City Council - Regular Meeting

meeting uh to order. I'd like to welcome everybody. We Madame uh clerk, we have Mr. Barrier, Mr. Burns, Mr. Stout, and myself here tonight. Uh Mr. Britain is off on business with his company. I'd like to remind everybody to please silence all mobile devices. And if you are speaking tonight, uh we got quite a few it looks like. We like to remind you to come up here and activate your microphone before speaking and for the uh YouTube recording. At this time, I'd like for us to stand as Reverend uh Keith Barnett from Bridge Worship provides the invocation. And following that, Sheriff Huntsman will uh lead us in the pledge of allegiance. Lord Jesus, we thank you tonight for the opportunity you've given us, Lord, to come into agreement with your word. And we ask you tonight that Lord, the things that we talk about and discuss, that we look at it to be in your will as we lift up your name. And we lift up our voices to to follow along in your will as we ask for protection for our leaders and our county, our police department, our fire department. That God, you keep a hedge about them. And Lord, you keep them safe and you keep them protected so that we can give glory unto you, Lord, in all that we do here and throughout this year that we come in agreement with each other just as much to show the love and support that we should towards one another in this family and this community. And Lord, we thank you for all the strength that you've given us. And we give you the glory in it in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Sheriff. Anyway, I I saw you jumping up there to fill in the gap and the county attorney, he got here to do the pledge for us. We appreciate you getting ready to fill in for us. Thank you, sir. We'll now move on to the approval of the agenda. Do I hear a motion that we uh approve the agenda?

Mr. Chairman, I make a Mr. Vice Chair, I make a motion to approve the agenda as presented. Uh Mr. Bear has made the motion. What's the pleasure of the board? Vote by show of hands. Madame Clerk, that looks like four zero. We'll now approve the uh meeting minutes from April the 10th, 2025, which was a special meeting, April the 21st uh 2025, which was a regular meeting, and May the 5th, 2025, which was a pre-aggenda meeting. Do I see a motion we approve these minutes? Vice Chairman, I make a motion to approve the M minutes as written.

Mr. Strad made the motion. Do I see a show of hands? Vote with a show of hands, please. There we go. 4. Madame Clerk, we'll now move on to our presentations. Our first one is a proclamation for National Recovery Month, September 2025. That'll be presented by Jennifer Gant, the DFC project coordinator, Burke Recovery. We're sorry. Do you have coffee?

You'll need to be on this side of the room. Yeah.

Okay. I'm sorry, y'all. Whereas behavioral health is an essential part of health and one's overall wellness. And whereas according to recent survey results, the average age of first use in Burke County is 11 and a half. Therefore, prevention of mental health issues and/or substance use disorder as well as treatment is necessary and effective for people. People do recover in our area and around the nation. And whereas overdose rates in Burke County have substantially increased, overdose fatalities appear to be decreasing. And we are still seeing no increase in treatment rates or treatment facilities. And whereas preventing and overcoming substance use disorder is essential to achieving healthy lifestyles both physically and emotionally. Whereas we must educate relatives and friends of people with substance use disorders so they will be able to implement preventative measures, recognize the signs of a problem, and guide those in need to appropriate treatment and recovery support services. And whereas substance use disorder is a major public health problem that impacts society on mult multiple levels. And whereas the use of fentanyl and other dangerous opioids as well as substances being laced with potent sedatives is rising in the community leading to overdose and death. And whereas also underage drinking and a failure to properly store alcohol in the home continues to lead youth having a low perception risk. And whereas to help more people achieve and sustain long-term recovery, Burke Wellness Initiative and Burke Substance Abuse Network invites Burke County residents for to participate in activities held to recognize National Recovery Month. Now therefore, the Burke County Board of Commissioners proudly proclaims September 2025 as National Recovery Month in Burke County, North Carolina, and our dissolved citizens, government agencies, public and private institutions, businesses, and schools to join together in fostering understanding, compassion, and hope for those affected by substance use disorders. We call upon our community to

promote awareness, expand access to treatment and recovery resources, and stand in solidarity with individuals and families as they work to overcome challenges, embrace wellness, and build brighter futures. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Do I have a motion to approve proclamation just presented? So move, Mr. Chairman.

Vote by show of hands, please. 40. Madam clerk, we'll now hear from EMS uh recognition of lifesavers presented by James Robinson, our EM EMS director. Good evening, gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen of the audience. Appreciate everybody's participation this evening coming out. Uh the weather looks like it's declining on us, so we do want to make sure that we say please be careful on the way home this evening. Um it's my pleasure that on a quarterly basis we get to present some life-saving awards. Uh individuals that make a difference within our communities. And some of them seem like they're really big and others seem like they're a lot smaller. But at the end of the day, the impact that they have on the lives of the citizens of Burke County, we never know uh until after everything is all said and done. And I feel very blessed and privileged to be able to stand here before you this evening and make this presentation because uh this the last part of this presentation is truly will change your perspective on a lot of things. I do believe it does for me anyways. So as you all know we work towards all five areas of the of the commissioner um strategic areas. I think this one does meet all five of those, but especially the public safety uh and the well-being of our individuals, our community members, and those that visit Burke County. So, I've showed this slide uh multiple times, but Burke County operates four shifts, 2472 schedule. We have captain, lieutenant, a training sergeant, and we're going to change this bottom slide because we're working towards two field training officers per every shift. We want to standardize what our care is across the board because we feel that it does have a very big impact on outcomes within our communities. A couple of really big points for this evening. Um a thousand people suffer sudden cardiac arrest outside of the hospital on a daily basis. This is

across all ages. 10% of these uh will survive to hospital discharge. That's a big impact because only 7% of those will have full function back uh with no negative consequences from that event. So, we do stress early activation 911 bystander CPR. I'm very proud of the men and women that serve at Burke County Emergency Services. We've had the opportunity to work with over 400 individuals to teach handsonly CPR at public outreach events. We're happy to continue to do that. So, if you're interested in that, please reach out to us. Uh, the bystander CPR rate in the state of North Carolina is one of the highest in the nation at 42.9%. It's hard to believe that somebody would walk by and not be willing to perform at least chest compressions, but in today a lot of folks will do that. They will just continue to walk by and not make an impact. So, the first three cases, and I'm going a little bit quicker than we normally do. Um, I know we have a very large agenda this evening, but I want to make sure that we emphasize uh these particular cases. And as I start calling people's names up, I want to make sure that they come to the front for their moment of recognition. We do have a certificate for them uh as well as a challenge coin that that commemorates tonight's evening. A 72-year-old male was foundless and breathless under a carport. 62 first responders initiated CPR. uh patient administrate administered medications and defibrillated twice. CPR was maintained throughout that with the ZOOL autobults which is a device that we carry on our ambulances to provide uh CPR so that people don't get tired. Uh as we know with CPR success rates the after that 2minute mark our ability as human beings to continue to compress the chest declines. Uh our efficiency declines. So, we have ZO auto pulses on all of our trucks and we implement these as quickly as possible. I do want to recognize uh Oakill Fire and Rescue had a lot of personnel that were responded to this

call. They were unable to be here this evening, but Mr. Walker if you'd like to come up here, Abigail Hendris, uh Jerry Baker, who couldn't be with us this evening, Seth Ferris, and Toma Parker, I don't believe she can be with us either this evening. Mr. Walker, if you'll stand off there on the on the side with us for just a minute. All of these CPR that we're talking about this evening had positive outcomes. These individuals were discharged to home. That's an amazing outcome. Um, we are very happy to that this one actually touched Mr. Walker a little bit more personal than others because it was a family member and that makes a big difference when your colleagues come and the outcome is positive. So we're very appreciative of that. Do you want to say anything? Okay. On 311 2025, a 57y old male was identified as to having a STEMI which is a heart attack. Uh our crew arrived at his residence and they did a 12 lead EKG and they noticed that there was something not quite right. If you remember on our our last meeting together, we had Miss April Traxxler here and she explained that partnership. That EKG was transmitted. They said yes, this individual needs cardiac intervention. Our crew was running emergency traffic down the interstate and as they crossed over the Kataba County line, um their patient went into cardiac arrest. The quick actions of the crew in the back of the truck made a difference. They were able to get stopped. They started the auto pulse. um upon they got heart rate back um and arrived at the hospital and as they were moving him over to the cath table he went into cardiac arrest a second time. Ultimately he was able to have a stent placed and correct the issue. This gentleman as well was able to come home and I Debbie Taylor was on the crew that evening. Debbie's been here before as a first

responder on a previous CPR save. And I think experience goes a long way. The ability to to work through these situations is incredibly important. And then on 62625, we had a 48, yes 48-year-old male and cardiac arrest upon arrival with first responders and law enforcement. patient was transported to Fry where he received further cardiac care and was ultimately dispatch or dis discharged back to home. Um and I don't believe we have anybody from the fire departments this evening. I do know that I fire department is also holding a family event for their firefighters this evening. So that's why we don't have a lot of participation there. But the Burke County Sheriff's Office did CPR. Drowning Creek members, Road His members, Ikard Fire Department, Jason Townsen, who's in the back, and Robert Leadd better were on the crew. This patient too um had some followup with us and was very appreciative of the care that he received and it made an impact on his life. So, I'm happy to recognize Jason this evening for a cardiac save. If you all just stand by for a couple of minutes. Our next call, this one I can't express enough that we never know the impact that we're going to have. Commissioner Burns, if you'll get Logan had just worked a 24-hour shift and was on his way down off the mountain. Um, I received a call and we dispatched units. We had a female patient that was experiencing psychiatric related injury. Um, she had got out of a vehicle and she had walked down the trail. If you've never been to Upper Creek Falls, it's an absolutely beautiful place to go. It's got a very large waterfall, approximately 70 ft.

