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 Steve Wyatt, Assistant County Manager
Also present were:
Planning Director Anthony Starr, Deputy Clerk to the Board Amy Brantley, Utilities
Director Doyle Freeman, and County Engineer Gary Tweed.
CALL TO ORDER/WELCOME
Chairman Moyer 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
Commissioner Shannon
Baldwin gave the invocation.
INFORMAL PUBLIC COMMENTS
On
May 1 he spoke to the Board about the growing illegal alien problem in
“The
recent budget review cycle saw major questions in the capital construction and
facilities operations and maintenance portions of both the Public School and
He
stated he controls his financial life with two checkbooks, one for personal and
one for business income and expenditures. If he screws up he pays the price.
Soon the Henderson County Public Schools will present their May Financial
Report. He stated that we shouldn’t be
fooled by all the financial weaving going on. “We need a school board that will
do their work and not be like a small child at Christmas who presents a long laundry
list of school proposals and expects the Board of Commissioners to decide what
is best just because you have the money. At your last meeting you took the heat
from
DISCUSSION/ADJUSTMENT OF AGENDA
Chairman Moyer noted
that two draft sets of minutes were presented for approval although only one
got onto the printed agenda. He
requested the addition of “A-1 minutes of the special meeting of July 6.”
Chairman Moyer requested
the addition of a Resolution honoring Ciara Newman, Miss North
Commissioner McGrady made the motion to adopt the agenda as
amended. All voted in favor and the
motion carried.
CONSENT
AGENDA
Commissioner McGrady
requested that the draft minutes from the regular meeting of
Commissioner McGrady made the motion to adopt the consent
agenda minus the above mentioned minutes. All voted in favor and the motion
carried.
Commissioner McGrady made the motion to adopt the minutes of
the regular meeting of June 27, substituting the work chided for bashed (as requested by Dick
Baird, above). All voted in favor and the motion carried.
Minutes
Draft minutes were
presented for the Board’s review and approval of the following meetings:
Tax Collector’s Report
Terry F. Lyda, Tax
Collector, had presented for the Board the Tax Collector’s Report dated
Financial Report – May 2006
Cash Balance Report – May 2006
Information only,
consent approval requested.
The YTD deficit in the
Register of Deeds budget is due to excess excise tax from property transfers
collected during the fiscal year of which 48 percent is required to be remitted
to the State and is budgeted in a Register of Deeds expense line item. This will be corrected with a budget
amendment in June.
The YTD deficit in the
Court Facilities budget is due to the addition of a new courtroom in the
building as well as utility costs in excess of the budget for the fiscal year. This will be corrected with a budget
amendment in June.
The YTD deficit in the
Emergency 911 Communications Fund is due to FY2006 approved appropriations for
the purchase of new generators for the mountaintop communication sites, a GIS
software application update that links GIS data with the Computer Aided
Dispatch (CAD) system and complete replacement of the UPS-battery backup system
in the 911 Center which are being paid for from fund balance appropriated.
The YTD deficit in the
Mills River Watershed Protection Project and the Lewis Creek Restoration
Project is temporary due to timing differences in the expenditure of funds and
the subsequent requisition of Federal and State grant funds.
The YTD deficit in the
Historic Courthouse,
Henderson County Public Schools Financial Report – May 2006
The School’s report was
provided for the Board’s information and consent approval.
Surplus Property
Presented for the
Board’s consideration was a resolution (Exhibit A) declaring the attached 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 after the
required advertisement of the sale.
The
Statement of Intention for Standard or Electing Status for
the Work First Program
State law requires each
county, biennially, to submit a County Work First Block Grant Plan to the
Division of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Each
The Henderson County
Board of Social Services recommended Standard Status and approval of the Work
First Planning Committee membership.
The
Requesting Revision of the By-Laws for the
The Henderson County
Juvenile Crime Prevention Council (JCPC) members have reviewed the By-Laws
again. The Council requested that the By-Laws be modified to better meet the
needs of the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council.
Staff recommended
approval of the By-laws as presented.
