County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all.

You remain standing for a moment of silence, please. Thank you. May be seated. [clears throat] Welcome everybody out this evening for the day out there that's off cold. I reckon there's no approved no changes to the agenda is Elisa. So to entertain a motion.

So moved. Second. Motion and second. Any discussion? All in favor? 5. All right. Before the other minutes from January the 5th meeting, 2026. I trust everybody's read over that. There's no corrections. Entertain a motion. Mot make a motion to approve the minutes of last meeting. Second.

Motion and second. Any comments? If not, all in favor 5 will this time we'll [clears throat] open the floor for public comment. If anyone here has a comment [snorts] to make about the agenda upcoming meeting, please do so. Seeing no movement, we'll close the public comment section. Move on down presentation of the board. Mr. Scott Wickham the finance department audit presentation.

Good afternoon. Thanks for [clears throat] having me. A chilly day. I recognize most of you, but my name is Scott Whitman, partner in charge of the county's audit. We recently wrapped up the 25 audit here in December and did receive eligy approval here last week of that report. um got a handout to go through. It's also a power within the full audit report which is uh quite a lengthy document. There are several important pieces. The first being the independent audits report which is the opinion on financial statements. Um again the county has received an unmodified clean opinion which means the numbers are truly correct. There is an additional paragraph this year for implementation of gap 101 led to compensated absences or approved leave. Um the impact on that is financially significant. Um it does not impact your operations. So the biggest change to that is including the sick leave as a liability um because it is now required to be recorded for the amount that is expected to be used as well as it is expected to be paid off. So um there's a little bit of increase to liability there. no impact your operations or your cash basis impact but it doesn't your approval related liabilities. So but again that is a good clean unmodified opinion. The next section is the management discussion and analysis. Um April updates this each year based on u the financial statements. A lot of this the exhibits are not comparative based. Uh so this is a good section that gives you some comparative information. And then [clears throat] throughout the report there's uh several various uh accounting methods. The full rule which encompasses everything all assets and all debt of the county is reported on

one state position. So that's full rule big picture includes everything balance sheet um which is the modified rule. So that's going to be short-term cash basis, [clears throat] short-term receivables, less short-term payables. [snorts] And then exhibit 9 was important important exhibit that shows the cash flows for sanitation. We also issued two other opinions and reports in in the overall package. Um the the first being uh the statement on gas, you all have two findings this year as opposed to three. So in the past, you have three findings. um one relates to proposed journal entries, one for segregation of duties and in the past there was one for bank regulations um but that has been corrected in this report um has caught up and done. So uh just two findings this year related to proposed audit entries for recruit type items um and then se segregation of duties as there's continues to be a lot of turnover in that office. Uh the third report is that the state and federal um compliance testing. Um all of that came back clean and there are no findings related to our state and federal testing. With that I'll move on to the 5-year trend information. So this kind of zooms in and talks just about that general fund on that modified approval basis of accounting. Across the bottom you can see total revenues in the general fund over the five years have grown just under 7% per year. On the next page, you can see the expenditures in a similar calculation. [cough and clears throat] Total operating expenditures are increasing at just under 9% per year. Uh so there is a significant increase there. Um you do want to watch that the operating expenses are outpacing the revenues. Um but in total, you're still in pretty good shape. [clears throat] Go over that in just a second. But across the bottom, you have fund balance, which still has grown at almost 29% per year over those five

years. substantial growth in that 5year period. The next slide shows a breakdown of where your revenues come from. As expected, almost all of it or a large portion of it is local taxes. I keep saying I do expect state and federal grants to decline, but they see still keep issuing funds. But I do want to caution you to be prepared to be more um selflocally dependent as I do really do believe at some point there will be less fun and grants. Moving to the second slide there is expenditures break down by by function as well and then review of county reserves. So this is always a calculation everybody wants to look at and kind of see um where we are financially. And across the bottom you have uh towards the middle you have two colored rows there. One for unassigned fund balance the percent of expenditures. You'll see that for 2025 was about 41% uh which is down from prior about 68%. And then you have available fund balance which is a slightly different calculation um at about 36%. So those are down for two reasons. Um these calculations include your transfers or the bottom one includes your transfers. all did transfer $1.5 million to the construction fund for the new high school. So he went ahead and moved that money. So it does factor that in. That is part of that decline. Also, North Carolina statute does not allow you to include receivables in this available and unassigned fund balance amounts. So the general fund has $7 million in receivables for various intergovernmental grants as of the end of the year to receive. So, um, you did not have the fun on hand, but you were receiving it soon, but it's not included in in those amounts. So, there's two pieces to it that, um, had receivables higher than normal due to all the

projects that are ongoing. Um, and then also, you did transfer that big amount. So, that kind of impacts that overall, but still better than where you were in 2021. Um, and I expect it to be a one-time impact in where it drops, and I expect it to go back up in 2026 as well. um but above where the minimums are above where you were. So still in pretty good shape with all that information. On the next one again a little bit on the [clears throat] findings recommendations I mentioned both findings that we do have this year and there was a third one that was corrected during the year for paperations. Um we also issue a separate letter for recommendations best practices nonmaterial non-compliance. Um that full letter is in the back of this handout. Um one item we did report on in there that the LDC would require a response on would be uh over um appropriating fund balance that exceeded the prior fund balance. So um planning to use fund balance that was less than what you actually had at the end of the year. Um which can be challenging to calculate with all the journal entries and things that you have currently have in your financial savings. Um, but that's one thing that caution me on too is to make sure they're not planning to use more fund balance than we have available. Um, as I mentioned that they do require response to those findings within 60 days of upcoming standards. I mentioned that you all implemented Gazsby 101 for acrew compensated absences this year as all governments were required to do. Um we do have two standards coming in play next next year. Uh segment 103 for financial reporting model. Uh this will have some significant impacts. Um it initially was going to be groundbreaking and change the entire structure of the financial statements. Um then co hit and

then a lot of debate happened on what was best. U and so it's a lot smaller than it was initially planned to be but will have a significant impact. Um it will have impact on your budget schedules. will require additional column for changes in um original and final budget and why some of those were made for specific ones some RSI and I'm sure that the state will give out some guidance on what they specifically want to see in that as well. Um but we do expect that to be implemented this year as well as some improvements to the management discussion and analysis and we can provide that checklist to April for her listing as well. uh statement 104 could have some impact on disclosure of capital assets but I don't expect it to be super significant for you all. So o overall the audit process um each year we start with a a secure portal where we send a list and staff will upload a lot of items um to us and then we will visit on site with a narrow scope based on our testing from from remote um and do our interviews and things and then a similar process in the fall. Um so all the staff in the various departments, social services, tax agency and of course finance office all did a great job of getting [clears throat] those files in a very talent manner. So, I appreciate all of that. So, process wise, yeah, it went really well. The minor recommendations we had on the the pages that follow page and a half, yeah, page and a half or not even a recommendations, a lot of times a county might have two or three pages. So, couple items there, but overall the process went really, really well. Um, those two findings are pretty common for localities. continue to work on improving your acrual related entries and and checks and balances and things like that. But overall very good as far as a lot goes. Financially, I still think you're in really good shape. I know the percentages dropped some this year, but I think it's due to funding

the the very large construction project you all have going on during the year. Um I understand you have some more projects coming as well. So I do think you're in good shape financially. Um the letter here charts the difference kind of goes over all the items I described here. It talks about significant estimates. You do have some sizable estimates including net pension liability and that oped liabilities as provided by the actuary by the [clears throat] state and by you all as well. So there are a lot of liabilities that are based on actuarial estimates. So um overall really good audit. Are there any questions? Any questions, comments? Min.

Just a question or Yeah, a question. Looking at our fund balance two years ago, looking at it now, there's a drastic reduction. If we stay on the same course, is that do you see that as a potential problem? The way that we're spending money?

