MINUTES
STATE
OF NORTH CAROLINA BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
COUNTY
OF HENDERSON FEBRUARY 21, 2001
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 Bill Moyer, Vice-Chair
Marilyn Gordon, Commissioner Grady Hawkins, Commissioner Don Ward, Commissioner
Charlie Messer, County Manager David E. Nicholson, Interim County Attorney
Jennifer O. Jackson, and Clerk to the Board Elizabeth W. Corn.
Also present
were: Public Information Officer Chris S. Coulson, Planning Director Karen C. Smith, Fire Marshal/Emergency
Management Coordinator Rocky Hyder, Finance Director J. Carey McLelland, and
Assistant to the County Manager Selena Coffey. Amy Brantley, Volunteer
Coordinator, was present through the Nominations.
CALL TO
ORDER/WELCOME
Chairman Moyer
called the meeting to order and welcomed those in attendance.
PLEDGE OF
ALLEGIANCE
Commissioner
Gordon led the Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag.
INVOCATION
Chaplain Jerry
Beschta, of the Pardee Hospital Chaplaincy Program, gave the invocation.
DISCUSSION/ADJUSTMENT
OF AGENDA
Chairman Moyer
asked that the following adjustments be made to the agenda:
C
pull Staff item AA@ - AUpdate on the GIS and Orthophoto Projects@
C
pull Discussion item AC@ - Pardee Hospital - Financial Report
C
pull Discussion item AB@ - CDBG Application - Regency Development
Associates, Inc.
He also stated
that at the appropriate time, one item will be added to the Closed Session, a
fourth item.
Chairman Moyer
asked for the following additions to Discussion Items:
C
Update on I-26 - Citizen=s Information Session
C
LGCCA meeting, held yesterday
C
Work First amendment
C
Mills River Partnership Watershed Protection Project
Commissioner
Gordon asked to add some recognitions on behalf of the Board of Health.
David Nicholson
asked to add one item to Staff Reports as AC@ - NC Parity
Chairman Moyer
made the motion to approve the agenda as adjusted. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
Recognitions on
behalf of the Board of Health
Commissioner
Gordon stated that at a recent Board of Health meeting she learned the
following:
C The
Board of Health and County Commissioners received a letter from Kevin Ryan, the
Chief of the Women=s and Children=s Health Section for the State of North
Carolina Department of Health and Human Services in January. It was a letter of appreciation and
recognition of the Rubella Program that the Department of Public Health enacted
last year during rubella outbreaks and the effectiveness of that program. The letter noted both the financial and
human suffering costs of rubella and the importance of control, and was very
complimentary of our local Health Department=s actions.
C A
recognition done by the Health Department and the Board of Health to the
Episcopal Church of the Holy Family in Mills River. They have a program that has been in place for about 5 years. Commissioner Gordon thought that Helen
Dearborn was the volunteer who coordinated the program. They worked in conjunction with the Health
Department and DHS on providing supplies that are needed by families with
children, things like blankets, diapers, bottles, cribs, car seats, the whole
gamut. They have been a tremendous
assistance to the Health Department staff in providing for the total needs of
these families. They are in the process
of implementing a Grandparents Support Service for grandparents who are giving
primary care to their grandchildren now and will have some classes starting on
that very soon. She stated it was an
excellent example of what is essentially a very small congregation and what
they have been able to do when they focused in on a real specific need in the
community. She thanked them for their
help.
CONSENT AGENDA
Pulled items
Commissioner
Hawkins asked that item AD@ be pulled for some discussion - AReimbursement
Resolutions on Historic Courthouse and Human Services Building.@
Chairman Moyer
made the motion to approve the Consent Agenda with the exception of item AD@. All voted in favor and the motion
carried.
Item AD@
Reimbursement
Resolutions on Historic Courthouse and Human Services Bldg.
Two proposed
reimbursement resolutions were presented for the Board=s review. Reimbursement resolutions are used to
provide the County with the option of reimbursing itself for expenditures made
on a project prior to receiving funds from the financing of a project.