Governor’s Highway Safety Grant Program
Captain Rick Davis (Sheriff’s
Office Support Services Div.) with the Henderson County Sheriff’s Department
submitted the following request addressed to Justin Hembree, Assistant County
Manager.
At the request of the
Town of Mills River, the Sheriff’s Office submitted a grant request to the
Governor’s Highway Safety Program. The
purpose of this grant was to obtain a fully equipped Deputy dedicated to
working traffic enforcement within the town limits of
On
After agreements &
costs are completed, the Sheriff’s Office will seek final grant approval from
the Town of Mills River and the Henderson County Board of Commissioners. No
County funds are being requested as part of this grant application process.
The Sheriff’s Office
requested action endorsing the Governor’s Highway Safety Program grant on
behalf of the Town of Mills River and respectfully requested this item be
placed on the Board of Commissioner’s consent agenda for
The
Improvement Guarantee for the Deer Meadow Subdivision
Mr. Bob Scheiderich with
Southern Pride of WNC Inc., owner and developer, submitted an application for
an improvement guarantee for a subdivision titled Deer Meadow. The project site for Deer Meadow is located
on 47 acres of land off
According to Sections
170-38 and 170-39 of the Henderson County Subdivision Ordinance, where the
required improvements have not been completed or in lieu of completing all of
the required improvements for final plat approval, the developer may post a
performance guarantee for the improvements.
Section 170-38 of the Henderson County Subdivision Ordinance also states
that the installation of the improvements must be completed within two years of
the improvement guarantee approval date.
The developer intends to post with the County an irrevocable letter of
credit in the amount of at least $556,788.75 to cover the cost of the
improvements ($445,431.00) as well as the required twenty-five percent (25%)
contingency ($111,357.75).
A draft Performance
Guarantee Agreement was included for the Board’s consideration. If the application is approved, the
developers must submit an irrevocable letter of credit in accordance with the
terms of the Agreement. Once the County
receives a letter of credit in proper form, the relevant parties must execute
the Agreement.
The
MSD Rate Increase
The wastewater collected
by the Cane Creek Water and Sewer District (CCWSD) sewer system is treated by
the Metropolitan Sewerage District (MSD). Effective
Staff’s recommendation
was to pass the additional cost on to the CCWSD sewer customers. If this meets with the Board’s approval,
staff requested the Board approve the Proposed Rates as shown on Exhibit A.
If the CCWSD sewer rates
are increased, as proposed, the monthly sewer bill for the average homeowner
will increase by $0.85 (eighty-five cents).
The
Strategic Plan Monthly Report
Included for the Board’s
review was the Strategic Plan Monthly Report.
The purpose of this monthly report is to examine the extent to which the
issues within the Strategic Plan have been addressed and the goals have been
achieved.
No action was required.
FY 2007 Amended Budget Ordinance
Included for Board
review/ratification was the FY 2007 Budget Ordinance as amended on
Staff recommended that
the Board ratify this amended ordinance per their vote at the joint Board of
Commissioners-Board of Public Education meeting held on
Resolution Recognizing the Service of Bill Byrnes to
Bill Byrnes will be
retiring from service with Henderson County Government on
The
Water Line Extension – a’Virea
The City of
A City of
The
NOMINATIONS
Notification of Vacancies
There were none.
Nominations
Chairman Moyer reminded
the Board of the following vacancies and opened the floor to nominations:
1.
Child Fatality
Prevention Team – 1 vac.
There were no
nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
2.
Environmental Advisory
Committee – 2 vac.
Tom Davis was nominated
to position #9 on June 27 but we did not have an application for him at that
time. We now have his application. Also nominated to position #7 were Anthony
Campano and Beth Bochoven, neither of whom is currently interested in being
appointed.
Commissioner McGrady nominated
Tim Weatherill for position #7. There were no other nominees for position #7
nor position #9. Commissioner McGrady
made the motion to appoint Mr. Weatherill to position # 7 and Tom Davis to
position #9. All voted in favor and the
motion carried.
The Board was not prepared
to name a Chair for that Committee. Ms.