Yeah. Um, you know, it's something to monitor for sure. Um if you look at it there's there's several ways to look at your fund balance too. If you look at it in total your total fund balance um it went from 15.1 to 15.6. So it actually increased in total. Um but if you're looking at what's available based on the the calculations for the state statutes it did decline significantly because of that um $7 million you had outstanding for large receivables related to the project um for for the construction project. Um but yeah, it's something to monitor. As I mentioned, revenues are are less growing growing lower than the expenses. So you do want to monitor that, make sure that to do that. But at this point, I'm not

Well, I'm sure you're aware about six years or so ago that the state put us on notice, but I'm just looking at 24, our fund balance was roughly 66%. 25, we're down to 36%. That's a major drop. I agree. And if we continue on that course, I foresee the local government commission or the state coming back [clears throat] and wanting to know why we're spending so much money.

Yeah. And that's a great point. And you know, maybe it's something to think about as far as the timeliness of getting your reimbursement requests in. I think that you all currently doing quarterly uh to get your money back for the safe capital safe project for the high school may be [clears throat] something you can do it faster to get the money in more timely because those funds the state owes you for the project they already committed are not included in this. So you all already paid the money but you had not got it back. If that was in there that would change that. Could you characterize that? Could you characterize what it would look like if we did have those in place? like give it in your best estimate what that figure would be how much it would increase the unassigned [clears throat] fund balance I think it would be closer to I think it'll be

okay thank you so with that being said we're still in if that was there yes but you know progress so Mr. Chairman Scott, um [clears throat] I think it's really important to to point out that it didn't drop from that 60 number down to 40, correct? Because of expenditures by by us and can you explain that in a little more detail?

So yeah, if you look at the there's one slide that has expenditures on it, you'll see expenditures went up um roughly a million dollars. So that's the increase in expenditures which does impact that calculation. You also see other financing sources. I think it's just before those two slides. [snorts] Yeah, their total expenditures and it towards the right is 7.73% growth each year. So you'll see that it did go up million dollars. A lot of that is inflation. You do have some projects and things happening. Um and then you have the other funding sources which is transfers out. um was about $900,000 I think was your normal sales tax um allocation to the capital project for the schools and then $1.5 million was your one time for the entire high school project that happened during that year. So um that is certainly a big time increase. [clears throat] That's a one-time increase. So that part shows up as an expenditure and that calculation is but it's a one-time contribution for that project.

Right. You were you were saying something earlier about uh we're going to look at local getting tax money in to the state. So are we looking at a tax increase to get more money? What are you looking at?

It's not necessarily. That's just something for you all to consider in your budgets. Um you know, you all have gotten more grant money here than I haven't gotten anywhere else, you know, the last few years with all the various um projects and things you'all have happening, which is fantastic. Um, a lot of the work I does in Virginia is those grants just aren't there. U, so just something to watch in case, you know, politics can certainly change the the the grant process and want to make sure that you're able to self selfund if you have to. I do think that it will be where we're headed at some point. Well, let me ask you one more question. Ain't got nothing to this audit. How are we coming on the fire department audit?

It is waiting on me to review it to be honest honest with you. All right. So maybe 1st of February hopefully. Thank you buddy. Any other questions, comments? Yes, Mr. Chair. Yes, sir. Yeah, mine's just minimal, but it's just a curiosity. What is uniform guidance policies? Can you explain that?

Sure. Um, so uniform guidance is your federal all your federal grants. Um they require written procedures for how you all uh receive grants, how you document what the grant is, what the grant requirements are, which specific grant number it is and and how you were going to account for it and bid it and all those things are required to be in writing. Um you all are doing a lot of those things [clears throat] process. They're just not in. Okay. [snorts] All right. Anybody else? Babe Scott, we appreciate that good report, buddy. Thank you. Have a question or review it, please let me know. All right. Thank you. Thank you. [snorts]

Okay, moving on down. April CFO department. We thought this would be a good time to do the finance department year review. So for fiscal year 25 um total paid expenses was $35,818,485. Total AP processed was $21,793,94 and that's processed every two weeks and you don't have a copy of this report. U total payroll payroll process was over $8 billion and that's every two weeks. And if you account all the taxes and the deductions and retirement and everything that has to be paid in with payroll, it's over a million dollars for fiscal year 25. Currently, we have 144 full-time employees and anywhere between 25 and 50 part-time employees is included every two weeks in the payroll process. We handle benefits, reconciliation, and payment of our health insurance, life insurance, dental, and vision. the long-term disability that was added to our benefits last year, AFLAC and Colonial. We have two retirement venues that um employees can take uh advantage of with credential and nationwide and of course the North Carolina local government uh retirement system. All that has to be taken care of monthly. We [clears throat] assist with the workers comp compensation claims. Now, that's actually the lead person on that is in HR now, but we continue to have a backup person in finance to handle that. Um, the lead on the property and liability claims is actually the clerk to the board, executive assistant, but

we continue to be backup personnel and those claims officer with our insurance. The finance office [snorts] handles all the fixed asset and inventory management for all county departments and we handle the budget day-to-day management. So after we go through the budget process and the the county manager reviews who is the budget officer and the board approves, we are your day-to-day management of that budget each year. Last last year's budget fiscal year 25 was the general fund budget was $21.4 4 million. This year, the approved general fund budget was $23.9 [snorts and clears throat] million. The total of all funds for fiscal year last year actually started at 30 a little over 30 million, but when we ended at the end of the year, it was 69.1 million with the addition of the new project and the DPS town of Sparta wastewater treatment plant funding. This current year the total of all funds is 67,841,64 and in that additional we have 20 additional funds on top of the general fund that we handle debt management. That is one thing that added to that state stabilization calculation that Scott just talked about. [snorts] When we started last year, fiscal year 25 last year, we were a little bit over two million in debt. We're now at 8.1 million dollars with debt with the new high school project. [snorts] Our monthly task, we handle solid waste billing out of finance office. We post revenues, state and federal reports. We do the EMS uh reconciliation with the bills and the receivables with the third party billing company. We handle all the

deduction and garnishment management, employee tax exemptions, financial statement reconciliation now with checking, two savings accounts and two investments account, two investment accounts. Quarterly task include federal and state tax recon and reporting all remaining skiff funding reporting. U we've actually finished or we're closing out both of those skiff projects now. opioid funds reporting and we do specific billing to agencies and retirees plus the Employment Security Commission reporting quarterly yearly tax task. We handle the OPED report which is other postemployment benefits. That's actually a calculation of what we owe still outstanding with our retirees. We do a cost allocation plan completion, an EMS Medicaid report completion that we're actually in the process now. Uh we request the sales tax back that is allowed to come back to counties and municipalities once a year. The budget process with all departments and and our special [clears throat] appropriations and the fire departments. We assist with open enrollment, handle the W TWS for all employees and 1099s for any vendors that have to go out each year. The affordable care act forms, the is cheap process, which is the North Carolina cash process. If someone has been sent a check and it hasn't cashed, we've got to go through that process every year. And our largest task is the office is an ongoing thing throughout the year for this report that that was presented to the board today. [snorts] Our largest task last year other than the audit was the application the process and the approval of the new loan with the the high school. That was that

was a six-month process from start to end. So can I answer any questions about the finance report? finance department report. I think you do a good job up there, April. Thank you. [clears throat] You do a good job. Thank you. Anybody over here? Mr. Chair, um yeah, I got two questions. I was wondering how you find any time to do anything else much. Um the first one is easy. Is uh how many total employees we have now? [snorts] Total full-time employees. Yes. 144 full-time 144 positions. Positions. Now, that doesn't mean it's completely full now. And Tiffany would have that, okay, that total for you.

