MINUTES
STATE
OF
The Henderson County
Board of Commissioners met for a regularly scheduled meeting at
Those present were: Chairman Bill Moyer, Vice-Chairman Charlie
Messer, Commissioner Larry Young, Commissioner Shannon Baldwin, Commissioner
Chuck McGrady, County Manager David E. Nicholson, Assistant County Manager
Justin Hembree, Acting County Attorney Russell Burrell, 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, Fire Marshal Rocky Hyder, County Engineer Gary Tweed, and Finance
Director J. Carey McLelland. Deputy Clerk to the Board Amy Brantley was present
through nominations.
CALL TO ORDER/WELCOME
Chairman Moyer called
the meeting to order and welcomed all in attendance.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Commissioner Baldwin led
the Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag.
INVOCATION
David Nicholson gave the
invocation.
INFORMAL PUBLIC COMMENTS
They
followed the guidelines and upon finding a desecrated cemetery, called the
Sheriff’s Department as they have been advised to do. They have been very
helpful, thoughtful, even interested; however, when assigned to a detective a stone wall appears
to go up. On two separate instances
detectives have denied any knowledge of the Cemetery book or the Cemetery
Advisory Committee. He informed the
Board of a complaint he had with a Detective and a cemetery.
As
Co-Chair of the Committee he made some suggestions:
·
Have
someone from G.I.S. go with the person to the cemetery to visit the scene.
·
Have
alternating members of the Sheriff’s Department sit in on all of the Cemetery
Advisory Committee meetings to get a grasp of the severity of the problem and
understand what the Committee members are trying to do.
·
Since
the problem usually arises when the Detectives are involved, make sure when a
Detective goes to the scene, he has a copy of the Cemetery book.
·
Have
the property owners in
Mr.
Miller showed a form, “NC Cemetery
Survey Form” and stated that we should be using the form here.
He
stated that it has become evident that we can’t save all the cemeteries. The Black community has lost an astounding
number and they are willing to come on board and help with the cleanings, etc.
Mr.
Baldwin thinks the Board needs to revisit the Charter of the Cemetery Advisory
Committee to perhaps expand their scope.
Mr.
Baldwin also stated “I’ve got, as a Commissioner, working with you guys having
appointed this Committee to do this job – I’ve got an issue with a member of
this Committee having to be a complaining witness or the one that files the
papers when we find that the law has been broken… There is a violation of
public law. Why is it that an individual
has to go, make a complaint and file the papers? It doesn’t make sense to me.”
Mr.
Baldwin stated that he would like to add Revision of the Charter for the
Cemetery Advisory Committee to review this issue to the Board’s agenda. He also felt that we should begin to G.I.S.
these sites immediately.
DISCUSSION/ADJUSTMENT OF AGENDA
There were no
adjustments.
Commissioner McGrady made the motion that the Board approve
the agenda as presented. All voted in
favor and the motion carried.
CONSENT AGENDA
Commissioner McGrady made the motion that the Board approve
the consent agenda as presented. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
The Consent Agenda
consisted of the following:
Tax Collector’s Report
Terry F. Lyda, Tax
Collector, had provided the Tax Collector’s Report dated
Tax Refunds
A list of 10 tax refund
requests was presented from the Tax Assessor for the Board’s consent approval.
Tax Releases
A list of 91 tax release
requests was presented from the Tax Assessor for the Board’s consent approval.
Tax Discoveries
A list of 5 discovery
requests was presented from the Tax Assessor for the Board’s consent approval.
Contract for Engineering Services for Transfer Station
As previously discussed
with the Board, it has been planned to improve the Solid Waste Transfer Station
by adding a second bay and make repairs to worn concrete surfaces in the first
bay. The Board authorized the
preparation of contracts for engineering services with Camp Dresser & McKee
in
A copy of the proposed
contract and preliminary engineering costs estimate of the project was
presented for the Board’s review. A
summary of the preliminary costs follows:
Transfer Station 2nd Bay $1,195,888
1st Bay Restoration 250,321
Engineering Services 116,600
Total Project Estimate $1,562,809
Construction
administration services will be provided by the
Staff recommended that
the Board approve the contract with CDM for the design of the 2nd
Bay.
