MINUTES
STATE
OF NORTH CAROLINA BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
COUNTY
OF HENDERSON APRIL 7,
2003
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.
Those present
were: Chairman Grady Hawkins,
Vice-Chairman Larry Young, Commissioner Bill Moyer, Commissioner Charlie
Messer, Commissioner Shannon Baldwin,
County Manager David E. Nicholson, County Attorney Angela S. Beeker, and
Clerk to the Board Elizabeth W. Corn.
Also present
were: Planning Director Karen C. Smith, Budget and Management Director Selena
Coffey, Public Information Officer Chris S. Coulson, County Engineer Gary
Tweed, Finance Director J. Carey McLelland,
and Deputy Clerk to the Board/Volunteer Coordinator Amy Brantley.
CALL TO
ORDER/WELCOME
Chairman
Hawkins called the meeting to order and welcomed all in attendance.
PLEDGE OF
ALLEGIANCE
Commissioner
Messer led the Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag.
INVOCATION
Chairman
Hawkins announced that the scheduled Minister, Rev. Clarence Porter
(Evangelist) could not be present today due to illness.
David Nicholson
gave the invocation.
DISCUSSION/ADJUSTMENT
OF AGENDA
Chairman
Hawkins added under Update on Pending Issues: #3 - Process for the interview
for the Tax Assessor as well as #4 - Mr. Moyer will update the Board on some
Home Rule Legislation.
Commissioner
Baldwin asked that two items be pulled from the consent agenda for some
discussion: AD@ - Solid Waste
Advisory Committee and AI@ Update on County Comprehensive Plan and
Other Major Planning Initiatives@.
Commissioner
Messer asked that one item be added - Discussion regarding a memo received
about the Audit of the Sheriff=s Department.
Chairman
Hawkins made the motion to approve the revised agenda. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
CONSENT AGENDA
As well as the
two items above that Commissioner Messer asked to be pulled from the consent
agenda, Chairman Hawkins asked that item AH@ - State ADM Fund Application be pulled
for some discussion.
Chairman
Hawkins made the motion to approve the consent agenda as presented except for
the three items pulled for discussion.
All voted in favor and the motion carried.
The consent
agenda then consisted of the following:
Minutes
Draft minutes
were presented for the Board=s approval of the following meetings:
March
3, 2003, regular meeting
March
19, 2003, regular meeting
Tax Collector=s Report
Terry F. Lyda,
Tax Collector, had provided the Tax Collector=s Report dated April 4, 2003, for the
Board=s information.
CDBG: Fair
Housing Plan
The Board was
presented with documentation that must be approved by the Board of Commissioners
before the CDBG for the Highlander Woods Subdivision can go forward. These are updates for the County=s Fair Housing
Plan as approved earlier.
Set Public
Hearing - 10 Year Solid Waste Plan
The Board was
requested to set a Public Hearing on the 10-Year Solid Waste Plan for
Wednesday, May 21, 2003 at 11:00 a.m.
This is a required Hearing to allow the public to comment on our updated
Plan. At the Hearing, the Board will receive
comments from the Solid Waste Advisory Committee.
Financial
Report - February 2003
Cash Balance
Report - February 2003
These reports
were submitted for information and consent approval.
Non-departmental
expense included the annual property/liability and worker=s compensation
insurance premiums paid to the NCACC Risk Management Pools. A majority of these costs were allocated out
to individual departments during the months of December and January. The remaining costs of $50,552 will
be allocated out prior to fiscal year end.
The Revaluation
Reserve Fund is reporting a year-to-date deficit primarily due to $30,000 in
printing and postage expense incurred during the month of January to mail out
property valuation notices to the public.
The Travel and
Tourism Fund year-to-date deficit is primarily due to January and February being
a slowdown time in the travel/tourism business. Therefore, occupancy tax collections are at their lowest during
this time of year.
The deficits
reported in the CDBG-Scattered Site Housing and Mills River Sewer Projects are
temporary deficits due to timing differences in the expenditure of funds and
the subsequent requisition of funds to reimburse these expenditures.
The Human
Services Building Project deficit is due to architectural fees and
demolition/abatement work performed at the former Carolina Apparel
Building. It is anticipated that these
costs will either be recouped from financing proceeds for the project or
proceeds from the sale of the land and building.
Henderson
County Public Schools Financial Report - February 2003
This report was
presented for information and consent approval.
Discussion of
Items pulled from the consent agenda:
Solid Waste
Advisory Committee
When the Solid
Waste Advisory Committee was originally chartered in 1991, one of it=s primary
charges was to Astudy,
identify, evaluate and recommend to the Board of Commissioners methods of
handling and disposal of solid waste at the current site or such future sites
as may be required.@ Since that time, the purpose of the committee
has changed and they now Aadvise the Board of Commissioners on
issues pertaining to present and future solid waste programs in Henderson
County.@
At the March 19th
meeting, the Board discussed the function of the Committee with regards to
litter enforcement and education.