Brantley will write to the members of the committee to see if anyone is
interested in serving as the Chair. This issue was rolled to the next meeting.
3.
There were no
nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
4.
Historic Preservation
Commission – 4 vac.
Commissioner Baldwin
nominated Babs Kuykendall.
Chairman Moyer nominated
Judy Abrell.
There were no other
nominations at this time.
Chairman Moyer made the motion to accept both nominees by
acclamation. All voted in favor and the
motion carried.
5.
Juvenile Crime
Prevention Council – 4 vac.
There were no
nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
6.
Nursing/Adult Care Home
Community Advisory Committee – 3 vac.
There were no
nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
7.
Solid Waste Advisory
Committee – 1 vac.
There were no
nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
8.
WCCA Board of Directors
– 1 vac.
There were no
nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
PRESENTATION CONCERNING COST EFFECTIVE SCHOOL
CONSTRUCTION
Chairman Moyer stated
that when the
Steve Wyatt explained
that Vice-Chairman Messer and he had the opportunity to meet with Mr. McClure,
CEO of Construction Control Corporation, and heard a brief presentation. Based on conversation with Vice-Chairman Messer,
they both thought that the Board would be interested in meeting Mr. McClure and
hearing a presentation from him on the company and what they do, their track
record, etc.
Mr. Lee R. McClure of
Construction Control Corporation presented a Power Point presentation to the Board
concerning cost effective school construction and the services that are offered
by his firm. He, and his associate John Caron (President of Construction
Control Corporation) presented the following PowerPoint presentation
Mr. McClure’s Power
Point presentation is attached and incorporated as part of these minutes.
Dr. Page and some of the
School Board members heard the presentation and were given an opportunity to
make comments. Dr. Page had just left, because he had a
Board member Ken Butcher
asked a question of Mr. McClure. Mr.
McClure stated that they tailor the program not to duplicate anything that has
already been done that is workable. Mr.
McClure also explained that they negotiate a lump sum fee, usually in the 3% -
6% range. They usually save enough to pay their fee, and many times they save
more than their fee.
Steve Wyatt asked the Board
to take the information they had been provided, carefully consider it, and
staff will place this issue back on a future agenda for further
discussion.
Chairman Moyer stated
“When you look at the time constraints and what we’re trying to do with Mills
River, if the Board would agree, I think we ought to ask that the School Board
have a discussion with us and we would encourage use of this concept in
approaching the Mills River and ask that we have discussions with the School
Board with respect to incorporating this kind of concept in the Mills River
project as we move forward… Let the
minutes show the consensus of the Board, Melissa (Mauer) we’ll ask that you
talk to the School Board and encourage use of this concept to see if there are
savings and how we could make it work and how it might help in the
SECOND ELEVATOR –
Justin Hembree stated
that based on discussion during the Board’s last meeting, this item was placed
on this agenda. Alan McGuinn with
Calloway Johnson Moore & West, P.A., the lead architect for the
A
second elevator was considered but was not programmed into the project
primarily due to budget considerations, be we also discussed actual need. Early in the design stage of the project one
centrally located elevator was considered adequate. It is actually not uncommon
to provide one elevator in a two story building of this size, although a second
elevator is certainly more convenient, particularly at move-in. Adding the
elevator now is a little more difficult but certainly not impossible or
impractical. The best location would
probably be in area “C” which is the expansion space in the east end of the
building near the current service drive.
This location would work with deliveries, and being future expansion
space, construction would not interfere with currently planned occupancy and
operations. We project that a 4,000 lb.
hydraulic service elevator with 2 stops will cost from $80,000 to $125,000,
depending on the structural and electrical modifications required, but we need
to consult with Cooper for more accurate estimates. To proceed we would first need to identify an
appropriate location, and have Cooper develop some preliminary estimates, then
we would develop construction documents for the revision. We would send the County a proposal for
additional services prior to initiating these documents. We would send the
County a proposal for additional services prior to initiating these
documents. Our fee would be
approximately $8,000 to $10,000 depending on the location and elevator
selection. Once the drawings and
specifications are complete Cooper could provide hard construction numbers for
a change order and order the elevator, while we submit the documents to the
Department of Labor for approval. The
design would require approximately three weeks from your authorization. The DOL review will take four to five weeks.
