County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Lord, again today we thank you for the beautiful day that you've allowed us to enjoy. Lord, we thank you for your grace and your mercy. Lord, for keeping us safe and keeping us healthy today. And Lord, we ask now as we've met here tonight, Lord, we ask your uh blessings would be upon this meeting. Lord, your blessings would be upon the county commissioners. And Lord, that they would make decisions, Lord, concerning you, uh Lord, and consulting you, Lord, for the things that's made for the right decisions for the county, to better our county, to better our people, Lord, to help us, Lord, in the daily operations. And Lord, we just ask that you be with them. Lord, bless those that help uh help those round about us. Lord, we ask that you'd be with those that are here tonight. Lord, you'd bless them and their families that they represent. Lord, we ask now that you go with us, Lord, lead us. You'd guide us. You give us traveling grace, Lord, as we'd return to our respected homes of abode. Lord, we thank you for all that you do for us. For it's in Christ Jesus name I pray. Amen. Amen. There go.

All right. The time is 6:00 p. p.m. Monday, April 6, 2026. Go ahead and call this meeting of the Alageney County Board of Commissioners to order. This time, please stand with us as we recite the pledge of allegiance. I also stand one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. If everybody's had an opportunity to review the agenda, I'll entertain a motion to approve it. Second.

Got a motion and a second. All in favor raise your hand. Four of them. We have minutes in the packet from 3:16 2026 pages 3 through 11 in your packet. This time I'll entertain a motion to approve those minutes. Make a motion to approve. Second. Got a motion to second. All in favor say I. I. 40.

All right. Public comment time. Anybody in the audience uh have anything that they'd like to to talk about? We got three minutes for individuals and five minutes for groups. You come up.

Most of you know me. I'm Kathy Murphy and I'm here this evening for a couple reasons. But first of all, I'm here representing the scouts of Alageney County. We have troop 299 and pass 299. And some of them are here tonight because the uh scouts are working on their uh citizenship merit badge. One of the requirements is that they attend the local official meeting of elected officials and discuss something that is of concern to them. And then we got the Cub Scout pack which are the younger kids and they're working on also their citizenship requirement for um for that. Okay.

Um and only thing I want I want to say is I want to commend y'all and working on the recycling program in Alagen County. Um I've been talking about it for years myself. I've been recycling since the 60s when I was a girl scout in New Jersey. So, um the one thing I find is that I read about, you know, how we pay out to transfer the transfer the garbage, which I've known that. And I've told people that it's a transfer station. It's not a dump. We have to pay for that. And I'm amazed the people that don't know that. And I guess if you don't pay a solid waste fee, you wouldn't realize that you are paying. So I try to get everybody to recycle to reduce the waste and in fact our tax dollars that are going to transfer this waste somewhere else. So I just want to commend you for bringing back the recycling program trying to uh get more people to recycle in the county. Thank you.

Thank you. Anybody else? All right, seeing no movement, we'll move ahead with presentations to the board. And we'll start with Gracie Briggs with Alagany Teen Court and Community Service and Restitution Coordinator uh to give us information on their provided services.

Hi, I'm with Tracy. I'm Robin, executive director of the Children's Center, and we just wanted to thank you again for your continued support for the um funding match for juvenile crime prevention council and that funds your local um strengthening families inh home program. Also, team court is mentioned on the agenda and community service. And one of the good things that we provide that we're able to do because of your support is provide transportation for all of these so parents um any reduce any barriers for families to be able to attend these programs. and Gracie has been hired February. We were just talking. It feels like it's been a long time. So, she's here and her office is in the Blue Ridge Business Center and that's where we're housed there and she's been very involved in the community trying to do some great things and outreach and we wanted to share with you our annual report this year. Um, actually last year was about time to start a new one. So, Gracie, if you want to hand those out in your cards, um, and just see if y'all had any questions about any one of the programs or your funding match. Um, we're here to answer that. And then we're going to stay a little bit for you to read the proclamation.

Thank you guys. You're welcome. Thank you. And once we wrap up a fiscal year, which will be June 30th, we'll send in our annual report not only to the state, but we'll send you guys a copy, too, what we the numbers we provided and the services we provided for Alagany County. Thank y'all. Thank you. Thank you for what you do. Thank you.

All right. Kathy Murphy with the Razor's Ed Skate Park project. Welcome back.

Back again. Some of y'all may have remembered me if you were here back when we built the original Razor Ed skate park project. Um, basically the project started in 2003 to try to build a skate park in Alageney County. Um, it was first proposed by Wor Smith as a proposed Eagle Scout project and Dr. Beth Lion Smith, the Alagany Wellness Center board um to be constructed at the wellness center in June of 2003. Uh, petition to build the skate park was creating and fundraising efforts had begun. This project never came to fruition and the funds raised were maintained in account created by John Woodsworth with the Alagany County Recreation Department. Um on September 13, 20, 2005, Colby Murphy, who is my son, proposed a new skate park project as his Eagle Scout project to the Eagle Border View. Initially his project was rejected as at that time the board believed there was no way a then 12 year old boy could ever build a skate park. Others greater than him had tried and failed. And basically Kobe told the board he was a skater and all his friends were skaters and there was nowhere for them to do what they loved. And if the board did not approve his skate pro project then he was not going to do an Eagle Scout project. uh he didn't want to build a picnic table or flag pole or you know benches like everyone else. After more research starting a petition and community port support, the Eagle Board approved his project. Still skeptical that he would ever be able to accomplish it. The next stop was finding a site. It took three years to get approval from the town to build the skate park at Krauss Park. During this time, fundraising efforts continued

