Drive. The 2-unit condominium was
declared on April 6, 1999 and the two facilities are currently in operation. The condominium unit that Pardee is
occupying is still titled in Henderson County=s name but has been leased to the
Henderson County Hospital Corporation under the Amaster@ lease.
The Elizabeth House is the unit that the County conveyed to Four Seasons
Hospice in April of 1999.
Pardee Hospital has been
working on a project to relocate their adult day care to this property and
would like to have the adult day care facility made a separate third unit of
the Partners in Health Condominium. An
amendment to the Declaration of Condominium is necessary to accomplish the
declaration of the third unit. A revised site development plan had been
highlighted to show the adult day care facility as the proposed unit and was
reviewed. The association parking areas
and driveways would become part of the common area. The proposed Amendment to the Declaration was reviewed by the Board as well as a draft
resolution with the changes noted by the underlined text.
The proposed Amendment
contains a couple of provisions that have blanks that are not yet filled
in. The metes and bounds legal
description for Unit 3 had not been inserted into Exhibit B. This legal description cannot be prepared
until the survey work is completed but will substantially conform to the
location shown on the revised site development plan. As the percentages of ownership of the common area are tied to
the square footage of each facility, the blanks shown in Paragraph 10 will be
filled in when the facility is fully constructed and the square footage of the
adult day care facility has been calculated.
Hospice and the Partners
in Health Condominium Association, Inc., through their respective Boards of
Directors, have approved the Amendment and the County is now requested to adopt
a resolution approving such amendment.
These amendments have
been approved by the Condo. Association which is comprised of Hospice and the
Hospital.
There was a question
whether the Board of Directors of Pardee Hospital had approved this. Frank Aaron, CEO of Pardee Hospital, came
forward and stated that it had not received final approval by the Board.
Chairman Hawkins made
the motion to approve the resolution as presented with the blank areas to be
filled in as soon as those metes and bounds are available.. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS
WASTE PROPOSAL
The Solid Waste
Department had received a proposal by the Land of Sky Regional Council for a
program on dealing with Household Hazardous Waste.
County Engineer Gary
Tweed reminded the Board that in 1996 the Land of Sky Regional Council of
Government started bringing counties together to discuss various solid waste
issues. A subcommittee was formed of
the four county region to look at developing some type of household hazardous
waste program for the region. One
report was completed in 1998. The proposal on what the committee and Land of
Sky recommends regarding household hazardous waste was presented at this
meeting.
Their recommendation is
to purchase storage buildings to be located in each of the four counties. Materials could be brought in by residents
to the facility, stored, and then periodically picked up and transported for
either recycling or disposal. The
buildings are pre-fab. type. The
proposed building for the Henderson County facility is estimated to cost
$32,447. The funding would have to come
from the county. Land of Sky is looking
at the possibility of trying to obtain grants but that has not been
finalized. Henderson County solid waste
staff would be responsible for operating the facility. Gary Tweed has concerns over the funding of
the facility. Our solid waste
department is funded from an enterprise fund system, strictly a fee based
operation. Under this proposal we would
not be allowed by the Department of Agriculture (who will be collecting these
materials) to charge any fees for use of
the facility.
Gary Tweed stated that
currently household hazardous materials, pesticides, herbicides, cleaners,
oils, antifreeze, are not a regulated commodity with respect to the
household. Once you collect these
materials together into a central location, then you become a hazardous waste
storage facility and are required to have permits, inspections, etc. There is a certain amount of liability that
the county would incur by being a storage facility.
Henderson County
currently collects waste motor oil, antifreezes, and hydraulic fluids at our
recycling center and we have an energy company that picks those materials up.
Commissioner Kumor asked
if the Solid Waste Advisory Committee had reviewed this proposal. Gary explained that they had not but rather
that Land of Sky had submitted this proposal directly to the Board of
Commissioners. It was also suggested
that the Fire Marshal review this proposal and make a recommendation to the
Board as well as the Fire Advisory Committee.
Gary Tweed informed the
Board that there is a collection event being held today at the Armory in
Buncombe County, for the four county region, just to collect these hazardous
materials.
Following much
discussion, it was the consensus of the Board to make this proposal available
to the groups mentioned above for
review and recommendations.