Um, and she managed to get all the way to the edge of that waterfall and she was not in a capacity to make sound decisions. Logan, who had just got off his 24-hour shift, was driving by and heard the dispatch. He didn't have any reason he had to stop other than he wanted to stop. He stopped. He entered the woods by himself. He went all the way down and he was the first person to make patient contact. Through his quick wit and sound judgment making, he was able to talk to this person. Actually, he was able to convince this person through a little bit of trickery that um by saying her name incorrectly that she needed to come back closer to him to be able to speak to him because she couldn't hear him well. That fortitude in that moment prolonged the inevitable for that individual. She was within six inches of taking her own life off a waterfall that she would not have survived. So, I want to recognize Logan because going above and beyond, taking those extra steps to change that outcome for somebody who may or may not ever realize the impact that he had changes it for the rest of us. Logan [Music] Kenny, you'd like to come up. So, this one here, um, I added in very quickly, Mr. Kenny Williams. So, we recently had an incident that occurred at our landfill. Um, Mark, you come up.

One of our employees for the county was working in her normal everyday job. And as we all do, we take for granted what's going on. And we start building relationships with people, right? We see people in day in day out. We never know the impact that we're going to have when something goes wrong. On this day, on August the 5th, 2025, Kenny was waiting in line to go across the scales to be able to drop off some debris. Kenny, you work for Glenn Alpine, correct? While he was waiting, he noticed a little bit of commotion that was going on up at the scale house. Uh some people getting out of the way, moving around, and as a good Samaritan, he got out of his vehicle because he knew who was working at the scale house and something wasn't right. He climbed across the guardrail and he forcibly opened the window, climbed through the window and made access to an employee of Bur County who was experiencing one of the worst days of her life. She was having a seizure and she was altered. Due the quick thinking of Kenny, he was able to get her on her side and help her maintain an airway. He was able to open up the guard shack. And I also want to recognize Robert, if you'll come up as well. So 200 Avery Avenue is a long way from the landfill. Um the rest of us were very busy on a couple other projects. Robert and Matt Chapman heard the call go in, knew the location, and they responded because it's the middle of the day. Response can be a little bit challenging for area departments depending on what's going on. Robert, without a second's thought, responded and arrived at the same time as the crew. Ultimately, Robert ended up driving our EMS crew, which was Sher Mayfield and Kamani, and neither of them are here this evening, uh, back to the hospital where she received further care. I want to recognize Kenny for going above and beyond, for climbing through a window

when nobody else had to and opening a door so that care could be provided for one of our county employees. Mark, do you want to say anything? I I just want to say thank you. That was quick response and like you said, I don't know where you learned to turn around side and everything, but that made all the difference if I'm not mistaken. And uh thank you Glenn Alpine should be very proud.

Thank you. Thank you. Last but not least, this one here. If this doesn't change the way that you look at everyday life, I'm not sure what actually will. Uh, but on June the 6th, Burke County Emergency Services as well as the Sheriff's Office, Hiker Fire Department, um, county fire marshall, every resource that would possibly be in the area responded for a drowning at an area pool. Um, upon arrival of the first cruise, uh, an Iiker Fire Department member threw off what he knew would get destroyed in the water on the side of the pool, jumped into the pool, and recovered a 13-year-old from the bottom of a pool. Once on the side of the pool, CPR was immediately initiated. our QRV, Andrew, if you'd like to step up, as well as our crew uh responded and life-saving efforts were initiated. Now, I would love to say that the outcome from this was 100% positive. Um, ultimately, this child did succumb to their injuries, but I was reached out to by Life Share of the Carolinas. They said that the best thing that we could do was emphasize understanding the gift of life. This child's heart, his liver, and his kidneys went to change the lives of five other people. We don't know every single day what the good Lord puts us here for. And as challenging as difficult as these situations can be, and if it doesn't bring a tear to your eye, you're probably not human. these outcomes, right? It's because of the hard work.

It's because of the individual dedication. It's for making the decision in those moments. Whether you're a volunteer firefighter, whether you're a law enforcement agent, whether you're a career in EMS, does not matter. You jump in and you start doing something. So, I want to recognize Andrew. Do we have anybody else? Anna, come up. Tori.

Tori. Tori was not working that day. Um, she actually happened to be there in regular clothes, but also being an employee of ours heard the call go in and responded to the scene. I just want to take a minute to emphasize life share wanted me to share. If you would like to give the gift of life, make sure that you talk to your family and your loved ones and make sure that you know that your wishes are. Um, one of the most difficult parts of that is having that conversation with a family. I was fortunate enough to be able to follow up with that. Um, and I want to recognize the life-saving efforts that this these individuals did. And I want to thank you all. We've got a certificate for each of you. [Music] I know that a certificate and a challenge coin is not a big enough thank you, but a round of applause and a heartfelt thank you for what you do is more than any dollar that I could ever give you. So, thank you very much. [Applause] We could squeeze everybody in for a quick picture. be very star.

I thank you all. [Applause] And I I think I can speak for all the commissioners. We appreciate all that you do for us every day. It's a pleasure to have a person like Mr. Robinson in charge of EMS that uh takes the time to write up these commendations and present that to us. And something he said at the beginning was he knew it was quite lengthy and didn't want to waste much or use much time. That's okay. We'll be here all night to recognize you folks. Thank you so much for all you do. And uh we'll now move on to our finance department. Our update on grant funding presented by Margaret Pierce, our deputy county manager, finance director, andor Lindseay Stockman. I'd like to welcome both of y'all here tonight. Good evening. I'm not sure how I can follow that. We might need to rethink that next time. Uh good evening. My name is Lindsay Stockman. I am the new grant program manager here in Burke County, and I'm excited to be with you all today. So, Katie, do you click for me? Do I click?

Oh, so sorry. Oh, go back. So, in order to talk about grants and grants that we have here in Burke County, we have to understand what a grant is. So, a grant are funds that are given to a person or in this case an organization like Burke County. And they're usually designated for a specific person or excuse me for a specific purpose, but they're not generally required to be repaid. So in this case, we're talking about funds that we've received here in Burke County that we do not have to repay. So there are different types of grants that we can have. There are federal grants such as agencies like Department of Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, US Department of Justice. Often these are passed through state agencies. We also have state and local grants. These are more targeted grants specific for geographical areas. A lot of the Helen money, for example, we're the cuto off for that. We're considered the last county to receive devastation. So, a lot of those will be state or local grants. We also have foundation grants. These are private or community foundations. They usually focus on specific areas of interest for that foundation such as education or art. And then we have corporate grants. Those are provided by businesses as part of their desire to support their community. and the citizens that have storefronts, excuse me, the citizens in the communities where they have storefronts. Some examples of those would be Walmart, for example. Anywhere there's a Walmart, they have Walmart grants. Kohl's, they have Kohl's grants and etc. So, let's talk about the current grants that we have here in Burke County. We currently have 45 active grants that we are working on on a regular basis. This is about $9 million that we are working on, working towards, reporting on, etc. Six of our grants are considered federal whereas 28 are considered state. We as Burke County have only provided 280,000 some dollars in match. Now

that's a great low number. But a couple of questions come to mind. One, what is match? Well, match can be cash or inind. Inind means it could be salary. It could be your office. Those types of things could be considered inind or cash as we all know is cash. Now, $280,000, as I would tell you all as a grant person, is a low number. It's actually even lower. 200,000 of this is actually specific for one grant, which is Maynard because it's a pass through and we hold the grant. That 200 is on our books. So, actually 80% of this is not ours. Only $80,000 is what we've actually provided in match for inind. So let's link this back to our focus areas. Our focus area of community advancement. Six of those 45 grants are focused in this area. An example here would be the Dogwood Health Trust. We have this grant and they have provided digital access stations and classes for seniors. Our focus area two which is economic growth and sustainment. 11 of our grants are focused on this area. And an example would be our Maynard electric grant which is a building reuse grant. So, they're renovating that building to reuse it and stay here in the county. Focus area three, which is public safety and well-being. An example here would be our NCDIT grant or 911 radios. Uh we were able to get new radios from the 911 center and 25 of our grants are focused in this area. Focus area four, which is fiscal stewardship. Three of our grants are focused in this area. And the example we have for you is America 250. So our funds that we got from the state are specific to America 250. We have the signs right up here at front to celebrate America turning 250 years old and we are using those funds to help promote. So now that we know what grants are and