The lead time required to deliver the elevator is approximately six weeks. Actual construction would probably take at
least three months from completion of design to final occupancy.
The
Following discussion, it
was the consensus of the Board to accept staff’s recommendation to not proceed
with a second elevator at this time.
INCREASES IN PLANNING FEES
Anthony Starr, Planning
Director, recommended increases to select planning fees. The recommended increases are those shaded in
the tables included in the agenda packet. The only significant change, he
pointed out, was in the area of major subdivisions where they recommend the
addition of $50 per road for major subdivisions. It is tied to the amount of
work staff has to do in reviewing and inspecting the roads. The fees still will
not cover the cost of staff’s time. As of July 1, staff has been cataloging
their time on each case so that at the next budget cycle they will have the
information to show the Board what their actual costs are for processing the
average case. Mr. Starr stated that with the Land Development Code, he sees
some opportunities for streamlining some of their processes
The
Commissioner McGrady moved the adoption of the revised fee
schedule. All voted in favor and the
motion carried.
Commissioner Young had
requested that this be placed on the agenda for discussion. Commissioner Young explained that he has the
utmost respect for Dr. Sink and his Board at Blue Ridge Community College
(BRCC) but there has been a lot of information/disinformation in the newspaper
and on the news media. He briefly
mentioned the Board of Governors for Community Colleges and the State Auditor. Both are currently doing reports on
BRCC. He felt the Board of Commissioners
should invite the State Auditor or someone from his department to attend a
Commissioners’ meeting and inform the Board of what they have found in their
audit so the Board of Commissioners can make a proper decision whether we need
to do an audit of the county funds.
Commissioner McGrady
stated that his understanding of the audit the State Auditor is performing at
BRCC is not just an audit of the state funds but rather an audit of the
colleges’ funds, which are both funds coming from the county and from the
state. He further stated that any report issued by the State Auditor is a
public record and we have ability to view those reports that are being
generated by the State Auditor.
Steve Wyatt met with Dr.
Sink on Thursday and received a copy of the audit which was then provided to
the Board the next day. The State Auditor looks at all funds. The report does identify funds by source:
local funds, contributions, fees, etc.
The audit, as audits are, is samples of transactions. He saw no exceptions related to county
funds. Not every transaction is looked
at in an audit. If Commissioner Young has particular issues or questions then
those particular or specific issues or questions can be asked and answers can
be received and that can be done through the
TELEVISION CABLECAST POLICIES (HCTV 11)
Russell Burrell informed
the Board that included in the agenda packet were proposed new policies for cablecast
over HCTV Channel 11. They are
essentially in two parts: Articles 2, 3 and 4, dealing with programming that is
both audio and video in nature, and Article 5, which deals with “audio-only”
programming.
The guidelines for
combined audio and video programming are very similar to those currently in
effect. Those for audio-only programming
are greatly revised, to take into account board and contractual
requirements. Please note that, in the
case of audio-only programming, failure to abide by these guidelines, even
once, can result in the dropping of such programming from HCTV 11. (This is not
needed for combined audio and video programming, since the County will directly
control such cablecasts.)
Mr. Burrell stated that
the five terms of article 5 are entirely new.