Surplus
Presented for the
Board’s consideration was a resolution (Exhibit A) declaring the prepared list
(Exhibit B) of vehicles and equipment no longer used by the County as surplus
property. The resolution also authorizes
staff to advertise for sale and dispose of this surplus property by electronic
public auction at www.govdeals.com.
Also presented for the
Board’s information was a copy of NCGS 160A-270 (Exhibit C), which authorizes
electronic public auctions and information on governmental only auction
services provided by GovDeals (Exhibit D).
A number of
The
Refund request for transfer tax overpayment
Attorney Michael M.
Thompson has requested, on behalf of Steven Harenlip and Beth M. Siegel, the
refund of the sum of $470.00 in real property conveyance excise tax (“deed
stamps”). The deed in question
represented real estate located in
Pursuant to N.C. Gen.
Stat. 105-228.37, a request for refund of overpayment of real property
conveyance excise tax must be made within six months of the date of
payment. The payment was made
Under N.C. Gen Stat.
105-266.1, the Board of Commissioners has the following responsibilities:
1.
It
must “grant a hearing on each timely request for refund”.
2.
The
taxpayer must be notified of the hearing date within 60 days of the date of the
request, and at least 10 days prior to the date of the hearing.
3.
The
hearing must be held within 90 days of the request for refund, unless otherwise
agreed.
4.
A
decision must be given within 90 days of the hearing.
Any refund granted must
include the tax paid plus interest until the date of payment.
The
Request for quitclaim deed
Attorney Porter W.
Staples, on behalf of his client, Dora Womack, seeks a quitclaim deed from
Doral Womack states that
she received title to the property from Golightly. She seeks your approval for the execution by
the County of a quitclaim deed granting her all the interest the County
presently has, if any, in the property acquired by Morgan in Deed Book 604, at
Page 193, which is incorporated herein by reference. Womack’s attorney has stated in conversation
with staff that Womack needs this in order to obtain title insurance on the
property (which is required in order to obtain financing for construction on
the property).
Under a quitclaim deed,
the County would not warrant any title to this property whatsoever.
The
Settlement of lawsuit
EDWARD
AUDIA GILLIAM By and Through His Guardian ad Litem, LEAH BROKER, Plaintiff v.
HENDERSON
COUNTY HOSPITAL CORPORATION d/b/a
(
on behalf of the
Henderson County Emergency Medical Service.
A tentative settlement
has been reached whereby Safeco Insurance Company is to pay the sum of
$598,000.00 in full and final settlement of all claims against
N.C. Gen. Stat.
143-318.11(a)(3) requires that a settlement of a claim against the County be
publicly reported and entered into the Board of Commissioner’s minutes within a
reasonable time after the settlement is concluded. The Board was requested to confirm this
settlement and enter it into the minutes of this meeting.
Apple Country Greenways Commission Annual Report
John D. Antrim,
Chairman, Apple Country Greenway Commission had provided the ACGC Annual Report
for 2004. The report was submitted as
specified in the Interlocal Agreement.
Worth noting for 2004
were the completion of the construction of Phase One of the Oklawaha Greenway,
no damage to the greenway due to the flooding caused by hurricanes Frances and
Ivan, and a well attended Phase One dedication ceremony in October.
Their major goal for
2005 is to participate in a November 2005 regional greenway conference which
will be held in
The Commission will be
requesting that
No action was required
at this time.
Awards
1.
NC
Public Library Directors Association – Outstanding Adult Program Award for
Elizabeth
I: Ruler and Legend
2.
NOMINATIONS
Notification of Vacancies
The Board was notified
of the following vacancies which will appear on the next agenda for
nominations:
1.
Equalization
and Review Board – 2 vac.
2.
Nominations
Chairman Moyer reminded
the Board of the following vacancies and opened the floor to nominations:
1.
Cable Franchise Renewal
Advisory Committee – 6 vac.
Chairman Moyer nominated
Henry King.
Commissioner Young
nominated Richard Waters.
Previous nominations (
Following discussion, Commissioner Baldwin made the motion to
limit representation from the radio stations to one person from each
station. All voted in favor and the
motion carried.
