MINUTES

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

COUNTY OF HENDERSON FEBRUARY 20, 2002

The Henderson County Board of Commissioners met for a regularly scheduled meeting at 9:00 a.m. in the Commissioners' Conference Room of the Henderson County Office Building.

Those present were: Chairman Bill Moyer, Vice-Chair Marilyn Gordon, Commissioner Grady Hawkins, Commissioner Don Ward, Commissioner Charlie Messer, County Manager David E. Nicholson, County Attorney Angela S. Beeker, and Clerk to the Board Elizabeth W. Corn.

Also present were: Planning Director Karen C. Smith, Assistant County Attorney Jennifer O. Jackson, Finance Director J. Carey McLelland, Public Information Officer Chris S. Coulson, Fire Marshal/Emergency Management Coordinator Rocky Hyder, Assistant EMS Director Terry Layne, and Deputy Clerk to the Board/Volunteer Coordinator Amy Brantley.

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

Rev. Gus Martschink, with the Pardee Chaplaincy Program, gave the invocation.

DISCUSSION/ADJUSTMENT OF AGENDA

Chairman Moyer asked to add one item to ANotification of Vacancies - WCCA@ so that the Board could take care of the appointment at the next meeting.

Chairman Moyer asked to add one item to ANominations@ as #7 - Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) - 4 vac. The four municipalities have made their recommendations for the TAC and he would like for the Board to take action on those at this meeting.

Commissioner Gordon added under ADiscussion Items@ as AD@ - Board of Health update on Animal Shelter.

Commissioner Hawkins added under ADiscussion Items@ as AE@ - Oklawaha Trail - memorandum of understanding with the City of Hendersonville.

Chairman Moyer mentioned the need for two additional items of discussion under closed session.

Chairman Moyer made the motion for the Board to approve the revised agenda. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

CONSENT AGENDA

Chairman Moyer asked to pull the minutes AA@ from the January 16 meeting for a revision. He also asked to pull item AF - Budget Amendment - ADM Fund@. He also asked to pull item AG - Addition to State Road System@ for comment.

Minutes

Minutes were presented for the Board=s review and approval of the following meetings:

January 11, 2002, special called meeting

January 16, 2002, regular meeting (pulled, not approved)

February 5, 2002, special called meeting

Tax Refunds

A list of 20 refund requests were presented for the Board=s review and approval.

Tax Releases

A list of 57 release requests were presented for the Board=s review and approval.

Lease - Property Adjacent to Broadpointe Center

At the January 7, 2002 meeting, the Board requested the County accept proposals for leasing the tillable property located adjacent to Broadpointe Center. At this direction, staff advertised the property in the Times-News classified ads and distributed a packet, which included a blank lease agreement for the property, a map of the subject property, and a cover letter explaining the process for proposing a lease. A deadline of February 8, 2002 was established and published and two proposals were submitted by the deadline.

Mr. Wayne Carland proposed an annual lease amount of $1,834.00 for the property.

Mr. Allan L. Henderson proposed an annual lease amount of $2,912.00 for the property.

The County Manager recommended the proposal with the highest annual lease amount from Mr. Allan L. Henderson be accepted.

Approval of Closed Session Minutes

The Board was requested to adopt the following motion:

Motion - The following closed session minutes are hereby approved and shall be deemed sealed as provided by Section 11-6 of the Henderson County Code:

Minutes for the closed sessions held on February 1, 1999, July 26, 1999, July 27, 1999, and September 7, 1999 as presented and revised during the closed session of February 4, 2002.

Budget Amendment - ADM Fund

Staff held a meeting with the school system concerning the budget amendment associated with the State Capital Building Fund (ADM Fund) from the last agenda. The purpose of the budget amendment is to appropriate funds from the ADM Fund in the amount of $580,578.

During the development of the Fiscal Year 2000-2001 Budget, funds were appropriated from the ADM Fund for several capital projects. However, these projects were not completed until the current fiscal year. The school system could not claim reimbursement for the projects until final completion. The school system did not complete the projects in the fiscal year that they were budgeted. The projects were completed in this fiscal year. Thus, we need to increase the Capital Outlay budget for the school system.

However, we are now using the ADM Fund for the purpose of paying Debt Service. The budget amendment appropriates the ADM revenue and increases the School=s Capital Outlay. However, the net effect on the budget is to free up Restricted Sales Tax for these now completed projects and allows us to claim reimbursement from the ADM Fund for the Debt Service.

The County Manager recommended the budget amendment to the Board for their approval.

Chairman Moyer had asked that this item be pulled. He asked for some clarification which Mr. Nicholson gave. This can go back in consent agenda for approval.

Addition to State Road System

Staff had received a petition requesting the addition of Allen Springs Road to the State Road System. Staff recommended approval of the petition.

Chairman Moyer had asked that this item be pulled. He asked for some added language to be placed on these requests in the future stating that the Board does not wish for the road to be taken out of order on the paving priority list. The Clerk will forward the additional language to the Property Addressing Department for future Board Action Forms on Road Petitions to add roads to the State Road System.