Chairman Hawkins stated that he would
write to Land of Sky and ask them to make this presentation to the
Advisory Committee and invite some of the other groups to sit in on the meeting
if possible. The Board will await
follow up correspondence from these groups.
STATE WHITE GOODS GRANT
PROGRAM
The County Engineer
proposed to make application to the State Division of Solid Waste for a grant
to purchase equipment to assist the County in the clean up of roadside
dumpsites. The grant funds are
available through the tax that is collected on the purchase of White
Goods. A certain portion of the tax is
held in reserve for grants to assist Counties with the management of White
Goods.
Gary Tweed reviewed a
draft application and supporting information.
He informed the Board
that any metal that can be recycled is included as White Goods,
refrigerators, swing sets, washers and
dryers, bicycles.
Gary Tweed explained to
the Board that this is an application to the State to hold in reserve about
$100,000 and let us go out to bid on one of these loader type trucks. The State would then reimburse us for that
expense.
Commissioner Kumor made
the motion to encourage/support the application to the State as presented. All
voted in favor and the motion carried.
LITTER HOT LINE
Ken Weitzen, Chairman of
the Environmental Advisory Committee (E.A.C.), presented a proposal to
establish a Litter Hotline. Citizens of
the County could utilize the hotline to report litter. The Hotline would be established through a
local answering service and would not be tied to a particular phone or office
location. Members of the E.A.C. have
agreed to check the messages on a weekly basis. This would allow each member to monitor the Hotline one week
every nine weeks. The cost of the
answering service for April through December was estimated to be $188.00, which
includes a one-time $12.00 hook-up charge and a monthly rate of $22.00. (8 months x $22.00 = $176.00 + $12.00 =
$188.00). Citizens would hear a
recorded message and then would detail where the litter or illegal dump is
located. The E.A.C. member would call
the appropriate agency for clean up.
The public would need to
be informed about the Hotline. There
should be advertisements through radio and newspaper PSAs and through a paid ad
run every other month in the Times-News.
The E.A.C. recommended that an ad be run every other month (5 months)
until the end of the project for a cost of $732.00. This brought the total request to $920.00 through the year
2000. The committee will try to find
sponsors in the community to pay for the ads in the alternating months so that
they can be published every month.
David Nicholson
apologized, stating that this item was inadvertently left off the March 15
agenda. Nippy Page provides staff support to the Committee and she and Mr.
Nicholson had discussed this project.
It was also suggested that we utilize our Henderson Highlights ad in the
Times-News to advertise the Litter Hotline.
Chairman Hawkins made
the motion to approve the $920.00 budget for this request. All voted in favor and the motion
carried.
UPDATE ON PENDING ISSUES
LGCCA Minutes
Commissioner Moyer
reminded the Board that they have the minutes and he would answer any questions
the Board might have regarding what took place at this meeting. He felt that the minutes were fairly
detailed.
It was the consensus of
the LGCCA to study growth, water, sewer, planning, etc. together. They plan to begin in the Mills River area
of the county.
Legislative Goals
Chairman Hawkins asked
if any of the Commissioners had any items they wanted to go to the General
Assembly. He will be attending a
legislative goals meeting at Land of Sky Regional Council on March 17. Goals
will then go to the General Assembly from our region. A couple of issues Chairman Hawkins expressed for inclusion in
the goals were:
1.
Annexation
2.
Adult Care Nursing Homes - Residency requirements
3.
Fire Districts (not sure whether it
will be discussed in a long
session
or in the short session)
Health Department -
request for full time position.
Marilyn Gordon presented
a request from Tom Bridges, Director of the Health Department, asking for the
expansion of a 80% position to a full-time position. The funding for this would come from the Smart Start fluoride
program. This staff person=s additional time would
be used on the implementation of the fluoride program and on additional
paperwork that has been created because of the changes in the Medicaid
billing. Mr. Bridges thinks that there
is ample work to be done to justify the position. There is no local funding required for the position.
Commissioner Gordon made
the motion to authorize the expansion of this role into a full-time position as
presented above. All voted in favor and
the motion carried.
IMPORTANT DATES
Angela Beeker informed
the Board of a request for economic development incentives for UPM-Raflatac,
Inc. for economic incentives.