The first
resolution is actually an amendment and restatement of a reimbursement resolution
which the Board adopted on the ACounty Service Building@ project in May
of 2000. Since the scope of that
project has changed to a AHuman Services Building@ it is
advisable for the Board to adopt a new resolution which amends the original
resolution to reflect the current scope.
That original resolution was part of the agenda for the Board=s information.
The second
resolution addresses similar issues for the Historic Courthouse Rehabilitation
project.
The County
Manager had recommended that the Board adopt the two proposed reimbursement
resolutions as presented.
Commissioner
Hawkins raised a question about the second resolution dealing with the
rehabilitation of the Historic Courthouse.
He questioned whether this was a good time to be spending the amount of
money needed for that rehabilitation due to the State budget problems and how
those financial problems will trickle down to the counties, stating that he
could not see that as a priority at this time in view of the budgetary
constraints. He stated he could not support the second resolution.
David Nicholson
reviewed the resolutions for the Board.
He stated that all this second resolution does is protect the County for
any expenditures that they might have over the next months, to be sure that we
can get reimbursed on those expenses.
It does not commit the Board to doing either of the projects but it does
protect us financially if we have any expenditures at all for the Historic
Courthouse.
Following much
discussion on the item, Chairman Moyer made the motion to approve the two
resolutions as presented. A vote was
taken and the motion carried four to one with Commissioner Hawkins voting
nay.
The CONSENT
AGENDA consisted of the following:
Minutes
Minutes were
presented for the Board=s review and approval of the following
meetings:
December
16, 1999, special called meeting
December
20, 2000, regular meeting
December
29, 1999, special called meeting
January
4, 2001, special called meeting
January
17, 2001, regular meeting
Approval of Closed
Session Minutes
The Board was
requested to approve several sets of closed session minutes by adopting the
following motion:
Motion: The
following closed session minutes are hereby approved and shall be deemed sealed
as provided by Section 11-6 of the Henderson County Code:
1.
Minutes for the closed session held on February 1, 1999, November 6,
2000,
November
15, 2000, November 21, 2000, December 4, 2000, and January 2, 2001,
as
presented and amended during the closed session of February 5, 2001.
Fire and Rescue
Advisory Committee - Revised By-laws
At its meeting on
December 4, 2000, the Board of Commissioners had some conversation regarding
the qualifications for membership to the Fire and Rescue Advisory
Committee. The Board asked the County
Attorney to work on some revisions to the Bylaws in order to clarify the
meaning of Asubject to the Fire District Tax@ in Article III,
Section 2. The Commissioners
interpreted this phrase to mean any individual that owned real property or
business personal property that was subject to a fire district tax was eligible
to serve on the Advisory Committee.
The County Attorney
prepared an amendment to the Bylaws that incorporated the Board=s interpretation as
described above. This amendment was
sent to the Fire and Rescue Advisory Committee for review and adoption. The Fire and Rescue Advisory Committee did
approve, by an affirmative 2/3 vote of its membership, the amendment as
presented. This amendment to the Bylaws
will not, however, become effective until it has been approved by the Board of
Commissioners and the Fire and Rescue Association.
The amendment
approved by the Fire and Rescue Advisory Committee has been sent to both the
Board of Commissioners and the Fire and Rescue Association for approval.
The County Manager
recommended that the Commissioners approve this amendment in order to clarify
the membership requirements of the Advisory Committee.
Road Petitions
Staff had received
two road petitions requesting addition to the State Maintenance System:
1.
Penny Court (Crooked Creek, Section 6)
2.
Brightwater Farm Drive (Brightwater Farm Estates)
Curtis Griffin had reviewed these petitions
and his recommendation was for approval.
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.
Tax Refunds
A list of 16 refund requests was received from the
County Assessor=s office.
They were submitted for approval by the Board of Commissioners.
Tax Releases
A list of 102
release requests was submitted from the Assessor=s office for the
Board=s approval.
Tax Collector=s Report
Terry F. Lyda, Tax
Collector, had provided the Tax Collector=s Report dated
February 14, 2001, for the Board=s information.
Darlene B. Burgess,
Deputy Tax Collector, had provided the Deputy Tax Collector=s Report dated
February 15, 2001 for the Board=s information.