along with gaining community support. The committee was formed and the project became a youth ministry under the Alagany Ministerium umbrella. on June 21st, which is National Go Skate Day, 2008. With 42,500 in funding and in kind donation grants and over 1650 volunteer hours, phase one of the Razors at skate park was officially open with a dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony. Uh fundraising efforts continued after receiving a 10, you may not know this, we're famous, a 10,000 matching grant from the Tony Hawk Foundation. Phase two, which was the halfpipe, was completed in March of 2009. If you go to the Tony Hawk skate park project website, there is a map of all the places in the United States where Tony Hawk has fun skate parks. and part of North Carolina is on that map. It is sad that we no longer have a skate park, especially since in 2024 skateboarding became an Olympic sport. We have very talented youth in this county and skateboarding is a sport and they are great athletes and they deserve to have a place to do what they love and own their craft. There might be a future Olympic in our midst. In April of 2021, Gary Picaro of Line Them Up Barberhop and a group of new young skaters started an effort to raise funds to make repairs and improve the skate park. He named the project Sharpening the Razor's Edge and created a Facebook page with a survey link and a GoFundMe account. Jerry plans were met with some resistance from the town. Then in 2022, the town condemned the skate park, locking the gate, citing

the reasoning being that the skate park was unsafe and the town insurance would long no longer cover a wooden skate park. On March 20th, 2023, the skate park was demolished by the town and the fundraising efforts were begun to build a new skate park. This effort was spearheaded by Joyce Thes of Friends the Blueridge. Although Joyce didn't know much about skateboarding, she said she loved to watch the kids and wanted them to have a safe place to go to enjoy what they love. She approached the town about the skate park before it was demolished and about making possible repairs, but got little support or information. She did not know any of the history of the skate park until I reached out to friends the Blue Ridge after seeing the sign at Krauss Park. Um, I called the number on the sign, which was their main office in Romano, and told them who I was, and that it was uh my son's Eagle Scout project. And as you all can imagine, I'm very proud of my son. And I was very emotional about his project being torn down. I really was. and uh she like me and others wanted to know why we could not build a skate park back on our slab which had been done at cost of about six could been done at a cost about $68,000. Uh I had reached out to the American Ramp Company before it was demolished. That is the company that initially uh supplied the kit to build the skate park. And they were going to come to Sparta, North Carolina, evaluate the skate park, see if repairs could be made, uh give us a cost, if not to build a new park. But the park, I got a phone call. Somebody called when people always call me about skate park and said, "Hey, they're tearing down the skate park." So it was gone before we could do anything

about it. Um the the original slab where the pickle ball court is now and I'm not I I I don't have any against pickle ballers. Lots of my friends play pickle ball. I'm glad it's being well used, but I feel that we were not told anything about what was going on when we asked questions and next thing we know there was a pickle ball court there. And now I guess we know why we couldn't build a skate park back where it was. But the layout and the stone for the slab was done by Tim Stanford and his Alagany High School masonary class. The concrete work and finishing was done at no charge by volunteers and Frank Dillard concrete and the stone was partially donated by Carolon Stone and the concrete was partially donated by Chandler concrete with the remaining costs paid for with funds held by the county. So technically y'all the county helped pay for the slab to fit for the skate park. Um that was the money that was put in in 2003. So after file after numerous inquiries the town was giving land at Krauss Park. We were told they were going to give us the land for a new skate park. Um and that's the land there where the old house was next to the farmers market. a new committee was uh formed and it started out much like a lot of things do with a lot of people excited about it coming to the meetings and then it eventually when they didn't see it going forward it dwindled down and the per the current members are Steve Mason of the wellness center and the uh I guess he's with the TDA now and Mike Pier of the

town council and on the Krauss park committee Gerald Caro line him barber shop and myself. Joyce Spees is our local friends of of the Blue Ridge chair and Julie Wallen is the executive director of Friends of the Blue Ridge, the nonprofit heading up the fundraising. The new proposed skate park is going to also be a multi-extreme sports complex, BM bikes, uh rollerblades, skates, scooters, and everything. It will be totally concrete and follow the natural lay of the land. and it is at an estimated cost of $300,000. The skate park will be built in three stages with hopes of breaking ground this spring. Bob Bradford of the Ranch Camp in Doug, Virginia, will be constructing the skate park. Rob is a professional skateboarder and built and runs the Ranch Camp, a skateboarding BMX bike camp in Doug, Virginia. A meeting was held at Krauss Park in September of 2025 and it was projected it was purported um Brian Edwards was going to follow up with a local bank to uh transfer the funding for the skate park here locally and they had agreed if we did that there was money that they would donate money towards building the skate park if we did that. Um that has been done at at that time. Joyce, if y'all know Joyce, she volunteers at the uh used bookstore and the historical museum. And she travels around all over in the summertime to all the festivals and she takes our skate park sign with her and she sells t-shirts and everything and tries to raise money for the skate park. And uh this summer, just through