Following some research by Staff, the bylaws have been revised to charge
the SWAC with enforcement of litter.
The County
Manager recommended the revision of the bylaws as proposed.
Commissioner
Baldwin asked for a clarification of Article II of the bylaws. He wanted to be sure that this committee
would not be enforcing litter laws. The
County Manager confirmed that they would not.
State ADM Fund
Application (ADM
= Average Daily Membership)
The County=s current
fiscal year budget includes an appropriation of $496,206 in State ADM Fund
revenues to pay school debt service on the funds borrowed for construction and
renovation of the Clear Creek and Etowah Elementary School Projects. Staff requested that the Board consider
approving the prepared ADM Fund application that had previously been approved
by the Board of Public Education at their March 10th meeting.
The County
Manager stated that it would be appropriate for the Board to approve the ADM
Fund application at this time. An
application to use State ADM funds requires approval from both the Board of
Commissioners and the Board of Public Education.
The fund is
otherwise known as the School Capital Fund.
Mr. Nicholson
explained that in the 1980's the State decided to raise the corporate income
tax by 1% and provide that money for school construction. It is divided out to the School Systems by
their average daily membership. For many years we used that money for repair
work at the schools. A couple of years
ago the State said they didn=t want to deal with all our invoices for
carpet, paint, roof etc. and they preferred that we use the funds for debt
service. At that time we switched to
using the monies for debt service for schools.
We normally let the money accumulate one year to see how much is there
and appropriate it the next fiscal year.
This agenda item appropriates $496,206 to pay this year=s debt service
cost for Clear Creek and Etowah Elementary Schools. This account was not funded during the current fiscal year and in
the Governor=s Budget he
proposed that it not be funded in fiscal year 2004. This is a real concern to us because if this is not funded we=re going to be
some $515,000 short in this coming year=s budget. The County Commissioners have written the Governor, he responded
and commented that out of kindness they chose not to take the money that was
already in the account but rather just did not fund the account for two
years.
Mr. Nicholson
explained that the money is $3.00 State money to $1.00 local match. The total amount that would go to debt
service this time is $661,000.
Update on
County Comprehensive Plan and Other Major Planning Initiatives
As part of the strategy approved by the Board of
Commissioners for completing several major planning projects, Staff proposed
providing regular reports to the Board on the status of the County
Comprehensive Plan. At the meeting on
March 19, 2003, the Board requested monthly reports, therefore, Staff provided
this update which summarizes the tasks that are either in progress or have been
completed related to the CCP and the other major planning initiatives. The update also included anticipated actions
for the coming month.
Commissioner
Baldwin commended Staff for the memo describing what is being done and what
they are going to do but he stated he would like to see dates for the future
items.
Karen Smith
answered that she anticipated doing such a report on a monthly basis so the
items on this report cover the coming month (a monthly work plan).
Chairman
Hawkins made the motion to approve the consent agenda, including the items that
were pulled for discussion. All voted
in favor and the motion carried.
NOMINATIONS
Notification of
Vacancies
The Board was
notified of the following vacancies which will appear for nominations on the
next agenda:
1.
Juvenile Crime Prevention Council - 1
vac.
2.
Transportation Advisory Committee - 1
vac.
3.
Agriculture Advisory Committee - 1 vac.
4.
Regional Vision 2010 (Land-of-Sky) - 1
vac.
Nominations:
Chairman
Hawkins reminded the Board of the following vacancies and opened the floor to
nominations:
1.
Nursing/Adult Care Home Community Advisory Committee - 9 vac.
Chairman
Hawkins nominated Calvin Titus for reappointment. There were no other nominations at this time. Chairman Hawkins made the motion to
accept Mr. Titus by acclamation. 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.
Child Fatality Prevention Team - 1 vac.
There
were no nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
4.
Asheville Regional Housing Consortium - 1 vac.
There
were no nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
5.
EMS Quality Management Committee - 1 vac.
Chairman
Hawkins nominated Judy Lathrop to fill the R.N. position, #7. Chairman
Hawkins made the motion to accept Ms. Lathrop by acclamation. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
There
was some discussion of whether the Board wanted two additional members on this
committee, one a voting member and one a non-voting member. It was the consensus of the Board to add the
two additional members as requested by EMS Director Terry Layne.
Chairman
Hawkins nominated Larry Russell to the voting member vacancy and Frank Simpson
to the non-voting (ex-officio) member vacancy.
There were no other nominations.
Chairman Hawkins made the motion to accept both members by
acclamation. All voted in favor and the
motion carried.