we kind of talked about the grants that we have, let's talk about grants that we are waiting to hear about. So I have been with the county almost 4 months. I started April 28th and since then we've applied for 16 new grants that does not include the 45 about $1.2 million we've applied for. We have asked the state for three extensions. So what that means is that during Hurricane Helen we were not able to meet some of our grant requirements. A lot of people weren't. We simply had to submit paperwork. We've done that. We will continue to work on those grants to fulfill what we said we would to the state. We've submitted three letters of intent which means we intend to apply for a grant to the state. The state has approved two of those and we will move forward working with them to apply for additional funding. I've evaluated and reviewed grants with multiple individuals as well as all the departments across the county and I continue to do so on a regular basis. Uh we've also created an internal process for applying for grants. I think it's going very well so far. Also, with this, which is not up here, uh the grant match for those 16 grants is zero. There is no match for those dollars. Those are all just straight grants that we could receive. So, we're excited to hear about those. Um and we have also recently discovered that the system that we use, MUN software, across the county, has a grant component to it. So, we were thinking in the future we might need to budget for quite a few dollars to manage a grant system, which can be very pricey. We won't have to do that now because Munis can take care of that for us, which is a great costsaving. So, some of the grants that we're waiting to hear about, we've applied for a sheriff's office grant. It's called the cops grant for violence prevention. We wrote this in partnership with the public school system, and this would help uh with lighting out at Reef Field as well enhanced safety features for the school system. We also applied for a cop's hiring grant for the sheriff's office. This is also in partnership for the

school system and this would allow us to hire three new student resource officers. And then we just applied for a senior services grant for the do from the Dogwood Health Trust Foundation. It's a two-year grant for a total of $150,000. And we hope that this grant will allow us to move seniors off of the weight list uh for inhome and congregate meals. So our meals on meals program. Any questions? Comments, concerns, complaints. Wonderful. My contact information is up. If anybody on the board or if anybody in the audience has any questions or comments, I'm happy to address them. Anybody have any questions?

Just one comment. If you think I'm Yes, sir. Great job. Oh, thank you. Okay. this. I've lived in this world a little and that's it's not an easy job. Yes, sir. My hats off to you. Thank you very much. Imagine 45 grants is quite a chore and we appreciate you doing that for the citizens of Burke County. Thank you. I appreciate it. We hope to hear about the other grants we've applied for before the holidays, October, November. So hopefully maybe then we can come back and give you an update. Thank you for your time. Thank you, ma'am. Do I have a motion to accept the report? Mr. Great.

Sorry. Sofhu, Mr. Chairman, may I see a show of hands, please? That's four to nothing, Madam Clerk. Okay. We will now look at a proclamation for the North Carolina DOT litter sweep week and that will be presented by yours truly. Uh this proclamation proclaims the month of September 2025 as litter sweep participation month in Burke County and urges all citizens, businesses, and community organizations to join in this important initiative to help maintain the cleanliness, beauty, and livability of our roadsides and neighborhoods. If there are no questions, I'll entertain a motion.

I make that motion, Mr. Chair. All in favor? That's four votes, ma'am. We will now move on to our manager and we'll look at foster care presentation by him, Mr. Brian Epley.

Thank you, Commissioner Smith. Uh members of the board, I I first say that I appreciate, especially in a the last two months where our agendas have uh certainly been a little more robust, the opportunity to continue to make a point of emphasis for foster care here in Burke County. That is uh I too appreciated um um the the uh uh Chief Robinson's presentation, and that's something I look forward to every quarter. I appreciate Commissioner Burns sitting on that uh committee and that board to help uh uh drive that. And um I think this kind of falls into the same boat where you just feel like you're really um putting your time and energy to the right places and working on the right things. And um that's where I would like to start um again just by saying thank you to for allowing staff and allowing the team to continue to highlight the need for um help recruitment um and and for all of us to just be aware of foster care in Burke County. And my first thought I always like to start with is what is our purpose? I mean what are we here to do? What is the what is the uh the culmination the synchronization of 28 operating departments under one umbrella? What are we created for? Um and when you think about um um again what Chief Robinson presented or you think about some of these foster care uh statistics and some of the things we're working on, it's not really hard to connect that back to improving lives and making uh sound um really strong investments into uh our children, into our community, into our citizens. Um, and and I that's that for me is is very uh rewarding and I appreciate the board's willingness to allow us to do that. Um, so we're here to talk about uh foster care again. In the last two months, as a reminder, we had Jeff Marberger uh two months ago who was one more one less and that was the board's introduction to his project and the wonderful things they're doing across North Carolina and his personal story. And then last month we had Miss Amber Best from Meg's Place and Support Megan Foundation over actually in a couple counties now, but originally founded in

in U over in Marian. And so this month um I wanted to just uh give maybe a zoomed out higher level overview. And and I think it's critical to know that we're talking about foster care, but I want to I want to challenge you to to to recognize that when you're working on something important, uh there's a lot of interconnectivity. um there's not just one sizefits-all or or uh working on an independent variable uh that's in a vacuum. Um so so I want to I want to position this presentation in that regard to say that um there's something here in the middle and and I think that's children uh and and I think they are the commonality between and the link between foster care and substance use disorder in Burke County. And I think they're the same families and the same kids. I think there's I think when you're working on one, if you if you have the right comprehensive strategy and you're looking at it the right way, you're working on both and it's the same people and you get good outcomes from both.

And then I would also point out that there's an underlying foundational issue that drive uh the issues in both scenarios and I think that's economic development. I think that that is the true tide that lifts all ships and upward economic mobility and the scarcity of resources being removed from people's homes in a large part will help self diagnose and self-correct issues the drivers that lead to children in foster care largely as we've seen about 76% of the children in our care come from homes that have substance abuse uh uh problems challenges and abuse neglect issues that are reported. So that's kind of the the the the tea up to say what we do matters. Doing it well matters. Supporting our purpose, improving lives. We shouldn't just do more stuff. Everything that we do, we should have a purpose behind. We should understand what what our goals are. How do we measure that success? And I'm I'm just so incredibly excited about um some of the the the lives that can be impacted through this initiative. So my my agenda is very short today. Um the goal that we've been saying, you know, to at a staff level to try to uh bring some attention to this, uh world of foster care in Burke County is all about awareness. We're trying to advocate for these folks, these families. Uh and then a call to action. Um earlier this week, uh Commissioner Strad, Burns, and Barry all attended a breakfast, uh with local pastors, and we uh shared a lot of this similar type information and introduced them to some of our community partners. Uh and that's part of this call to action. You can't be a you can't be a part of actionable, uh uh strategy if you're not aware of the problem, if you're not aware of the circumstance. And that's really, I think, what our motivation, what our goals been in these early parts. For for those of you who may be hearing this for the first time, that awareness level is that Burke County has a an unproportionate number of children in care. Once they come in our care, they stay in our care for an unproportionately amount high amount of time. We have an unproportionately low

number of licensed foster parents in Burke County. So, we have children scattered uh uh you know, all over um really the region, sometimes the nation. Um and the longer children stay in foster care, the it is clear without replacement and permanency. the data indicates that their positive outcome. So, lack of incarceration, lack of mental health, behavioral health, substance use issues later in life, uh that trauma really leads to uh a more challenging um life ahead. Right? So, this is the slide that ultimately um um teed this up as a policy area for this board to undertake. And uh you all looked at this um some time ago, most recently at your um uh strategic planning work session. But here we're just saying this is a super super high level analytic. But the blue bar here is the county population for each of our surrounding counties. The orange line is the three-year average. So this isn't a snapshot in time. This is the three-year average of the number of children in care. And what I'd point out is we have we are the only county with this this big gap, meaning the number of children in care is unproportionately high to our total county population. And that is that is what led us down this path of what's going on. Since that point, we've been able to dig in a little bit deeper uh and better understand why would our number of children in care be higher than some of the other communities in our region. Well, the first thing that we point out is the North Carolina average per 10,00 claim. So, this is a a a school teacher, a uh a family member, a pediatrician, a Sunday school teacher, a guidance counselor. This is someone calling and making a report of abuse or neglect, physical abuse, um uh sexual abuse, uh substance abuse. Uh we we heard from and how appropriate is it that uh uh this was um uh recovery month in September and uh the average age for first-time use is 11 and a half in Burke County. Uh so so that's uh you know that's telling sometimes it is the child themselves but this is someone calling

our department of social services and we're 33% higher than the state average and even more than that from the federal average for the number of claims of abuse or neglect. So then you move down to what percentage of that is substantiated. We call that victimization rate for every 1,000 children. And again so we're 33% higher in claims. uh 17.38 of those uh get actually uh substantiated which means we screen it in. It's we do an investigation and we conclude th this is an unsafe situation. We we need to do further investigation. There's there is uh you know substantiated evidence to the claim. And then this last analytic here is of those that are substantiated how many children come into our care and uh roughly double what the state average is. So when you ask yourself why why is our population higher, right? The proof's here. We have more claims. There's there's there's evidence in the community driving those claims that ultimately yield children in care. Now, I know the board's seen this map many times and we've all studied it very deeply. Uh but as a reminder, uh this is a heat map originally that now has three years worth of data. So every again this overlap between substance use disorder and foster care uh every overdose call that that was called into 911 where there was an emergency response is collected through the 911 system and then put into this heat map and you can see that there with the purple uh and the higher the more overdoses in a certain area the more intensity of the heat map. Now we've layered that with these green triangles and these green triangles are child protective services, child welfare intake. So these are children where these abuse and neglect cases have been uh substantiated and children have came into our care. And what I would point out is those green triangles are all over those purple overdose substance abuse uh issues.