Detention Center
Project Report
The Board was given
the revised Capital Improvements Project Report for the new Detention Center
for January 2001.
Mountain
Microenterprise Fund
Annually, the
Mountain Microenterprise Fund (MMF) applies for a Community Development Block
Grant to assist with the expansion of small businesses in Western North
Carolina. All of the Counties within
their working area must pass a resolution of support in order for them to
receive this grant. A sample resolution
was presented for the Board=s consideration and
adoption.
Staff recommended
that the Board approve the presented resolution in support of MMF receiving
funds from CDBG. There are no county
funds requested by MMF.
Sheriff=s Department -
Sidearm Requests
The Board had
received two letters from Sheriff George H. Erwin, Jr., requesting that the
Board authorize the sale of their service sidearms to Deputies Allen Owenby and
Leonard Nix. In 1994, the Board approved a Service Sidearm Policy, which was
provided for the Board=s review.
According to the
Policy, the Board must establish a purchase price for the weapons. The Sheriff has indicated that the value of
each sidearm is $420. However, he has
requested that the Board approve these two former employees receive them at no
cost.
Plat Review Officer
Resolution
NCGS 47-30.2
requires that all persons appointed as plat review officers be so appointed by
resolution and that the resolution be recorded in the Office of the Register of
Deeds. Plat review officers are charged
with the responsibility of ensuring that all plats that are to be recorded
comply with the plat requirements set out in the General Statutes. On September 17, 1997, the Board first
adopted a resolution appointing certain named persons as plat review officers
in accordance with NCGS 47-302. The
Resolution adopted on September 17, 1997, also sets out certain procedures that
all plat review officers must comply with.
Copies of that resolution and an excerpt from NCGS 47-30.2 were
presented for the Board=s review. The Board has from time to time updated its
list of appointed plat review officers.
The Board needs to
again consider updating the list of those persons appointed as plat review
officers. The Planning Director
recommended that Shannon Baldwin be added to the resolution. A proposed resolution had been prepared and
was presented for the Board=s consideration in
order to accomplish this update. The
proposed resolution restates all of those persons currently appointed as plat
review officers.
Mr. Nicholson
informed the Board that it would be appropriate, and advisable, for the Board
to take action at this meeting by adopting the proposed resolution in order to
provide the Henderson County Register of Deeds with an updated list of review
officers authorized to approve plats for recordation.
NOMINATIONS
Notification of
Vacancies
The Board was
notified of the following vacancies which will appear as ANominations@ on the next
agenda:
1.
Transportation Advisory Committee - 1 vac.
2.
Henderson County Planning Board - 3 vac.
3.
Solid Waste Advisory Committee - 4 vac.
Nominations
Chairman Moyer
reminded the Board of the following vacancies and opened the floor to
nominations:
1.
Nursing/Adult Care Home Community Advisory Committee - 6 vac.
Commissioner
Hawkins nominated Calvin Adams to fill position # 4 and Martha Sachs for
reappointment to position # 1.
Commissioner Gordon
nominated Joy Davenport to position # 7, this would be a move from her
undesignated slot (position # 12) into a designated slot. That would create a vacancy for position #
12. Jennifer Jackson felt the Board
should get Ms. Davenport=s consent to the
move since it may be a change in term.
Chairman Moyer
nominated Pat Strickland to position # 10.
Chairman Moyer made
the motion to suspend the rules and appoint Rev. Sachs to position # 1. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
The nominees for
positions # 4 and # 7, their names must be sent to the nursing homes and wait
for a response before they can be appointed.
Commissioner
Hawkins made the motion to suspend the rules and appoint Pat Strickland to
position # 10. All voted in favor and
the motion carried.
2.
Mountain Area Workforce Development Board - 1 vac.
There were no
nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
3.
Land-of-Sky Regional Council Advisory Council on Aging - 1 vac.
There were no
nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
4.
Juvenile Crime Prevention Council - 1 vac.
Commissioner Ward
nominated Arnold Sheldon. Commissioner
Ward made the motion to suspend the rules and appoint Mr. Sheldon. All voted in
favor and the motion carried.
5.