So, do you by chance, this is where the curveball is, have a idea when um some of our debts coming? Do we have any debt being finished paying off in the near future? Don't think we have any debt coming off this year, but we do next year. You don't have a clue how much that is, you Yeah, it's it's less than 100,000. Okay, I know that. Was that some of the schools or something or most of the debt that we have left? Yes. Is school schools? Yeah. School and the senior center. Okay. That was one of the last ones that was taken on. Wait, is Blake Creek school coming off? No, it's it's still on there for a little. It is. Thank you. You're welcome.

I don't have a question. I do comment you on the job you guys do it. the whole ball of cheese, the town, the school, and the county is just shy of hundred million dollars. Y'all handle and keep up with. And that's quite a task. And y'all do a great job. We appreciate it. Have a good team behind me. Yeah. Robin, Dula, No Elvis, and Tel. That's right. There too. It's a good team. It's a team effort. That's for sure. It is. Okay. Thank you. We're good.

Now, I'm going to do your monthly finance report. So, year-to- date revenue for the current fiscal year 15,944,744.19. That represents 67% of our food general fund budget. Year-to- date expenditures 14,244,4525, which represents 60% of our approved general fund budget. Bank balance as of today 6,6334633,438.37 in checking and 7,71,1743 in savings for a total of $13,7474,555.80. The town Sparta grant savings [clears throat] stands at 13,8875,94853. The transfer facility investment has gained $12,794.92 in interest and the general fund investment has gained $42,649.75 in interest. So, our net financials as we stand right as we stand today is $1,700,598.94. But if you look at the percentages up top, we're 54% into the budget year, but we've already spent 60% of our expenditures and we're at 67% in revenue. Just to point that out. local sales tax. Um, so far for the year we've collected $660,87163.

That is an increase from the same time last year of 46,92709. And the the quarter cent option that was put in a couple years ago, it actually went down a little bit this month. $154,487 as compared to last year. We're actually behind $16,993.92. Now, I will say on top of that, Department of Revenue have had some issues. We've had some vehicle tax issues and things. So, it may be a reconciliation problem on their side with the taxes for this month being reported, but it did go down just a little bit, just that quarter option. Your second page is just a print out of all the expenditures that have that have been paid out for this year. Anything any budgets that have been amended expended year to take year to date the percentage that's been used and then the balance per department. So, can I answer any questions about finances? Any questions? Anybody?

No. And I will add the uniform guidance question that you had the conflict of interest that's actually on the the agenda addresses that. Okay. All right. Good job. All right. Good job. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Moving on down. Mr. Rocky profit owner napco. [laughter] Good afternoon. Good evening.

Thank you [clears throat] for having me and thank you to the county for supporting our application for the North Carolina job credits back in 2022. Uh that was based on the creation of 24 new jobs. While we did not ultimately meet the job creation threshold required credit, I want to explain why and more importantly the highlight significant economic impact our company still delivered to the county and to North Carolina. The primary challenge we faced was the availability of labor. Rather than scaling back our operations, we chose to invest heavily in automation. This investment allowed our existing workforce become more productive and h more highly skilled, which in turn will led to meaningful wage growth. Put it in perspective, at the end of 2022, we had 95 full-time employees. At the end of 2025, we had 92 full-time employees. Despite the reduction in headcount, their total payroll increase from 4,850,000 to 5,735,000, an increase of uh $885,000. That payroll was equivalent to approximately 23 full-time jobs at our earlier wage scale. And we paid $190,000 for temporary labor. And that does not include about $650,000 in healthc care benefits that we pay. In addition, we installed equipment at a

company in Winston Salem. That investment directly supported the creation of 8 to 10 full-time jobs. When combined with our wage growth, these investments have produced meaningful and lasting economic benefit to the surrounding communities and to the state. [clears throat] We would also like to address the county's initial investment in our job credit application. The county paid approximately $9,000 for the application and there was discussion about whether this amount would be recovered if the job goals were not met. In 2022, NAPCO paid $67,000 in county taxes. Following our building expansion and the investment and automation, our C County tax payment went to at the end of 2025 to $210,000. Over the three-year period since the application, the county has realized a net increase of approximately 300 $26,000 in tax revenue far exceeding the original application cost. While we acknowledge we did not meet the specific job creation target of the jobs credit program, we believe the data clearly demonstrates that our investments have generated substantial economic value through higher wages, increased productivity, indirect job creation, and significantly increased tax revenues. [clears throat and cough] I want to thank you for the opportunity to share this information and appreciate your continued support of economic

development within our county. [snorts] I'll be happy to answer any questions. Any questions? Only thing I got to say, I appreciate your business. You can't get nobody to work. I understand that. You keep doing what you're doing. Thank you. I don't have any questions. would like to comment you about the job you guys do and what you mean to Alageney County property taxes, employment and and the whole ball sheets. Well, we happy to be here and just thank you for what you do and what you bring to the county.

I I mean I'm [snorts] going on 64 year old and work two or three days a week over here. Old Raleigh them boys calling. You can't get nobody to work. I appreciate what you do. Well, thank you. [clears throat] All right, moving on down general business for information. Miss Klein. Oh, wait a minute. Excuse me, Bill. That's right. Yeah, I just [clears throat] wanted Sorry, [laughter] I didn't see it.

That's okay. I just wanted to thank you also. And you know, when I when I when we had an opportunity to do a tour of your facility, I mean, it's it's a worldwide uh level organization, as you know, and it's very very impressive. and uh you got a great team of people there and [snorts] and we're really proud to have you in the county. So keep on trucking. We we appreciate you. We have tremendous team up there and a lot of expertise. One more thing. I think you started out right here in this room with you. Right. I remember that real well. Five years. I think [clears throat] this a lot of lot of changes.

A lot of technology. Yeah. Thank you. Thanks, Rick. Well, you're going to have to holler a little louder. I didn't catch it. Okay, Miss Klein.

So, uh, last meeting we talked about the rules, um, of procedure and, um, there were a couple suggestions that were made. Um, one of them was just an update for, uh, the fact that we have were meeting at a different time. So, that's been filled in. I tried to highlight what was updated. It's kind of hard to tell on a black and white copy, but um we put in 3 PM uh for the third W uh third Monday of the month. So, you'll see that um I went back and looked at the language in regards to the number of board members um who would meet where you might end up with an issue if you were talking about substantial county business. So, if you look at C on that first page, which is page nine, um, in your packet, you'll see where I just elaborated a little bit where it says three or more, and went back to what what the statute has in it and added because there was a question about just meeting for social events. So you'll see where it says true social the gatherings that don't do not entail any discussion of public business are not official meetings of the board just for clarification purposes. So there wasn't a lot that was added to that section just a small little bit to clarify. Um now the next part under three you'll see multiple changes there. The only reason for that, there were some abbreviations that were in that section before and they didn't actually follow the statute number. So if you'll look now, they actually follow. If you go to that statute and you look 1 2 3 4 5 6 through 10, they all match exactly what the statute says. Now, so if you're not sure of why we could have a closed session,

each one of those now directly reflects the actual statutory language so that you could now quote it directly if you wanted to from the rules and um uh procedure. So that I think was was it? That's all that was added um and updated. And if anybody had any other comments or, you know, wanted to add anything additional, obviously it's just a rough draft right now. So, you just need to let me know if if it needs further clarification or you're not sure about something still. Well, we had a little thing earlier. There's four of us wound up at a the board of education's meeting they had to hear about. I sat in a different row than y'all did.

Yeah. I mean, we didn't speak to each other. I said on the front row, but that's okay because but you get that sometimes.