The Clerk polled the
Board and the vote follows:
Commissioner Baldwin: Molton, Houston, Ledbetter, Waters,
King, and Hutto.
Commissioner McGrady:
Rhodes, Zwicker, Hutto, Houston, Jarvis and King.
Chairman Moyer: Rhodes,
Hutto, Houston, Ledbetter, Jarvis, and King.
Commissioner Messer:
Rhodes, Zwicker, Hutto, Houston, Jarvis, and King.
Commissioner Young:
Blackwelder, Hutto, Molton, Houston, Ledbetter, and Waters.
The (6) nominees were:
Richard Rhodes, David Hutto, Randy Houston, Tom Ledbetter, Doug Jarvis, and
Henry King.
2.
Criminal Justice
Partnership Program – 5 vac.
Commissioner McGrady
nominated the incumbents as listed:
#10 Randy
Eggen
#15 Diane
Satterfield
#16 Tracy
Howell
#17 Ray
Simpson
#18 Jessica
Wagner
Chairman Moyer made the motion to accept the 5 nominees by
acclamation. All voted in favor and the
motion carried.
3.
Fire and Rescue Advisory
Committee – 1 vac.
Chairman Moyer informed
the Board that the Committee has met and has nominated Richard Barnwell to fill
this vacancy.
Commissioner McGrady made the motion to appoint Mr. Barnwell
by acclamation. All voted in favor and
the motion carried.
4.
Juvenile Crime
Prevention Council – 2 vac.
There were no
nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
5.
Mountain Area Workforce
Development Board – 1 vac.
The Chamber of Commerce
has recommended Barry Brown to fill this position.
Commissioner McGrady made the motion to appoint Mr. Brown by
acclamation. All voted in favor and the
motion carried.
6.
Nursing/Adult Care Home
Community Advisory Committee – 10 vac.
Commissioner McGrady moved the appointment of Suzanne
Camp-Goodman and Pat Strickland for positions # 4 and # 10 respectively. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
On
Commissioner Baldwin moved the appointment of Janice Aho to
this position. All voted in favor and
the motion carried.
7.
Recreation Advisory
Committee – 3 vac.
Commissioner Messer
nominated Terry Maybin to position # 3, Ralph King to position # 4, and Gary
Eblen to position # 5.
Commissioner Baldwin
nominated Frank Edney to position # 3, Vance Calbert to position # 4, and
Virginia Bailey to position # 5.
These nominees will be
voted on at the next meeting.
HENDERSON COUNTY HOSPITAL CORPORATION
REIMBURSEMENT AGREEMENT AMENDMENT
Russ Burrell informed
the Board of a request from the Henderson County Hospital Corporation (“the
Corporation”) seeking the Board’s approval of certain modifications to the
Letter of Credit and Reimbursement Agreement concerning the “$15,300,000 County
of Henderson, North Carolina, Hospital Revenue Bonds (Margaret R. Pardee
Memorial Hospital Project) Series 2001”.
There are two effects of
the proposed changes:
1.
Allows
substitution of each actual year’s expenditures on capital expense for the pro forma
Projection
of the same used in the original, as the basis for determining each year’s
maximum
Capital
expenditures by the Corporation; and,
2.
Excludes
expenditures for capital and operating leases from the expenditure calculation.
The Corporation seeks
these modifications, which have been approved by Branch Banking and Trust
Company, in order to bring calculations in line with actual expenditures,
rather than with a projected budget prepared when the bond issue was first
approved. The Corporation’s Board of Directors
approved this language on
The
Chairman Moyer stated
that this has already been approved by the Corporation and it is necessary.
Commissioner McGrady made the motion to approve the request,
the modifications to the letter of credit and reimbursement agreement as
presented. All voted in favor and the
motion carried.
COMPREHENSIVE TRANSPORTATION PLAN, PHASE I –
Understanding that the
Board will have opportunities for additional input throughout the remainder of
the planning process, staff recommended that the Board endorse the Preliminary
Highway Map with the following comments:
1.
Overall,
the Preliminary Highway Map compliments the County Comprehensive Plan.
2.
Realignment
of the proposed
3.