Fire and Rescue Advisory Committee - 1 vac.
Chairman Moyer
reminded the Board that the six people that were appointed will select a
seventh person. We have been informed
that new person is David Johnson.
Chairman Moyer nominated Mr. Johnson to the Fire and Rescue Advisory
Committee.
Rocky Hyder
informed the Board that at their most recent meeting, the Fire & Rescue
Advisory Committee elected the following slate of officers:
Chairman
- Lee Roy Nicholson
Vice-Chairman
- Rick Livingston
Secretary
- Chip Gould
Terms were also
recommended as follows:
Lee
Roy Nicholson and Bill Hill - 3 year terms
Chip
Gould and Rick Livingston - 2 year terms
Charles
King, Jerry Pace, and David Johnson - 1 year terms
Commissioner Gordon
made the motion to accept the terms as proposed by the Fire & Rescue
Advisory Committee. All voted in favor
and the motion carried.
6.
Equalization and Review - 1 vac.
There were no
nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
7.
Retired Senior Volunteer Program Advisory Council - 1 vac.
There were no
nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
UPDATE ON THE GIS
AND ORTHOPHOTO PROJECTS
This item had been
pulled from the agenda.
BUDGET STATUS -
FY00-01
Due to a projected
shortfall of up to 800 million dollars in state revenues, Governor Easley has
placed the final reimbursement for the elimination of the property tax on
inventories in an interest bearing escrow account. These funds will be used by the State should it need them to
balance its own budget. For Henderson
County, this reimbursement amounts to $608,660.
Chairman Moyer
stated that it is very unfortunate that the inept management in Raleigh has
caused this situation and is putting a burden on the backs of the county. We have been living for years with unfunded
mandates from the state and the state spends all the money and balances the
budget on the backs of the working people, many of whom cannot afford it. The reality of the situation is obviously
the Governor has the power to do this and there=s not much that we
can do about it. We have to look at it
on the basis of the money that is not going to come to us for this year. Chairman Moyer stated AIt=s nice to say it=s gonna go in
escrow and maybe some of it will come back, but I wouldn=t bet one cent on
that and it would not be good financial management for us to count on any of
that coming back. The implications for
next year are even more dire but I=ll turn it over now
to the County Manager and he can bring you up to date on what he has been doing
in this area.@
David Nicholson
stated that right now the State is talking about an $800,000,000 deficit and he
hears every day that it is growing. Nobody really knows what the final amount
will be at this point in time. Some of the reasons for the problem:
C
The State has done $1.4 billion
tax cuts in the last couple of years.
C
There were two settlements of lawsuit cases that had to be paid out in
the last couple of years regarding, one about a retiree paying income tax and
the other was on intangible taxes.
C
There has been some slow down in the economy.
C
Hurricane Floyd and the millions of dollars that was sent to the
eastern part of the state is partly to blame.
C
The employee health insurance costs to the state.
C
Substantial Medicaid growth.
David is the County
Budget Officer. He explained that the
Governor is the State Budget Officer and just like him, the Governor has to
present a balanced budget. This problem was not of the Governor=s making but he is
having to try to solve it. Mr.
Nicholson stated AThe thing that directly affects us right now
is the loss of the final payment for inventory tax.@
Henderson County
will lose $580,210 from the General Fund (and an additional $26,450 from the
Fire District Funds) in inventory tax reimbursements for the current year and
stand to lose additional state funds in the upcoming fiscal year. He presented his response plan for the current
year losses, as well as ideas for savings in the FY 2001-2002 budget.
FY 2000-2001 Action
Items:
1. Freeze
all unfilled positions
He
has frozen all unfilled positions for the current fiscal year. This action results in a $303,471 savings
for the remainder of the fiscal year.
He has also asked that all reclassification requests be put Aon hold@ until we have a
better understanding of the budgetary impacts for FY 2001-2002.
2. Freeze
all unencumbered capital outlay and improvement funds.
He
has also frozen all unencumbered capital outlay and improvement funds for the
current fiscal year. This action
results in a savings of $394,747 for the remainder of the fiscal year. This
will effect funds for a new EMS satellite station, the replacement of our
animal shelter, and the replacement of major Library computer equipment, among
other capital items. He will be closely monitoring all purchase order requests,
making certain that all purchases are absolutely necessary.