donations in her little jug, she raised over $10,000 for the skate park. Um uh Steve Mason indicated that he may have access the funds through the TDA when the new funding cycle begins. The Pew Foundation has pledged 10,000, which they have written a check, and the skate park has that now for the project. And um there's lots of balls in the air, but more required before we break ground this spring. Friends, Blue Ridge will match grants of funds donations of a significant amount. Okay. As of when I submitted this and I came by and I left a copy with the county manager, we had at that time 70,000 plus. But I'm happy to report that about a week, two weeks ago, they had a meeting in Rona over friends of the Blue Ridge to see where they were at and they got an anonymous donation for $100,000. So right now we have between 175 and $185,000 for the skate park. We needed $175 to break ground for phase one. So that's happening. Um, we have created I brought it over here and you might see it on Facebook and around, but we created a QR code. Um, and I'm going to have these around local businesses and if you scan the QR code, you can donate money. It goes directly into the skate park account. Um, you will see here this uh big plaque. Okay, this was a plaque that was created when the first skate park was built. And it was supposed to have been there was supposed to have been a um I don't know what you want to call it, a bulletin board, closed bulletin board and thing with posters and stuff and protect the plaque from the weather and it has all the people. You might be amazed if you

read it the people that donated money to the skate park. Well, that never happened and it had leaned up against the wall for my in my dining room for 15 years. Spent a little bit of time at the town office and it spent some time at the Alageney News and then it spent some time at the wellness center, but it never got out to where the public could see it. So, uh, social scene you may be aware of is a new new little place in town and, um, I was trying to find of a place that might be visible that people might go in and see it and they have graciously agreed to let me temporarily put the plaque there along with our fundraising um, fundraising poster with the QR code. So, our goal is to raise another $125,000 to do phase two. Um, so the reason I'm speaking to y'all is because, um, at our last meeting, um, I was told that kind of came in a little late, but my understanding was that the that the county, I may get this wrong, but was the county was interested in um, getting involved in uh, the recreations and parks and uh, somebody said something about maybe building a new park or something like that. I don't know. But um we you know and our town manager I think was going to talk to Mr. Shipley Shipley. I don't know if he has but about possibly the county coming in with the town is a joint effort to build this new skate park and that there might be possible funding, you know, from from the county to help build it. Um and like I said initially and they weren't aware

and I gave them a copy of everything because at that time there was a um comprehensive plan by the uh county parks and recreation and it did it did discuss the need for a skate park in the county. So the county was on board way back then. So, I hope the county is still on board now and that they will support a new skate park and might possibly um possibly have some funding available through um through their park and recreation program or other things. Um the town is going to be applying for part of grant which is a matching grant. So hopefully, you know, if they get it's got to be in by May. So, they don't have much time, but hopefully we can get that funding. So, I just I just wanted to come because I know there's a lot of people out there that weren't, you know, around when the first skate park was built. They had no idea how it came about, how much effort was put into building it, how many volunteer hours were involved in building it. And so, um, I just want to get the word out there and let people know that because there's been a lot of skeptical people and I at times myself got a little skeptical and depressed that there's no way we're ever going to raise $300,000, but I I am happy to say that we are going to be breaking ground and that skate park will be built. I thank you for your time.

Thank you. And thank you for your service to the children of our community. All right, that concludes presentations to the board. We'll move down to general business for information and starting with Mary Recctor. We have a public hearings for naming of three roads, pages 12 through 20 in your packet.

We have three roads. Um the first one we have turning point lane in the gap civil township. All property owners um are in agreeance on this. No conflict there. The second one is Ghaul Lane and the Cranberry Township. All property owners and residents are in agreements on that one. No conflict on that one. And the third one is in the Gllay Creek Township and it's Possum Trot Lane. Um again, no conflict. All property owners and residents are immigrants. Do we need to have a public hearing for each one or just for information? Just for information. Okay. All right. Thank you very much.

All right. Moving right along. RFQ approval for ball fields.

Um, Mr. chairman. So, we did on uh April the 2nd open the RFQS that we had received for the ball fields. Um we had a total of five that were open that day. Uh so, this is uh for information to the board to let them know that we did get five RFQS entered into our system and now we're we'll be having a committee meeting uh to discuss those RFQS. Uh Sid Carrier was present when those were made and and that is kind of a joint effort between us and the school system. Um of course he's requested that we have a meeting before uh he is able to take those RFQS to the school board. Sir,

all right. Thank you, sir. Glad to see progress moving in that direction. Number three, our county attorney, Heather Klein. So, I had a request um for an easement. So, this one location is right off Bledsoe Creek Road. Um I don't think we have a drawing of the location, but it's going to be just past the uh Emerson Black building. So, it's on the same side of the road. There's a little white house that is just beyond uh the building, uh Emerson Black building. Um and they're having difficulty with water. Um, and I know David, you you've been out there. Um, so they they've asked if they could hook up to the main line that comes to the fairgrounds because the town will not allow them to run a line to hook up to the main line.

Yes.

They'll allow them to hook up to another person who has a line, which is us at the fairgrounds. Um, and so that's the only way they're going to be able to get town water. Uh, the only difference obviously besides them coming off of our line, um, would be one, they'd need an easement to cross over our property to be able to do it. They'd need your permission to be able to hook up to the line that comes to the Emerson Black building. Plus, they would need their own meter right there so that their water usage could be metered. Um, and I'm not a 100% sure exactly how that's going to go, but all of this is based on you giving permission because they're not going to be authorized to get it from the town. I'm I really don't understand why the town isn't running additional lines. I Yeah, I think we're all kind of scratching our heads. We don't understand um because it's so close to a line, why they wouldn't allow one to be run right there so close to uh uh Highway 21. But this proposed easement basically deals with that. And I've I've just put in some placeholder language. It's not finalized. This is just basically to come to you so you might have a discussion about it, talk about it, you know, um see if you have any questions about it and what your thoughts are. And David, you might have a little bit more information on it.