The provisions prior to article 5 are very similar to our existing
broadcast policies and they would cover all manner of programming other than
audio-only programming. Mr. Burrell
reviewed the provisions of article 5 with the Board, stating that a contract
would be required. Among other things, the requirements of that contract are
also the same requirements that are in the proposed WHKP Radio Hendersonville
contract the Board will review next. Certain content is restricted under this
audio-only programming, that being paid political programming. The provider of
the audio-only content would be required to make sure that no paid political
programming airs over the signal that is provided to Channel 11. For other types of content – opinion content
that is not paid political content or religious content, a disclaimer is
required. That disclaimer would be
required before and after any block of such programming and it would notify
listeners that the content of such programming does not necessarily contain the
opinion of and is not either endorsed by or disapproved by Henderson County
Government, its elected officials or employees and that the provider of the
audio-only programming, and not the county, has control over what the
programming is. Mr. Burrell feels that successfully avoids the county’s
problems in the establishment of religion cases that have been cited by various
folks. The biggest problem that you run
into are what are called excessive entanglements problems, where it gets into
the county either establishing and pushing a particular religion or suppressing
a particular religious viewpoint. We
avoid that by this disclaimer and by shifting liability. One of the other provisions of the contract
is that any liability including the cost of the defense of any suit that’s
brought being undertaken by the third party contracting with the county to
provide the audio-only content, in this case the concrete example of Radio
Hendersonville/WHKP. They would provide
us with a defense and they would indemnify us against any losses as result of
their broadcasting, if any lawsuit was actually brought under this proposed
contract.
There was some
discussion regarding the ACLU with Mr. Burrell stating that he had spoken to
Mrs. Parker, who is the Attorney who provided a letter to the county from the
ACLU of North Carolina. The Commissioners had received copy of the same letter.
Mr. Burrell – “I think it is fair to say that first of all their position is
that while they disfavor this they don’t have any concrete authority that would
find this particular type of arrangement in any way illegal but that their
concerns, while not completely gone, are much ameliorated by the fact of these
disclaimers being provided in the programming.”
There was discussion regarding
“equal access”. WHKP bases their
decision regarding equal access based on a business decision
Russell Burrell informed
the Board that allowing commercial content is clearly permissible if your
purpose is not to allow that commercial content. If you are allowing WHKP Radio
on for certain other purposes; local news, local sports, what have you, and as
a result of that there is also commercial content provided but that is not the
purpose you’re providing, your purpose is to get the local news and sports, it
is clear in the case law that that is not a problem for you.
If the Board is so
inclined, the
I move that the Board adopt the proposed new policies for
cablecasting on HCTV Channel 11.
The Board went right
into discussion of the next agenda item, since it was related to this one.
CONTRACT WITH RADIO HENDERSONVILLE, INC.
Provided for the Board’s
information was a draft contract with Radio Hendersonville, Inc. (WHKP)
regarding provision of audio signal for HCTV Channel 11. According to the
Board’s previous discussions, this contract draft includes the following:
If the Board is so
inclined, the
I
move that the Board approve the language of the proposed contract with Radio
Hendersonville, Inc., and direct the Chairman and staff to execute a contract
containing substantially identical terms.
Mr. Burrell stated that
a couple of changes had come to him just this morning, to be added as bullets 9
and 10. One was a restatement of a
policy provision that is contained as 5.5 in the policies. A violation of the terms
of the contract or of the policies means termination of the provision of
audio-only programming from this provider.
The other would give the radio station the right to terminate this
agreement upon 30 days notice to the county if they chose to do so.
Chairman Moyer asked
that one thing be added to the termination provision, he thinks that it has to
be crystal clear that if the radio station elects to terminate or if it is
terminated because of violation of any of the terms of the agreement, the indemnification
with respect to any actions that are brought or based on what has occurred
prior to termination would continue to apply and the county would receive
indemnification.
Russell Burrell stated
that he would work on such language and have it ready for the Board at this
meeting. Chairman Moyer asked that he
revisit whether the non-discriminatory language should also be in the policies.
The Board will revisit this issue and take action, later during this meeting.
ALTERNATIVE REVENUE TASK FORCE APPLICATIONS
Attached were the
applications received for the Alternative Revenue Task Force for the Board’s
consideration and further discussion as deemed appropriate. Applications received from:
Steve Dozier
Edward Fortaw
Ed Glenn
David Nichols
Carl Shaw
Paul Taylor
Candler Willis
Steve Wyatt reminded the
Board that at their last meeting they chartered a Task Force to look at
alternative revenue sources for necessary capital construction. This issue follows up on the heels of the
discussion the Board had earlier. He
added one additional letter of interest to be a member of the Task Force, from
Hall Waddell for a total of eight interested applicants. There had been earlier
discussion of a 7 – 9 person charter. The Board had discussed some diversity from
a couple of aspects, different walks of life, different professions, different
interests. All of these volunteers are males.