Other
comments agreed upon by the Board.
Once the Board agrees
upon comments, staff will draft a formal letter for the Chairman’s signature
that outlines the Board’s endorsement and comments. Letters will be forwarded
to the TAC, NCDOT, and the MPO.
Much discussion
followed, pro and con. Basically the Board wishes to keep the process moving
along and receive public comments. The
Board doesn’t want to lose this project.
Commissioner Baldwin made the motion that the Board offer
their general support that would not lock them into the specific lines on the
map but say that the Board supports the plan provided to the Board, subject to
the staff conditions and agree to send it out for public comment in accordance
with the recommendation. All voted in
favor and the motion carried.
Commissioner Baldwin
stated that the Board recognizes that NCDOT is the umbrella organization that
knows how to move traffic and understands traffic flow and movement and the
Board should support NCDOT and their plan in general.
NCDOT UPWARD ROAD IMPROVEMENT PROJECT
Chairman Moyer stated
that this was discussed at the last Board meeting. It was also discussed at the LGCCA meeting
yesterday. He asked
1.
The
first one and the most important one the Board identified at that time was a
traffic signal at
2.
The
Board also indicated the possibility for a light at
3.
Discussion
about traffic lights at Crest and
4.
Another
concern was the intersection of Upward Road Extension and
5.
Leave
the project as proposed by NCDOT from Ballenger to the end of the project
area. DOT has done that. There has been some minor change in the area
but it’s pretty much the same way it was first proposed.
Mr. Hembree stated it is
apparent that NCDOT has addressed many of the design issues raised by the Board
in August 2004. Furthermore, it is clear
that if the
Chairman Moyer stated
that it is very important to our county to keep this project moving. The Board has tried to accomplish as much as
they can for the landowners on
Commissioner Young
stated that he represents the people and he won’t vote for the 4-lane divided
highway because that’s not what the people want.
Commissioner McGrady
would support NCDOT’s proposal for 4 lanes.
He expressed a problem with the
Commissioner McGrady made the motion to approve NCDOT’s
proposal for a 4-lane divided highway for Upward Road but request that DOT look
at the McMurray interchange and consider allowing left turns off of McMurray
and access across the four-lane divided highway at that point.
Following more
discussion, a vote was taken and the
motion carried four to one with Commissioner Young voting nay.
2005 STRATEGIC PLAN & IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
Mr. Nicholson explained
that in the agenda packet were two different documents. First are a couple of affected pages from the
Strategic Plan – these are changes the Board made at the last meeting. The changes are highlighted in yellow.
In addition, staff had
included the Strategic Plan Implementation Schedule, which includes
responsibility charting, scheduling, and resources necessary to implement the
Strategic Plan over the next two years.
Mr. Nicholson
recommended that the Board approve the Final Draft of the Strategic Plan,
including the implementation Plan, at this meeting. Should the Board approve the Plan, staff will
provide a final copy of the approved Plan and Implementation Schedule for
inclusion in the previously distributed binders.
Chairman Moyer stated
that he had found it hard to work through the resources section. He asked if the
Commissioner McGrady made the motion to adopt the Strategic
Plan as presented and the Implementation Schedule and the Resource section, the
entire package. All voted in favor and
the motion carried.
Chairman Moyer requested
for next month’s agenda that staff develop a procedure of how to deal with
issue changes. Following discussion,
staff was directed to bring back a recommendation, a process for amending the
plan. It was suggested to get the Planning Board involved.
Selena Coffey
distributed copies of the
Mr. Nicholson reviewed
briefly the make up of the report.
Mr. Nicholson reviewed
the big projects underway now:
Jail Demolition
On going. Architect is preparing the bid package.
Animal Shelter
We’re in the final
phases of looking at the design. Plan to
bid the project on March 7 and receipt of the proposals is scheduled for March
23.
We’re hoping to occupy
the station the week of February 21 with an Open House scheduled for late
February.
Historic Courthouse
Mr. Nicholson has spent
a lot of time looking at the Federal Money issue. Our main contact with Congressman Taylor’s
office on this issue of Federal Money has been Dr. George Jones. Funding and design issues are yet to be
resolved. He is also working with Tom
Orr on the Historic Courthouse Centennial Celebration.
