MINUTES

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

COUNTY OF HENDERSON DECEMBER 3, 2001

The Henderson County Board of Commissioners met for a regularly scheduled meeting at 5:30 p.m. in the Commissioners= Conference Room of the Henderson County Office Building at 100 North King Street, Hendersonville, North Carolina.

Those present were: Commissioners Bill Moyer, Marilyn Gordon, Grady Hawkins, Don Ward, and Charlie Messer, County Manager David E. Nicholson, County Attorney Angela S. Beeker, and Clerk to the Board Elizabeth W. Corn.

Also present were: Public Information Officer Chris S. Coulson, Assistant County Attorney Jennifer O. Jackson, Assistant to the County Manager Selena Coffey, Finance Director J. Carey McLelland, and Amy Brantley, Volunteer Coordinator/Deputy Clerk to the Board.

CALL TO ORDER/WELCOME

Clerk to the Board Elizabeth W. Corn 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

David Nicholson gave the invocation.

ELECTION OF A CHAIRPERSON

Ms. Corn opened the floor to nominations for Chairperson for the next year.

Commissioner Gordon nominated Commissioner Moyer for Chairman. Commissioner Ward nominated Commissioner Hawkins. There were no other nominations.

Ms. Corn polled the Board with the vote being as follows:

Commissioner Ward - Commissioner Hawkins

Commissioner Messer - Commissioner Moyer

Commissioner Moyer - Commissioner Moyer

Commissioner Hawkins - Commissioner Hawkins

Commissioner Gordon - Commissioner Moyer

Ms. Corn congratulated Chairman Moyer and turned the meeting over to him.

ELECTION OF A VICE-CHAIRPERSON

Chairman Moyer opened the floor to nominations for Vice-Chair for the next year.

Commissioner Messer nominated Commissioner Gordon. Commissioner Ward made the motion for nominations to cease and to appoint Commissioner Gordon as Vice-Chair. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

REVIEW OF PUBLIC OFFICIAL=S BONDS

Chairman Moyer reminded the Board that they had taken a good look at this already back about June or July. He asked for any discussion on this item. There was none.

Chairman Moyer made the motion to approve the bonds for elected officials as set forth in the agenda item. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

DISCUSSION/ADJUSTMENT OF AGENDA

Commissioner Ward asked that the following updates (from the County Manager) be added to the agenda. They were added under AD@ of Staff Reports as:

A2" LGCCA meeting update

A3" JCPC update

A4" update on facilities

Commissioner Messer asked to add - reappointment to a Trend vacancy. (#9)

Commissioner Gordon stated that the Board needed to appoint a Chair for the Travel & Tourism Board (#10). These two items need to be added to ANominations@.

Chairman Moyer stated that under the Travel & Tourism Bylaws, the Board has the right to appoint a Chairman if they chose or they can pass that to the Travel & Tourism Board for action.

There were no other adjustments at this time. Chairman Moyer made the motion to approve the revised agenda. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

CONSENT AGENDA

Chairman Moyer made the motion to approve the Consent Agenda. All voted in favor and the motion carried. The CONSENT AGENDA consisted of the following:

Minutes

Minutes were presented for the Board=s review and approval of the following meetings:

November 5, 2001, regular meeting

November 6, 2001, special called meeting

November 6, 2001, cont. of regular meeting of Nov. 5

November 13, 2001, special called meeting

November 14, 2001, regular meeting

Procedure for Minutes Preparation

The Board has seen this draft procedure several times and at the November 14 meeting asked that it be placed on this agenda for approval. Upon Board approval, staff will immediately start using the procedure and action will be documented in this set of Board minutes. A copy of the Procedure will be attached as a part of these minutes.

Approval of Closed Session Minutes

The Board was requested to adopt 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:

Minutes for the closed sessions held on January 19, 2000; March 23, 2000, June 5, 2000, June 21, 2000, August 7, 2000, August 16, 2000, September 20, 2000 and October 12, 2000 as presented during the closed session of November 14, 2001.

Tax Collector=s Report

Terry F. Lyda, Tax Collector, had provided the Tax Collector=s Report dated November 29 for the Board=s information.