No, but it's okay because if you look at the actual definition, you have to be having a discussion uh conducting hearings, participate in deliberations or voting upon or otherwise transacting public business of the jurisdiction. And if you're at another meeting, you're not conducting business for the county. You know, if it was a joint meeting, that's different. But then it would we would have satisfied the requirements anyway because it would have been public notice and we would have had it um um probably aired, you know, uh like we do our current meetings. So that that's not an issue. And if you're at a social event where you know you're not talking anything substantive, you know, then then there's no issue. You don't run into that issue.

Okay? And if you're at the same same restaurant and you're just not sitting together, that doesn't count either. That's why Timmy and Jerry didn't speak to me. [laughter] Um, I do have a Do you think we need is it would it be uh beneficial to put the statue reference statute number reference in that C or because we're not going line by line that's not important? It

Yeah, I don't think it is. um when we're referencing it in rule three, I think that's very important because now you can follow exactly along with the rule. Um but for C, I don't really think that that is anything because this is really just defining what the statute says. So I don't really know if you need you could you could just say well it might be confusing because you sort of summarized it. It's not really It's not the letter of it, but the letter I think would be too long. Okay. Which is why I've condensed it and just added some additional language that was already there. So, I've added a little bit more to what was already there.

I I I think you're kind of clear. I mean, I could make a reference kind of like I did in A where I said um pursuant to NS, you know, GS, which is the general statute. And then so under rule three a if you see I've made the statutory reference, right? I mean I certainly could do that here. That's a good idea. Yeah. And that would be simple. Yeah. You have some questions? No, you're good. Okay, Greg, any more? It's one.

Okay, we'll move on down. Miss Klein, you're up again. Um, so the next part is, um, and I just so happened to see this in the newspaper and then just so happened we ended up getting a letter, um, in regards to it. So, um, the town of Sparta, uh, and I think you guys have seen the letter, uh, the town of Sparta needs to add, um, I think two people to their town planning board. And the way that that would happen is either the commissioners would appoint two people um or by default if the commissioners don't then the the town board would um and if I'm not mistaken I think in that that notice in the paper there was a reference to um a couple people that the town is recommending for this position. I don't remember exactly who it was. Um it's in the article uh but so it's in the extr territorial jurisdiction. So it is uh just beyond that one mile circle that goes around the town. So it's in that additional little area and I think they want people that potentially might be from that area. I don't I'd have to go back and look at the names to determine um I don't know if the town was recommending specifically that you appoint who they recommend or if it has to be someone that lives within that extr territorial jurisdiction or if it can be people that the board just nominates in and of themselves.

I sort of think it's it's the board can nominate because they're outside of the onem radius so therefore they're in the county. Yes, I think that's way that but they're getting ready to change their zoning um for the town and they're revamping things and so I think that's why they're making this recommendation. Um you know and asking for you to appoint these people uh I think two positions to the the board. Um so these people we appoint what are they going to be doing? So when they have a planning board meeting, then those individuals show up at that meeting. Kind of like the county when we have a planning board meeting.

So like this Graham View Road up through here to the funeral home that Well, that's salvage yard up there. So well, there's a difference between town and county. Um that's that's in the county. Yeah, I know. But it there's a difference between whether it's going to be determined for something within the town and that their planning board will hear it versus if it's in the county. So if it's in the town limits, then that is something that the town is going to hear, not the county. Um so that won't come before Alageney County Planning Board. That would go before the town of Sparta Planning Board. So anything within its one mile, will that go to the town or the county?

I think that'll go to the town. Um, and they're now they're working on updating their local planning uh and zoning because [snorts] there are there are things that happen for the town that are not happening for the county. What's the statute of limitations? Somebody's got a salvage yard set up. I don't think there is a statute of limitations. I think it's a matter of if somebody brings it up as it being an issue. Now there may be a difference for people who have been operating 15 years say

yeah it may be before they implemented their regulations on those types of activities. I know the county has some of those issues too where if something happened before a specific time period which is when we implemented um say our ordinance then if they were in before then they're kind of grandfathered in. Do we have an ordinance on like a salvage yard? We do. It's it's within our county ordinance. How long has that been in effect? Since 2006. Since 2006. Okay. Now, but like I said, if it's town or county. Yeah.

So, this is the first time this has come up uh that I'm aware of. Um I don't remember this being something that's come up. So, it may be something we get a little more information on from the town. Um I mean, I've I've read it, but I'm still not 100% as to are they making the recommendation because that's what I saw in the paper. or is it something that you were actually recommending and do they have to reside within the extr territorial jurisdiction in order to be appointed? Follow up with Jose. Yeah, this is for information. We got time to Yeah. and take it up next time. It's new. I don't I don't know if we've I'm not sure if any of us have seen this. I don't think

before. Yeah. I was thinking uh and I'm not clear on this but I was thinking that the reason the county would appoint someone would be that for all the people lives just outside that mile radius which has no which would be county represented you know.

Yeah. But the in the statute it says if you look at paragraph two of the letter it says section B of the mentioned general statute um which is 160D-307. It says that the county board of commissioners has 90 days to appoint an ETJ member to the town planning board. Um, so the statute says that if the commissioners do not make that recommendation and vote for that person within 90 days of the letter, then the town board would actually appoint someone.

Okay, we dig into it a little bit deeper and get something set up here. Okay, [clears throat] that it that conclude. Moving on down, Lisa. Ask the clerk to the board. So, we're going to have some more vehicles to sell, surplus vehicles, which will be parked in the front parking lot. Um, couple are um rather large. There's a a GMC rolloff and then there's a road tractor that will be parked out there. Um, but this is just to let you know that those will be okay. posted and so forth. What you doing 30 days? Uh, two weeks. Two weeks. So,

okay. I I think they bring more money when they work up here. They do get more visibility. Yeah. So, when we going to put them up there? We'll start with that tomorrow. And um the road tractor, I'm not 100% sure we're going to be able to get it over here. It it broke, you know, during the lean, so I've got to be careful with it. But um the Explorer, we've got to find I think we can get it up here, but all the rest of them I know I can get here. What what's broke on the road track? Well, you know, the wall fell on it. Yeah.

And then the rear end broke, so we had it chained together and was trying to use it and it just wasn't it just wasn't drivable. Um, so without a trailer hooked to it, we can we might be able to get it over here, but it's not in very good shape. That's fine. Let me know. I'll drive it over for you. Okay. Okay. Davis Ber, senior operations project manager. [clears throat]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman and board. Um, a few things today. Um, just regular maintenance has been going on at at most of the buildings. There's not been anything um really big. Um at EMS, we [clears throat] as y'all know, we are um a little bit behind on staffing, but um our crews have been working very hard in the in the last little bit uh about taking care of the folks and making sure everything goes according to how it should for everybody to uh get what they need. Um looks like weather's coming in this weekend. Um, we've made plans today. Uh, we've still in talks about the weather. Uh, we have a plan for the transfer facility. We also have a plan for the emergency services. So, if we get as much snow as they say we might get, we will make sure that emergency services is able to run. I've got two pallets of salt waiting on us in the morning at Lowe's. So, we're going to go pick up two more pallets of salt. Um, so that will that should give us an ample amount to take care of everything we need to take care of. Uh, so be looking for that this weekend. Uh, it may come, it may not come, maybe just a skip. So we'll we'll plan for the worst and hope for the best. Um, animal control, we had um three well checks, one dog andor cat picked up. Uh, we had six running at large. We had two bites that uh the animals was quarantined. We trapped five um those um were owned by some people. So they collected them back with fines. Um we had 63 hours, 15 calls, 395 miles traveled. Um at the transfer facility, we had um

coingle we had one load at 3.95 tons. cardboard. We had two loads at 8.18 tons. Um, it's noteworthy that y'all understand that right now cardboard the bottoms fell out of the the econ the price of that fell out to bottom. So, we're being charged for our processing of our co-mingle now. So, it's not covering the cost, but it's it's minimal and it's still yet less than it it costs to send it to Cwell County. So, uh, we're still saving a little bit of money, but just not as much as we was. We got a match. Yeah.