UPM-Raflatac purchased a lot in Broadpointe Park in 1998 as a potential
site for an expansion of their facility, currently located in Cane Creek
Industrial Park. UPM-Raflatac, Inc.,
recently announced their intent to construct a $45.0 million facility in the
United States. Local management would
like to have the facility constructed here in Henderson County and has
requested an incentives package to take to their corporate headquarters in
Finland in hope that they will agree.
If approved, the facility would create 180 new jobs and the 40 jobs
currently in Henderson County would be retained. The average wage would be $20 per hour for the plant
employees. Additionally the company
would provide a full benefits package.
The requested incentives
consist of an amount not to exceed $1.0 million as a reimbursement for site
preparation and possibly road construction.
Included in that $1.0 million would be the County=s cost to install a
water line to extend to the site.
In order to consider
this request, the Board of Commissioners must hold a public hearing.
Commissioner Kumor made
the motion to adopt the order setting a public hearing for April 3, 2000, at
7:00 p.m to consider the request for economic development incentives. All voted
in favor and the motion carried.
Commissioner Kumor made
the motion to set a public hearing for May 4 at 7:00 p.m., here, to discuss
extending the Cane Creek Water & Sewer District boundaries. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
David Nicholson
mentioned that the District Meeting for the NC Association of County
Commissioner will be April 13 in Waynesville.
David plans to attend and has a small van reserved for the trip. He plans to be there for the whole day
because he plans to attend a workshop in the afternoon concerning Mental
Health. He asked the Commissioners to
notify the Clerk if they plan to attend so that she can get them registered.
INFORMAL PUBLIC COMMENTS
1. Mary Borowsk - She was present and
had decided not to speak.
2. Ken Shelton - Dr. Shelton had
already spoken to his item.
CLOSED SESSION
Commissioner Kumor made
the motion for the Board to go into Closed Session as allowed pursuant to NCGS
143-318.11 for the following reasons:
1. (a)(3) To consult with an attorney employed or
retained by the public body in order to preserve the attorney-client privilege
between the attorney and the public body, which privilege is hereby
acknowledged. To consult with an
attorney employed or retained by the public body in order to consider and give
instructions to the attorney with respect to a claim.
All voted in favor and
the motion carried.
Commissioner Moyer made
the motion for the Board to go out of Closed Session. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
NEW FACILITY PROPOSAL
The Board requested that
staff develop a New Facility Proposal that would include the Planning Goals
established by the Board at the March 10, 2000 meeting.
David Nicholson discussed
the Board=s Goals and there was
consensus in favor of the goals presented. At the last workshop on facilities
the Board discussed how a number of county departments could be brought
together and what departments would be included in the facility and what
options were available to the Board.
One area that staff added to the facility that the Board had not
discussed was the Board of Elections.
David briefly discussed the departments to be considered, their existing
gross square feet, proposed gross square feet, and the amount of
increase/decrease in space.
In comparing the options
presented (see below) Mr. Nicholson stated that the Carolina Apparel proposal
appeared to be the most cost effective proposal. Staff had come up with a proposal on the Carolina Apparel Building. He recognized Bill Blalock and Stuart Stepp
to make the presentation.
Five Options were
quickly discussed. They had been
provided for the Board=s detailed review:
1. Carolina Apparel
Site 11.20 acres.
Construction of 127,096
square feet.
Total cost = $16.404
million
2. New site to be
determined
Site and construction
costs had to be estimated.
Total cost = $21.155
million
3. BRCC site
Size 11.20 acres -
College Drive, adjacent to Pardee Care Center
Site and building costs
had to be estimated.
Total cost = $18.320
million
Note - In the future,
BRCC will expect the County to replace the 11.20 acres. The potential cost is
unknown.
4. City Water Dept. site
Size 3.55 acres
Site and building costs
had to be estimated.
Parking garage necessary
@ $4.388 million.
Total costs = $24.522
million
Would require new site
for impound lot and evidence storage building and a new County Storage
Building.
5. Other potential site (downtown location)
Size 2 acres
Site and building costs
had to be estimated.
Parking garage necessary
@ $4.680 million
Total costs = $26.371
million
Note - Building and
parking garage are same height
A Assumes no ESA I and II
Environmental problems.
A Requires new County
Storage Building.
Bill Blalock/Stuart
Stepp
Bill Blalock stated that
there have been eleven issues that he and Stuart have gone through trying to
address the solutions to those eleven issues.