Darlene Burgess, Deputy Tax Collector, had provided the Deputy Tax Collector=s Report dated November 28 for the Board=s information.

Henderson County Financial Report - October 2001

Cash Balance Report - October 2001

These reports had been submitted by the Finance Director for information and the Board=s consent approval.

Non-departmental expenditures in the General Fund include the annual premiums paid to the NCACC Insurance Pools for the County=s Worker=s Compensation and Property/Liability insurance coverage. These costs will be distributed out to each of the departmental budgets prior to year-end.

During the months of October and November and after completion of the annual financial audit, accounts receivable recorded on June 30, 2001 were reversed out of the current fiscal year. Therefore, current month revenues in some funds (Special Revenue, Enterprise) appear lower than usual due to this required accounting entry.

The approved Fletcher Elementary School Project Budget includes an appropriation of funds from the Schools Capital Reserve Fund. In the month of October, a transfer of $1.2 million was reflected as a current month revenue and expenditure in these respective funds.

Henderson County Public Schools Financial Report - October 2001

This report had been submitted for the Board=s consent approval.

Tax Refunds

A list of 16 tax refund requests was submitted for approval by the Board of Commissioners.

Tax Releases

A list of 176 tax release requests was submitted for approval by the Board of Commissioners.

Employee Recognitions/Awards

Department Award

The Henderson County Parks & Recreation Department recently won the North Carolina Parks and Recreation Society 2001 Celebrate July Award for counties with populations over 50,000 during their recent State Conference. This program is also being submitted to the National Association of County Commissioners for Outstanding County Program Awards this month.

Mrs. Karen Saine, Recreation Program Supervisor/Day Camp Supervisor was part of the Mud Creek Watershed Restoration Council. Part of the Mud Creek Watershed Restoration Council=s responsibility is public education about Mud Creek.

The criteria for the award included: creating a logo, advertising the event with the media, having the competition judged with winners announced during the event and developing subcommittees with other participating organizations.

NOMINATIONS

Notification of Vacancies

The Board was notified of the following vacancies which will appear for nominations on the next agenda:

1. Library Board of Trustees - 1 vac.

2. Henderson County Board of Health - 2 vac.

There was some discussion regarding terms for the Library Board and regarding number of missed meetings. Missed meetings have been discussed numerous times for numerous Boards/Committees but the Board hasn=t come up with an exact policy. Some of the Board Bylaws address this issue.

Chairman Moyer reminded the Board that at this point in time no one can remove anyone from a Board without the Board of Commissioners= approval and agreement.

Nominations

Chairman Moyer reminded the Board of the following vacancies and opened the floor to nominations:

1. Equalization and Review - 2 vac.

There were no nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.

2. Retired Senior Volunteer Program Advisory Council - 1 vac.

There were no nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.

3. Juvenile Crime Prevention Council - 3 vac.

There were no nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.

4. Community Child Protection Team - 4 vac.

There were no nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.

5. Henderson County Zoning Board of Adjustment - 1 vac.

There were no nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.

6. Hospital Corporation Board of Directors - 1 vac.

Commissioner Hawkins nominated Meredith Elliott. Chairman Moyer nominated Campbell Boyd to fill position # 9.

Ms. Corn polled the Board and Campbell Boyd received three of the five votes so he was the appointment to fill position #9 of the Hospital Corporation Board of Directors.

7. Fire and Rescue Advisory Committee - 1 vac.

There were no nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.

8. Fire Commission - 3 vac.

Chairman Moyer nominated Harris, Norton, and Hyder for reappointment. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

STATE ADM FUND APPLICATION

Presented for the Board=s review and consideration was a Public School Building Capital Fund (AADM Fund@) Application with a detailed project list approved by the Henderson County Board of Public Education at their November 12 meeting. This application requested the use of $1,023,093.09 in State ADM funds for various school planning, renovation and repair projects. The 25 percent local match requirement will be met from capital outlay funds appropriated either in the current or the previous fiscal year that ended June 30, 2001.