3.
Other actions:
In
addition to the above freezes, he has initiated the following actions for the
current fiscal year:
a)
Place all non-emergency maintenance projects on hold;
b)
Freeze all Enforcement Division funds;
c)
Review all temporary positions for possible savings;
d)Eliminate
the Agricultural Project position;
e)
Ask that the Public School System, Trend Mental Health, and Blue Ridge
Community College to project any savings in their FY 2000-2001 budget that can
revert to the County. Also, ask that the above refrain from requesting funds in
the FY 2001-2002 budget to replace a reduction in the State=s budget
allocations;
f)
Notify Fire Departments on possible reductions in intangibles tax
reimbursements;
Because these
actions will sufficiently cover the loss of revenue for the current fiscal
year, Mr. Nicholson will have some flexibility in filling positions or
purchasing capital as necessary to retain current service levels within our
departments. He has asked that
department heads provide formal written requests and meet with him regarding
the release of frozen positions, as well as purchasing capital outlay and/or
improvements for the remainder of the fiscal year.
FY 2001-2002 Budget
Process
With the impending
State cutbacks, it is near impossible to figure out how to plan for the new
budget year. We are being told to
expect additional cuts in Health Department programs, Social Services programs,
SmartStart, Criminal Justice Partnership Program, etc. Unfortunately, at least 25% of our budget is
beyond our control, meaning that it is match for Medicaid, school funding, DSS
program match, and debt service.
Another significant impact will be if the State decides to eliminate the
second half of the inventory tax reimbursement and the intangibles tax
reimbursement, which is accounted for as a receivable because it has a June 30th
date. This loss could account for over
$3.2 million from the County budget.
All these issues will increase the difficulty in planning for the FY
2001-2002 Budget and will require diligence and creativity in the budget
process.
Therefore, in anticipation
of possible additional losses in revenue, staff will be considering some
additional ideas for savings. These
considerations are outlined as follows:
C
Freeze funds for the GIS and Orthophoto projects. Putting these projects on hold will provide
savings for the current fiscal year, as well as for the new fiscal year.
C
Notify non-profit agencies about possible budget cuts in FY 2001-2002.
Mr. Nicholson has
asked department heads to submit their budget requests as usual, with the
understanding that we may not know the full implications of future State
cutbacks until well into the new fiscal year.
Staff is prepared to present a budget that reflects any and all
necessary reductions in the FY 2001-2002 budget year and will be working
diligently to ensure that Henderson County provides services in a time of
limited resources.
Chairman Moyer
asked the citizens to call their Representatives and Senators and tell them
what an outrageous situation this is and how unfair this is to put this burden
on the backs of the county and the county citizens and ask them to carry the
burden and blunt of the financial mismanagement that was done down in Raleigh.
We have very limited ways that we can save money. This is not an acceptable situation and they=ve got to clean
their act up down in Raleigh and get better financial management in place so
that we don=t continue to make the county people suffer
as this is going to do. If this
situation continues next year, even close to the magnitude that has been
indicated, it will be a terrible situation for the county with a possible 6 to
8 cent tax hike just to try to have the level of services that we currently
have. Those in Raleigh should look at ways to cut spending rather than other
ways to raise money.
There was much discussion.
Chairman Moyer asked Mr. Nicholson to add to his list freezing of nonessential
travel and training.
At this time, Mr.
Nicholson distributed the AProposed FY 01-02
Budget Calendar@, stating that he=s not so sure that
we don=t need to start on our budget process earlier
this year and spend more time on it.
There was some discussion of possibly requesting an extension on our
budget adoption this year until after the State adopts theirs.
Chairman Moyer
asked Mr. Nicholson to prepare for the Board a budget reconciliation,
containing at least four columns on it for each revenue and expense item:
1.
the original budgeted amount,
2.
actual through the end of February or January 2001
3.
the pro forma 12 months, where they=re expected to be
4.
adjustments
Mr. Nicholson
stated that it would take a substantial amount of time to develop that
document. He wouldn=t even be able to
start it until about mid March. He can=t do it until he
gets his departments projections. Chairman Moyer would rather have it without
the department head input, more of a financial projection.