There has been no interest shown or contact from any person associated
with the school system. Mr. Wyatt felt that the Board needed to have the roster
put together in August so that this group could become organized and begin
their work.
Commissioner McGrady
suggested that this issue be rolled to the August 2 meeting because we need a
broader range of applicants.
There was a suggestion
to have representation from the area of agriculture and from the school board
as well as some balance between male/female.
It was the consensus of the Board to roll this item to the August 2 meeting.
Recess
Chairman Moyer called a
brief recess to change videotapes.
PUBLIC HEARING – Rezoning Application #R-20-6-01
(R-20 & RC to R-10)
The Layman Foundation of
Commissioner McGrady made the motion for the Board to go
into public hearing. All voted in favor
and the motion carried.
Rezoning Application
#R-2006-01, which was submitted on
The Henderson County Planning
Board considered rezoning application #R-2006-01 at its regularly scheduled
meeting on
Before taking action on
the applications, the Board of Commissioners must hold a public hearing. In accordance with Section 200-76 of the
Henderson County Zoning Ordinance and State Law, notices of the
Following the public
hearing, Board action to approve, modify, or deny rezoning application
#R-2006-01 would be appropriate.
Anthony Starr informed
the Board that he was just handed the second written request and now has
written requests from both applicants to postpone the hearing or continue the
hearing until the August 16 meeting. He informed the Board of a couple of
choices:
1.
Staff
can go ahead and present the information as they normally would and then the
Board
could
make a decision as to whether to postpone the hearing, or
2.
The
Board can have that discussion now. The Board could continue the public hearing
and no
further
advertisement or public notice would be required or the Board could set a date
for a new
hearing
and staff would have to re-advertise and re-notice the hearing.
Mr. Starr felt the
applicant’s intent was to try to address some of the issues raised at the
Planning Board meeting.
Russell Burrell stated
that once the Board goes into public hearing, if they continue it, it would not
require re-noticed. The Board, as the
decision maker, would have the right to continue it. The decision is totally in the Board’s
discretion.
Much discussion followed.
Chairman Moyer asked those in attendance – “If we continued it to August 16th
are any of the parties here that would like to participate in this hearing that
would not be able to be available on the 16th?”
Public Input
She
left town on June 25 and has been out of town (vacation) for three weeks. The property flooded on June 27. She stated that there is no way that we can
put the number of houses on that property that is planned. She sees no way to bring a large amount of
people out of there when there is a heavy rain or a flood.
A lady from the audience
came forward (did not identify herself) and asked what the reason was that was
given for asking for the month’s delay?
Chairman Moyer explained that it was so that the applicants could try to
work matters out with the landowners in the area.
Chairman Moyer made the motion to continue this public
hearing until August 16 at
Chairman Moyer announced
that the hearing that was opened today is continued to August 16 at
Commissioner Baldwin
suggested that, due to the importance of this hearing, it be re-advertised as a
continuance so that folks in the community that are not in attendance will know
that it has been continued.
Anthony Starr requested
that the Board make it a condition that the applicants pay the cost of the
re-advertisement. Jack Tate replied that
they would be happy to do so.
TELEVISION CABLECAST POLICIES (HCTV 11)
CONTRACT WITH RADIO HENDERSONVILLE, INC.
Russell Burrell had
prepared a new draft of the WHKP Contract with new paragraphs 9, 10, and 11
included at the end of the contract.
They are very consistent with what the Board had discussed during the
meeting. He also had prepared two proposed new policies: 4.16 and 5.6. The 5.6 is a direct quotation of the contract
provision with Radio Hendersonville. 4.16 is a little different, he suggested
the Board review it carefully and make sure that it is exactly what they wish
to see in the audio-visual programming version of equal access, if anything at
all. He asked the Board to be careful about that one because the Board does not
want to create a new forum that is open to anyone for audio-visual programming.
He doesn’t think they can make a decision based on political or religious
content as the basis of whether to allow that kind of audio-visual content. The
Board has other basis for when they need to make those decisions because they
don’t want to have a public forum here.