Right? So this this idea that um if you work on one it's linked and you're working on the other and there could be comprehensive strategy I think that deals with both. Here's the same level of intake. You may say well what type of substance use um has driven that intake um primarily uh methamphetamine and fentanyl um and this is the school systems that they uh are impacted by. So, one level further and ultimately if we use this information correctly, we should be doing proactive, which I think this board is hopefully later tonight going to start taking some actions to do. Um, but we can be proactive in these communities to deal with some of these uh abuse and neglect issues and children coming into care before they happen. I do have some positive news. Um, and to brag on our team, I think we have great social workers in our foster care division and and I know this board and certainly uh the manager's office is is incredibly supportive of their work and uh just like Chief Robinson reported with uh our emergency services and sheriff's office folks and first responders and fire departments, they often see things that other that most of us don't have to see and we have tremendous respect and appreciation for their professionalism. Um once children come into our care, we take incredibly good care of them, much better than what the industry average. Uh there's actually a a categorization for mistreatment. Uh and then the last two data points here, the first one is about once someone comes into your care, how long do they stay? What is your ability to move them to permanency? And permanency would be reunification with their family or it could be adoption or it could be they aged out after the age of 18. Um but but we too there have a pretty systematic problem where once children come into care I I we seem they seem to stay here and you can see that here on this slide. So if we take a snapshot in a static way of our current population uh the average is about 1298 days. So, three and a half years that you're separated from your family. And

the data is crystal clear that after about nine or 10 weeks um after there's separation from mom and dad and child, the the effort and the desire for mom and dad to reunify starts to go off. They start to feel, you know, hopeless and all those things. And so, you may ask yourself, what is one of the reasons that our time to permanent placing, which by the way, now that we know is improving, but why over time has it been such a challenge? And and one of the big reasons is lack of resources in the community. So if a judge uh uh you know if if a child's taken out of a family uh and and whether it's judicial order or social worker uh guidance, there's often a checklist of of items they have to complete. parenting skills for example or or substance you if it's a substance use related which again 76% of the kids in our care are come from a substance uh use related uh uh claim they have to go through maybe outpatient treatment or maybe it's inpatient or maybe they have to see a physician but there's a a variety of of items that they have to perform in order to even be considered for reunification and that lack of resource availability and what I'll call our recovery ecosystem which again we're going to talk about later this evening um is part of the reason where parents don't even have access in this community to those services. So, the ability to achieve them is is simply not there. Does that make sense? Am I doing a good job of explaining that? Now, um again, some good news. Our our days to first placement permanency and our time. Um I think we're we're making some impacts where we can. Uh we can't we you know, we we need a lot of infrastructure investment. Uh um and so I'm I'm I'm transitioning from awareness. That's kind of a a microcosm of the problem and the uniqueness in Burke County. And as a reminder, I said awareness, advocacy, and action. From an advocacy perspective, uh we're starting first with our churches. Um that is uh that is something that has proven very fruitful

in other communities. That was part of why we um when we talk to some of the nonprofits, which is one of the the focus areas on this list, uh each of them talk about the importance of engaging with our with our with our local churches and our community and our faith-based leadership folks. That was the point of the breakfast this past um um Tuesday, I believe. Um, and and and I'll point out just as as a a point of notification in in two weeks from tomorrow on September the 26th at 6:00 p.m. in this room, there'll be an open door for prayer. And all of those pastors are coming back and we're inviting even the ones that weren't able to come. Uh, and and there's going to be just a a moment of of reflection and prayer for all these childrens. And that's that's two two weeks from tomorrow, 6:00 to 6:45, I believe, is the is the time. uh don't take for granted the point of emphasis that this meeting allows us to place. There's very important business transactions and very important policy decisions that this board considers and to earmark a few minutes each month to put this back at the frontal lobe of everyone's radar critically important. Um and then lastly, most of these kids in some way interact with the school system. So the school system has been a tremendously willing partner. They have a a a team really that manages these displaced oftentimes displaced and uh troubled youth and and they have been a huge huge partner supporter and advocate and um you know that's kind of how we've tried to start um prioritizing this the these advocacy um efforts and this is my last slide uh and I'll be glad to answer any questions but the the most logical question would be well what's next? What are we doing? Um, and I'm a little bit ahead of your agenda, but here shortly this board's going to have the opportunity to take some action um on a few uh opioid settlement strategies. Uh, one of them will be for Spark, and I I'll let Dr. Barnett or Samuel, excuse me, uh, tell you a little bit more about those folks, but they offer an inhome family centered

treatment, uh, that puts uh, cl licensed clinical addiction specialist and social workers in a home. and and and it is a it it is a marvelous situation to try to identify these the both the substitute side which by the way I think has you know just an incredible positive outcome absence rate uh and and allow those families to to stay together. Um, but you also hear about a caring alternative and high country community health. All of which are putting resources in our recovery system that aren't here now that deal with the root problem which is substance use which will have a positive impact on foster care. No doubt in my mind. We're also working closely with the North Carolina Guardian Edum, specifically Miss Kincaid, who is just a marvelous advocate for these children. um our pastor leadership group, One More, One Less, which is the nonprofit that uh seeks to have two champion churches in each county in North Carolina. Um Jeff Marberger and his team. And then um as I mentioned, Meg's Place and Live Like Megan Foundation who we heard from from last month. And so the takeaway from this slide is um three or four months ago, none of these folks were on the team. Now they're all on the team.

And in the next six months, we're going to make a big difference. Yeah. we're going to make a big difference. So, I appreciate the opportunity to provide a short update on the foster care program and what we're doing in Burke County. And uh Commissioner Smith, I'm h happy to answer any questions you or the board may have.

Does anybody have any questions they'd like to present to the county manager? I'd like to just make a statement of just how phenomenal it is that to see all of our teams of people coming together in every capacity and in every you know when we sat through this thing with the pastors at one more one less the other day and and different ones that we've listened to. Uh it just seems like everybody's coming together. The churches are coming together. We can take care of these kids and we're going to figure it out. So we ain't got no kids running around without homes. Yeah, I think I speak for all the board when I say we'd like to thank uh DSS and all those involved in helping these children out each and every day.

Absolutely. Okay, that'll move us on to item seven, uh, scheduled public hearings. We have none. And that'll move us to the next one, informal public comments. Madame Clerk, do we have anyone registered to speak?

We do, Mr. Vice Chairman. U I would call Christy Gupton to the podium. Thank you, board. Um, Mr. Epley, I uh appreciate seeing how far uh the county has come. I served on the uh homes for hearts board um initiated by DSS Director David Smith years ago before I ever even had my own children. And uh it's so good to see how the community has come together since then. Uh last month on July 14th, uh this distinguished board became the official board of health for Burke County's citizens. And as a member of your um public health advisory board, I made it my personal goal to attend as many of your meetings as possible and relay information I think is important to our public health as a community. As I attended that July 14th meeting, I was impressed by the presentation um given by the Burke County Health Educator and um as she presented the community needs assessment. It revealed that our community needs resources and investment in the key areas of mental health and substance use disorders among others. While these are important, they're also very familiar. They've been part of our community needs assessment uh reports year after year after year. And um um I think that it's uh important with the resources we've already invested to continue to make progress here so we can eventually triumph over what is, you know, termed these diseases of the soul, right? Substance use disorder and mental health um disorder. So, I wanted to share a heartwarming story with you about how our community came together

without further burdening taxpayers or having to fill out grants. No offense to grants, those are good things, but just um concerned citizens who saw a need and decided to just get it done. So, um that project was an outdoor classroom at Mull Elementary School. Uh the project was conceived by principal Amber Lackey and uh a P her PTA leader, a parent teacher association leader, Tracy Stamy. And pardon me for being a proud mama, but my oldest son, Kenton Gupton, uh who needed an Eagle Scout project in a bad way, saw this idea, and it was just the right fit. So before we know it, members of our community had written checks, raised more than enough to get started. And um a community leader, Jason L Henson, uh a builder and a youth minister, um came to the project to offer some project management support. In the brutal heat of last summer, we broke ground and undertook several weeks of very hard physical work to complete what is now a beautiful outdoor learning space featuring a stage uh and seating for around 50. Uh nestled under the trees downwind from some honeysuckle and where birds and butterflies make their presence known. Elementary school kids at B at Mole experience nature while learning at a level that cannot be achieved within the four walls of classroom. There's not enough time in this public comment to link Shenron Yoku, a Japanese word meaning forest bathing, uh, to being how inundated in nature heals the mind and the body. But there's infinite scientific proof that that occurs. So I know I know that you trust that. I'll simply use um these last couple sentence uh seconds um

to thank members of our community um like Wall Lumber who contributed the materials at their cost so that we could um use the money raised more effectively and u for other financial uh uh contributors like the Burke County Republican Party and BNS Discount Foods. And I wanted to thank um the Piedmont Council of the Boy Scouts of America um for ranking this project number one out of the 130 Eagle Scout projects that got submitted last year and for Troop 199 who's um brought their scouts here before to say the pledge of allegiance um for all the help and support they gave. So, thanks again um for your uh listening to this heartwarming story. I hope you'll find as much pride in it as I do um of just a community of people who came together uh to help solve some of our most pressing needs. And uh if you would like to follow that QR code, it'll take you to a little video we made of the project. Thank you.