NORTH CAROLINA
PARITY
A question that has
come up numerous times in the Western North Carolina Managers= Meetings is AAre we getting
shorted in Western North Carolina?@ Not only in money but also in
representation are we getting shorted.
They have taken on a project themselves to take a look at the major
issues associated with representation as well as financial.
Parts of their
Preliminary Study:
C
Western N.C. population comparison to the State of N.C.
C
Western N.C. representation on selected boards, committees and
commissions in
comparison
to overall population.
C
Western N.C. statistics related to receiving grants
C
General conclusions and recommendations
General Conclusions
and Recommendations
Representation
The initial opinion
of the committee reflected a pleasant surprise related to the overall numbers
of the selected committees. They
entered this effort believing there was a gross under representation of the
Western area yet the numbers and statistical comparison was much better than
anticipated.
However, for those
committees/boards studied, they did identify some under representation that
should be addressed. Also, there are
many other advisory or policy making groups they did not specifically research.
Committee
Recommendations
C
Suggest an on-going and systematic process to evaluate and monitor this
representation and establish a procedure to make this information known through
COG=s and City/County Managers.
C
Suggest our elected leadership establish an informal committee to begin
developing a leadership list of local public and private individuals who would
be willing to volunteer their service on various boards/committees.
C
Research and select three important National committees/commissions and
focus efforts for Western North Carolina representation on these respective
groups. A selected bi-partisan group to
meet with congressional staff and explain the mission and ask for their
suggestions. This action would increase awareness of the issue.
C
Develop an Aelected official@ strategy for
increased representation and involvement on respective county and municipal
state association activities as well as the federal association (NACO/National
League of Cities)
Grants
Recommendations
C
Develop an inventory of needs along with a grouping of similar type
projects. This could serve as the
mutually agreed upon priority list for emphasis.
C
Determine appropriate State or Federal funding sources.
C
Develop an understanding of how to tap funds and strategy for doing so.
C
Organize a meeting with Congressional staff to present our idea and ask
for specific help to develop language and strategy to receive dollars as part
of the on-going Federal budget process.
C
A sub-committee of the managers could also be formed to undertake this
effort and then systematically and persistently monitor the federal process so
that we can be in position to either alert our colleagues at critical times as
well as report to the overall group on progress.
C
Establish a method to identify and coordinate communication of various
groups within Western North Carolina.
Other General
Recommendations
C
Conduct a Western North Carolina AGrant Day@ to discuss and
learn more about programs and how to receive funds
C
The managers propose to their respective elected officials the need and
idea for a Regional Western North Carolina conference organized by and led by
elected officials to discuss the overall equity issue and the ideas suggested
for implementation by the managers.
C
The findings and recommendations in this report be presented to the
COGs and discussed with the executive directors of the League of Municipalities
and County Commissioners= Association.
David Nicholson
distributed to the Board the AWestern North
Carolina Preliminary Parity Report@ just for their
information. No action was requested.
WATERLINE
EXTENSIONS - City of Hendersonville
The Board was given
a copy of a request for the review of a waterline extension by the City of
Hendersonville to a new subdivision called McKinney Pointe. At the last Commissioners= meeting, the Board
requested that staff develop a policy on waterline extensions.
Staff proposed to
the Board a checklist of issues such as compliance with the Subdivision
Ordinance, Manufactured Home Park Ordinance, Zoning Ordinance, and Land Use
Plan. Included with the checklist were
issues such as fire hydrant and water pressure. Staff was still seeking input from County Departments at the time
this agenda was packed on any other issues that should be addressed within the
checklist.
The checklist was
presented at this meeting for McKinney Pointe. The Board reviewed the checklist
presented and Chairman Moyer felt this was a reasonable way to keep the Board
informed of these waterline extension requests. In the future, these can be placed on the Board=s consent agenda.
It was the
consensus of the Board for Mr. Nicholson to submit this one for approval.
CDBG APPLICATION
FOR REGENCY DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATES, INC.