As noted on the letter from the school system=s Business Manager, an application to use $580,578 in ADM Fund revenues budgeted in the previous fiscal year was not submitted. Therefore, these funds still remain in the State ADM Fund Account available for allocation by Henderson County.

The County=s current fiscal year budget includes an appropriation of $627,981 in ADM Fund revenues and expenditures. If the Board approves the application, the prepared budget amendment for $395,113 increasing the current fiscal year=s ADM appropriation to $1,023,094 will need to be approved also.

Mr. McLelland explained that if the Board approved the appropriation, staff would need to do a budget amendment to increase the appropriation to meet the total amount on the ADM application.

There was some discussion regarding the monies current sitting in the ADM allocation account. The Commissioners asked Mr. McLelland to bring back figures as to whether we are ahead of the ADM fund forecast for the next meeting. The Board was interested to know whether the funds were coming in as projected.

Following discussion, Commissioner Hawkins made the motion for the Board to approve the State ADM Fund Application and the associated budget amendment. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT DEBT SETOFF PROGRAM

Mr. McLelland reminded the Board that a memo from the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners (NCACC) outlined a program that has recently been established that allows counties and cities to submit certain delinquent debts for setoff from income tax refunds.

In summary, the program involves sending qualifying delinquent debts to a Clearinghouse that has been jointly established by the NCACC and the League of Municipalities. The Clearinghouse will be operated by Five Star Computing, Inc. which is a South Carolina corporation that has been performing this function in South Carolina for several years. The Clearinghouse then cross-references the debts with the NC Department of Revenue information in order to match the debt with any available tax refund being generated by the State. If a refund exists then the State agencies debts (if any) are offset first with any remaining refund being available to the counties and cities that submitted their debts with a priority of Afirst filed, first paid.@ If a successful match is made and funds are available to pay the County debt in whole or in part, then the County receives the amount offset minus a $15.00 collection assistance fee. This fee cannot be passed on to the debtor.

Prior to submitting debts to the Clearinghouse, counties and cities have to give the debtor notice of its intent to request a setoff of their tax refund and if requested by the debtor hold a hearing at which time a hearing officer must determine the validity and amount of the debt. Debt information must be submitted to the Clearinghouse with a social security number; therefore, we will have to obtain social security numbers for each debtor. The Board may recall that we have a contract with TransUnion for this type of service and they believe that they can get that information to us in a timely manner for approximately $1.00 per name.

The Deputy Tax Collector indicated a desire to utilize this new program as a way to collect certain delinquent motor vehicle taxes. A memo outlining her thoughts and some statistical information was reviewed. In order to participate in the program for tax refunds generated in 2002, notices should be mailed as soon as possible. Deputy Tax Collector Darlene Burgess was also present to answer Board questions.

Should the Board wish to participate in the program, then the Commissioners must execute the Memorandum of Understanding that was part of the agenda packet with the NCACC memo and designate one or more persons to serve as hearing officers. Staff had been compiling a list of people for the Board to consider as follows: Carey McLelland, Dena Garey, Kellie Lambert, and Joyce Karpowski.

Since this program is newly available to cities and counties, a full analysis of the costs and benefits has not been made as yet. It had been determined that South Carolina=s success rate was 25%.

The County Manager recommended that the Board elect to participate in this new program for delinquent motor vehicle tax bills over $100. If the Board wishes to participate in the debt setoff program, the Board should identify one or more hearing officers and consider adopting the prepared resolution.

Following discussion, Chairman Moyer made the motion that Henderson County participate in this program with the understanding that it=s acceptable to the Tax Collector and that we=re not going to get a budget increase for this in the future, including adopting the prepared Resolution and approving the list of hearing officers as presented. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

BASE SALARIES - ELECTED OFFICIALS

David Nicholson explained that according to NCGS 153A-92(b)(2), the Board of Commissioners may only reduce the salaries of the County=s elected officials no later than 14 days before the end of the filing period. Both eight and four years ago, the Board set a base salary for the positions of the Sheriff, Register of Deeds and Tax Collector. The filing fees for these positions are established using the base salary. Following these elections, the Board set the salary base for these individuals based on their experience and qualifications.