Chairman Moyer made the motion for the Board to approve the consent agenda with the exception of the January 16 minutes and with the correction in language on the road petition item in the future. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

NOMINATIONS

Notification of Vacancies

The Board was notified of the following vacancies which will appear for nominations on the next agenda:

1. Nursing/Adult Care Home Community Advisory Committee - 1 vac.

2. Western Carolina Community Action (WCCA) Board - 1 vac.

Nominations

Chairman Moyer reminded the Board of the following vacancies and opened the floor to nominations:

1. Equalization and Review - 2 vac.

There were no nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.

2. Juvenile Crime Prevention Council - 5 vac.

There were no nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.

3. Fire and Rescue Advisory Committee - 1 vac.

Chairman Moyer asked for Rocky Hyder to address this item. Rocky Hyder stated that on Monday night the Fire and Rescue Advisory Committee nominated Richard Barnwell as the seventh member of the committee. Mr. Barnwell is the current sitting Chief with Bat Cave Fire Dept.

Commissioner Ward nominated Mr. Richard Barnwell for this vacancy. Chairman Moyer made the motion to suspend the rules and appoint Mr. Barnwell by acclamation. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

4. Henderson County Board of Health - 2 vac.

There were no nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.

5. Nursing/Adult Care Home Community Advisory Committee - 8 vac.

There were no nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.

6. Industrial Facilities and Pollution Control Authority - 2 vac.

Commissioner Ward nominated Diane Grant.

Commissioner Hawkins nominated Jon Laughter.

Commissioner Ward made the motion to suspend the rules and appoint Ms. Grant and Mr. Laughter. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

7. Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) - 4 vac.

Chairman Moyer informed the Board that yesterday at the LGCCA meeting, the municipalities selected Jim Clayton from Town of Fletcher to be their representative on the Western NC Caucus. He and Chairman Moyer will be attending those meetings as the representatives from Henderson County. They will report back to their respective Board and to the LGCCA.

The four municipalities have recommended the following nominees to TAC:

City of Hendersonville - Mary Jo Padgett

Town of Fletcher - Eddie Henderson

Village of Flat Rock - John Manners

Town of Laurel Park - Henry Johnson

Chairman Moyer nominated these four fill the municipal slots on TAC. Commissioner Ward made the motion to suspend the rules and appoint all four nominees. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

There was some discussion concerning Chairman for the TAC. It was the consensus of the Board of Commissioners to allow the TAC to elect their own Chairman.

LEPC ANNUAL REPORT

Pursuant to Article 2-7 of the Local Emergency Planning Committee By-Laws, the 2001 Annual report was submitted for Board review. The membership roster for 2002 was also submitted for approval.

Rocky Hyder, LEPC Chairman, reviewed briefly the report with the Board and answered questions. LEPC is the Local Emergency Planning Committee. Mr. Hyder explained that the LEPC has spent a great deal of time planning for terrorism type incidents due to the events of September 11^th. LEPC was planning for those type of activities well before September 11^th. They have also continued to receive hazardous materials inventory reports which have decreased to 48 from about 100.

Chairman Moyer reminded everyone that Commissioners Ward and Hawkins serve on this Board.

Commissioners Hawkins and Ward could not say enough about how well LEPC has worked to develop plans for all types of emergencies. Mr. Ward stated that our LEPC is the leading LEPC in the whole state. We are ahead of the curve. He praised the leadership of LEPC.

UPDATE ON STRATEGIC PLAN FOR CHILDREN

The Board had received the actual plan which was a separate booklet.

Chairman Moyer reminded everyone that the Board of Commissioners asked the Children and Family Resource Center to take a look at all the childrens= issues in the county and help the Board prioritize the needs, take a look at what was being done for children and what wasn=t, to look at what was being done well and to try to come up with a good assessment and prioritization of childrens= issues and call it a strategic plan for children. Spence Campbell, Renee Kumor, and others have been working on that.

Spence Campbell addressed the Board on the state of Henderson County as it pertains to our children. He stated that the Strategic Plan for Children was a project which began with the Board=s approval and support in mid-2000.

Mr. Campbell presented The Plan=s key findings:

C The single most important issue they have found as a result of the planning process was the lack of a comprehensive and integrated community-wide strategy impacts our ability to provide children and youth of our community with the resources necessary to achieve their potential. Everything in this plan suggests that we must change the way we respond to the needs of our young people for two important reasons:

1. The absence of a strategy reduces the efficiency and effectiveness of our overall efforts and eventually will drive costs to an unnecessarily high level. This situation will only get worse until we as a community decide to act in a coordinated and cohesive way in response to this growing challenge.

2. It is simply a matter of this community treating its children with dignity and respect as we help them prepare for their future, a future which will likely have great impact on all of us.

Mr. Campbell recognized their webmaster, George Collman, who showed a powerpoint presentation about the results of these efforts.

Spence Campbell again addressed the Board stating that they need the Board=s support to continue their efforts to create the strategy he referred to earlier. With the Board=s support, they can begin to deal with these issues in a manner which will lead to their resolution and ultimately reduce the cost of caring for our children. They intend to inform local agencies and municipalities of their efforts and to ask for their input. They will update their data and their website continuously to support their efforts at collaboration. They also think it might be worthwhile to ask a university to look at our social issues and their associated costs and recommend changes which will improve service delivery and reduce those costs as a key aspect of the evolving strategy. In the meantime the Center will continue to provide selected direct services for families and children and work together in partnership with the public agencies which have representatives in our facility.