6.
Henderson County Planning Board - 3 vac.
Commissioner
Baldwin nominated Paul Patterson for reappointment, Lyn Savage and Matt
Matteson as new members.
Chairman
Hawkins nominated Mike Cooper for reappointment.
Commissioner
Moyer nominated Jack Lynch for reappointment.
There
were five nominees for three vacancies.
The Clerk will poll the Board at the next meeting to fill these
vacancies.
UPWARD
ROAD SATELLITE STATION
At
the Board=s October 7, 2002 meeting, the Board approved in principle a letter
of proposal from Park Ridge Hospital providing that Park Ridge would construct
a substation within Appleland Business Park and would contribute $130,000
towards the building costs with the County paying the balance of the building
costs. The Board wanted to see the final
numbers on the project before giving final approval.
The
architect=s final estimate on the substation is $180,000. The County=s anticipated contribution would
be $50,000. In addition to the $130,000
contribution, Park Ridge is also paying for all of the site preparation work
and water and sewer installation for the facility. Four new paramedic positions have already been approved and are
in the process of being filled. No
staffing above that which has already been approved will be necessary for this
substation. Mr. Nicholson explained
that 27% of the total calls are in the area that would be served by this
substation. It would serve the eastern and the southern part of the county,
East Flat Rock, Dana, Green River/Tuxedo area, Flat Rock, etc.
Park
Ridge would enter into a lease arrangement with the County modeled after the
current lease for the Mills River substation.
A copy of that lease was presented for Board review. The County=s $50,000 would serve as a lump
sum payment towards a 10-year lease for the facility.
If
the Board gives final approval to the construction and lease of an EMS
substation in accordance with these terms, Park Ridge would commence with the
construction of the facility. During
the construction, a new lease, similar to the existing lease for the Mills
River facility would be negotiated with Park Ridge and brought back to the
Board for final approval. The lease
would not actually be signed until the facility was complete and ready for
occupancy by EMS.
The
procedure is consistent with that followed for the Mills River substation.
Terry
Layne, EMS Director, was present and answered questions from the Board
Chairman
Hawkins made the motion to direct Staff to proceed with negotiation of the
lease and the County=s share as a lump sum payment ($50,000). All voted in favor and the motion carried.
MENTAL
HEALTH REFORM - Local Business Plan
Recently
the Board was provided a copy of the Local Business Plan that addresses the
legislation that provides for mental health system reform. Mr. Nicholson explained that this Plan was
developed by the County Managers group which represents the eight county area
along with representatives from the current Mental Health Area
Authorities. The law clarifies the
relationship between the State and local governments in providing community
based services. It calls for, within
available resources, the LME (Local Management Entity) to ensure that certain
core functions are done such as screening, assessment, referral, emergency
services, service coordination, consultation, education and prevention. It
indicates that the State will provide funding to put the services into the
target populations with the exception of the entitled Medicaid Services. We did receive the targeted populations.
One
of the requirements is to put together a multi-county program with a minimum
population of 200,000 people or a minimum of five counties to be served. We are working with Buncombe, Madison,
Yancey, Mitchell, Polk, and Rutherford counties. Including Henderson and Transylvania Counties this is an eight
county area.
Mr.
Nicholson explained that the Business Plan calls for development of a local
management entity which will meet the State standards and the laws and to
ensure quality services are provided within the area. It is a three-year agreement.
The Board of Commissioners have to participate in the development and
review of the Business Plan. This Board
did so by assigning the County Manager to help develop the Plan. Mr. Nicholson has spent a considerable
amount of time over the past several months trying to ensure that a plan was
put together to present to this Board of Commissioners that could clearly do
what we can within the confines of this law and to protect these important
community services. A preliminary plan
was submitted to the State in January.
The Plan calls for a phased in
approach to this process. We are in the
second phase with a plan to have our program changed from the Area Authority
Model to the LME Model in January of 2004.
Mr.
Nicholson touched on the following stating that we have come a long way on each
of these, even since January when the preliminary plan was submitted to the
State: governance of the system, access, emergencies, and provider network.