Yeah. The reason the reason um they have a a shallow well there and there was a well that was dug um downstream um from that well that was more like an artisian well which took the water away from their shallow well. though it it was um less expensive for them to try to hook to uh town water than it was to get somebody in there and and dig a a well that we don't know how deep it would have to go. So um she was going to use that as um like an Airbnb uh so that the people can rent that out for the events at at the fairgrounds and different things. So, um, it could benefit town, uh, the county and the town somewhat, I guess.

So, this is not a permanent residence. No, no, it's not a permanent residence, but in order for her to be able to establish a rental property, then she has to have access to water. Mr. Chair, had a question. Um, so where are they hooking up at? It'll be hooked in inside the fence at the fire grounds there close to where the water goes into the black building. Uh there'll be a meter set there and then of course the the water would be metered for their side and our side and and they would pay for their part and we'd pay for our part. Who's paying for the pipe from their their house to this pipe?

The lady that is the owner. So I guess my question is you said the hookup in location of where the building is. Where's that at? Is it close to the building that comes across the parking lot or? No, it's at the back of the building there next to Bledso Creek. Okay. Just inside the fence. Okay. Yeah. Just inside. So it wouldn't be very far on their property. No to hook up. No. And then they would take it out to the rightway and go the rest of the way to the house. And you said they'd have two meters, one on our side and one on their side. So they would have they would have a meter that would meter their part. We already have ours. Yes. On the property. Yes. Yes. That that would be the second meter and then it would be divided. Yeah. That's that's all I got.

Question. Question. Who who did they pay if if through the water meter? Do they pay the town or do they pay us? They pay the town. It would be But the town won't let them hook on. Mm- No, they said not. That sounds like a town problem.

Yeah, I've not actually talked to the town. Um the property owner uh was taking care of all of that and they came back and said Mr. Shipley and I um and said that they would not allow them to hook on or tap on to that line and requested that we allow them to tap into our line on the prop on the property of the fire grounds. and we allowed or told them that that would have to be a board decision. Uh we could have a a a easement drawn up and all those things and they paid for that too. Um she's paying for everything. Uh all she's requesting is that she hooks on to our line to provide fresh water for that.

Who who sits on our board for the water authority? Myself and Mr. Yeah, Mr. Osburn. Well, I thought the water authority was needing more money all the time and now they're turning down a potential customer. Um, that that has not come to the water authority. Not in any of the board meetings that I've been in and I've not missed one. Something doesn't make a lot of sense. Let me ask you something. If we let them put that pipe hook on in the county land, we got digging at the fairgrounds and we tear it up. Who's gonna pay for? Well, we would have to.

No. So, another question. So, if we let them hook up, what about the next house right on down the road? Are they going to come back and want to be We're setting a precedent.

If we're going to let one hook up, how far up Bledsaw Creek or are we willing to go? I would recommend that, you know, this might be a question that, you know, David could then go back to the town and say, "Explain to me why why a citizen would be coming to the county for this when the main line is right there on the road." I I'm not really sure why there couldn't be because does it end at Bledsoe Creek Road or does it end before that for the the town of Sparta line?

I think it goes on past Fledso Creek, but it's it runs 21, right? But yeah, there is no there is no line from the town that comes out Bledsoe Creek. it and and our our line our meter is just inside that wooden split rail fence

that is tapped on to that main line that comes up 21. So then I some changed the rules and they've changed the way they do things. So that was the reasoning I was given as to why they would not allow them because of the rule change. But I do not know what that rule is. So that might be something that's the town of Sparta and not something that's the water authority. Yes. Okay. Any other questions or comments? I just don't think the town wants like the Chamber of Commerce. They don't want to help. They don't want to help these people with the water in my opinion.

I think we'll have I think it'd be appropriate for Mr. Spicer or Mr. Shepley or or a combination of those two individuals to reach out to the town of Sparta and see if we can't uh figure out what we need to do here. Um, and we'll bring that up back up in a in a preceding meeting. Uh, moving along to the consent agenda, I have Robin Testament again, executive director for Children's Center of Northwest North Carolina, a proclamation for Child Abuse Prevention Month. Here's a copy of the proclamation if anybody wants to read it. I didn't know you guys would want to read it out loud or just share it with each other. It's pretty long cumbersome thing to read, isn't it? I think you got it.

Um, as you all know or may know that April is child abuse prevention month and there are several activities in your community and one of them is reading the proclamation or a document tonight by the county commissioners um to protect children in your community. And Gracie is handing out pin wheels and pin wheels represent or the national symbol for child abuse prevention month to represent happy childhoods um and what positive childhood should look like. Also, just a few other things that are going on. April 10th, this Friday, is wear blue day to recognize Child Abuse Prevention Month. Child abuse prevention month should be every day of the year. Um, April 17th, there's going to be a moment of silence at the courthouse at 8:30 um by other community agencies if you would like to join that. Um, and just want to say we appreciate all your efforts as a county commissioners. It takes a community to protect children from your law enforcement, EMS, according other local nonprofits that you have here like SmartStart and um child advocacy center um I think you have safe here that does a lot of child abuse I mean um violence prevention work. So it takes all of us children's center and all these agencies and the county and um to work together to protect children. So thank you all for acknowledging child abuse prevention month tonight.