Based on the County=s grade and step table, these positions= beginning salaries are listed below:

Sheriff $54,318

Register of Deeds $45,873

Tax Collector $45,831

In order to assist the Board with these discussions, staff had also prepared a chart for each of these positions with salary information from similar size counties.

Following discussion, Commissioner Hawkins made the motion to adopt the prepared resolutions with the base salaries for elected officials as presented. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

UPDATE ON PENDING ISSUES

This is an effort to keep the lines of communication open. It gives the Chairman an opportunity to bring the Board up to date on issues that occur between meetings. It is also the time to ask for direction so that the Board can develop their public position on current and upcoming topics.

This will also be an opportunity for Commissioners to report on related committee work and assignments.

The topics discussed during this meeting were as follows:

Assisted Living Facility in Laurel Park

David Nicholson informed the Board that Henry Johnson, Mayor for the Town of Laurel Park, on behalf of the Laurel Park Town Council requested the Henderson County Board of Commissioners approve and submit a letter of support to the Division of Facilities Support (DFS) for an exemption to the moratorium on assisted living licensed beds for 20 beds to the HH Hunt company as outlined below.

The Council fully endorses a project proposed by HH Hunt to develop a new assisted living facility in Laurel Park. The project, once fully developed, would need 68 licensed beds to be economically viable. As stated in the letter from HH Hunt, 48 licensed beds are currently available for the project. Council asked for the Board=s support in requesting an additional 20 beds to be exempted from the moratorium creating a project with 68 licensed beds.

The new assisted living facility would be located directly behind the Laurel Park shopping center. This location features within walking distance of the proposed site an Ingles grocery store, an Eckerd drug store, restaurants, a bank, and some retail stores. Also, several medical offices are in the immediate area.

HH Hunt has an existing assisted living facility, Spring Arbor, within Laurel Park. The Town has enjoyed an outstanding relationship with Spring Arbor and its professional staff and would welcome the new facility.

The State makes the final decision. HH Hunt operates Spring Harbor which is currently located in Laurel Park.

Chairman Moyer made the motion for the Board to go on record supporting the request for the additional 20 beds. Some discussion followed.

A vote was taken on the motion and it passed unanimously.

LGCCA meeting update add-on by Commissioner Ward

Commissioner Ward was particularly interested in whether LGCCA discussed taping of their meetings for public viewing.

Chairman Moyer stated that there was discussion regarding continuing to have the LGCCA meeting in the Commissioner=s Board Room and taping them for showing on Cable TV, Channel #11. It was decided to do so with the January meeting being the trial for taping. The December LGCCA meeting was cancelled so their next meeting will be January 15.

Commissioner Gordon explained that LGCCA heard a very moving presentation from Barbara Case Blaine concerning patriotism and how to keep the patriotism alive in our community. She offered some very useful suggestions for all the governmental entities.

Mayor Niehoff updated LGCCA on the City Planning Committee=s work on the area of Signal Hill Road off Four Seasons Boulevard in the Wal-Mart area.

Chairman Moyer stated that all the municipalities except Laurel Park had approved the issue of discussing annexations with other municipalities.

Update on JCPC budget shortfall add-on by Commissioner Ward

David Nicholson reminded the Board that at their last meeting they instructed Mr. Nicholson to work with Carey on coming up with how and where to cut $4,000 out of the budget due to the shortfall in the State Budget that was cut from the Youth Services budget. A total of $5,000 was cut but Trend stated they would make up $1,000 of that so we have to find a way to make up $4,000.

Mr. Nicholson stated that this item is in his AIn Basket@ and he has not done it yet. He and Mr. McLelland need to review the financial statements and take care of this item.

Update from County Manager regarding county facilities add-on by Commissioner Ward

Mr. Nicholson stated that the architects have been back about the Human Services Building and have met with both staffs. DSS had some minor changes from the lay-out the Board last saw. Public Health Department staff had some more major changes. Mr. Nicholson met with Tom Bridges last Thursday and asked him to work with his staff in the next week to finalize locations within the facility. Mr. Bridges will meet with the architects this Wednesday.