Thank you, Miss Guffton. Madam Clerk, do we have any other speakers? That's all the cards I have, Mr. Vice Chairman. Okay. Thank you. And that brings us to our consent agenda. We have none tonight. Which brings us to number 10, items for decision. And madame clerk, I hope you got some good comfortable shoes on and a good drink of water there cuz you're going to be up a while. Yeah.

Thank you, uh, Mr. Vice Chairman, members of the board. This is a request to, uh, make an appointment to the Council on Aging. Seat number 10 is vacant. the senior services director and the council on aging requests the appointment of Holly Phillips uh to fill this vacancy and it has a term ending November 30th, 2026. Do I hear a motion on this u position? Mr. Vice Chair, I make a motion to appoint Holly Phillips to the Council on Aging seat number 10 to complete the remainder of a term ending November 30th, 2026.

Thank you, sir. Let's have a vote by show of hands. Madame Clerk, that's four four of us unanimous. [Applause] Next, we have um a removal for the America 250 NC committee. Uh Kevin Hancock uh fulfilled um the seat number 10 representing the Sons of the American Revolution. He has submitted his re resignation. Uh so this is a request to remove him from the roster and thank him for his service and we'll bring back an appointment uh when we have someone to fill that seat.

Okay. Thank you, ma'am. I hate to see him go. He's another good Texas Aggie there, but we wish him well in Indiana. Do I have a uh motion? Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to remove Kevin Hancock's name from the official roster for the American 250 Planning Committee and to thank him for his service. Uh let's please vote by show of hands. Madame clerk, that's four. Unanimous.

Thank you. This next item is a resolution appointing and removing plat review officer. Pete Mentor has retired from Burke County and um as such he's no longer able to serve. Um, additionally, we would like to request the appointment of Pat Dickinson, Patrick Dickinson, pardon me, to serve um to replace Pete. And the uh following resolution number 2025-26 um makes that happen and is uh required statutoily. I'll now entertain a motion for that. Vice Chairman, I'll make a motion to adopt resolution number 2025-26.

Please vote by a show of hands. That's for Madame Clerk. Thank you very much. The next item that you have on your agenda is the appointment to the animal advisory board. Seat number eight on the animal advisory board represents a large animal owner and the two-year term ends July 31st, 2027. We have received an application from Morgan Bowlinger. Uh she is a um she owns several horses and a goat, and we would request that you appoint her to fill this vacancy to complete the remainder of a term ending July 31, 2027. Do I hear a motion?

Mr. Vice Chair, I'll make a motion to appoint Morgan Bowlinger to the Animal Advisory Board, seat number eight, large animal owner, for the remainder of the term ending July 31st, 2027. Have a vote by show of hands. That's four, Madame Clerk.

Thank you. This next item is an appointment to the Glenn Alpen Planning Board, Board of Adjustment, ETJC, which stands for the extr territorial jurisdiction. Uh Burke County appoints one member to the Glenn Alpine Planning Board Board of Adjustment as the ETJ representative. The term is for three years. We have received an application from Tam Tamara Woods Poppin and uh we're requesting her appointment to complete um a three-year term ending August 31st, 2028 as the ETJ or extr territorial jurisdiction representative. I'll entertain a motion on this appointment.

Mr. Chairman, I make the motion to appoint Tamara Poppin to the Glenn Alpine Planning Board Board of Adjustments as the EPJ representative for a three-year term ending August the 31st, 2028.

Thank you. Let's vote by show of hands, please, for Madame Clerk. All right. The next um item is concerns the parks and recreation commission. We have received a resignation from Cody Clark who occupied seat number 11 representing the Salem School District. Uh so we would like to have him removed and thank him for his service to the community and also to appoint Sarah Ellis u to fill his vacancy to complete the remainder of a term ending March 31, 2026.

Do I hear a motion concerning Mr. Clark? Vice Chairman, I'll make a motion to remove Cody Clark's name from the roster for the parks and recreation commission and thank him for his service. Let's vote by show of hands. Thank you, madame clerk for and a motion to appoint Sarah Ellis.

Mr. Vice Chair, I make a motion to appoint Sarah Ellis to the parks and recreation commission seat number 11 Salem to complete the remainder of a term ending March 31st, 2026. By show of hands, please. Four, Madam Clerk. All right, I think I'm nearing the end. Um, this this next item is concerning the volunteer agricultural board. Um, it's a seven member board and five of the seats on this board represent the farming community. Um, the terms for Robert Lman and Jason Carwell um have expired. Um, they are willing to serve another term. Um if we do appoint these two gentlemen, they would need also um a waiver from article 4 uh board's uh commission and committees section 2-88 membership requirements subsection D. Um additionally we have received an application from Joseph Winkler who who is also a farmer. Um so uh the requested action is to appoint or reappoint one of these three gentlemen to seat number one to complete the terms ending uh August 31, 2028. Also for seat number two to uh consider one of these applicants, Jason Carwell, Robert Lman, or Joseph Winkler. Also to complete a term ending August 31, 2028.

Do I hear a motion on seat number one? I make an appointment to reappoint Jason Carsville to seat number one farming to complete the remainder of his terms ending August 31st 2028 further to grant an exception to section 2-88D of the Burke County Code if needed. Let's vote by show of hands, please. 4 Z. Madame clerk. And just to confirm his his exception is needed. And I'll also entertain now a motion for seat number two.

Mr. Vice Chair, I make a motion to uh reappoint Robert Lman to seat number two farming to complete the remainder of terms ending August 31st, 2028 and further to grant an exception to section 2-88D of the Burke County Code. Let's see a vote by show of hands, please. That's four, Madam Clerk. And I think that's it for me. Thank you.

We will now hear from Miss Dr. Samuels concerning a resolution approving the county lead strategy supporting initiatives aligned with local priorities opioid settlement funds.

Oh, good afternoon. Um, I would be remiss not to mention all the folks and that are here tonight that have had a hand in planning um, researching and helping put together this um, proposal that we have for you all tonight. And we're so excited about um, moving some of these initiatives forward. Mr. Epley uh stole some of my thunder uh when he talked about uh FCT. And what we're doing tonight, it will have a ripple effect on uh many other departments and the health of the community um because we're looking at things that are high impact um and also touch different uh things that we're prioritizing and uh will influence the overall wellness of the community. So, we're really looking at investing this um settlement funds into something that will have a huge impact on uh on the county here. So, uh what we're looking for tonight, what we're looking at is actually two resolutions. The first resolution is a county-led um initiative where we're looking at building our port team which will consist of four community paramedics and four uh peer support specialists. So, we'll have a 247 team that will be able to co-respond to overdose calls and in addition to the co-response, we'll be able to proactively do community work uh to prevent future overdoses to engage people in treatment. And so, our local data tells us that we're seeing a decline in overdose fatalities, but we're not necessarily seeing a decline in overdoses or treatment engagement. So, this strategy strategy specifically will help with that um overall overdose rate. Um and also looking at engaging people in treatments to prevent future overdose calls. Um our second strategy there is a peer community navigator and this person will work um alongside the port team but work with other

stakeholders like the emergency department uh DSS if need be the school system. So that person will um be a capacity add to the port team but will also be able to work more freely in the community. And then our third strategy for this budget resolution is nlloxxone distribution. So this is um uh evidence supports that our strategy of saturating the community with nlloxxone had a big impact on the reason why we saw fatality rates decrease. So we want to keep that going. Um we also have the nlloxxone vending machine now. um bounties. So we want to keep that in lock on flowing in the community in the schools um in the jails and wherever we can put it. So that is uh the first resolution tonight. I I may add too um but all three of these were reviewed by the commissionerapp appointed over opioid advisory board in July. Um the second resolution u that that Dr. Samuels will present shortly was also reviewed by them. this particular uh group here was was reviewed um thoroughly um gone through in at their July meeting and they had a unanimous endorsement um for this resolution. Um and and I know each of us have talked about it individually, but certainly if there's questions be glad to answer those.

Does anybody have any questions I'd like to present to the manager, Dr. Samuels? If there are none, I'll now entertain a motion on the resolution. Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to adopt resolution 2025-25 as presented. Please vote by show of hands.