Yeah. So, um, we had two loads of scrap metal at 9.68 tons, uh, yielded the county $1,791.40. U, we also have been in discussions with TRC and Wendy and Terrace are here with us today. Uh we we have went over the 85% uh design and architectural plans that they have and part of the plans are at 95%. So that's coming right along. We're still um right on schedule to get the RFP put out um probably within the next two or three weeks. So we're looking for that and excited about the process of that. And like I said, Tyrus and and Wendy both are here. Uh so that if you all have questions or any concerns, uh we had a meeting today at one and they they went over some of these things. Uh as you know, Bobby and and Timmy is on that committee. So um the things that they um they explained and and some things we discovered that still yet need to be there. Um, that's the purpose of these meetings and that's the purpose of questions being asked so that we make sure that when we go at this the first time we do it right and we don't have to redo again. So, we we discovered a couple of things today and and you know, we're all good with that. We're okay with that. Um, finding things that needs to be and and putting them in there and and uh like I said, TRC uh they're very good to work with. they've been accommodating uh especially on some of these grants. And as you know, uh we got the $ 1.5 million grant on uh some of the things with uh the Helen recovery and we're looking at another grant that was sent in today for uh review. Uh so they have been helping us with that as well. Um we've also um the recycling part of it. They have been um very

gracious in uh offering up uh words of wisdom and things of that nature to uh help us with the narratives and uh things that that they see and and have very they have a lot of experience in this field. So um we we rely on them to help us with all those questions. April and Sam and Mr. Shley and Lisa and I have uh really um worked hard on getting those things uh together with uh Rael. Rael is is is awesome. And I guess that's about all we need to say about that. But uh she she is she is awesome. She was the she was the the right choice for helping us with that. She stays right on top of things and uh if if she needs something from us um she asks and we get it to her. So, um, again, they're here. If you have any questions, uh, certainly, um, feel free to ask those questions.

So, our grant writer are working with them back. Yes. Okay. Okay. Any questions for David control? We got less strays than we used to have and less mileage or how's that ranking up nowadays? Yeah. Um, so that has has calmed down just a little bit. Um but some of the things you know some of the things as far as being the amount has gone down but some of the things that come in are um very very much uh [clears throat]

um they're irritating sometimes. But um the people the people have concerns and and we appreciate their concerns and we want to help them best we can. But it has slowed down a little bit. Cold weather nobody messing with Yeah. Yeah. Y'all do a good job out there.

There you do. All right. Anybody got any other questions or comments for David? [snorts] If not, move back down to Heather Klein again. So, you should see in your packet um on page 19 um a question came up for the use of the conference room uh over at the BDC. And of course, that's county owned building. So, we did have a policy on it. Um, and we've updated that policy and this is for the use of the conference room. Um, it's not for use of anything else, just the the conference room. Um, and you'll see there's a there's a lot of information that's that's in here. Um, small things, you know, about using the room. Um, and I know we just went back and forth. I think it was last week and I'm not even sure if we've incorporated um the last suggestions uh that we might have talked about like on email. So there might be a small change or an update for the the policy again [clears throat] once everybody that's on this email chain acknowledges um the update. But it's basically to kind of like we have guidelines for public comment. you know, here it's kind of this is the use policy for that specific room um and how how that room is supposed to be used. And I know there have been a lot of questions um circulating at least through the emails in regards to um people's right to be able to use that room and then what the first amendment does or doesn't allow us to do because it's not it's not a public space. Um, so I've been over that quite a bit, too. So, so this is what we've come up with. I think the only thing we weren't sure about, and we might not have incorporated some other things, was the capacity of the room. I don't know.

I don't know if [clears throat] we know how many people are supposed to be in there or not. Yeah. Well, we can find out and and fill that in. Yeah. um because we certainly don't want that room. You know, the concern came up when it might have been open to the public and of course we just went through security updates over at the Wils Community College and so we don't want to violate and cause any issues there with the use of the facility, especially for security purposes, um if it's something that's happening after hours. And so the concern came up, how's the room being used? who's using it, um, you know, who's cleaning it, who's there to monitor what's going on, how are people reserving it, who's reserving it. So, a lot of questions came up. Um, and Courtney is um, updating things. I've updated it. I think we've had some other suggestions. So, this is one of the things we've been working on just to get up to date for the use of that room.

So, is no charge on this room? No, there's no charge on the room because usually the people that are using is nonprofit. Um, so I know the Rotary, we used to use the room and we would meet um every other Wednesday. Um, and you know, we were a nonprofit. So the the people using it are nonprofit. It's not it's not just general public. Um, from my understanding, I don't is it just general mostly nonprofits, especially with the restrictions that are on the room, it's it's not a it's not a huge room and it just has that one table in there and I think it might have maybe 10 12 chairs or no, it's the the seats around. It's in a U-shape.

20 people in there or something. Yeah, something about that. It's not it's not large. It's not It's a nice little facility there though, right? But you can't you can't use it for like stacks of chairs. We don't have them. They're not available to put in there. So, it's limited use. And so, we wanted to update our policy on the use of the Well, does the same rule apply at the BDC as it does 90 South Main. I mean, we've got a conference room up there. It's 20 25 people that's used right smart. I don't know. I just I just wondering if you had the same policy in effect up there. Pretty much. Okay. Well, certainly we could then, you know, take this and it says conference room policy. We could certainly use it and put 90 South Main.

Uh, you know, maybe with some modifications if if needed. We can certainly look at that. Well, somebody want to use this room here for a conference. I don't know. Do we have anything on this room or is it the same? I mean, what's going to ask you use it up here, but you can't use it here. Well, it would be the same policy type policy where it's not open for specific things. It because this is county property, there is limited use that we can restrict on on this uh building in this room. Same thing at the BDC and 90 South Main. 90 South Main. I mean, there's no be no difference then.

No. Right. It it's county owned. We don't have a written formal policy, but we do have a internal understood policy. I think that if anybody's having a meeting after hours, an employee has to be present there, you know, for security reasons and locking up and cleaning and things like that. But we don't have anything formal at this time. It's just been a an understood verbal policy. Okay.

Any other questions? Thank y'all. Moving on down. Mr. Larry Van Hoover, executive director of the Chamber of Commer. [clears throat] Good afternoon. Thank you.

So, I have two documents to pass out. Um, one is the Alien County Chamber of Commerce's kind of annyear report for county and it's uh it's a little bit different format than we've done in the past. Um, you'll see that as I hand it out. Basically, I create a report every month that I submit both to the TDA and to the chamber that shows all the minutia of what we do in the chamber offices and as an organization. And I didn't really feel like you all would want to see that because it would be about a 40 or 50 page document if I it was a culmination of all all 12 months. So what I've done is summarize um kind of the top activities for the year and put that in a report for you. And then the other document is a letter that I address to Bill Shepley. Then just as we're new in the economic development where the c the chamber is representing in a way um the county for economic development I want to make sure that that we were in agreeance and a lot of things. So I I copied you all on that letter just uh in the spirit of transparency. So anyway let me pass those out.

Thank you.

Thanks sir. We give one to Bobby here.

