Board of Commissioners Meeting April 7, Seminary Street Kenansville, NC County Commissioner s Room

Transcription

1 Board of Commissioners Meeting April 7, Seminary Street Kenansville, NC County Commissioner s Room The Duplin County Board of Commissioners met at 9:00 a.m. in regular session Monday, April 7, 2014 at 224 Seminary Street, Kenansville, NC. Present: Commissioners: Kenn Thompson, Harold Raynor, Frances Parks, Tim Smith, Albert Brown, and Anita Powers. Also Present: Mr. Mike Aldridge, County Manager, Ms. Teresa Lanier, Finance Officer, Ms. Paige Marshburn, Administrative Officer, and Ms. Wendy Sivori, County Attorney. Invocation was given by Commissioner Tim Smith. Commissioner Tim Smith added MOU and March 17, 2014 minutes need a correction. The motion on the March 17, 2014 minutes should read to deny Ms. Suttons request for tax exempt status for Emotions Organization as it relates to property taxes. Mr. Mike Aldridge, County Manager added a public hearing by Mr. Joe McKemey, McDavid Associates. Motion was made by Commissioner Parks, seconded by Commissioner Brown, carried unanimously, to approve the consent agenda which included the following: Solid Waste Releases - # #10881, budget amendments # #0152, and Grant #12-C-2494, #12-C-2414, #11-C Commissioner Tim Smith added MOU and March 17, 2014 minutes need a correction. The motion on the March 17, 2014 minutes should read to deny Ms. Suttons request for tax exempt status for Emotions Organization as it relates to property taxes. Mr. Mike Aldridge, County Manager added a public hearing by Mr. Joe McKemey, McDavid Associates. Items to be made part of minutes. Administrative Budget Amendments #I357 - #J417. No Public Comments Ms. Jerri Parker appeared before the board to receive comments on Duplin County roads. Commissioner Brown commented that at 330 East Charity Road where Ms. Patricia Patrick lives, there is water running under her house instead of in the ditch. She had to replace her floor. Mr. Joe McKemey, McDavid Associates, Inc., appeared before the board to hold a public hearing and receive comments on the 2012 proposed application for CDBG funds. The County intends to apply for both water and sewer funds. The water application is on various roads in County Water District D and there is also interest in an area west of Wallace at Calico Bay Road. The CDBG application is due May 1, 2014 and a subsequent application for the 2014 money is due on September 30, It is mandatory hookup if water or sewer lines are extended. The area has to be 51% low to moderate income. There are other criteria for CDBG funding. The point system is based on poverty rate, water and sewer rates, and criteria of need. All of these combined score the application. A second public hearing will be needed on April 21, We will have to do door to door survey to determine if the area is low to moderate income (see attached).

2 2 The Public Hearing was opened at 9:13 a.m. No comments from the public. The Public Hearing was closed at 9:15 a.m. Motion was made by Commissioner Parks, seconded by Commissioner Powers, carried unanimously, to approve a second public hearing to be held at 9:00 a.m. on April 21, 2014 in the county commissioner s room concerning application for CDBG funds. Sheriff Blake Wallace appeared before the board to report on the inmate housing situation. He provided a copy of a printout showing from April 2013 to March 2014 that $227, has been spent housing inmates out of the county and the debt service on the jail of approximately $100, is due to expire next fiscal year. He asked for money to be appropriated for extra money to house these inmates for the rest of the year. Commissioner Thompson stressed that the main point of interest to address with Representative Dixon and Senator Jackson is that if we can t get at least half of the DOC facility, then we need to build a new jail. Sheriff Wallace said as of today we have 148 inmates that we are in control of and this is actually the 2020 projected (see attached). ` No Public Comments. Senator Jackson appeared before the board and addressed the jail situation. Senator Jackson has asked for all or either part of the prison more times than one and every time has been turned down. The State does not know what they want to do with DOC facility. The requests have not gone unnoticed and we continue to ask. Senator Jackson agrees that if they would not lease the whole facility, they should lease part of it because it does sound like there is a dire need. Representative Dixon is confident that progress will be made but has not been able to impress on the proper people what needs to be done with the DOC facility. He is confident that Duplin County will get a portion of the DOC facility. Motion was made by Commissioner Smith, seconded by Commissioner Brown, carried unanimously, to present a resolution to the State requesting part of the Duplin County DOC property for Duplin County jail use. Commissioner Smith asked if there was a chance of getting the Rose Hill facility for the animal shelter. Representative Dixon said it has not been leased to anyone. There are two entities interested and they are Friends of Pets and the Board of Education. Senator Jackson addressed the new e-verify requirement and acknowledged the interpretation of the e-verify requirement caused an intended consequence when passed. In the six weeks we spend with the budget, there will not be a lot of controversial issues brought up and we will be dealing with a shortfall in revenue. There will be a few expansion items such as teachers pay and state employees some type of raise. Our revenue projections are down from expected. We are hoping to see a rebound come April 16, We are waiting for the governor s budget and expecting a 1% to 2% reduction across all agencies. The e-verify is an issue that has been construed and has not gone unnoticed. Representative Dixon added that there is a need to modify the language of e-verify so it does not allow for such broad interpretation at the County level, however, there has been an enormously wide variety of ways that counties and municipalities have implemented e-verify (see attached).