We are finalizing the
design documents and the financing package.
The City of
We are working with the
City of
Relocation of Administration to
The County appraisal
came back at $782,100. We are awaiting
the City appraisal. We will begin
negotiations with the City after receipt of their appraisal. Staff plans to seek Board approval to
purchase the property by utilizing funds from the sell of the Mud Creek
District. The completion date is largely dependent on the City’s appraisal timeliness
and negotiation progress.
Relocation of Sheriff’s Department to
We are awaiting the
Administration relocation to the
Solid Waste Transfer Station 2nd Bay
We are currently in the
planning and design phase of the project.
Construction is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2005 and expected to
last 6 months.
It is the
Phase I is currently
underway. They are averaging over 200
feet of installation of pipe every day.
To date, 1,000 feet of pipe has been installed. Phase II plans are in
Cane Creek Advisory Committee
The Cane Creek Water
& Sewer District currently has an extension policy. It is confusing because it has not been
updated since we sold Mud Creek to the City of
CIP Financing Calendar
We’re currently
developing the official financing calendar for the
Mr. Nicholson briefly
reviewed the new organizational chart.
Some of it was clearly associated with bringing in animal control under
his organization structure as well as setting up the enforcement and permitting
section.
Some discussion
followed. Commissioner Baldwin made the motion that the Board show support for
the new Organizational Chart on page 25 of February’s
UPDATE ON PENDING ISSUES
David Nicholson had
prepared a draft charter for the committee which he briefly reviewed with the
Board.
Commissioner McGrady made the motion for this Board to
establish a
IMPORTANT DATES
Meeting with Chamber of Commerce Board
Mr. Nicholson informed
the Board that the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Commerce would like to
invite the Commissioners to a luncheon meeting on
The Board was in
agreement to attend such a meeting. The
Mr. Nicholson informed
the Board that staff had set the following dates, times, and locations for the
public drop-in sessions for property owners and residents regarding the study
area for US Highway 25 North zoning:
Set Quasi-Judicial Public Hearing on
Karen Smith informed the
Board that Mr. Harold K. Timmons, agent for Pegasus Tower Company, has
submitted an application for a variance (application #CTV-05-01) from Henderson
County Communications Tower Ordinance Section 81-6B(2)(a)[10], Easement
Acquisition Documents. The variance
application was submitted on
Before taking action on
the application, the Board of Commissioners must hold a quasi-judicial public
hearing, in accordance with Section 91-10 of the Henderson County
Communications Tower Ordinance. In order
to comply with public notice requirements, Staff recommends that the Board hold
the public hearing during the
Mr. Nicholson
recommended that the Board schedule a quasi-judicial public hearing concerning
Communications Tower Ordinance Variance Application #CTV-05-01 for
Chairman Moyer made the motion to set the hearing for
Public Hearings re: 64 West
LGCCA Update by Chairman Moyer – How to handle requests for
extensions
Chairman Moyer reported
that there was an LGCCA meeting yesterday.
There were some items that came up that will require future action of
this Board. They brought LGCCA up to date on where the county stood on many
issues, particularly in the area of sewer. All the municipalities approved the
Master Water & Sewer Plan as did the County. Now they’re looking at what steps to do next.
One of the issues was
how to handle requests for sewer and water extensions in the county and the
municipalities. At the next meeting we
plan to review the City’s Plan and the County’s Plan for how we’ll handle these
extensions, try to finalize a process so that everyone is in agreement, and
then we’ll come back to this Board for recommendation. Currently, if the City is going to extend a
water line they send the County a notice, it comes to Gary Tweed but eventually
the Board does take a look at it. We’ll
see if we want to continue that process or go to some different process.
More importantly, we
also then talked about prioritization of major sewer lines so we can get them
added to our 2-year plan. In the next
several months this Board is going to be asked to take a look at these issues,
come up with prioritization of water and sewer issues and the hope is that we
will have a meeting (August) to determine how to go forward, what’s the future
role of the Waster & Sewer Advisory Committee, and how we would begin to
get these projects done. There will be
plenty of discussion at the Board level.