Thank you. Thanks. Thank you, buddy. She'll [snorts] be back. She'll be back. [clears throat]

Okay. So, in the interest of time, let's uh let's hit the hot spots of the 2025 year review by the chamber. Um, and this brief is provided to present a clear highle snapshot of where the chamber focused its time and energy in 2025, how those efforts supported tourism and economic development and why that work matters to Alageney County residents and businesses and of course the local government. So, um, first off, we just briefly discussed events and and their local impact. Uh, as a chamber, we continue investing in events and programs that bring people to the county and the town while supporting our local businesses. gift certificates alone kept about $25,000 circulating locally for 2025 and uh we've had a trend of about $50 million a year spent by visitors in the county. So if you took our 11,500 or so residents and gave that would be equivalent to giving those 11,500 residents each $5,000 to spend here in the county. So tourism does help our county. There's a lot of tax generated, a lot of revenue, a lot of money coming into the area that wouldn't otherwise be here. So, we continue to work on tourism for the community. Um, but it, you know, it's it's one of our priorities. It's not the only priority. And I want to make sure you understand that, especially now as we we shift to helping with economic development and represent that Alagini County and that effort that we're not just going to be about tourism. Obviously, I do like it when somebody comes and just hands me money and it leaves and they don't want anything in return. [snorts] But, uh, hey, we have some other things to do as well. Uh, speaking of, uh, marketing and exposure, [snorts] um, we were able to, um, kind of entice, uh, PBS North Carolina to send their realtor tour up here this past year. And they they

actually advertised for us to the sum of $50,000 for the community. It wasn't just for the tour. They were advertised in the community because they wanted people to come here and experience the tour. In addition to sending uh I think it was about 12 or David might know this or Aaron, right? 12 or 15 employees up here to stay for 4 days and that full cost lodging and occupancy tax. That's it. 12.

Yeah. Um they also spent $25,000 in ads. And then they also created for us from um some footage that I provided a commercial for the county and I believe it was 20 seconds long and they ran that over 100 times between the 1st of September and last month because they continued to run it since it wasn't specific for the fair or the Rud Roadster tour. So we've been getting exposure all along and it cost us that much. So those are the kind of things we continue. It's just like a grant without a match. So it was wonderful for our community. We expect to see visitor spending up again this past year because of efforts like that. We also work with visit NC which is kind of the state version of tourism for North Carolina and we're in partnership with them. We're in partnership with High Country Host, which is um mostly western North Carolina counties and because we come together with we are able to get a lot better deals on advertising and marketing promotions [clears throat] and PR because we're representing about eight counties instead of just one, especially one small county like we are. So we get heard and we get recognized and that's important to the community. Um in our partnerships, you know, I mentioned visit NC and High Country Host and those partnerships, but we're also heavily involved in organizations that are promoting the the areas that are looking for businesses to come to the area. And we've always kind of tapped into that and that's been the little bit of economic development that the chamber has done. We go to a lot of meetings and and get our name out there and say, "Hey, have you considered bringing your business to Alageney County or something like that and we're just expanding that function now as I work with Bill Shepley and and targeting certain businesses, certain um organizations. Um, and as we work through like like you'll see in that letter that I presented to you, as we work through what kind of businesses do we want here? Do we want big changes or or do we want small, you know, small

town shops and things like that? What kind of manufacturing do we want here? You know, you could have, you know, I I saw a proposal the other day for a 300,000 square foot pharmaceutical plant and we actually met I worked with John Evans and and a couple of us and we actually met a lot of the requirements and there was only one thing that eliminated us. But can you imagine I'm I'm not sure we want that here, you know. So, we have to make sure that we're on the same page with those type of things. And I get a lot of that information because [clears throat] it's okay. You guys have given us permission to go out and look for it and we're working with EDP and NC who's one of our primary partners on economic development. Um, you know, I mentioned here that we stay engaged with business prospects, property research, and grant coordination. as a 501c3, we are able to go out and solicit a lot of grant opportunities, but you take ARC, the Appalachin Regional Commission. We aren't able to get most of those grants because we didn't have local government [snorts] support. Now we have that. So, there's a lot of opportunities out there that we we didn't qualify before. I expect us to be able to. and I've met with uh Riyle who is amazing as David said and we're going to work together on on reaching out to get some of those opportunities. But the main thing that we're trying to promote is a higher quality of life and and just infrastructure here in the community. We don't want all this stuff for somebody else. We want high quality of life for the people that are here, the people that grew up here. And you know, I I go to this one meeting, it's interesting called the Alagany Gentleman. And it's funny, it's a misnomer because and nobody in that meeting is from Alageney County. Rarely you'll have someone that come and speak and they're a native like Rocky. Rocky came and spoke and and his son and Ryan Edwards came and spoke. But these are people that have moved in the area who

want to be involved that want to learn about the community and they have asked speaker after speaker to come and and just share. And they're they're they're people that I have to say most of them are wellto-do. They want to see this community prosper. And those are the kind of people we want, you know, people who don't necessarily want us to change. They want to find out what we're like, who we are as a community, and then work within that structure. So, um, crisis and coordination. I I called that out just a little bit because, you know, we kind of fell into the role after Hurricane Helen of of distributing information. It's it's you know there's everybody's got a little piece of the the PR uh puzzle but a lot of people call us day in and day out asking us questions and we found out that we we had to have the answer. We didn't want to tell people we don't know call the county you know or we don't know call the town. It was just much easier if we got the information then we could answer the dozen or so call us about that specific topic. So, as we've continued to fill that role and learn from that, um, we're we're seeing opportunities to increase that effort. We want to make sure that we co coordinate well with the county and with the town. And one of the things that we're working with is called the Alageney County LTRG, our long-term recovery group, and that's in its uh creation stage right now. It's going to be a 501c3, and we have a board that's that's being appointed. It'll be just like 501c3. um it'll it'll be have to meet the requirements uh that the government places on those and and our part in that is going to be communications and publicity and promotion and uh and just getting the word out about things. So continue to look for that. We also would like to see more county involvement in that effort because again you all know a lot about about a lot of things that we won't know about. And I I I do want to emphasize on on the LTRG, it is for

after a disaster that is kind of the last call. If if um if let's say the earthquake happened, see that's not going to be declared a disaster zone. It was right here locally and unfortunately we did get some government help. But what if they didn't? What if it was 10 houses that were damaged by the earthquake and there was very little assistance available for those people? That's where the LTRG is going to come in. And we're going to be able to go out and get funding from FEMA and other organizations. Red Cross, um, a lot of religious organizations give funding towards LTRG. We didn't invent the term. FEMA actually did. And, uh, and they work with organizations all across the nation to create these LTRG boards. and Alageney County is going to have its own. We didn't have its own, our own, but now we will. And you'll see that develop in the next few few months. And then I just want to close as far as the the end of year coverage and say that um you know, we do a lot of activities. We do a whole lot of advertising, tens of thousands of dollars of advertising for the community. We do a lot of work in education and training and but we just touch the tip of the iceberg. We feel like there's a lot more that we can do and we want to hear from you. So that's why again I want to be transparent and I want to hear from you as well and Bill Shepley has been great in leading that effort. So appreciate the fact and again I'm [clears throat] not really going to discuss this later. [cough] That's just for your information and I'm looking for questions comments.

Uh thank you for your time Larry. We appreciate all the work you put in at the chamber. You're valued and I think you're a great [snorts] asset to our community. Um I do have one question please. Um you said that the pharmaceutical company that was looking for you know a checklist of items. What did what what did we not check off? We didn't have we don't have a natural gas system. A lot of these big manufacturers do require natural gas. Some of the smaller ones and I think we will qualify for don't necessarily they can do tanks and so on. And could you tell us about what some of the other factors were for their consideration?

Um, well, it was above my head, so I I sent the the energy request to u Johns and he he said, "Yeah, the only thing that you see sometimes is a redundancy." And there's really [laughter] not a lot of power companies that offer REDUNDANCY FOR ONE. SO, UM, he said with the use of a a high-end generator that could have been that need could have been met. generators probably.

Okay. Uh this comment I echo the same thing. Garrison, we're glad to have you on board and I think you're doing a super job and economic development is a major player in every county. You know, it's there's more to economic development than just jobs and factories, too. And you're you're touching base on that right here. Anybody else? I think I think you're doing a good job up there. I mean, honestly, I appreciate the best I've seen the chamber run since I've been been around. Just thank you, Larry. Thanks. Thank you for what you do.