Madame clerk, that's four of us. We will now hear a resolution from Dr. Samuels about approving providerled strategies. Do I have a clicker here or? Yeah, here we go. Okay. So, I want to take you through this process um of how we got here and what that looked like with our opioid advisory committee um and talk to you about some of the impact from this because this is um this is something that we haven't done before and we're excited to do to get to build our provider network. So, we opened up a request for uh application and our RFP process to let providers submit proposals for programs to either start new or build capacity in. So, we're looking for that feedback from providers, engagement with treatment providers to build our system of care here so that we can start working on that second phase of number one reducing fatalities and then getting people engaged with treatment. But we have to make sure that the continuum of care is there so that people have access to the treatment. So that was really the motivation behind doing this. And so uh I want to talk to you about the department recommendations, how we got here, and then each one of the proposals that you're hearing from tonight. And then we're going to end with the um recommendation or endorsement from you guys of these strategies. So this uh addresses our focus area three, public safety and well-being with the uh goal of effective use of opioid settlement funding including collaborative partnerships to develop regionally based recovery systems. So locally uh and regionally based. So uh one reduce the onset of new use, two enhance pathways to recovery, and that's really where we're focusing on these strategies. And three, reduce fatalities. And so June was our very first opioid

advisory committee meeting where we uh the committee endorsed three strategies that you just heard. Um and we talked through uh what it would look like uh to open up this process. So on June 13th, we released the RFP and it closed on July the 11th. Um after that bid closed, we had an internal review to make sure that all of the proposals that were uh we were passing through to to the next phase lined up with the MOA and were legally able to um be funded this way. So in August uh well between July and August, we met with all of these providers. We had one-on-one interviews with them. We listened to what they were proposing. We listened to their outcomes and their sustainability plans. Um and we talked through how it fit in with our local priorities. Um and then last week on the 12th they came the ones that were uh selected to proceed that fit in with the priorities in the MOA option A um and that were we felt like were really ready to be implemented. They presented to the opioid advisory committee on August 12th and the advisory committee at that time endorsed three strategies to be um presented to you tonight. So, we received a total of 11. Uh, three were selected to move forward and we have uh three that are in the uh revisit tier where we're going to go back and do that same interview process, talk to them about their proposals, their applications and see how they might be able to move forward with those. And we had five in the not advancing at this time. So the recommended to proceed they were high impact hiding strategies evidence-based um we built performance measures around these um and created almost a fee for service model. So we're not paying for anything that's not happening. um a caring alternative. uh their program is a substance abuse

comprehensive outpatient treatment and intensive outpatient uh treatment program stay and sop high country's proposal was low barrier medication assisted treatment an expansion of their program and sparks was family centered treatment R for recovery a carrying alternative their requested amount is 300,000 for seat and sop and so seot is very um very intensive program. If you think about outpatient and inpatient, seikkot's right in the middle, seikot and sir. So this is an intervention that a person can use for an extended period of time uh that's more intensive than regular outpatient, but it keeps them it allows them to still be with their families, still work, um and not have to be in residential. So it's that middle part of the comm continuum that we didn't have here. We have providers that are providing it outside the county to our residents, but we didn't have it here um being done in the county. And so the um implementation milestones, this is an example I put when each uh each slide with the provider has this on there. This is an example of how thoroughly we went through the contracts looking at when we expect um them to be doing what thing um and how quickly we can implement these programs and how quickly we can see um data coming in to show our impact. And so also I wanted to talk to you about some national statistics. So we have uh Coastal Horizons is an SAOP uh SECOT program out on the coast and they report a 60% abstinence rate after the completion of SECOT. So that was like 6 months later. Uh 60% of the people that went through SECOT are still abstinent from um using any kind of elicit substance. And then 50 to 70% abstinence that follow up from SAOP and that was a

uh statistic from the National Library of Medicine. So you're having evidence-based programs that have some national outcomes here and are shown to be effective. And uh SAOP and SECOT are also large components of recovery court. Um and that's a a proven method of so when a person enters recovery court program a lot of times they're uh they go into IOP or SECOT and so this will be an additional option for the people that are going through recovery court. And then this program will also also take referrals from our port team, from community pro providers, from self-referrals. So we'll be seeing a lot of intake from um different places in the community. Um and this is some of the outcome metrics that we put into uh each performance-based contract has uh specific outcome metrics that are related to their uh proposal and the program that we're looking at. High Country Community Health their requested amount is 267305 and they are looking to expand their low barrier MAT. This is already a very successful uh program that they're doing in Burke County and they need some support to expand that. So, one of the things that High Country presented to the opioid advisory committee last week that they serve five counties, but Burke County makes up 50% of the the case load for low barrier MAT. So, we need to put some additional support to grow that program. And this is a really essential door to get into treatment. These are folks that are out in the community um walking around, going to places, going to shelters to actively engage people and get them in treatment and then follow up with them. So they'll also work very closely with our port team. As our port team are engaging with people, they will have a warm handoff with high country with their providers and peer

support specialists for longer term care. And some statistics here are 72% treatment retention rates in low threshold programs. And this is really what we want to see. We want to see people get engaged in treatment and stay in treatment. And opioid opioid use dropped uh 90 to 41% in populations that were engaged in uh low barrier MAT spark. I think you guys are uh pretty excited to hear about this one. Family center treatment R for recovery. uh we will be one of only a handful of programs that have the recovery component in the country. So FCT has been um widely used by DSS's for a while and FCTR is a new model that adds in an additional peer support or a person with lived experience to also work with the families. And so what we're looking for here is to see uh a reduction in the length of stay in DSS uh reunifications past reunifications and we're also looking at prevention like how can we have an intervention that's earlier in the process to keep the kids from actually being removed um because there is additional support. And so our local data we had uh 186 removals from June 2024 to July 2025. 78% of that was substance use as a part of uh the removal. And so if you look at those outcome metrics are really what we want to see um as our other priority about reducing or improving uh foster care system. And so the uh as I previously mentioned, the opioid advisory committee uh unanimously endorsed all three of these strategies and so I'm bringing it to you tonight

for your final approval so that we can um move forward with implementation. I think Dr. Samuels is ready for some questions now if anybody has anything they'd like to ask her. Dr. Sams, will these organizations, these three be coming here to report in the coming months about um uh the results, I guess, uh or will they report to you guys and you guys come and report to us?

We've built it into their contract that they would be reporting to the OP opioid advisory committee. But I I certainly think if the board wants to to plan that ahead, we facilitate. I mean, um I think that's a that's a good practice to have, too. I don't have a question, but I'd like to make a comment. I see a lot of folks out there in the audience that have put a lot of work into this, and uh one of them is former Commissioner Johnny Carwell back there in the back in that Southern Baptist position. And uh

we appreciate uh everything all of you have done. And I know this is near and dear to his heart as it is to all of us want to see a lot of recovery and uh extinction of drug abuse in this county. Does anybody else have any questions?

I just want to offer my heartfelt appreciation too to the committee, the advisory committee. I I feel like they've undertaken this task with a lot of deliberate and um humbleness. Deliverance and humbleness. I I just I can't I'm excited about this. It's a big step forward. It It's much further than we've ever been. Any other comments or suggestions?

Just one more, Mr. Vice Chair. Um, I just want to say too that out of all the things that I've been part of since I've been here on the board of commissioners, um, this to me is probably the most important thing we're ever going to do in this community to make a positive difference uh, quickly. I hope um, and thank you and all the people on the committee, the advisory board for for what you're doing. Oh, and just to mention too for anybody in YouTube world out there watching this, uh the meetings that you have are streamed live and you can go back and watch those as well, which is what I've been doing. So, um it's it's awesome to see the work you guys are doing and the collaboration in the community. Um so, thank you.

I'll now entertain a motion on this resolution. Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to adopt resolution number 2025-24 as presented. approved contracts in the amount of $300,000 with the Caring Alternative, $267,35 with High Country Community Health, and $390,000 with Spark, and authorize the county manager to execute all associated documents subject to review andor revision by the county manager, county attorney. I'll entertain a vote by show of hands. Madame clerk, that's all of us. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. S. Thank you.

We'll now hear from the county manager on the uh county surplus of real property and the update on that. Thank you, uh, Commissioner Smith, Mr. Vice Chairman. Uh the first item um is is for the board to consider um uh repealing a 2010 policy for how we handle surplus property. This uh ultimately came uh through a recommendation from the county attorney's office. Uh North Carolina statute is very clear about how a county may go through the surplusing process and how that's to be handled. uh and and so we we've been operating for some time with a uh a policy that's just a bit overly cumbersome and and and not the most proficient or efficient uh mechanism. Uh that policy was adopted September 2010 by a simple motion and vote. It can be repealed by a simple motion and vote. I know each of you have had that in front of you and have worked through it on a couple other properties and likely seen how uh um some of the steps were were were um a bit challenging. So, um, the the first thing, this first item is simply a request, uh, for the board to, uh, uh, repeal that 2010 policy and and moving forward, Burke County will simply follow North Carolina general statute as we, uh, deal with surplusing real property. Happy to answer any questions. Does

anybody have any questions they'd like to present to the county manager? If not, I'll entertain a motion. Vice Chairman, go ahead. They getting ahead of me. I want to get a couple of them in here. I like to make a motion to repeal the policy for the sale of surplus real property adopted in 2010. Let's note by show of hands, please. Madam clerk, that's all of us. Mr. Eley will now talk to us about the selection for the inaugural class for the Burke County Citizens Academy. Oh, there's one more action on.

Did I skip one? Yeah, I knew he was going to I'm wanting to get that thing going. I'm sorry. Talk to us now about the offer to purchase county owned property.