Any questions? Yeah. Um before I mean I know we're we're going to approve a consent or proclamation here. That's I think this is what you're asking for. Correct. Um we can do that but I need you I I think a lot of people don't understand JCPC and Gracie what our office provides the services and what she's there for. Sure. So I'd like for you you all to explain that some but we can go through this first. Do you want me to just explain that real quick or let's go ahead and do this proclamation? Yeah. Okay.

So, we have before child abuse prevention month 2026 proclamation. Do we need this on the record going through the whole? Okay. Whereas children are our state's most valuable and vulnerable members as well as our state's most valuable resources helping to shape the future of North Carolina. And whereas positive childhood experiences or PCEES like loving caregivers and safe, stable, and nurturing relationships can help mitigate trauma and the negative impact of adverse childhood experiences to promote the social, emotional, and developmental well-being of children. And whereas childhood trauma can have long-term psychological, emotional, and physical effects throughout an individual's lifetime and impact future generations of their family. And whereas childhood trauma including abuse and neglect is a serious problem affecting every community and finding solutions requires input and action from everyone. And whereas children who live in families with access to concrete economic and social supports are less likely to experience abuse and neglect. And whereas nurture positive childhoods and preventing child maltreatment is possible because of the partnerships created between families, prevention advocates, child welfare professionals, education, health, community, and faith-based organizations, businesses, law enforcement agencies, and local, state, and national governments. And whereas we acknowledge that in order to solve the public health issue of abuse and neglect, we must work together to change hearts and mindsets through storytelling and sharing, center the needs of families, break down bias and barriers, and inspire action from expected and unexpected partners. And whereas we are committed to advancing equitable, responsive, and effective systems that ensure all children and families are healthy and thriving. And whereas we recognize the need to prioritize kids and invest in more prevention initiatives like home visiting and family strengthening

policies, economic supports, and community-based child abuse prevention programs at the national, state, and local levels. And now therefore, I, Garrison Wagner, interim chair of the board of commissioners, do hereby proclaim April as child abuse prevention month in Alageney County and urge all citizens to recognize this month by building a narrative of hope for children and families through collaboration and the creation of an ecosystem of primary prevention that does not currently exist in this country. At this time, I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda.

I make a motion that we approve the consent in supporting this proclamation. Second. Second. We got a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor raise your hand. Four of them. All right. Thank you.

Thank you. appreciate all the help. Um, and to answer commissioner's question, every 100 of our counties in North Carolina has a child a child juvenile crime prevention council. The money is given to each county by the state department of public safety to address juvenile crime prevention and intervention. Um and then each county matches that to leverage the dollars to bring down which makes your money spread um even further by using the state to match with your um 20% match. Is that what I thought it was? Some counties are 30 or 20. Um so 20% match that you that the commissioners put in and that it's like I said expands and leverages those state dollars to spread more to provide these programs that I mentioned earlier. the Alagany Teen Corp. Um in 201819 the state decided that they wanted to put more money in prevention um and to keeping kids out of the system, get them early so they don't penetrate the adult system. And as a um requirement of that, you had to provide a restorative justice program. A teen court is that giving kids a second chance, a second chance to correct what they've done wrong, to give back to the community, to um be a part of the community. Example, if a kid um does graffiti in your park, what we would do is then refer them to school, law enforcement, do everything, refer them to teen court. They're heard by a jury of their peers. So other youth are hearing the court cases, other youth are being the prosecutor and the defense attorney, and we have a real um adult judge or person serving in a judge role. Um anytime, I think we're going to have one Thursday of May, will be our next team court date. We invite you all. will send an invitation for you to come. It's a really neat process to watch because the kids are held accountable and they take responsibility. Um, and then for a project then you refer to community service and they would have to go repair that harm, take the graffiti off the park, repair that, paint it back, clean

it up, whatever that needs to be done. Um, so they're going back into the community and we have lots of partnerships with the school for community service, parks and wreck here. We'll clean up trash, different things like that. Our kids will do that. So that's the two big programs funding with um JCPC as team and the community service um law enforcement SRO schools junior court counselor can make referrals to this program and like I said not only are you helping the kids you're bringing them back around to be a part of the team court one of their sanctions is they have to serve as a juror so they get to be a part of it surrounding themselves by positive peers. Um and then the third program that it funds is strengthening families. It's an evidence-based program and that's where we go into the home work on the parenting issues that may be causing the the child to act out in the community. Um and referrals are taken from the school system, department of social services or anyone in community to make a referral to the strengthening families program and we go in the home um for 12 weeks working on those um kind of issues. During that time, we've been able to help parents with um gas, with utilities. We have an emergency fund that we help families. So, we provide a lot more resources with these dollars um with our other grants that we bring in to help Alageney County citizens too.

That was a lot and one. So, so this is the first time that somebody from your organization's had an office here or we had them before? No, we've had it there before. Um we've been there gosh maybe four years of that office space. Okay. So, what is her job as far as services or can you explain that? You want to talk about what your job is, Gracie?