Regarding the Historic Courthouse - most of the time has been spent on the Jail Demolition package. The architects have supplied a new front-end site plan for the facility. There will have to be a separate abatement contract.

TREND BOARD - add-on by Commissioner Messer

There was a vacancy on the Trend Board and the person wished to continue to serve. There was some discussion about who appoints those persons.

Commissioner Messer is the Board=s representative on the Trend Board and therefore he makes all Henderson County appointments to that Board (per County Attorney).

IMPORTANT DATES

Chairman Moyer called attention to the early Christmas present the Board received from Angie and Karen, a couple hundred pages of detailed reading (New Zoning Ordinance Rewrite). They have put a lot of work into it. There are still a lot of issues the Board will need to discuss, work on and resolve. The Board has a workshop set for December 11 on this item.

INTRODUCTION OF NEW COUNTY TAX ASSESSOR

Chairman Moyer apologized for the oversight. He had planned to introduce the new Assessor earlier in the meeting.

He introduced to the Board and to the public, Mr. Eddie Mitchum. Mr. Mitchum has been selected as the new Tax Assessor. He and his wife, Louise, were present at the meeting and came forward to the microphone. Mr. Mitchum will begin work on January 2, 2002.

Chairman Moyer made the motion to appoint Mr. Eddie Mitchum as the new Tax Assessor, starting on or before January 2, 2002. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

The Board then picked back up with their agenda as follows:

Set Public Hearing on Economic Development Incentives - Printpack, Inc.

The Board was asked to consider granting economic development incentives to Printpack, Inc. which is a business having a manufacturing plant located in Hendersonville, North Carolina. Printpack had recently announced its intent to add and upgrade its printing equipment in order to increase its manufacturing capacity in the Hendersonville plant. The net taxable capital investment for such addition and upgrade was expected to be $5.5 million.

Printpack requested economic development incentives from the County in an amount of approximately $22,000.00 as partial reimbursement for the cost associated with its plan to add and upgrade its printing equipment.

NCGS 158-7.1 requires that the Board hold a duly advertised public hearing on the proposed economic development incentives prior to approving the same. The Board was asked to schedule a public hearing for Wednesday, December 19, 2001 at 11:00 a.m. A draft Notice of Public Hearing had been prepared for the Board=s review.

After the Public Hearing has been set, the County Attorney will begin negotiations with Printpack in order to develop a proposed contract to be presented to the Board as a part of the Public Hearing.

Commissioner Gordon made the motion to set this public hearing for December 19 at 11:00 a.m. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

Set Public Hearing - CDBG

Henderson County is eligible to receive $400,000 for a Scattered Site Housing Program in 2002 through a Community Development Block Grant. In order to begin this process and in keeping with the Citizen Participation Plan, the Board was requested to set a public hearing for January 7, 2002 at 7:00 p.m. This is the first of two required public hearings under CDBG. At this hearing, the public has the opportunity to express their views on the program. The second public hearing will seek comments on the application.

Commissioner Hawkins made the motion to set this public hearing for January 7, 2002 at 7:00 p.m. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

TRAVEL & TOURISM BOARD - add-on by Commissioner Gordon

Commissioner Gordon nominated John Shiery to continue as Chairman of the Travel & Tourism Board. There were no other nominations. Following discussion, a vote was taken and the motion passed unanimously.

COMMENTS BY CHAIRMAN

Chairman Moyer wanted to mention for the public that we are into the holiday season and we certainly don=t want to forget the true meaning of the holiday season. With respect to the county and our environment, where we shop makes a big difference for Henderson County. Who knows what the economy is going to be. We certainly can do our merchants and our County a great service by shopping in Henderson County. He stated that we have merchants who can provide what we need. The sales tax revenue is important to us. When we support our merchants we benefit through additional sales tax.

INFORMAL PUBLIC COMMENTS

There were none.

There being no further business to come before the Board, Commissioner Hawkins made the motion to adjourn the meeting at approximately 6:30 p.m. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

Attest:

Elizabeth W. Corn, Clerk to the Board William L. Moyer, Chairman