Governance
- This is a brand new organization. A
lot of the LMEs across the State took their current area authority and they
became the LME. They didn=t change
anything. Our group felt very strongly
that we needed a brand new organizational structure. This is not a mental health provider. If there is no-one else to do it this LME can provide services
but that is not the goal. They
believe this plan calls for
privatization of those services and that=s the way our group designed it. It is an administrative organization. It is a contract organization. It would have been much easier to have
merged these area authorities into one and gone forward. The group proposes that initially the
counties have a really strong hand in implementing this program. They designed a strong county program with
county input up-front. The initial
Board will consist of the eight County Managers (Buncombe County=s Assistant
Manager). The law calls for over 50% of
the Board members to be consumers or professionals. Mr. Nicholson proposed an 11 member Board including three
consumers or professionals. Next year
they would plan to add two more consumers or professionals to the Board and by
the third year would have a Board that would meet the Statute. He proposed that
the Board start meeting in July on a regular basis, develop the organizational
structure, the management plan, the personnel system, the employee benefits,
the operating budget, manuals, policies, procedures, contracts, staffing and
salary plans, all those things that it takes to operate any kind of
quasi-government organization. They
will have to review all the contract relationships that all the area
authorities have with people and work on coming up with the initial service
provider contracts. All this must be in
place by December 31, 2003 because at 12:01 on January 1, 2004 the new LME
takes effect and becomes operational.
The area authorities will not go away initially, they will still operate
even though their responsibilities to provide mental health services will go
away. They will still have a lot of
close-out issues to deal with; audits, medicaid reimbursements, personnel
issues, all those things that will happen as those organizations close
themselves out. He expects the area
authorities to be in effect for six to twelve months as they deal with all the
issues.
Access
- Currently if you have a mental health issue
you call and make an appointment and go over to Trend=s office. The new system will not work that way. First there will be a screening effort that
has to be done. The client will deal
with a staff person of the LME who will find out what their issues are and then
send them out if they are a target population.
Basically they will screen to see if the person needs services, what
they are, and where they should go. The
next step is assessment unless it=s an emergency. This will be a face to face assessment by a clinician. It will not be done by the LME=s staff. He can visualize where the School System
would do assessments of school children and where Pardee, DSS, and Health
Department would have clinicians to do assessments. State funding will be
provided for Staff. When the assessment
is done an individual plan will be developed for that person. Once that plan is developed it will go back
to the LME before anything else is done.
The LME then goes through an authorization process (Utilization management). If it meets the normal standards then that
individual is given a number of possible providers of their service because
consumer choice is important. If there
is a problem then the person at the LME has to call the person who did the
assessment and find out why they asked for something that is out of the norm
for the individual. If they get
approved they are given a list of places to go to get the services. The patron must then seek the service. Case management is a function here to make
sure the client or patron receives the service needed.
Emergencies
- The LME must also ensure that there are
programs in place for crisis stabilization.
Services must be available on a 24 hour a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a
year basis. There will be a whole array of emergency services that will be
needed; detox. unit, day treatment program, etc. Much of this will be
contracted.
Provider
Network - About 200 surveys have been mailed
out. Only 50 or so have been returned
at this time. There are agencies,
private providers, multiple service providers, individuals who wish to do a
particular service but noone will commit at this time because we haven=t seen
the dollars associated with the program.
The group is informing the providers and letting them know that they are
eligible for the program. The LME must assure the Board of Commissioners that
they will have the providers, recruit providers, or as a last resort must
provide the services themselves.
Mr.
Nicholson explained that there are still a number of outstanding issues. There is nothing in this law that talks
about anything except maintenance of effort when it comes to local
dollars. You can=t cut the dollars you
have going to mental health services according to this law but it doesn=t say
how these monies will flow. Everyone
assumed it will flow to the LME but the law doesn=t specify. Mr. Nicholson
feels those are County monies and he can foresee us using those monies for
multiple uses. The Board has funded
mental health at a level where they are going to have some money to help with
providing the services in the community.
It could be true additional access points, a grant program to start
programs in our community, or even supplement services.
During
the transition period we don=t know how funds will be provided to the interim
Board or how to show the budget for mental health programs this coming
year. The issue of facilities keeps
coming up. In our case, Trend only owns one building. They lease their other buildings either from the Foundation or
from private individuals. Facilities is
not as big an issue to us as it is in some other places across the region. The divestitures of both Trend and Blue
Ridge is an important issue.
Resolution
Mr.
Nicholson discussed a Resolution Concerning The Reorganization Of Mental
Health, Developmental Disability And Substance Abuse Services In An Eight
County Region. He feels that there will
be plenty of opportunities for this Board to look at the issues associated with
mental health services. Basically he
requested the Board authorize the filing of the report and progressing with the
program. He asked if the Board had
specific issues, specific tasks or policies associated with the plan, then they
will be placed in the Work Plan for the first quarter. Information will be accumulated from the
eight counties, compiled and sent back out to all eight. He stressed the #4 statement in the Now
Therefore paragraph of the Resolution which reads AThe State of North Carolina
should ensure an adequate level of funding for mental health, developmental
disability and substance abuse services so as to protect the most vulnerable
citizens of this State.@
Mr.
Nicholson recognized Judith West, who was in the audience, who came forward and
answered some questions from the Board regarding transition in services for
clients currently receiving mental health services. Ms. West is a
representative from Trend Mental Health who has been working with the Managers
on this project.