So, basically what I do is we're all about giving kids a second chance. So, we also do community service. Um, so I do community service and teen court. So community service and teen core can be two separate things or they can also be two similar things where let's say a kid got in trouble for you know vaping in the bathroom or something like that. Maybe the SRO is just um you know about how it was kid they're just kind of acting out and not listening. They refer that to me. I get that. I immediately reach out to that person and their parent as well. um could be mom, dad, grandma, grandpa. So I'll say, "Hi, um how can I help you?" Um and then we will figure out what we will do an intake, which is where me and the kid and the parent will meet at the office usually, and we kind of discuss, you know, what happened, what's going on, if they're surrounded by their positive fears or if they have negative peers, things like that. So I kind of take that into consideration. And then actually I'm working with a community service kid right now over at Alagy Cares. So, one of the things we'll be doing there is, you know, just helping out with like putting things away, um, helping with dishes, helping with orders, anything that we can do to help. And it all depends on how many hours they have. And then once they finish, they can we also do a survey where we're kind of like, hey, this do you think that this helped you? And they can kind of help us along that. And then we also have a thing called NC allies which is where we put all of our data and basically we can go back and say hey this kid did this just in case sometimes they may come into the program again. And then with team court um like I said it's all about holding a kid accountable. And then also with team court they can also do community service and that might count as jury duty coming and you know participating in this but

also with jury duty um they don't have to have been in the program before. It can be anybody really that's a teen that's interested in you know becoming a lawyer or something like that. they can go serve on the jury and you know kind of kind of through a peer's point of view whereas in row court the judge may just not want to do anything with it whereas in teen court they're going to be held accountable and they may understand what they did. So that's kind of what I do is what I'm trying to do is you know trying to understand the kid and you know trying to make them better and then what we can do whether that's in school or whether that's with their community. All we're trying to do is, you know, trying to make a difference hopefully.

Two quick things too as she mentioned that I felt to mention is it does help kids recruiting volunteers. Um, a lot of our kids that are team court volunteers are going looking for community service hours for college. So, these are the kids that are need the academic hours and the volunteer hours to do that. So, you're mixing two groups of peers that are positive on each other. The second thing it made me think of restitution. when there's a property damage or something like that. Let's say um Chairman Osborne's mailbox gets taken down by a kid. That kid needs to replace your mailbox. So, he works off those community service hours. In turn, we pay money to the victim to replace the mailbox. So, there's a restitution fund in these funds too to help with certain property crimes um to pay back the victim and we think about the victim during this. Um, in other projects, kids may have to write an apology letter. Um, he may have to write an apology letter for knocking down their mailbox and come and personally apologize and holding them accountable. They may also make a poster as well. Sometimes, um, when they come in for their jury duty and everything with the teen court, they have a sheet which is kind of explains what kind of punishment they can give and everything like that, sanctions. Um, and what they can do is they can also do like a little poster or something. So if they did something like bullying, they can maybe do a poster on bullying and you know what they can do to help or something like that.

Hope that answers all your questions. Sorry, it's this is very informative. I mean we we do the JCPC funded every year and you you guys have explained it very very well. And I have a feeling when I was in high school and decided to get involved with with firecrackers on the bus, I'd probably come to see you guys. Yeah, just young, dumb is what we like to say. Young and stupid. Yeah. So, thank you for your community. Thank you. And thank you, Commissioner Evans, for letting me talk to you and letting us come here tonight. You're welcome. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you guys. We appreciate what you do. All right, that concludes the consent agenda section. Let's move down to the general business section. First up is Melissa Rector, director for Alagany motion to bring before us the request of approval for a title N plan. I'm here for action on my title six. Excuse me, I misspoke. That's title six plan. Uh, anybody have any questions or comments for Miss Recctor before we entertain a motion? Someone second.

All right. Any discussion? All right. All in favor raise your hand. 40. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. All right. Next up, Bottomly Evergreens and Farms requesting fee waiver for fire debris disposal. Um, before we have our discussion, I'd like to defer either to our county manager or county attorney for for any guidance before we begin. If you have any questions, obviously, let me know. Otherwise,

I got it. From our last meeting, I understood that this would be an illegal act according to the state.

We've discussed this I I think when we've had a couple requests before and uh we've gone back to the school of government. Um I think our understanding was that we were entitled to give waiverss to people and I don't remember if it was sometime maybe a year or two ago um the question came up as to you know is this okay? Are we doing something that we shouldn't be doing? And we went back to the school of government and the school of government told us that because of how we charge this trash fee, which is basically um an availability fee, that we're not allowed to give waiverss and I know we've done it before. We are currently working on a new policy um which is in line with what the law actually does say that we're allowed to do or you as commissioners are allowed to do where it will give a little more guidance and just say waivers are not allowable. Um and I know you've waved in the past and my advice on those waivers was that it's not legal and that we're not allowed to do it. uh and that we are going to change our policy so that it's clear we're not allowed to do it. So that the public is not going to be allowed to come before you and ask for a waiver where it would be something you'd vote on because it won't be legal. You're not allowed to vote on it. Um so we're currently working on that policy and it will be part of the budget ordinance. Um so when I say as before I've told you you can't wave the fee um it's not allowable because of how we collect the the the transfer fees um as availability. So um I've said you're not allowed to do it and you voted

to do it and I've said it's not legal. So you know we're going to change it so that it's not even going to come before you. um after this budget is passed. So um again, I will say it's not legal. We're not allowed to do a waiver. Um the law says we're not allowed and the school of government has advised us that we are not allowed to do a waiver of anybody's trash fee. I make a motion that we deny the waiver and not approve the waiver for this particular deal. I'll second that motion.

All right, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor of denying the motion say I or raise your hand. It's 40. All right, Miss Klein up again. Approval to move forward with the opioid settlement. So, this is just on um was on for information at the last meeting. There are six new defendants that we would like to sign up for um to become part of that settlement. Um, so I've already received the information from the attorneys who are representing counties and cities and towns individually and we're part of that collective settlement. So this is just six additional defendants that I need a vote to to authorize us to add on to that settlement.