4.16
EQUAL
ACCESS:
programming
submitted by a third party solely on the basis of political or religious
viewpoint. This is not meant in any way to guarantee the
right to present programming on HCTV to any third party, nor to expand any
access of any third party beyond that otherwise
allowed
in these policies, but rather to insure that any decision by
on
whether to present or not present any submitted programming on HCTV is not made
on the basis of political or religious viewpoint.
5.6
EQUAL
ACCESS: The provider of audio-only programming shall insure that it
operates
in compliance with all “equal opportunity” or “equal time” provisions
required
by Federal law.
Following discussion, Chairman Moyer made the motion to approve the
policies and the contract as presented with the amendments just received from
the
PUBLIC HEARING – Hazard Mitigation Plan
Rocky Hyder, Fire
Marshal/EMS Coordinator, was also present for this agenda item.
Commissioner Messer made the motion for the Board to go into
public hearing. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
Rocky Hyder informed the
Board that the updated version of the Henderson County Multi-Jurisdictional
Hazard Mitigation Plan was submitted for comment from the public and the Board
of Commissioners. The plan contains
input from each governmental unit within
The Plan had been
updated to reflect the experiences we had in 2004 with Hurricanes Francis and
Ivan. Most of the updates were done to extend the dates and times set aside to
accomplish some of the objectives, since this was intended originally to be a
five year plan. We are now three years
into the plan. The up-date is required
after a Presidentially declared disaster.
The Board may adopt the
Hazard Mitigation Plan following the Public Hearing if no significant changes
are necessary.
Public Input
There was none.
Commissioner McGrady made the motion to adopt the
Commissioner Messer made the motion for the Board to go out
of public hearing. All voted in favor
and the motion carried.
STRATEGIC PLAN COMMUNITY INPUT SESSIONS
Steve Wyatt updated the
Board on the Strategic Plan. The fiscal
year 2006-2007 budget, as adopted, recommended the expansion of the Strategic
Planning process to a four-year planning process. Shortly after adoption that
budget work began at the staff level. A
team of staff is directing that under a Team Captain, Selena Coffey. The team is a cross section of county folks:
Stan Duncan, Susan Fosmire,
The next segment of this
planning process will begin on August 1 with two (
Steve Wyatt stated that
the important message today is the fact that there is a very aggressive and
thought out initiative to involve the public up-front to participate.
Communication has been distributed to every agency that receives funding from the
county. Communication has gone out to
advisory boards. Some staff has been
asked to attend advisory board meetings.
Mr. Wyatt was asked to meet with the Solid Waste Advisory Board and he
met with them two days ago. Justin
Hembree met with the Recreation Advisory Board. At this time he encouraged
everyone to seriously consider taking a role in this process. It is a deliberate process in that it will
require a lot of work on staff’s part to put all this together but it will also
enable the Board to have a couple of decision making points and it will not
necessarily put the Board in a position to where they have to make quick
decisions without the information they need.
A parallel process – 12 year Capital Improvements Plan
Justin Hembree stated
that a different project associated with the Strategic Plan development but
certainly can’t be separate and apart is the process to develop a 12-year
Capital Improvement Plan as outlined in the
Steve Wyatt explained
that sandwiched between the two days of community input meetings, on Wednesday,
August 2 we will have a representative from the Institute of Government to
present a day-long staff retreat on Performance Management &
Budgeting. Not only county staff will
attend but also funded agencies. He has
received a commitment from the Community College and the School System that
they want to participate. He has also been contacted by another county. A
representative from
UPDATE ON PENDING ISSUES
Land Development Code
Anthony Starr updated
the Board regarding the Land Development Code, stating that they are very busy.
Staff is working very hard with the Planning Board to make the necessary
revisions. This is the number one priority for the Planning Staff. Every member of the Planning Staff is
involved at this point. A subcommittee
of the Planning Board began meeting the end of June and began meeting weekly in
July to go over various sections of the Land Development Code. Every section in the Code is being reviewed
or re-written. Many sections have
already been amended to make this language simpler, easier to understand. The
Planning Board met last night and they have decided to start meeting every two
weeks beginning with next week. Some
issues have been addressed at the subcommittee level.