Following
some discussion, Commissioner Messer made the motion to adopt this resolution
as presented by Mr. Nicholson and Ms. West.
A vote was taken and the motion passed three to two with Commissioners
Moyer and Young voting nay. The Resolution basically allows us to file a
Business Plan with the State.
INFORMAL
PUBLIC COMMENTS
1.
Dottie Effinger - Ms. Effinger stated she was
representing her interests for quality health care generally in our
County. She asked for a confiscated van
(drug-bust van through Sheriff=s Dept.) for the Blue Ridge Health Center. She
asked for the Board=s help in acquiring a van for Blue Ridge. We currently do not have a confiscated van
at the Sheriff=s Dept. The Law requires
that confiscated vehicles must benefit either the Sheriff=s Department or the
Board of Public Education.
If
the Board would support such a request, whenever a vehicle becomes available,
then Ms. Effinger and others could address the Board of Education to request
their support in giving a van to Blue Ridge Health Center.
TO
PURCHASE FORECLOSED PROPERTY OFFER
LOT
16, and easement crossing Lot 17 of Cold Springs Park Subdivision
Henderson
County had received an Offer to Purchase Lot 16 and easement crossing Lot 17,
Cold Springs Park Subdivision in the amount of $10,700.00. This property was acquired pursuant to a
Sheriff=s Sale, held for the nonpayment of taxes in 1972. Pursuant to the Policy Regarding the Sale of
Real Property Owned by Henderson County As a Result of a Tax Foreclosure Sale,
an initial offer was presented to the
Board of Commissioners, who can either reject the bid, or issue a proposed
acceptance. If the Board issues a
proposed acceptance, the bidder is required to post a bid deposit in the amount
of 5% of the bid or $150.00 whichever is greater. The bidder must also pay to the County $120.00 to cover the costs
of advertising the offer for upset bids.
A notice of the offer is then published inviting any upset bids. If no upset bids are received within the ten
(10) days following the notice, the offer will come back to the Board for final
consideration, at which point the Board may accept or reject the offer. If given final acceptance by the Board, the
purchaser must pay the full bid price, and a quitclaim deed is issued.
The
County Attorney has rendered a basic title opinion, which states that there
were some irregularities in the foreclosure process and subsequent foreclosure
sale. For this reason, she had prepared
an Offer to Purchase, which has been signed by the Offeror, which acknowledges
these irregularities, and requires the Offeror to sign a release as part of the
purchase price for the properties before the Offer is advertised.
Board
action to either give a proposed acceptance or to reject the Offer received would
be appropriate at this time.
Following
discussion, Commissioner Moyer made the motion to propose to accept the offer
as proposed in the prepared Resolution and follow the procedure laid out in the
second option of the Resolution. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
UPDATE
ON PENDING ISSUES
Litter
Summit
Chris
Coulson has been working on pulling together a ALitter Summit@. It is scheduled for Thursday, May 8, 2003 at
6:30 p.m. in Kaplan Auditorium of the Henderson County Public Library. The goal is twofold: the education of our
community, and to encourage law enforcement and enforcement of the laws already
on the books. The format will be a
panel discussion with two panels. One
panel is education based and entitled AWhere we are, how we got here, and what
citizens can do@. The other panel is
enforcement based which will talk about the laws and what various law
enforcement agencies can and are doing.
Some of the panel participants are from: Department of Transportation,
Office of Beautification, NC Dept. Of Corrections, Buncombe County Correctional
Center, Community Clubs, NC Highway Patrol, NC Wildlife Resources Commission,
and Henderson County Sheriff=s Office.
After
the panel discussions, they will open the floor for questions from the
audience. They will be inviting
Adopt-A-Highway participants, community clubs, Girl and Boy Scout leaders, our
Solid Waste Department, and the general public to attend. The panel discussion is scheduled to last no
more than an hour and a half. They will
have some anti-litter items to give away, information on who to contact if
someone is seen littering, and information on ways people can get involved in
litter cleanup.
Ms.
Coulson stated that when Stoney Mountain Prison was closed we lost a big asset
in the prisoners who would pick up trash on the roadsides. The Buncombe County Correctional Center does
have one eight-man litter pick-up crew that works in Henderson County only. They are here as much as possible, weather
permitting. They are charged with
cleaning up (Raleigh priorities) I-26 from the Buncombe/Henderson County Line
to the North Carolina/South Carolina State Line, Highway # 64 and # 25 through
the entire county. Their pick-up rotation
currently is each road once a month. A
request has been made that they start picking up Highway #191 as well. Currently the Community Work Service has
litter crews picking up trash each Saturday in the City limits and two
Saturdays a month they have 10-12 man work crews picking up litter in the
county. They are primarily focusing on
secondary roads because of the prison labor picking up I-26, 64, and 25.