3 Motion was made by Commissioner Parks, seconded by Commissioner Powers, carried unanimously, to adopt the resolution of legislative goals, and to authorize the Chairman and Clerk to sign. Mr. Jim Harris, TDA, appeared before the board to request approval of a contract with Duplin Winery to market and co-sponsor the event known as Our Main Squeeze on May 3, 2014 at the Duplin County Events Center (see attached). Motion was made by Commissioner Parks, seconded by Powers to approve the contract between Duplin Winery and Duplin County to market and co-sponsor the event Our Main Squeeze on May 3, 2014 at the Duplin County Events Center with the exception in paragraph 3 under beer compensation that is be split 50/50 on the condition that the legal terms meet the approval of our County Attorney and Duplin Winery. Mr. Bee Barnett, Solid Waste Director, appeared before the board to request the board approve a contract for Solid Waste services between Duplin County and Duplin County Board of Education. Duplin County Solid Waste will provide solid waste disposal and recycling services to all Duplin County schools. In providing these services, it will ensure all solid waste from the schools is transferred through Duplin County transfer station (see attached). unanimously, to approve the contract between Duplin County and Duplin County Board of Education for Solid Waste services. Mr. Derl Walker, Chairman Board of Elections, appeared before the board to discuss Elections. The Elections Board is asking the commissioners to allow the applications for the director position to be sent directly to the Board of Elections. When the application period has ended, a meeting between Board of Elections and County Human Resource Director, Ms. Pam Brame will be scheduled. The secured applications will be given to Ms. Brame to open and process them in a manner that will satisfy the County personnel policy. The applications will then be given to the Board of Elections whom will complete the process of appointment. Motion was made by Commissioner Smith, seconded by Commissioner Parks, for Elections to continue the hiring process through personnel. 3 Commissioner Smith withdrew his motion. unanimously, to accept Mr. Derl Walker s proposal and amend it so that the County would receive the applications and Human Resources will tear off EOC and then give the applications to Board of Elections for selection of an applicant. Commissioners Brown, Smith, Parks, and Powers voted for. Commissioners Thompson and Raynor voted against. Motion carried 4:2. Mr. Randall Tyndall, Planning Director, appeared before the board to request approval for the lease renewal on the Industrial Park/Commons land for Mr. Bennie Grady and Mr. Lee Swinson. Mr. Grady and Mr. Swinson competitively out bid all others for County owned property in the Industrial Parks and at the Commons for agricultural use (see attached). Motion was made by Commissioner Smith, seconded by Commissioner Brown, carried unanimously, to award lease renewals to Mr. Benny Grady and Mr. Lee Swinson, and authorize the Chairman and Clerk to sign first option renewal of each contract.

4 Mr. Davis Brinson, Register of Deeds, appeared before the board to present his employee, Ms. Carol Jackson, her retirement plaque from the County. Mr. James Wolfe, Economic Development Director, appeared before the board requesting the county budget funds for the approved incentive to Guilford by Lear associated with Project Pipeline. The incentive schedule is for Duplin County to pay Guilford $27,563 per year from 2013 to One of the stipulations for Guilford to receive this incentive is that they must pay the taxes on the gas pipeline. Piedmont Natural Gas did not bill for the 2013 taxes until December of 2013, at which time the county requested payment from Guilford. Guilford has paid the 2012 and 2013 taxes. Mr. Wolfe is requesting the county to pay the 2013 and 2014 incentive, totaling $55,126, so that the county will stay on the schedule in the agreement. The required investment and job creation requirement of the incentive agreement have already been met by Guilford. Motion was made by Commissioner Smith, seconded by Commissioner Powers to approve the request that Duplin County pay the 2013 and 2014 incentive to Guilford for a total of $42,195.30, thus approving budget amendment #153 (see attached). Miscellaneous The Board of E & R meetings has been scheduled on the calendar for May 5 and May 19, 2014 at 2:00 p.m. on both days. unanimously to schedule meetings for the Board of E & R on May 5 and May 19, 2014 at 2:00 p.m. on both days. Mr. Mike Aldridge, County Manager, appeared before the board to request the board adopt and proclaim April 2014 as National County Government Month (see attached). Motion was made by Commissioner Smith, seconded by Commissioner Parks, carried unanimously, to adopt and proclaim April 2014 as National County Government month, and authorize the Chairman and Clerk to sign. Mr. Aldridge appeared before the board to request the reclassification of Ms. Tonya Power s position as Secretary 1 from part-time to a full-time position. The position will move from the County Manager s salary budget to the Finance s salary budget (see attached). Motion was made by Commissioner Brown, seconded by Commissioner Parks to approve the reclassification for Ms. Tonya Power s position as Secretary 1 from a part-time to a full time position and move the salary budget from manager to the finance department (see attached). FYI The North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service gave a personal invitation to the annual public open house scheduled for Monday, April 7, 2014 (see attached). A letter was received from the Office of the District Attorney regarding handling cruelty cases and as a prosecutor he will make every effort to expedite cruelty cases in District Court (see attached). 4

5 The ECC Board expressed in a memo the disappointment that no one has represented Duplin County on the ECC Board for several years. Perhaps with the elections, someone new to the Commissioners Board can be appointed (see attached). Mr. Aldridge gave an explanation in a letter to Ms. Sharon Edmundson, CPA, for the untimely receipt of Duplin County s FY 2013 audited financial statements (see attached). The Town of Greenevers is having a Firemen s Day Parade on April 26, 2014 beginning at 10:00 a.m. (see attached). The County taxing officials and the property owner reached an agreement satisfactory to both concerning the value of the Carolina Turkeys property and notified the Commissioners of the terms of the agreement. The present value is $41,674,329. The new appraised value is $40,827,165 (see attached). Motion was made by Commissioner Parks, seconded by Commissioner Smith, carried unanimously, to go out of Regular Session and into Closed Session pursuant to N.C.G.S (a) (3) legal matters. The Board returned to Regular Session. unanimously, to recess until April 9, 2014 at 7:30 a.m. for a meeting with the James Sprunt Community College Board of Trustees. Clerk 5