I'll make a motion to approve. Second. A motion and a second. Any discussion? All right. By show hands, all I'll all approve. That's 4 Z. Motion passes. All right. April Ham got several budget amendments. So I have one budget amendment and a few line transfers. Uh the first is actually for Alagany motion, our public transportation system. Uh we overestimated the amount of fund balance in that um in that budget for the current year. So, we just need to remove $447.

I'll make a motion to approve. Second. Motion is second. Any discussion? All right. All in favor by show hands. 4. Okay. And the next one is actually for Alagany. A motion also. We need to move some money around to cover some additional FICA for full-time and part-time. I make a motion um to approve the CFO line item transfer for AIM. Second.

A motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor show hands. 4 Z. Okay. The next one is actually for the tax office for some additional printing cost. Um, we just need to additional printing and act actually copier expense I believe or continuing education and travel. Sorry about that. Make a motion to approve. Second motion in a second. Any discussion? All in favor raise your hands. 4.

Okay. The next one is actually for law enforcement and it is supplies and copier expense. I'll make a motion to approve. Second. I got a motion in a second. Any discussion? I show a hand. All in favor? 4. Okay. And then the last one is for our detention center. Uh move it. They have been down a couple of full-time positions this year. So, they have used more of the part-time line and overtime, and it's also for copier expense and inmate hospital insurance.

A motion to approve the line item transfer for detention center. Second. All right, got a motion and a second for the line item transfer at the detention center. Any discussion? All in favor by show of hands. 4 Z. Thank you. Thank you, Miss L. That concludes our four action section of the meeting. I will move down to county manager comments. Mr. Shley. Yes, Mr. Chairman. Do you mind if I um speak go out and speak to the scouts? Yeah, let's do it.

Okay. Thank you. Yeah, I would like to invite all the scouts to come up. We are really excited to have you all the future for our county. you're doing good things and learn about nature and learn about life and how to take care of yourselves and keep on going on that. That's really it's really cool. And I'm glad that you took a chance took a some time to come in here and talk to us. And what I'd like to invite you to do is I'd like to shake each one of your hands. I'd like you to come up and meet shake the hands of these folks up here and get to know your your people that the people have selected to run this county and I hope that somebody in here will think about doing the same sort of thing in the future.

Can I ask you a question? You sure can. Okay. So, one of the requirements is they are supposed to find out about a how these commissioners were elected. Was it by popular vote or parliamentary procedure or that's one of the things they were are supposed to find out.

So there's four the two gentlemen right here are all board members that were selected. One of our board members is about here right now. Um, but all five of them were elected and they don't they don't have it so that you elect all of them in one year because then it would be like all of a sudden a whole bunch of new people coming in. So, they split it up. So, you know, we have three new board members coming on that just gotten elected and two that will be up for the next next election. What happens is the people of the county vote for which of the candidates they would like to have represent them and then their job, one of their jobs is to select the person in my job.

So I report to them and then I have my my folks that work for me that u there's 25 different people called department heads that are in charge of all the different things that go on in the county government. and my job is to make sure that they uh are doing the things that we need to do in order to serve the people of the county because we work for the people of the county. So, we work for you. We work for your parents and it's very important for us to know what you want to have better because that's what our job is to try to make the county as good as it can possibly be and make it such a great place that you never want to move away and we want you to stay here forever. All right. So, I'm going to shake each one of your hands if that's okay with the parents and then I'm going to invite them to come and talk to the or shake hands with the commissioners. And we have uh two other folks that work for me. Is April going?

No, she'll be okay. And then we have our lawyer that also does for me. She does other other

All right, Sebastian. Okay, so you're welcome to come up and shake these these folks hands. Yeah. Introduce yourself. Come on. Let's proud to have you here. I know. That's great.

How are you? How are you? How are you,

buddy? Thank you foring um I attended the rural summit in Raleigh which was really good, really well attended. There were probably a thousand people there. talked about issues affecting rural counties and um had, you know, lots of interchange with folks and had a chance to talk with uh the Governor Stein's one of his assistants who has indicated that she's very interested in coming here and hearing about some of the challenges that we're facing here in Alageney County. So, we're going to be setting her up to come visit us here soon. But I have something very important that I want to uh enlist your support for and and the people of the of the county. And that is that um and I've got a little statement I'd like to read to you. So, one of the most important responsibilities of county government is being a good steward of the tax dollars entrusted to us by our residents. Equally important is making sure we are listening carefully to the people we serve. For that reason, Alageney County will soon be conducting a citizen survey to ask you for your input on priorities for county services in future planning. Quite simply, we want to hear directly from you about what matters most and how you believe your tax dollars should be used. This survey is an opportunity for residents from across our county to

share their perspectives, ideas, and concerns. The feedback we receive will help guide decisions made by the board of commissioners and I as we plan budgets, evaluate services, and set priorities for the years ahead. Participation is voluntary, but I strongly encourage everyone to take part. The more voices we hear, the better our understanding will be and the better our decisions that we can we can make for this county. Details about how and when to participate will be shared soon through our website, social media, and local media outlets. We are committed to making the pro process accessible and transparent, and we will report back to the public on what we learn. Now, the people that um I've talked to about surveys have estimated that we should expect to get about 200 folks fill out those surveys. That's not acceptable to me. We need at least 400 people to fill it out. And I'm going to be going to speaking to people at churches, in the school systems, uh, in the employers that we have here in the county. Any place that we can, we're going to be talking about the survey because the more people that participate, the more accurate the results are going to be. We don't we are appreciative of those people that always share what their ideas are about the county but we need to go beyond that. We need to get as many people as possible. 400 would give us a reliable statistical pool from which we can take action and we need this in order to be able to put together a three to fiveear strategic plan. Uh we were talking about creating a strategic plan, but if we don't know what you want, then what good is it for us to do a strategic plan? You know, again, we work for you, you pay us,