The concept clearly allies to the Carolina Apparel Building but also
could be applied to a new site should the Board choose to go to a new site.
Eleven Issues:
1.
Vehicular
Traffic Flow
2.
Parking
3.
Building
Look & Feel
4.
Sidewalks
5.
Building
Entrances and Customer Flow
6.
Building
Layout and Lighting
7.
Growth
Space
8.
Restrooms,
quantity and dispersion
9.
Security
10.
One
Stop Service
11.
Sheriff=s Department Consolidation
& Growth
They showed the floor plan
and explained where departments would be situated in the building, restrooms,
meeting spaces, parking, etc. He
explained that there would be 254 employees in the building with room for 131 additional
offices for expansion (5-10 years growth).
There was some discussion of
parking spaces and costs. Regular
parking spaces cost approximately $2,000 per space while parking garage spaces
cost approximately $7,000 - $8,200 per space.
Bill explained that the
design now has octagonal entrances with a mall-type configuration with a series
of atriums. The building includes an
L-shaped two story addition along the back.
Skylights have been liberally scattered throughout the building to bring
more light into the building.
There was some brief
discussion of a time line and of debt service projections. It was estimated that this project would
require a tax increase of approx. 1.25 cents.
This project would take approx. 24 months.
Following much discussion,
Commissioner Kumor made the motion to direct staff to enter into purchase
negotiations for the 4.56 acres and the 2.12 acres, which is the existing
facility and the property in the rear, not to exceed $2.65 million and to
further enter into negotiations for the purchase of the additional 4.52 acres,
which is property adjacent to it.
A vote was taken and the
motion carried four to one with Commissioner Moyer voting nay.
HISTORIC COURTHOUSE
Commissioner Gordon had
distributed a memo regarding the historic courthouse rehabilitation. She felt that it tied into the discussions
regarding facilities and therefore asked that this item be added to the agenda
at this point.
The Board received a
presentation in December on the rehab. project from Ron Morgan of Urban
Ventures discussing the possibilities for a Public/Private partnership in the
historic courthouse property and possibly some other county owned
properties. This has been left hanging
pending where the Board went with the facilities. We have a Finance Department in the historic courthouse annex, a
jail under construction. The current
jail will be vacated. With the decision
the Board just made regarding the Carolina Apparel Trading Building, they
opened up the possibility of moving the Sheriff out of the Nuckolls
building. She stated that she felt it
was important to get the planning process really moving on what happens to the
historic courthouse when some of these departments move out of those locations
and that building opens up.
Mr. Morgan had prepared an
outline of what has been done in other areas or what could be done in preparing
an RFO (request for proposals) for professional design and development services
that would relate to those properties.
The Board put $10,000 in this year=s budget for the historic
courthouse project. That is about what
municipalities have had to contribute as their share to get the process
initiated. It is a pretty extensive evaluation
of what we have, what can be done and how historic property tax credits can be
applied. She asked for the Board=s opinion on authorizing
that we proceed to get this initiated.
The first step would be sending out requests for proposals to see what
we get back. Then we can evaluate any proposals
and decide at that point in time what direction to take on what we can do with
the historic courthouse.
David stated that staff
needs to research the General Statutes and then they will work with
Commissioners Gordon and Kumor (subcommittee) and bring an example back to the Board
of a request for proposal.
It was the consensus of the
Board to proceed.
CANE CREEK WATER & SEWER
DISTRICT
Chairman Hawkins made the
motion for the Board to go into Cane Creek Water & Sewer District. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
Commissioner Kumor made the
motion to go out of the Cane Creek Water & Sewer District. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
CLOSED SESSION
Commissioner Kumor made the
motion to go into Closed Session as allowed pursuant to NCGS 143-318.11 for the
following reasons:
1. (a)(5) To establish or to instruct the
public body=s staff or negotiating agents concerning the
position to be taken by or on behalf of the public body in negotiating the
price and other material terms of a contract or proposed contract for the
acquisition of real property by purchase, option, exchange, or lease.
All voted in favor and the
motion carried.
Commissioner Ward made the
motion for the Board to go out of Closed Session. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
There being no further
business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at approximately
1:00 p.m.
ATTEST:
Elizabeth W. Corn, Clerk to the Board Grady Hawkins, Chairman