This item had been
pulled from the agenda.
There was some
discussion that staff was ready to go ahead with this item. Therefore, Commissioner Hawkins made the
motion to amend the agenda by adding this item back to it. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
Selena Coffey
presented the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) application for the
Parkside Commons project. This project
provides for the extension of sewer lines to the East Flat Rock School where
Regency Development Associates, Inc., will convert the school to 25 first-class
apartments for senior citizens. This
project will not require any County funds.
A copy of an e-mail
from Planning Director Karen Smith, regarding Regency Development Associates= application for a
special use permit for this project, as well as a letter to the County Manager
requesting the County=s support on this project were presented for
the Board=s review.
David Nicholson
stated that a letter of interest should be written on the County=s letterhead and
forwarded to the North Carolina Division of Community Assistance (NCDCA) as
Board support for the project. A draft
had been provided by Regency Development Associates, Inc. and was provided for
the Board=s review/approval. Ms. Coffey asked the Board to replace that letter with one she
distributed, written to William McNeil, Director of NC Division of Community
Assistance from Chairman Moyer. The
letter would schedule a public hearing for March 12 in consideration of a
Special Use Permit for the adaptive reuse of the historic East Flat Rock School
as apartments for the elderly and a second public hearing for March 21.
County Attorney
comments
Jennifer Jackson
expressed concern that since there was a special use permit application pending
which is to be conducted by this Board in a quasi-judicial fashion, she wanted
the Board to have full opportunity to hear comments at that meeting and make a
decision on the special use permit independent of any decisions that the Board
might make on the grant application. All the developer requested at this point
is to set the first public hearing under the CDBG grant process and that public
hearing is only on the concept of the project.
It is prior to any grant application being prepared. It is hoped that the second public hearing
would be after the Board=s action on the special
use permit. This letter does not bind the Board in any fashion.
Commissioner
Hawkins made the motion to set the two public hearings, one for March 12 at
7:00 p.m. and the second on March 21 at 11:00 a.m. and authorize the Chairman
to sign the proposed letter dated February 20 to Mr. William A. McNeil,
Director of NC Division of Community Assistance. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
PARDEE HOSPITAL -
Financial Report
This item had been
pulled from the agenda.
INFORMAL PUBLIC
COMMENTS
1. Nancy Weinhagen - Mrs. Weinhagen
distributed her hand-out, a one page typed statement with attachments. She spoke on behalf of her husband who could
not be here today, Charles Weinhagen, Chairman of CRAABS (County Residents
Against Annexation by Saluda). She read
AIt is the consensus of the County residents
bordering the City of Saluda that the concern about annexation is not a dead
issue despite recent statements made by the City of Saluda.@ Many Henderson and Polk County residents are
concerned about the services they are currently getting and wish the City of
Saluda to continue to contract these services as they do now.
It was the
consensus of the Board for the Chairman to write the Mayor of Saluda and get
something in writing from him.
Chairman Moyer
called a 10 minute recess.
UPDATE ON I-26 -
Citizens Information Session
Chairman Moyer
informed the Board that the Governor has made some appointments to the
Transportation Board and for Division 14 (us) he appointed Conrad Burrell of
Sylva. He attended the I-26 hearing
yesterday and spoke to many people. He
seems to be very interested and promised he would come back and work with us on
our problems. Chairman Moyer stated that he has been appointed but not
confirmed.
Chairman Moyer
attended the I-26 Citizens Information Workshop held yesterday at
Hendersonville High School Cafeteria, 4:00 - 7:00 p.m. It appears the I-26 widening project is
moving forward rapidly.
LGCCA meeting, held
yesterday
Chairman Moyer
attended the LGCCA meeting, which was held yesterday, right before the I-26
workshop. They heard a report from
Mayor Niehoff with respect to where the Smart Growth Initiate stands. Commissioner Gordon attended the LGCCA
meeting also. Mayor Niehoff distributed
several lengthy documents which Chairman Moyer did not wish to summarize, but
rather would share copies with each of the Commissioners. Chairman Moyer felt it was important for the
Board of Commissioners to have their own discussion with respect to Smart
Growth.