Commissioner McGrady stated
that the intention here is to get the full Planning Board to make some
recommendation on something before September 1.
Anthony Starr stated
that staff and the Planning Board are making every effort to accomplish that
goal.
There was none.
Steve Wyatt briefly
discussed the State’s budget, which has been adopted. On Medicaid, one time relief will mean
somewhere in the neighborhood of $500,000 in cost savings to
Mr. Wyatt touched on the
negatives or reversions that the school system has been under the last couple
of years, money was funded to them and will not have to be given back to the
General Assembly. The local school
district realizes about $486,000 which will help them out with their current
expense budget.
Mr. Wyatt mentioned
child care subsidies. There was
$14,100,000 of funding for child care subsidies throughout the state of
Mr. Wyatt did not know
distribution formulas. There are other
things that look good on paper but it depends on where you are sitting. There
is additional low wealth school system funding and that is something that is
great for low wealth schools. But that money comes from here and from other
counties that don’t qualify. It’s a transfer of money from
Commissioner McGrady
mentioned that as part of the Consent Agenda, the Board approved the Strategic
Plan update but he had two questions of the Manager. In the Strategic Plan is a strategy relating
to the creation of a comprehensive recreational master plan which is due for
this year. What is the timeframe on
getting that? Mr. Wyatt answered that
Justin met with the Recreation Board yesterday to talk about these things. He
stated that there is a form of a Master Plan which is really more of a needs
assessment. He stated that unless
funding and funding sources are identified you don’t really have a plan but
rather a needs assessment. Initiatives for fiscal and capital improvements in
the recreation area dovetail perfectly into the strategic plan and that will be
a focus of that strategic plan. Justin
Hembree explained that one of the issues that has come up with the Recreation
Advisory Board is every year they annually do a list and prioritize that list
of specific recreation projects.
Associated with that there are other operational issues that come up in
terms of whether we should be providing more youth baseball programs or tennis
programs in the county recreation department. Justin Hembree feels that we will
see, through both the capital planning process and the strategic planning
process, these issues come up. He has no
doubt that the Board will hear about soccer facilities, tennis facilities,
soccer programs, and other programs. As
all that information is gathered together and the Board sets the priorities he
feels that the Recreation Advisory Board should then step in and develop a
Master Plan that is specific to our operations here. Yesterday he let the
Recreation Advisory Board know that as an Advisory Board if they wanted to get
together and come up with a list of priorities, both operational and capital,
that they see is needed, to please come to one of these meetings and let staff
hear that. He also let them know that they could attend as individuals. He also
told them that if they have an idea about how to pay for these things that they
should come share those ideas also.
Commissioner McGrady had
a similar question related to the Local Sedimentation and Erosion Control
Program. It is broadly designated as
this fiscal year. He asked if we could
narrow that timeframe some.
Steve Wyatt stated that
the plan is to bring the Board a draft, hopefully within the next few months,
but certainly before November. Mr. Wyatt stated that staff would like to have
something on the books January 1 but that might not be doable. An aggressive
schedule may not be possible given everything else that’s going on but that
will get us where the Board wants to be sooner rather than later.
IMPORTANT DATES
Designation of Voting Delegate to NCACC Annual Conference
Commissioner McGrady made the motion to designate Chairman
Moyer as the voting delegate for
CLOSED SESSION
Commissioner McGrady made the motion for the Board to go into
closed session as allowed pursuant to NCGS 143-318.11 for the following
reasons:
1.
(a)(5)(1) To discuss and give general instruction on
the county’s negotiating posture concerning the purchase of real estate.
2.
(a)(5)(2) To discuss and given instruction on the
county’s negotiating posture concerning an employment contract.
3.
(a)(6) To discuss issues concerning
personnel.
All voted in favor and the motion carried.
Attest:
Elizabeth W. Corn, Clerk
to the Board
William L. Moyer, Chairman