I'll be equally as brief uh with this one. Now, I will point out um there is at your last meeting in July, we had a um proposal to purchase a piece of surplus property uh uh located near the Hickory Airport. It's about 4/10 of an acre. Uh that original bid was 1,500. This as a reminder, this board uh rejected that offer and we communicated back to um um the bidder uh who's made another bid and that that more updated bid is 3,250. So, I want to walk you through that. But first, I wanted to just share largely um Commissioner Barrier had had asked uh you know made some suggestions and and asked how a citizen may know about what surplus properties are available and how they may go about um um uh making placing a bid and and largely the answer until this board just repealed the previous policy was to follow that pretty complicated highly mechanical policy. Um, so now we have built a website. It's on our web page. Um, and it has a map. We currently have these properties and I think the kind folks in the back were going to show on our website how one may go to navigate to this. This is an active inter uh or interactive RGIs map. Um, if you go to to Burke Countyy's website, go to the residence tab, surplus property, that brings up the process, how how it works, what you have to do. Uh, there's a map at the bottom that's interactive. You can click anywhere, any of those stars or properties that could be bid on. If you hover over said star, that's the piece of property we're fixing to talk about. uh it'll give you all the information and then there's a link at the top that will uh generate a form for you to make your bid which is automatically emailed to our team so we can process it. So we just took a long process and made it much cleaner, shorter, faster and and

more interfaced. So so so that's that's kind of the update on how um you know trying to be a little bit better now for the matter for the for this board to consider tonight. we can get back. Um, as reminder, this 168 and 153 statute both govern this. Uh, it starts with the board receiving an offer. Uh, at any point in time, you can reject any bid. So, so nothing you do tonight, uh, locks you in. Uh, once you accept the first bid, uh, it starts a mandatory 10day bid process and then any form final bid would come back to you ultimately for um, um, for for consideration. As a reminder, we're talking about this uh roughly 4/10en of an acre track. I zoomed out and put it to the far left just to show that uh this is, you know, kind of proximity Hickory Airport Road. Um and it's it was originally um obtained by the county in 2014. The assessed value is a little over $15,000. Our total cost in legal fees and back taxes is 2,200 bucks. Daniel Cal has increased his offer by $1,750 to 3250. Uh, and for perspective, that would generate transition back to the private market about $85 a year in property taxes. Um, I the recommendation from staff um um the board's options are to to approve that and accept that and begin the mandatory 10day upset bid process. Again, remind you if if if he was the only bidder or if no one else bid, you still have an opportunity to reject that later. Um, but you I think from my perspective, the value of that property is higher than $3,250. Uh, and and now with the new interface we have on the website, we may see a higher volume of potential bids that we could consider. Um, so certainly happy to answer any questions and follow the board's direction. Um, Commissioner Smith, but um, um, I I think that that's a more valuable piece of property than

$3,250. Does anybody have any questions? I'll entertain a vote on this matter. I'll make a motion or I'll make a motion. Sorry, I better get a motion first. Yes, sir. To reject the offer to reject the offer to purchase real property read number 37261 0 West View Trail in the amount of 3250. Vote by show hands. That's uh vote by show of hands, please. Sorry, Phil. That's good, sir. Commissioner, I think I've messed up once or twice tonight. We'll let you have one. That's a four. Something for a little perspective that we talked about at a staff level.

I if if the board were to receive a beginning offer that was 75% of the tax value, that's an additional $7,000 roughly above what's being offered now. If that property transitioned back to the private market and went on the tax books at its appraised value today, it would take over $15,000 generating roughly $85 a year in property tax revenue. that additional $7,000 that this board may garner from that is the equivalent to 80 plus years in property tax revenue. So pretty good I think good an good way to to kind of think through that. So

all right now by gosh we're going to get to the citizens academy something that's near and dear to all of our hearts and uh this will be presented also by our county manager Brian Epley.

Yes sir. Um just as a reminder I know that we've talked about this a lot. This is something that the board prioritized all the way back in March uh at your uh uh priority work session and you put it on your strategic plan um specifically under the community advancement focus area and I know it's something I've talked to each of you about and that you're excited to be a part of. A citizens academy really is an opportunity for our community to uh uh step inside and and be a a you know a grassroots part of county government. Um we have some pretty simple goals. We want to share knowledge. We want to create engagement, provide an opportunity for feedback. Uh I tell people all the time, uh uh and I believe it to be true, local government, like really all levels of government, local government's different because we live and operate in the community in which we have the pleasure and the and the and the opportunity to serve. Um but we don't do a good job of telling our own story and we also do not do a good job of providing a system that allows people to give us feedback. And when you're not telling your story and you're also not receiving feedback, I think that creates confusion. And that confusion can often be camouflaged as frustration or disconnection. And and this is one tool of many. This isn't the, you know, as uh Commissioner Smith like says, there's no silver bullet. Um this is just one tool that can be used um in conjunction with many other strategies to make sure that we are uh uh providing this this opportunity to foundation of knowledge engagement. Now, um, uh, uh, excitingly enough, there was a higher level of engagement anticipated, which I think is wonderful news. It's super exciting to me. U, this is our first class. Um, we can be prepared to launch this as early as September the 11th. That's our plan. We would hold it on Thursday evenings from 5:30 to 7:00. It's a six-w week program. Um when we originally um uh forecasted this and and asked the board for uh the uh the ability to try to run

this program um we we we we speculated maybe 10 or so uh participants. This was an application based process. So people applied to be in the citizens academy no different than they applied for all the other boards and appointments that uh our clerk just just walked us through. We ended up getting 18 applications which was incredibly uh exciting. Um and and so this was the time commissioner Smith if uh the board would like to consider formalizing this citizens academy and making these appointments uh that will give staff the direction we need to uh reach out to these folks and get that planning process started and get it underway.

Yes, sir. I'd like to before we vote on or have a motion on anything, I'd like to say I want to thank the commissioners up here and Mr. Britain, who's not with us tonight, and the county manager and his staff for being willing to uh possibly entertain all 18 applicants as uh members of this class. I think that's important. I think all of us see a need for our community to be involved and for us to be transparent as much as possible in what we're doing. So, having said that, does anybody have any questions or comments they'd like to make?

I just want to say hats off. Every day I talk to someone who has questions that don't really understand what we do and it's not their fault. As you mentioned earlier, we do a pretty poor job sometimes of telling our own story. Um, I'm excited about this. I'm I am super excited to see it launch. Yes, sir. Okay. Any other questions? If not, I'll entertain a motion.

Mr. Vice Chair, I make a motion to approve the selection of the following 18 participants for the inaugural class of the Burke County Citizens Academy. Dave Beasler, Susan Butterworth, Regina Laferty, Jim Freddy, Shana Harrison, James J. Leech, Tor Kincaid, Ed Halle Burton, Heather Ward, Haley King, Kim Van Stickler, Steve Parker, Chad Hildterbrand, Steven Coller, Beverly Morton, Kyle Bernett, Karen Swain, and Kimberly FSY. Okay, thank you, sir. Let's vote by show of hands. That's four, Madame Clerk. Okay, we'll move to number 13. Adoption of a project ordinance for the uh HRC renovation project presented again by county manager Epley.

Yes, sir. Again, I think a project that has been talked about for some time um when I first arrived in Burke County in February 2023. The county had just completed a comprehensive facility master planning uh but with Mosley Architects where they went through and evaluated every square foot of Burke County owned building infrastructure and they looked at it in structural codes meaning roofing and uh plumbing and mechanical and gave each of those a quantitative grade one through five. Um and and I'm I'm very pleased to report that um uh really four of the top five uh projects have been um dealt with by this board. Um and this this HRC which is really the the home for our public health and department of social services program um uh is next on that list. um at your at your March work session this year uh after we gave you uh really an update on u some of the other major capital projects like the courthouse uh EMS base headquarters and animal services the board took action to prioritize this project um we we proposed doing it in a phased adaptive reuse model uh meaning that we renovate the existing 62,000 square ft uh we know that the school system currently occupies about 14,000 of that they'll be moving out um sometime early next summer. Um we've we've already uh presented to you all a contract with Holland and Hammer to do the design and engineering and I'm I'm very pleased to report that we've uh uh we're well underway. We've we've got that process started. We expect it to take really the the design uh schematic design process probably through next June. So about the time we finish that um the school system will be leaving the space and we'll have bid documents and we'll be ready to get the construction arm underway and and we're eyeballing a 12312027 substantial completion date. Um, in the meantime, um, likely this will be the single project that we've worked on over the last three years, uh, that requires,

uh, installment financing, uh, and and we have applied and we we we think we we have a good opportunity, uh, to leverage an additional bricks and mortar federal grant, um, which would certainly lower the amount of financing that's required. Um, but we anticipate that that needing to be to be that bridge and that gap. Um, and you really can't do that until you have permitted drawings and you have, you know, all of those things in hand. Um, so in the meantime, we will continue to incur some development costs with our engineering architectural firm. U so what we're asking you to do in and uh is go ahead and establish that project ordinance. We'll move $1 million over from our uh capital fund as a temporary loan and it'll pay it'll pay back when we do the installment financing given the vehicle of the next item on the agenda. Um but this particular one uh commissioner is to uh establish the project ordinance for the HRC project with an initial appropriation of $1 million. Happy to answer any questions.

Does anybody have any questions? I'll entertain a motion. Mr. Vice Chairman, I make a motion to adopt ordinance 2025-10 as presented.

Please vote by show hands. Madame clerk, that's four of us. We'll now hear from the county manager concerning a resolution declaring intention to reimburse the county from the proceeds of one or more taxexempt financing from certain capital expenditures. Building on the action that you all just took. Um in order to repay our capital program when the financing installment financing action takes place, when that transaction takes place, we have to first have this and this is a a fiscal control act statutory requirement to adopt a reimbursement resolution. basically giving yourself the authority to pay yourself back when you do borrow. Um and and that's what this resolution would do so that in June or July of next year when we get to that part of the project um we can we can make sure that that's included in the package and in the transaction.