The next LGCCA
meeting is scheduled for March 27 in the President=s Dining Room at
Blue Ridge Community College at 3:00 p.m.
Commissioner Gordon
added that a decision was made for the minutes, the records of the LGCCA
meetings, to be housed at the County Office Building so they would have a
centrally located permanent location.
She stated it was a very interesting meeting. Mayor Niehoff participated firsthand in the Smart Growth Study.
WORK FIRST
Amendment
Chairman Moyer
stated that Henderson County submitted a plan as an electing county, they
reviewed our plan and came back with one suggested change. Apparently one of our NC Statutory
references in the appeal process was
wrong (or they thought so) and they asked that it be changed. DSS has since prepared the plan with only
that change of NC General Statute reference but once again, the Chairman needs
to be authorized to sign the plan with the change.
Chairman Moyer made
the motion to approve the plan with the amendment. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
MILLS RIVER
PARTNERSHIP WATERSHED PROTECTION IMPROVEMENT PROJECT
Chairman Moyer
stated that they heard a report on this at the ABHWA meeting yesterday. In December of 1999, the Authority and the
Mills River Partnership were awarded a $541,000 grant from the NC Clean Water
Management Trust Fund for this particular project. In order to ensure that the grant project was successfully
completed, the Authority contracted with the Hendersonville Soil & Water Conservation
District, the US Natural Resource Conservation Service and US Forest Service to
perform and administer specific elements of the project. The project includes restoring buffers and
stabilizing stream banks along the Mills River, implementing erosion control
measures in the National Forest, developing a long-term strategic plan for
protection of the Mills River Watershed and replacing and relocating up to
eight agrochemical handing facilities.
According to the grant, all of these projects had to be completed by
March of 2002 for us to get the reimbursement. Significant progress has been
made on all aspects of this project, particularly the erosion control measures
and stabilizing the banks. The piece of
the project that is in trouble is the eight agrochemical handling
facilities. At the beginning of this
project apparently those that leased or controlled the facilities indicated
that they would go along with the project, one of them has and that is moving
along well, but the person controlling the other seven has now indicated that
he is not going to participate in the program and this will put in jeopardy the
$541,000 grant monies. The Water
Authority is concerned because the reason this money was obtained was a
concern, if there was a flood or a problem there was a concern that some of the
chemicals might get in the water source and as a protection it was determined
it would be better to move these agrochemical handling facilities.
Chairman Moyer had
mentioned this to Commissioner Ward earlier and he has been looking into this
to see if there is anything the Board can do to help.
Commissioner Ward
contacted Mr. Carter at the agency in charge of this this morning and they have selected a team of people to go out
and talk to the farmer and explain to him the situation and how important this
is to the County. There is now an
Attorney involved who is counseling the farmer. Commissioner Ward feels that they may be able to compromise with
the farmer.
IMPORTANT DATES
David Nicholson
reminded the Board that they had wanted to set up a Public Hearing on Road
Names at this meeting. Following some
discussion, Chairman Moyer made the motion to set that hearing for March 21 at
11:00 a.m. All voted in favor and the
motion carried.
The Board still has
an outstanding request from Buncombe County to meet with them.
The Board also set
a special called meeting for a workshop on Land Use for March 7 at 3:00 p.m.
CLOSED SESSION
At approx. 11: 15
a.m., Chairman Moyer 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.
2.
(a)(4) To discuss matters
relating to the location or expansion of industries or other businesses in the area
served by the public body.
3.
(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 (i) the price and other material terms of a contract
or proposed contract for the acquisition of real property by purchase, option,
exchange or lease.
4.
(a)(6) To consider the
qualifications, competence, performance, character, fitness, conditions of
appointment, or conditions of initial employment of an individual public
officer or employee or prospective public officer or employee; or to hear or
investigate a complaint, charge, or grievance by or against an individual
public officer or employee.
All voted in favor
and the motion carried.
made the motion for the
Board to go out of Closed Session. All
voted in favor and the motion carried.
Action following
Closed Session
There was none.
There being no
further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned.
Attest:
Elizabeth W. Corn, Clerk to the Board William L. Moyer, Chairman