You know, I will mention Garrison on that. Uh the way we get in that pipeline is EDPNC created kind of an online tool called Zoom Prospector. And I have steadily been putting all of our commercial properties available in that prospector program. [clears throat] And so anybody from all over the world that's interested in starting a business in North Carolina can pull that database up and look at what we got to offer. It has all the information. I've actually had to go into the ABC store and measure the roof. I mean, there's there's a lot of detail in it. Um the photos get populated and so not only can they look at us and say, "Well, what about this piece of land?" We can also look at the proposals that are out there and say, "Hey, will this meet our need?" And anything that's um, you know, I'm not making decisions [clears throat] willy-nilly. Anything that looks like, you know, we just a little bit of infrastructure change, we could attract, you know, I'll be talking with Bill Shep, his department, his staff about it. I'm not I'm not going to be making those decisions. We're the scout, so to speak, for the county, not we're not the baseline.

You're just showing what we got to offer. Mhm. Anything else, Bill?

Yeah, Mr. Chairman. Um, you know, we're thrilled to have, you know, Larry as part of the team and, uh, he's doing a great job. He's very proactive as, as you could hear from what what he just had to say. And, uh, he and I are going to be re meeting on a regular basis to talk about these leads and things we want him to look at and things that he's discovered. One of the other things I just wanted to say briefly is Mindy is in the back here and she's the uh the chairman of the the chamber and you know the the unity that occurred in keeping Larry here was inspired by her. you know, she immediately brought us all together and we came up with a solution to to keep him here. And I just wanted to say how much we appreciate your energy and enthusiasm and and ideas about how we can keep this thing going and make it even better.

Thank you. We do appreciate everything you do. [clears throat] You're getting our word our name out there. Thank you. Okay. Good report. [snorts] Next up, Mr. Bill Ship, the county manager. Yes, Mr. Chairman. Um, I included some some data, some information in the your packet and and need to go through that whole thing. I just I wanted to point to point out to you that it's a universal now that in our state that we need child care and we need housing. Exactly.

You know, when we're talking to, you know, Larry about bringing folks here, those are two two of the questions that they ask. you know, are we going to if we're going to bring some additional entities into the into the county, they're going to need child care and they're going to need housing. So, we're exploring that and uh you know, we'll be bringing some ideas to you all and and see what you think about. Okay. How we could do better job in those two areas. Okay. We appreciate that. Yes, sir.

Moving on down. Can't imagine Mr. Bill Shepard again. And so what we have is the uh theou um that links together the the chamber and the TDA and the county to to fund Larry and to uh make that uh economic development piece into a reality and we've you know we've given it to you for your review and we're ready for Did the town chip chip in on that? So the town ain't have none not at all at this point. No, I guess it's time to change the name of the town. But anyway,

but we're looking for hoping for your approval of theou so we can uh move forward if we if we can get it uh done today. If we can then um pardon me. Is this just for information today? Oh, it is for information. I'm sorry. Two weeks. Yes. For it to come up, right? Yeah. Long as if we do it [clears throat] um timing wise as far as paychecks and all that. If we can do it at the next meeting, that would be great. If there's a problem, then obviously we'll we will address it. Shouldn't be no problem getting on the agenda, do we?

Yeah. Okay. Any anything else, questions to build about that? If not, we'll move on down consent agenda. Rita Miller, tax administrator.

How you read it? Any questions on the consent agenda that I could answer for you? Anybody have any questions? If [clears throat] not, ask for a motion. I'll make a motion to approve. Second. Motion second. Any further discussion? All in favor? Four up. Thank you. Thank you, Rita. Okay. Next is general business. All this is for action. First up to Randy Murphy, Parks and Rec.

Good afternoon everyone. [clears throat] Good evening. I think um we have brought this up at the last meeting on the session stand and it got table. Um I would like to bring that back up. Okay. action on the next meeting. I guess we had uh we had two three uh one out of the three came in filled out correctly if memory serves me right. Correct. And the other one was not filled out correctly. Correct.

Uh you want to add anything to that on the legal part? you sent us an email and uh

it would I guess it would be the same because um the the email that I sent was in regards to the concession stand for the fairgrounds because that's a little bit odd because it's the reverse of what we would normally do. Um, but [snorts] the the amount on that is uh when you look at the statutory amounts that require contracts to be bid, it's it's way less than what is required. So, we do it because we always have um not because statutoily it's required. So, that one may be a little different. I haven't seen any of the bids. How much are you talking about? Uh, think we discussed them last meeting. Yeah.

5800 different.

Yeah. So that it's statutoily we don't have to follow uh what the rules are there which is that you have to take the lowest [clears throat] bid. You know I think it's a good guideline um especially when you're talking about whether or not someone's able to perform um under the what they've bid. Um, but the the statute says that if it's not uh a significant variance from what you're requesting enough that it would cause harm to the other biders, then it's something you can wave. So, meaning, you know, let's say um they didn't provide one piece of documentation, but they see it later.

Well, I mean, that's really up to the county. I mean, I think that might be a problem because if you're putting a date in there and you put an RFP out, you're not going to go beyond the date. What you're going to do is if they forget a piece of information, uh, you can wave that if it's not going to significantly harm the other parties. That's what the statute says. Now, remember,

we're not bound by the statute because it's not exceeding the amount. But once you put the RFP, you know, you have to make the determination of did they did they comply, you know, significantly or, you know, substantially enough for you to to consider the bid or not. So, and that's really the call of the board since we're not we're not under the statute for it. It's just But you did put out the RFP, so you need to make the determination. I want to make a motion take the high bid of Muddy Creek. Wait, wait. Oh, this is for mowing. Oh, mowing. No, sorry. I was wondering why you asked about that. I thought it was about mowing.

I take I make a motion take a high bid. Muddy Creek. Well, I got one more thing I want to say and then then the rest of you guys can chime in. We sent an RFP out, you know, and to follow the rules and procedures that we've always followed. uh they need to be filled out correctly and and one of them wasn't filled out correctly. The other one was came in with the the insurance I think was the the hang up. But just to say to follow the procedures and rules like we've been doing, I think we got one one RFP that's that's eligible. Correct.

Anybody else want to chime in on this? My only other point of discussion is that I I understand and recognize that we're not bound by statute to have a bid process uh for this uh specific scenario, but we did. And with that being said, uh I think we got to honor the process that we put that we outlined and we expected those things to be turned back in in that fashion. So Timmy,

I agree. Went for three years now. I guess this is the way we've always this is the way we did it. If we don't like, like I say about a lot of things, if we don't like the way we do it, then we can talk about changing rules, how we do it. But the way it's been done for the last three years is people send in all their their information as requested and they do the bid. And so, as Bill says, the one that's done all that is we only have one, and that's the the mountain top uh concessions. Yeah. And I mean, two years ago, we did try.

Yeah, we did. Okay. Anything else? We got a motion on the floor by by Greg to take the top one. Do I hear a second? Motion fails for lack of a second. Open floor for another nomination. I make a motion that we um grant the Mountaintop Concessions that uh contract for another year. Second.

Got a motion. Second. Any further discussion? Not all in favor. All post. Three to one. Okay, Randy, you're up again. And Ray, now we're up mowing. Yeah. Yeah. Get the lawn mower out over there. [laughter]

So, so now moving on to the mowing aspect. Um just to make sure everyone's on the same page. Um we the this was presented two weeks ago for your all review. Um there was one item that's been updated on this um from the last time and that was supposed to have been included initially and that was that it was a minimum of 24 m um as a guaranteed minimum throughout the year. Um but other than that that was an RFP to be submitted um after your all's approval. Need a motion to be accept. So move. Second.