Chairman Moyer also
explained that yesterday Fletcher did announce that they are going to join the
Cable Renewal Process so every municipality will be involved. Everyone will work towards a common franchise
and work together.
CLOSED SESSION
Chairman Moyer made the motion for the Board to go into
closed session as allowed pursuant to NCGS 143-318.11 for the following
reason(s):
1. (a)(3) To consult with an attorney employed
or retained by the public body in
order
to preserve the attorney-client privilege between the attorney and
the
public body, which privilege is hereby acknowledged. To consult
with
an attorney employed or retained by the public boy in order to
consider and give instructions to the
attorney with respect to the
following proceeding:
Henderson County
Hospital Corporation d/b/a Margaret R. Pardee
Petitioner,
v.
North Carolina
Department of Health and Human Services,
Division of Facility
Services, Certificate of Need Section,
Respondent,
and
Brevard MRI at
Respondent-Intervenor
In the Office of
Administrative Hearings
04 DHR 1555
All voted in favor and the motion carried.
PUBLIC HEARING – Community Development Block
Grant (CDBG) – 2005 Scattered Site Housing Program
Commissioner Messer made the motion for the Board to go into
public hearing. All voted in favor and
the motion carried.
The purpose of this
public hearing is to receive public comment on the 2005 CDBG Scattered Site
Housing Program Grant application ($400,000).
A copy of the public hearing notice was offered for review.
Grant applications are
due to the Division of Community Assistance (DCA) on
The 2005 Grant cycle is
different from the 2002 cycle in that the projects must be chosen prior to
submitting the application. The
Selection Committee met on
The Grant application,
which is submitted to DCA, will be provided to the Board upon completion for
signature.
The
Selena Coffey introduced
Carol Keena to give an overview of the application and selection process. Ms.
Keena informed the Board that the Selection Committee met last week. There are nine units in total that are being
proposed to be rehabilitated or relocated on site. Relocation on site is a process of removal of
the existing structure that is uninhabitable or has deteriorated beyond the
program’s guidelines for rehabilitation.
Those two units will be cleared and then relocate new modular units on
site to replace the units and then the additional seven units will be
rehabilitated. The total cost of the project is $400,000 to the penny
Public Input
There was none.
Commissioner McGrady made the motion for the Board to go out
of public hearing. All voted in favor
and the motion carried.
Commissioner McGrady made the motion for the Board to adopt
the prepared resolution approving submission of an application for 2005
Community Development Block Grant Scattered Site Housing Program, as presented.
All voted in favor and the motion carried.
JOINT MEETING WITH BUNCOMBE
To discuss Legislative Goals
Chairman Moyer welcomed
our guests from
Nathan Ramsey, Chairman
of the Board introduced the other attendees:
County Manager Wanda Greene; Commissioner Bill Stanley, Commissioner
Carol Peterson, Commissioner David Young, Vice-Chair David Gantt, John
Craighton, Assistant County Manager, Keith Snyder, Assistant County Attorney,
and Clerk to the Board Kathy Hughes.
Legislative Goals Process
Chairman Moyer stated
that the Legislative Goals Process this year was a very good process. Nathan Ramsey was Co-Chair of the group. He felt the process went far better than it
has in the past. He felt that they have
come up with a good list of legislative goals.
Commissioner Messer is on the Board.
David Young is going through the chairs of being an officer of the
association. Mr. Moyer felt that there
has been very good involvement.
Legislative Goals
David Young stated that Medicaid Relief has been the #1
issue, one that we want to highlight and promote. There have been two bills introduced: HB#132 and HB#149. A lot of our local delegation has co-signed,
co-sponsored on HB#132. The association and our counties would feel great about
either one of these bills.
David Young explained that the goal is simply:
1.
To
cap Medicaid costs to counties. Our
costs have been going up between 10-30%
every
year for as long as Mr. Young could remember.
It is a goal that they feel is
attainable
this year.
2.
They
want to see a phase-out of all the county’s share of the Medicaid costs. We are
one
of two states in the country that share in the cost at all.
Wanda Greene stated that we have seen several bills introduced
where they’ve added a percentage here, most of the bills are saying if 25% of
your population is Medicaid eligible, there will be even more support to bring
those costs down quicker.