we're the stewards of your money. And so that this is going to be a major part of what we do going forward. It won't take shouldn't take a long time. Might take a couple months. Um, but I'm hoping to get it ready to, uh, send out to the the the folks in the county by the end of April. So, um, just want to give you a heads up that Are you going to mail it to everybody? It's going to be a little bit of everything. Email, um, I mean, not email, it's going to be on the website. It's going to be uh, available through us going to the various places where people are like churches and anything that we can do in order to get the surveys to people. So, it ain't a gonna be in the mail.

Uh, it could be any any way that we can get it to folks if that's what they want. You know, we would we'll respond to that. But, um, you can only fill out one survey per u person, but you could have if you have a couple people that are adults in your family, they can each one of them can fill out one. But we need to know what you want. What do the people want? And how because we we don't have unlimited amount of money. We have to decide how we're going to spend that money. and we need to do it in we don't need you to be thinking if if I was in charge I would I'd spend more money on this or more money on that. Now we're not going to be able to satisfy every single person's all of their needs as you all know but we can make sure that we're we're spending that money and we're the majority. So please help spread the word that this is coming and help us to get as many people as we can. Let's blow away that 400. the state of the school of government uh said 200, you know, let's 400 is just the that's the bottom of the level that I'm looking for. Let's make it happen. Um and that is that's all I have for for today, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Shepley. We appreciate that. Anybody else? Uh Miss Klein, clerk of the board, Miss Ham, anybody? All right. County Commissioner comments. We'll start with you, Mr. Commissioner Walker. Hope everybody has a good week. Spring will be here before we know it. It's already here, but get warm and stay warm for a while. All right, Commissioner Evans.

Yeah, I just wanted uh I hope everybody had a a wonderful family Easter time together with family and remember what Easter is about. and I hope it'll be a good start to our year. Um I um I wanted to point out a mention some folks that's crossing the 23 year miss April. I hope you're not retiring anytime soon. So yeah, I just wanted to recognize some folks that's put in a ton of time at for Alagany County and uh so April and we have one from sheriff office that's got 30 years in.

Craig Hart. Yeah, I need to do a better job with the names because sometimes I tell the years and never tell the names. But anyway, we have Carol Roy that's actually done 20 years. So, we have some very dedicated um county uh employees that we are so appreciative of and just wanted to tell them thank you and thank all that work for us. But but um anyway, we do appreciate what they do and just like I think we have so many people doing so many different jobs and a lot of folks don't understand what what just like the the ladies here which they don't work for county but there's still there's so many things that's going on that a lot of people don't even realize and uh we have a lot of people doing a lot of good work for the county and just wanted to say thank you again and Um yeah, look for some warmer weather and um I think the the apple pie festival will come in next or is the fiber

fest? The apple pie festival start on Friday night this year. Okay. And then fiberfest comes some the first weekend. Good. I'm glad you're here, Larry. So anyway, yeah, we got some good things coming up. hope for good weather during that time. But that's all I got. Thanks.

Thanks, sir. Commissioner Irwin for the Boy Scouts, for the scouting association, boys, girls back in the late 50s. I was member of the Boy Scouts here. We always met at the Methodist church. We had a big group back in those days, and I'm glad to see this group starting to reform and get a little bit bigger. uh the county and I think the whole state right now is still under burning ban. Everybody needs to be careful with uh anything starting fire with these winds that we have and as dry as everything is it it would be a disaster. Um noticing the gas prices coming into town today. I just hope all the county vehicles and everything are trying to buy at the cheapest place they can find gas. If I think it was last year or year before last, we sent out a memo uh to all county vehicle people that are buying gas that they need to search out and get it at the the best price that we can. Um, I've always talked about the health department and we're going to have a uh riff program reduction in force that'll be announced tomorrow. uh it's not something I look forward to. And uh I I hope that we'll be able to work through it, but some of the main causes obviously is funding. and our funding is drawing up from the uh federal government, from the state, and I believe over the last

several years, the three counties have not put enough money into the health department. If we did not belong to a regional health department, which is Ash, Lataga, and Alagany, if we had to have our own health department, you're talking about multi-million dollar budget. And uh not only is it the money, but it is finding the people to run the health department. uh money obviously is a big part of it but by state law you have to have so many different people in a health department. So that's something our uh finance committee needs to take very seriously is what kind of funding we can do. I know last year we up that funding a little bit and uh this year their local health departments asking all three counties to increase the funding to uh reduce as many people that uh we don't want to lay off a great number of people but financially we're going to have to and uh that will happen sometime more. And I know in the past that uh we received a public records request and I see that we've received another one. I've not heard an update if we've answered the first one and I don't know about this second one has just apparently just come in, but I think that's something that the commissioners ought to be informed about what's going on with these uh

public uh information request. So, at some point, I think somebody needs to let us know what's happening. And that's all I've got. Thank you. All right, thank you. Uh, I don't have a whole lot to add to that. Everybody covered uh pretty much all the bases there. Hope everybody had a great Easter. Hope we're looking forward to some warmer weather along the way. Um, thank you all for attending tonight. And at this time, I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. I'll make a motion. Second. All right. All in favor, show hands. I may journ.