IREDELL COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MINUTES February 18, 2014 The Iredell County Board of Commissioners met on Tuesday, February 18, 2014, at 7:00 PM, in the Iredell County Government Center (Commissioners Meeting Room), 200 South Center Street, Statesville, NC. Board Members Present Chairman Steve Johnson Vice Chairman Marvin Norman Renee Griffith David Boone Ken Robertson Staff present: County Manager Ron Smith, County Attorney Bill Pope, Deputy County Manager Beth Dirks, Library Director Steve Messick, Mike Phillips, Misty Icard and Clerk to the Board Retha Gaither. CALL TO ORDER by Chairman Johnson INVOCATION by Chairman Johnson PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE led by Chairman Johnson ADJUSTMENTS OF THE AGENDA: MOTION by Chairman Johnson to approve the agenda with the following adjustments: Additions: Announcement of Vacancies Occurring on Boards & Commissions Animal Grievance Committee (1 Announcement) Deletions: Closed Session Real Property/Contract/Leases, G.S. 143-318.11 (a) (5). PRESENTATION OF SPECIAL RECOGNITIONS & AWARDS APPOINTMENTS BEFORE THE BOARD Request from Cindy Englert, Regional Ombudsman, to Present the Community Advisory Committees Annual Report: Regional Ombudsman Cindy Englert, with Centralina Council of Governments Area Agency on Aging, addressed the board and recognized attendee Janet Hall, who is one of the volunteers with the Adult Home Care Committee. Englert stated Anna Rice, Council on Aging along with Donna Osborne and Kelly McMillan from the Department of Social Services Adult Home Specialist serve as back-up agents for this committee. Englert thanked the Board of Commissioners for appointing volunteers to serve on the committees. She stated they have approximately 200 volunteers in the nine county region, which is a part of over 1800 statewide advocates. Iredell County volunteers serve the adult care and nursing home facilities. These volunteers receive 15 hours of initial orientation and in-facility training. They also receive an additional 8 hours of on-going training throughout the year. The regional ombudsman conducts quarterly training, provide technical assistance, and provide assistance with organizing families and councils. The volunteers are mandated by the North Carolina General Statutes and are legislatively empowered to serve as a resident advocate, which makes them the only agency that has the resident as a focal point. Region F has grown to over 15,000 long-term care beds making it one of the largest in the state. Iredell County has 739 nursing home beds and 834 adult care home beds. Englert stated a new assisted living facility has opened in Mooresville called Carillon, which includes a special unit for patients with dementia. She highlighted several activities the volunteers hosted with residents. Englert continued with thanking the Board again for their financial support and also to ICATS for their cooperation in helping to transport residents to various activities. She also stated there are several vacancies on these committees and would welcome nominations from the Board. Some assisted living facilities are being closely monitored due to recent changes in funding, to ensure there is no decline in care due to cuts. The committee extends an invitation the 1
Board of Commissioners to visit a facility with a volunteer to get a first-hand look at some of the issues and/or meet some of the residents. PUBLIC HEARINGS ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS Report from the Library Director to Apply for Discounted Telecommunications Services (E-Rate Program): Library Director Steve Messick stated he is asking approval to apply for E-Rate discounts for a telecommunications program under the FCC E-Rate Program which provides discounted telecommunication services to schools and libraries. Iredell County Library has been participating in this program since 2001. He stated they would use this to receive discounts for telephone services for the Statesville, Harmony and Troutman libraries, also for internet access for the Statesville Library and DSL service for the Statesville, Harmony and Troutman Libraries. These are all existing services. The total cost of the services is $26,316.00. He said they are eligible for a 70% discount on these services. The E-Rate Program would provide $18, 421.00 and the county s balance would be $7,895.00. Chairman Johnson asked if everything was working well because he had received a few complaints when the Troutman Library first opened. Messick stated all problems had been resolved and everything is working well. MOTION by Vice Chairman Marvin Norman to approve. Request from the Library Director for Budget Amendment #21 for Additional State Aid to Public Libraries: Library Director Steve Messick asked the Board to approve a budget amendment to recognize additional state aid. He said all public libraries in North Carolina receive funding from the state library which is based on the population and the per capita income of the county. The amounts are determined