Ms.
Coulson stated that as part of the Swat A Litterbug Campaign you can call in or
send an e-mail in if you see someone littering. There is a website where people can go and fill out an e-mail
form and that is sent to Raleigh. That
is really not enforcement. There is
nothing legally they can do but a letter does go out from the Commander of the
Highway Patrol to the individual based on their license plate number,
description of their vehicle, etc.
Ms.
Coulson stated that the NC Wildlife Resources Commission has Statewide
jurisdiction. They patrol gamelands,
National Forests, lakes and streams.
They issue more tickets statewide than anyone but they don=t receive
phone calls concerning littering. If
they see people littering, they cite them.
Update
- Mills River Sewer Project
Gary
Tweed had reviewed with our consultant the status of the Mills River Sanitary
Sewer Project. We have just recently
submitted the final Environmental Assessment Document. The future work will depend on the approval
of the EA, but in talking with the State staff he estimated the following
schedule for the remaining work:
NC Dept. Of Environment and Natural Resources to
write FONSI (Finding of No Significant Impact) in 3 weeks and send to EPA
EPA to publish FONSI in 6 weeks.
30-day public notice, if no public comments,
final approval issued by EPA.
Based on this schedule the project is estimated
to proceed as follows:
April through June 2003 - Final Permitting,
Final Plans
July 1 - Anticipated FONSI from EPA
July - August - Easement Acquisition
September - Bidding
October - Begin Construction
Mills River Crossing cannot be done from October
15 - April 15 during trout spawning season.
Mr.
Tweed stated that based on this schedule, his goal is to have the project
completed by the middle to the end of 2004.
The Clean Water Management Trust Fund Grant expires at the end of
2004.
Mr.
Tweed stated that we are actually drawing down this money now. The EPA funds have slowed this project by a
year.
Tax
Assessor Position (add-on)
Chairman
Hawkins had sent the Commissioners a memo with applications attached that had
been received to date for the position of Tax Assessor. The position was advertised as open until
filled.
There
was some discussion regarding the procedure to follow for interviewing
applicants. Chairman Hawkins asked each
Commissioner to prioritize the applications they had and let him have the
priority list and interviews will be set up for the Board for the top three or
so.
There
was also discussion regarding the possibility of a change in Tax Collector/Tax
Assessor into a Tax Administrator.
Terry F. Lyda, Tax Collector, had been contacted about the possible
change and he had responded that he planned to serve out his elected term as
Tax Collector. Chairman Hawkins stated
it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to have a County Tax
Administrator who has an elected Tax Collector working for him. The Board may have to wait on the idea of a
change for the time being. He stated
that the Board may want to make the applicants for the Tax Assessor aware that
the County is considering at some point looking at a new organization using a
Tax Administrator.
Home
Rule Legislation (add-on)
Commissioner
Moyer stated that 2-3 years ago a letter was sent on behalf of the Board of
Commissioners to the NCACC with respect to the ongoing problems we=re having
with the State on defining relationships regarding Home Rule or Dillion=s Rule
(who has the right to do what). In the letter we asked the Association to take
a look at this and establish a group to take a look at the changes that need to
be made. It went to the Association=s
Executive Committee and it went to the Board and they authorized moving forward
with studying this problem. They
established a Task Force to study it.
Mr. Moyer was asked to serve on the Task Force called AThe North
Carolina Association of County Commissioners County/State Financial Resources
Functional Responsibility Task Force@.
Their task is to study where Dillion=s Rule/Home Rule stands in the
State. It is a very confusing
picture. In many cases we have moved
away from Dillion=s Rule, the Courts have moved back to Dillion=s Rule and
clarification is needed. The Task Force met on March 27 and started the
process. Senate Bill #160 was
introduced which is designed to strengthen the autonomy of local governments.
The Task Force has taken a look at this legislation but Commissioner Moyer
thinks it does not go as far as he thinks is necessary. He asked if anyone had ideas with respect to
what they would like studied to let him know.
He will continue to inform the Board as things move forward.
Audit
- Sheriff=s Department (add-on)
Chairman
Hawkins stated that earlier this week the County Manager sent out a memo with
some educational material about how confiscated funds are divided between those
that the State is involved in, those the Federal Government is involved in, and
how they are accounted for in our County Accounting System.
Commissioner
Messer questioned how intent the Board is on doing an audit of the Sheriff=s
Department. Aren=t all our departments
currently audited as part of our budget process?
David
Nicholson had responded to several requests about how the Sheriff=s funds are
accounted for and audited. The Board
now has a memo from the County Manager which would help them to answer
questions from citizens on how it is done.