Motion a second. Any further discussion? All in favor? Well, thank you very much. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you.

Thank you guys. Next up is April H. CEO. So at the last meeting I did present the invoice well the total of the three invoices that were late for fiscal year 24 and the board did direct me to go ahead and move forward budget amendment which is I believe it's on down on the agenda but I do have a budget amendment in the amount of $15,848 uh to take from the fund balance. That's where the money is is in the phone. It's just for the three months of the invoice, right?

So we can get the for service. Okay. Need a motion. I make a motion. Second. Any discussion? If not, all in favor? Five. Favor again. Go right ahead. Okay. And then I think the next thing on the list is the updated uniform guidance conflict interest policy. This is one of the things that Scott Wickham um mentioned earlier. We're doing uniform guidance. We've just got to get it down in black and white on some paperwork. So this is a part of doing that. Okay. Okay.

And this was for information at the last minute. [snorts] Entertain a motion. I make a motion to approve the updated uniform guidance conflict. Second motion and second. Any further discussion on paper? April again. Is it May or Mr. Mr. Sheffley? My number it says DDA. [snorts] Okay.

Um, so the next one I have is the budget amendment for the TDA. Uh, Scott mentioned before and the couple of things that we need to improve on next year, this year, current year. Uh, in the TDA budget, we actually budgeted more of a fund balance than we anticipated they were going to have. So this amendment is actually just taking $20,687 out of that budget line in their approved budget. Okay. So it's coming out. It is coming out coming back to the county.

No, it's not actually coming back to the county. It's just reducing their budget because at the end of fiscal year 25, we thought they were going to have more of a fund balance than they actually had. So there was no adjusting of that budget line. Okay. Entertain a motion. Motion to approve. Second. Motion and second. Any discussion? All in favor? Five. Okay.

Okay. And then the last one I have is actually for register deeds and we're adding $1,500 to that separate fund for registered deeds. This is basically just a pass through. This is what they're collecting on file records and we're paying back out. when it's collected, but we do need to add some to that budget. Okay. Entertain a motion. I'll make a motion to approve. Second. Motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor? Five of them. Did I miss one? Did we get number nine done? And then the forest service. Yes.

The forest service was actually on there twice. We talked about the lady invoice. [clears throat] But that was for information last time. I think it's just it's gotten listed twice. I'm with you. I thought I'd missed it. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. I got the next one. Bounty Creek Fire Department, volunteer fire department, uh, fireman relief fund, trust fund, same as the formality for Glade Creek Cherry Lane. [clears throat] They've elected their board of trustees and turned them in and all we can do to approve this and send it on down the line like we did with Cherry Lane and Blake Creek. So I'd entertain a motion. I'll make a motion to approve. Second motion second. Any discussion? All in favor? 5. All righty. Moving on down. County manager's comments.

Yes, Mr. Chairman. Um, first uh want you to know that we have met this morning and we'll we'll probably meet again to discuss what you know the weather incoming weather that may occur. You know, we could get anything. As you all know with weather forecasts, it could be nothing or it could be snowageddon. you know, we could we could be in for a doozy and we want to be prepared and I'm encouraged the people in our county to pay attention to the weather and keep keep track and and do what you need to do in order to make sure that you're you'll be secure and okay during a potential uh major storm that may be coming our way. The other thing is we're heading into budget season again and uh that we've had a request that we have a budget session. And I think that's a good idea. I would recommend that to the board. We're going to be setting that up unless anyone has any um objection to doing that to just talk about what are the key things that we think are important leading into this upcoming year and what are the things you think are important and make sure that we're on the same page as we um flesh out a a budget u and begin the budget review process. Um, those are the those are the two biggies and that's all I have. Mr. Chairman,

we'll just work us up a time time frame after the meeting. Yes, sir. All righty. Moving on down the county commissioner comments. Garrison, I guess start in the table. Uh, I don't really have a whole lot to say. I just like to thank Larry again and everybody else who serves on the chamber board for all the time they put into economic development for the county. Uh, we appreciate what you do. Thank you. Thank you, Bobby.

Um, I I had to leave the meeting earlier. I had a doctor's appointment and [clears throat] I go to the health department and they finished the major part of their construction over there. And so, I would encourage people to go by and we're going to have an open house. We'll announce when that is, but they've added uh quite a few additional rooms. The parking is greatly improved. So, I would uh in the future, I would just encourage people to to consider the health department. Uh like uh everybody's aware, the weather's supposed to turn different Saturday, I guess, Friday night and Saturday. So, please be careful. and out on the road. And I'm sure that the county will park all their vehicles where it makes it easier for the snow plows to come in and and clean up instead of having to dodge each each individual car. Uh just everybody try to stay warm and keep those animals inside. And some people got horses that may bring them inside. [clears throat] Never mind. Never mind. That's all I've got.

Thank you. Grief, I'd just like to ask Mr. Shepley how the meeting went at Glen Creek Fire Department a couple weeks ago. I think David went and Garrison there. I think there were a total of I think I counted 17 people. Does that sound about right for those that were there? So, there were I think five of us and 12 from, you know, of from their group. Um, I think it was calm. Um, we, uh, I think we're direct. I think they stated what they believed. And, um, we had a good back and forth.

So, have they spent most of their budget for the year? Well, they got $5,700 left. They have spent a large part of their budget, right? They They spent all of their fire. I spent all the Well, just on account of that, I went and paid my taxes this week and I will not pay Glad Creek fire tax until we get that place straightened out. That's all I got to say. Well, what what we have told them is that we have a second part of the u the audit that needs to be completed before anything else happens. Well, they shouldn't get no more money there. They done spent their money for the year. So,

that's where it stands, right? That's why I won't pay no fire tax until we get this bunch straightened out. [snorts] Thank you, Greg. Timmy. Uh, yes. I I we mentioned it a minute ago that we ended up all four of us or maybe all of us, five at the board of education, four of us.

Um, and I think in a summary that u that thing is going really well. So, I'm excited about that from from what I felt like could, you know, you never know about these projects, especially one where you tear down half this stuff and put it back. But I impressed the the folks I believe that um that is doing that job is doing a swell job. And I I made some notes while we was in there and which is uh some really good stuff like I think they're looking at a dryin somewhere from March to May which is basically you'll start seeing a hole. Um the other thing was they said they only had two change orders and it had it was due to soils and then um they actually plan on if all goes well a finish of phase one sometime in October late October.

So um 2028 20 20 28 phase one. Yeah.

Yeah. Not this year. I'm sorry. of course. But yeah, it's moving smoothly and I think they even said they had I think they'd missed maybe nine they had been held back about nine days due to due to weather. So, um that is really impressive up here. So, I just that that was all to me it was really good news and that's a that's one of the largest projects we've ever had going on in Alagany. So, it's I know it's you know people drive by it and stuff but it's it's a big deal. So, I just wanted to share that with the rest of the folks here. But, um, but other than that, and just hope everybody, um, does well, fires well through the storm that's coming, and hopefully this will be this good one, and then we'll look for spring on the other side.

Very good. Yeah. Just to add a little attention on the school there, if I remember right, they're about 28% complete.

Yeah. Uh, which which is good. and uh costs are somewhat fixed with the exception of like the dirt problem the the unforeseen you know and uh hopefully it'll stay on budget like it was planned and ought to report that came back real good and and solid and everything as Bobby says the big snow is coming sounds like according to TV and everybody talking but just stay safe and watch the news, watch the weather, and keep the animals in, dogs, the cats, and try to make the best of it. I'm sure the county will get their plans together with animal service and all it all that needs to be taken care of to to help the people and keep services going. So, with that being said, that's all I've got. Anybody got anything else? Need a motion. Motion to adjurnn.

So, move second. All in favor? Thank you everybody. Thank you the doctor.