in the fall of each year after the state passes its budget and after libraries have applied for the funds in September. This year the library will be eligible for $141,689.00 which Messick asked to be allocated to buy an additional 500 books. MOTION by Commissioner Renee Griffith to approve BA #21. BA#21 2/18/2014 To record additional State Aid to Public Libraries for library materials. Account # Current Change Amended 104650 456100 State Library Grant (134,430) (7,259) (141,689) 105652 535404 Library Materials - Children 87,571 2,421 89,992 105652 535406 Library Materials - Adult Fiction 73,479 1,990 75,469 105652 535420 Library Materials - Adult Non Fiction 61,105 2,848 63,953 - Request from the Sheriff s Office to Apply for a NC Governor s Highway Safety Equipment Grant for $32,784.00 to Purchase Equipment for the Crime Lab: Mike Phillips, 2
from the Sheriff s Office, addressed the Board and stated they are requesting permission to apply for grant in the amount of $32,784.00 from the North Carolina Governor s Highway Safety Program. This will be used to purchase three refrigerators to hold blood samples while awaiting testing. He said they would also like to purchase two trays for blood alcohol chromatography, two diluters/dispensers and test tube rockers. They do not anticipate any future cost because there are no maintenance contracts. He said this equipment will match equipment given to them by the District Attorney s Association and will double their ability to test. The testing ability will increase from 50 to 100 in a run. Commissioner Ken Robertson asked if it would be the same number of man hours. Phillips said yes. Commissioner Robertson questioned the potential cost-savings as written in the memo that read: Increasing the number of sample testing and the number of technicians to run samples could help to alleviate any future overtime needs. He stated he did not see anything about additional technicians. Phillips said they are not adding technicians. He said they are trying to increase the number of tests to keep from hiring another technician. This will double the production of work the two present technicians can do in the same amount of time. MOTION by Vice Chairman Marvin Norman to approve.. Request for Approval of January s Refunds and Releases: MOTION by Commissioner Renee Griffith to approve. Releases for the month of January 2014 Monthly $ 17,400.47 Total Breakdown of Releases: County $ 9,874.42 Solid Waste Fees $ - Mrvl Solid Waste Fees $ - Davidson Solid Waste Fees $ - E. Alex. Co. Fire #1 $ 2.46 Shepherd's Fire #2 $ 120.15 Mt. Mourne Fire #3 $ 29.88 All County Fire #4 $ 420.11 B&F Fire #5 $ 64.20 Statesville City $ 1,134.98 Statesville Mooresville Town $ 4,500.11 Mooresville Mooresville School $ 1,238.59 Love Valley $ - Harmony $ 1.63 Troutman $ 13.94 $ - Davidson Refunds for the month of January 2014 Monthly $ 710.33 Total Breakdown of Refunds: 3
County $ 341.14 Solid Waste Fees $ - Mrvl Solid Waste Fees $ - Davidson Solid Waste Fees $ - E. Alex. Co. Fire #1 $ - Shepherd's Fire #2 $ - Mt. Mourne Fire #3 $ - All County Fire #4 $ 10.40 B&F Fire #5 $ 7.90 Statesville City $ 85.90 Statesville Mooresville Town $ 200.91 Mooresville Mooresville School $ 64.08 Love Valley $ - Harmony $ - Troutman $ - Davidson $ - Request for Approval of the February 4, 2014 Minutes: MOTION by Commissioner David Boone to approve the minutes as presented.. ANNOUNCEMENTS OF VACANCIES OCCURRING ON BOARD & COMMISSIONS 2014 Board of Equalization & Review (6 Announcements) Animal Grievance Committee (1 Announcement) APPOINTMENTS TO BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS Animal Grievance Committee (1 Appointment) Vice Chairman Marvin Norman nominated Lori Root. MOTION by Chairman Johnson to close the nominations and appoint Lori Root by acclamation. Board of Health (1 Appointment) Chairman Johnson nominated Lisa Warren. MOTION by Chairman Johnson to close the nominations and appoint Lisa Warren by acclamation. UNFINISHED BUSINESS PUBLIC COMMENT NEW BUSINESS 4
COUNTY MANAGER S REPORT County Manager Ron Smith reported on last week s snow event. County offices were closed Thursday and Friday, February 13 & 14. Smith stated he originally thought of opening late on Friday but realized after traveling the roads that it was to hazardous for employees as well as the public. He declared a state of emergency but did not open the EOC. There was a debriefing with most public safety departments on Monday, February 17. They reported there were no major issues but a few internal issues that will be addressed. Smith thanked the public safety and facility services staff for their dedication and great work. Smith distributed, to the Board, the agenda and information for the upcoming Winter Retreat scheduled for Friday and Saturday, February 21 & 22, 2014. CLOSED SESSION ADJOURNMENT: MOTION by Vice Chairman Marvin Norman to adjourn the meeting at 7:30 p.m. (NEXT MEETING: Friday, February 21, 2014 at 8:30 a.m. at Lowe s Aviation, 116 Lowe s Aviation Drive, Statesville, NC.). Approval: Clerk to the Board 5