The Sheriff=s budget is audited as part of the General County
Audit. Every year an independent
auditor comes in and audits all county departments. Results of the audit are issued in the CAFR - Comprehensive
Annual Financial Report. Mr. Nicholson
reminded the Board that the Sheriff receives grants. Because of the fact that we get over a quarter million dollars
worth of grants we are covered under the single audit act which means the
auditors also have to do a compliance audit to make sure that we have followed
grant requirements. That information is
included in the CAFR. The Sheriff
also gets other monies:
C
Federal Forfeiture Money
This actually goes into our Trust and Agency
Fund and is part of the CAFR. When
those monies have to be used for law enforcement they are taken out of that
account and put into the General Fund.
A revenue is created and an expenditure for the use of the funds.
C
State Excise Drug Tax
This money is handled similar to the Federal
Forfeiture Money except that it doesn=t go into a separate account first.
Mr.
Nicholson stated that we have good procedures in place to check on these
issues.
Recess
Chairman
Hawkins called a brief technical recess.
BUDGET
GOALS - Social Services
Chairman
Hawkins stated that as part of the ongoing budget process the Board had asked
to have some discussion with some of our biggest departments, that consume
about 75% of our budget - the Board of Education, DSS, Public Health, and the
Sheriff=s Department.
Liston
Smith distributed a AGoal Presentation@ to the Board which was a 23 page
document. It had been presented to the
Henderson County Department of Social Services on April 7, 2003 by Mr. Smith,
Director of DSS - Department of Social Services. His recommendations to the
Board of Social Services were presented based on need even though it is a
fiscally tight year.
Goals:
1.
Increase access to affordable &
reliable child care subsidy assistance to children
of low income families waiting for service(s).
2. Implement a County Assistance Program
to support foster parents willing and able
to accept appointment as legal guardian for a
child with unique health, social, or learning
needs.
3.
Enable Sheriff=s Department and Social
Services to implement a Partner Model on investigations, case planning, and
case decisions for all child health and safety cases.
4.
Increase resources in Medicaid services
to maintain an acceptable level of service addressing both quality (timeliness
and accuracy) and quantity (number of county residents).
Mr.
Smith explained the rationale for each of these goals and discussed the
requests associated with each in detail. Requests associated with the
goals were as follows:
1.
$625,000 in 100% county funds to
supplement Child Care Block Grant.
2.
$40,000 for subsidy payments.
3.
$105,432 to contract for two detectives
(hopefully State & Federal monies would pay in full for these two
positions).
4.
Three Income Maintenance II caseworker
positions at a cost of $95,013, of which fifty percent would be reimbursed
through Federal/State match.
Liston
Smith had quotes and charts to demonstrate his goals and requests. He asked to
table Goal # 2. He wanted to do some
further study on it and bring it back before the DSS Board. He would like to create an incentive for
really Special Needs Kids so that they can have a permanent home but in the meantime
he doesn=t want to create a non-incentive for children to be adopted. He=s
still wrestling with this one.
The
Commissioners had previously discussed the following goals for DSS among
themselves:
C
Report on child support payments (amount
and # participants)
C
Reduce amount of time child is in foster
care
C
Reduce # of children on day care lists
C
Look at stats of Asuccess@ in various
cases
In
response to these goals, Listen discussed Child Support. They currently serve 2072 children in the
program. Their goal is to consistently
collect as much child support as possible for the benefit and economic
self-sufficiency of Henderson County children and families. He shared performance indicators demonstrating:
Percentage of children placed in non-family
settings.
Percentage of children placed with relatives.
Percentage of children with one placement only.
Percentage reduction of children in backlog
(Challenge for Children).
Average number of days in care.
Percentage in care after 12 months.
Grace
Poli, Chairman of the DSS Board, informed the Board that the Multiple Response
System will be mandated to be in place by 2005. If we could implement Goal # 3 we would be ahead of the curve. She would like to see that implemented. She stated that she understood that asking
for $600,000 for child subsidy is an outrageous amount but she thinks the
community needs to be aware of the fact that we have such a waiting list and
have had for multiple years.
BUDGET
GOALS - Public Health
The
Board had previously discussed a couple of goals for Dept. of Public Health:
# days to process an environmental inspection.
# children inoculated and cost per child
inoculated.
Tom
Bridges, Director of Public Health Department, addressed the Board. He stated that the Health Department had
been busy over the past year. One of
the big issues has been HIPAA - Health Insurance Portability and Accountability
Act. It has been stated that HIPAA will cost probably 3-4 times what Y2K
cost. They have also worked to unbundle
Medicaid billing. They have also been
busy with bioterrorism events and emergency activities. They did a joint
flu shot campaign with the two hospitals that was highly successful. There will be some legislation, already on
the floor, generated from Iredell County who wanted and insisted on a
body piercing bill which would mean that the Health Dept. would be in the
process not only of doing inspections of tattoo parlors but are likely to be
facing having to do inspections of body piercing activities by December. He mentioned briefly the fate of animal
services. Mr. Bridges stated that they
have seen a trend in shifting demographics.