David Nicholson stated that this year
Someone from Buncombe
explained that if this was taken away we could lower the tax rate in Henderson
County 5 cents and in Buncombe County 6 cents and still have the same services
we have now.
Nathan Ramsey explained that this fall there is a unique
opportunity regarding Medicaid. We would
like to phase out the costs over several years.
Medicaid is a $400 million plus cost for local governments and counties.
With the budget challenges the state has, it’s unrealistic to expect them to
pick up $400 million in one year. But we
can do a cap and that’s a realistic number, along with aid to counties that
have a certain percentage of Medicaid eligibles, that would be helpful as well.
Nathan Ramsey said that this year it was decided there would
be three main goals:
#1 Medicaid Relief – Cap the cost and over
5 years phase out the county cost share of Medicaid.
#2 More Revenue Options – NC would like the
same options other counties have.
#3 School Construction Bonds – Support
sales tax for school construction. In
many areas of the state, local governments are having trouble meeting the
demands for school construction, school capital needs.
Overall there were over
50 goals but they were narrowed down to these three.
Charlie Messer added his hats off to the committee for taking
on these 3 goals. Mr. Messer serves on
the State Association Board.
David Young suggested a letter of
support from both our Boards for Medicaid Relief to our Legislative Delegation
might be quite effective. He doesn’t feel that we’ll see relief on this until
really late in the legislative session.
We need to keep the pressure on throughout the session.
He discussed house bills
introduced due to the Blue Ribbon Committee and stated that for
Nathan Ramsey felt we should encourage our federal
representatives to get this burden off the backs of counties.
Discussion followed in
support of the previous comments. Local
officials need to work closely with their state and federal legislators and
continue to have open communications like were expressed here today.
Charlie Messer explained that the preliminary state budget is
$1.2 billion in the hole and will likely increase by the time everything is
included in the budget. He stressed the
need to speak to your legislators and express your concerns and your
endorsement. One of the big issues
state-wide is a lottery. Our legislators
have a big input on where we’ll go with that.
Chairman Moyer expressed that
Wanda Greene stated that crisis services are by far the
greatest unmet need that we’ve had.
Right now there is a proposal being drawn to redo a facility on
David Nicholson stressed that the big issue here is rates. This system is primarily funded by
Medicaid. He stated that when we went
out to bid on our Maintenance of Effort Funds, the Board put an emphasis on
dealing with emergency issues.
We need those rates from
the State.
Following much
discussion, it was the consensus of the Board to send a letter of support for
the #1 goal, Medicaid Relief, one letter signed by both Boards. Chairman Moyer asked both
Airport Board
David Gantt expressed
that the Buncombe County Board is in total favor of getting a seat for
Nathan Ramsey expressed that he hopes the seat will ultimately
be a full voting member for
Water Agreement
David Gantt apologized to
Chairman Moyer said that
he distributed to the Henderson County Commissioners the letter that the
Buncombe County Board signed and sent to the City of
Nathan Ramsey stated that
There is an offer on the
table. If it is not the best solution
then someone should come up with a better way and show why it’s not good for
the people in the City of
Mr. Ramsey expressed
that he felt the right policy choice was made back in 1994 when they located
the Mills River Plant.
Larry Young expressed that if we want to be an equal
partner we need to accept equal burden.
We’re willing to accept whatever we need to do to help make the water
plant productive, make it profitable and go from there.
David Gantt stated that
Both Boards clearly
wanted input regarding the water agreement from their citizens. They stressed openness. To get the cost down,
we must get the production up.
There was some mention
that the Water Authority is not a true authority, truly has no authority.
Nathan Ramsey expressed tremendous respect for Mayor Worley
and Council members of the City of
Chairman Moyer expressed that the Henderson County
Commissioners are certainly committed to working with
David Young invited everyone in attendance to their water
meeting on March 14 at their chambers at
Adjourn
Chairman Moyer made the motion to adjourn the meeting. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
CANE CREEK WATER & SEWER DISTRICT – no
business
Attest:
Elizabeth W. Corn, Clerk
to the Board
William L. Moyer, Chairman