He has gone from four bilingual staff to over ten. We have the limited English proficiency
requirement as a Federal law which means we have to provide translation
services at no charge to the client or to the patient.
Mr.
Bridges stated that they realize this will be a tight budget year. They are trying to pretty much hold the
line. He will have to ask for more
money for HIPAA for forms, printing, etc.
They have requests for vehicles in their budget which are based on the
County Vehicle Replacement Policy. They
have a couple of storage sheds in their budget.
Mr.
Bridges addressed the Animal Control Budget stating it is based on the current
activities. He realizes there could be
a big change later. He would like to
advocate for a full-time Environmental Health Supervisor. Robert Smith is retiring at the end of
August with 31 years with Henderson County but this means that Mr. Bridges will
be losing an Environmental Supervisor as well as an Animal Control
Supervisor.
Mr.
Bridges addressed the goals the Board had discussed - the Health Department
provides immunizations free of charge.
They get the vaccine free and they give it free as part of a public
health service. They vaccinated almost
9,000 children in 2002. The Board had
asked about the two week turn-around in septic tank permits. Actually this is pretty much the desirable
level. A lot of Health Departments are
seeking this as the majority of Health Departments are not near this. Mr. Bridges and staff would like to see this
improved. He stated that he is
encouraged by what he sees in technology enhancements in new type software and
hardware to improve on this, especially if we can match with the GIS
system. There has been some
discussion about establishing a special fee (higher premium) if someone needs a
STAT permit.
The
Board of Commissioners had suggested performing another emergency response
similar to the flu vaccination. Mr. Bridges stated that they just finished last
fall doing a bioterrorism exercise and prior to that they did some actual work
to be prepared for anthrax or smallpox.
Henderson
County just finished smallpox vaccinations and exceeded every county in
WNC. They vaccinated almost 70 people,
62 of them being in Henderson County.
So we have our first stage responders ready in case we had to do a full
blown public vaccination. Mr. Bridges
stated that he would hesitate to take
on another emergency response exercise at this time because they are just
waiting now for the order to move to stage II where they would be vaccinating
approx. 5,000 to 8,000 people in our county for the smallpox vaccination. If they implement stage II it would include
all the remaining Health Dept. staff, Hospital staff of both hospitals, private
physicians, emergency medical services, emergency management, fire, law
enforcement, etc.
Mr.
Bridges stated he was pleased to report that everyone who received the smallpox
vaccination is doing OK.
He
mentioned that mosquito control is a program they are looking at very
earnestly. He has asked to more than
double that budget, from $25,000 to $60,000.
Henderson County has an active vector control program. They propose acquiring a used pick-up truck
so they can use an idle second sprayer.
BUDGET
GOALS - Public Schools
The Board
discussed the following goals for the Board of Public Education:
C
Reduce drop-out rates.
C
Improve end-of-course test grades for
minorities.
C
Demonstrate education quality improvement
with reduction in class size.
The
Board will have a joint meeting with the Board of Education at a later date.
Commissioner
Baldwin questioned the formatting, education, and training for department heads
for the outcome focused or performance based budgeting process.
Staff
explained that we are not far enough into the new process and they need time
this year to train department heads in the new budgeting process.
Commissioner
Baldwin would like for staff to set up the program so that the Board can see
how the whole process will be implemented.
Education/training for department heads will be a very important part.
IMPORTANT
DATES
There
was some discussion concerning a joint meeting with the Board of Public
Education. The preferred date was
Tuesday, April 22 at 2:00 p.m. (here).
There
was a problem with the April 17 date for the Public Hearing on the Animal
Services Ordinance. David will look for
an alternate date for the Board at the same location (Kaplan Auditorium).
The
Board had previously set the NC DOT Secondary Road Public Hearing for May
14. The Legislative Briefing and
Reception is that same day. One of our Commissioners has already stated that he
would not be at the NC DOT Hearing because he (Commissioner Messer) would be
out of town. We have to have three
Commissioners present to have a quorum.
Only one Commissioner stated that he might attend the Legislative
Meeting (Commissioner Moyer). David
Nicholson plans to attend the Legislative Briefing.
There
being no further business to come before the Board, Chairman Hawkins made
the motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:18 p.m.
All voted in favor and the motion carried.
Elizabeth
W. Corn, Clerk to the Board
Grady
Hawkins, Chairman