Does anybody have any questions? I'll entertain a motion. Mr. Vice Chair, I'll make a motion to adopt resolution number 2025-28. and we'll vote by a show of hands, please. Madame Clerk, that's four of us. Now, here from Mr. Mark Miller, human uh resources on a presentation and consideration of updated policies.

Good afternoon, gentlemen. Thank you for the opportunity to uh really continue this conversation. I know I've been in front of you several times now and talked about the progress of where we are with our policy modernization and happy to report that we are ready to move to the to the next step. Um like I said we we've talked about this in in multiple occasions. I won't spend a tremendous amount of time on it, but just talk through the process that we have went through uh went through the policy audit, really looked at what we had from a policy perspective, uh determined what needed to be adjusted potentially, uh or excluded or what needed to be added, looked at, uh research and did benchmarking, um really compared that to some other counties and some other municipalities and policies that they had in place. Uh looked at standardizing uh our our format of our policies overall. uh looked at things that have been problematic over the years uh from a policy perspective uh and went through a collaborative process to uh to to really renew those and get them into uh to a newer format. I've talked to you several times about why the need to go through this process and why to modernize. And there's really three points to this. Uh the first being to ensure that those policies are are up to date and the relevant. Again, it has been since 2009 since we really took a a really strong look at our policies overall. Again, looking to to implement best practices, looking at really supporting the organization overall, uh reduce our risk from a a policy perspective and be more in in legal compliance, uh align those with our our purpose and our values, uh and really focus on that being an employer of choice in the community. Second reason um driving this is to uh in our pursuit of of substantial equivalency uh that reflects um that our policies and positions are are in accordance with North Carolina Osher um that we have to have uh in in dealing

with issues involving Department of Social Services and and public health. Uh it will allow us to internally recruit and qualify candidates uh for those roles in those two departments. uh determine those compensations for those roles uh and classify positions in the job families associated with those roles that will ultimately allow us to be more efficient and effective in dealing with issues in those departments. Third reason is to uh really move forward in our compensation and classification improvements which were uh well underway when I joined last year. This has been going on for this this whole process for over a year now. uh did result in an updated classification and compensation paygrading system. Again, that mirrors osher that will get us a substantial equivalency from that standpoint. We can come back to this, but we're going to uh ultimately request uh that the board approve the uh uh the policies with an effective date of October 1st and uh adopt a resolution requesting certification of substantial equivalency for job classification and compensation with uh with OSHER. Once we get approval, um we will move into the next phase which is really implementing the policies. Um we will make any adjustments that we need to to our operating processes uh to the to policies that may change or policies that may be new. Uh we will put together a training development uh uh training plan. Uh we first start with our department heads and our and our key leadership roles and then roll that throughout the organization uh down to the employee level. We'll do have make sure that they know where the policies are and either electronically or in hard copy and then we'll also start to include that into our new hire orientation process uh going forward. Again, with a uh gives us about a month, month and a half to to do some training and be ready to to to do a

implementation date of October 1st. And I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you, Mr. Miller. Anybody have any questions? Okay, I'll entertain a motion from the presentation. We have three options here to to think about. We can either make a motion to approve, approve, and modify or deny. Do you have a recommendation? I would absolutely recommend that we approve. Uh they have been reviewed by the county attorney as well. And uh we're in a proc a step where we are ready to to proceed if if uh if you so approve.

Okay. With that, Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to approve the proposed changes to the Burke County Portel personnel policies as presented effective October the 1st, 2025. And we'll vote by show of hands. Madame clerk, that's four of us. Okay. Mr. Miller will now talk to us about resolution supporting substantial equivalency. Yes. In addition to that would uh request that you adopt the resolution to support that for those substantial equivalency in those two areas. Do I have any questions for Mr. Miller? Do I have a motion?

Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion adopt resolution number 2025-20. We'll vote by show of hands. Again, that's four of us, Madam Clerk. Thank you, gentlemen.

Okay. And I think right now just for about uh let's say seven minutes, we'll go seven minutes. We'll take us a break so Mr. Strad over here can uh go and talk to Mr. Miller. We will now begin our meeting after our break and we'll hear from our uh tax administrator, Mr. John Brides on our tax collection report. [Music] Mr. Vice Chairman, members of the board, for our tax collections report for the month of July 2025, year to date, we have collected 7,171,685.95. That's 13.03% of the budget amount of a balance correct of 47,867,3285. Motor vehicle tax year to date we've collected 534,358. That is 9.79% of the budget amount with a balance to collect of 4,922,55342. For current year taxes, we have

collected $7,75,000 $75,98953. That is 12.74% budget amount of the balance to collect 52,789,88147. Delinquent taxes. We have collected $160,17567. That's 22.88% of the budget amount with balance collect of $539,824.13. Penalty is the interest. We have collected $36,29.19. That is 11.01% or 1% of the budget amount with a balance to collect of $292,70021. For the overall levy for this year, we have collected um the le the levy is $54,179,163.76. Of that we have collected 7,171,685.95. That is 13.24% of the budget amount or of the the levy with a balance collect of 47,000 excuse me 47 million $7,47781. Does anybody have any questions for Mr. Bridger? I'll entertain a motion on this report. Mr. Vice Chair, I make a motion to accept the tax collection report for July 2025 as presented. Vote by a show of hands. That's four of us, Mad Clerk. And Mr. Brides will now talk to us about the uh collections annual settlement report.

Well, I'm sorry, Lord. I'm just dying to jump around here. Release refund report, sir. All right. For the month of July 2025, the total report amount is $327,620.84. Of that, we rebuild $265,43855 with a net release of $62,1829. There were no refunds and no V no vehicle adjustments over $100. Does anybody

Does anybody have any questions on this report? I'll entertain a motion. Mr. Chairman, I'll entertain a motion, Vice Chair Phil, to approve the tax releases and refunds for July 2025 as presented. Vote by show of hands. That's four of us, Miss Madame Clerk. And now we'll hear about the collections annual settlement report from Mr. Brides. Um, thank you, Mr. Vice Chairman, members of the board. The uh I can read all these numbers if you like or I can just if you got questions, I'll answer them best I can.

I think we just go ahead and do the expeditious uh way there. Uh, Mr. Brides.

All right. for in section one there. Uh you can see that we collected 54,162,79 for county taxes and that's the current year for 2024. And then the other delinquent taxes and prepayments of the 2025 taxes. So we've collected 54,715,290.39 of There's a breakdown of what that is for over that and how it's distributed and vehicle taxes. Section two, we've collected $6,53,90043 for uh property taxes and charges for other jurisdictions. These are county jurisdictions. the um fire districts we collected 6,196,5134 cents for the municipalities we collected that we collect for we collected 3,61,981.74 and for all that combined that is 9,798,494.78 that went through the tax collector's office here. Uh tags and taxes uh vehicles. You can see that um for the other jurisdictions we collected $2,288 2,288,76910 for property taxes section five that prior years that were not collected to be uh charged back to the collector.

county taxes, county fees, and other jurisdictions, and the municipalities a total of 2,85,483.99. For the charges that are not charged back to the collector, these are taxes that are over 10 years old. We by law, we cannot enforce collect those. is $26,762.114. For additional revenues, this is uh vehicle rentals, occupancy taxes, uh beer license, etc. was 1,388,15369 for the uh delinquent taxpayers types of bills there. The total of that there were 400, excuse me, 45,567 bills that were not collected and that total was $964,84.33. Any questions? Does anybody have any questions? I'll entertain a motion. I'm sorry.

I just I just have one question and I don't know that Mr. Bridger would know. Um maybe Brian you you might know that the landfill user fee is that quite a bit higher than normal maybe because of the storm that's stuff we took in. I'm just curious. Maybe you can get back to me. I'm just curious what it normally is and then the user fee would not be impacted by that. No, it's a those contractors us charging them. So that's different. Yeah. The user fee in in 2425 was $88 and 2526 is $92 and that's fixed based on the number of households. Right. So that user fees has nothing to do with the contract. That's right. Yeah.

Any further questions? I'll entertain a motion. Mr. Vice Chair, I make a motion to accept the tax collection settlement report for 2425 as presented. Unless uh I'll entertain a vote. The show of hands, madame clerk, that's four of us. Okay. Now we'll move on to our order to collect 2025 taxes by Mr. Brides. So this is the uh taxes that were not collected from prior years of 2015 to 2024. And the total being from county taxes, fire districts, uh fees and charges and municipal taxes. Total amount being 2,85,91689. Any questions? It's the pleasure of the board. Mr. Vice Chair, I make a motion to order the tax administrator to collect the current prior years delinquent taxes on real and personal property. further authorize the vice chairman to execute the order on behalf of the board. We'll vote by show of hands. Madame clerk, that's four. We'll now move on to our reports and comments with uh Mr. Cory Fischer Wellman from social services with his monthly operational report. Good evening. Find the clicker. All right. So just we've been going through uh monthly updates of kind of where we are in terms of personnel. You know, we went

through a tough stretch towards the end of last calendar year. We've been working diligently to to make a a dent in that. And you can see there based on when this report was done, we had 16 open positions, 10 of or six of which had some level of offer, whether it was a final offer or conditional offer, which would have left us with about 10 open open positions, which is a vacancy rate of about 5%, which again for a medium-sized county, a 5% vacancy rate at DSS is a is a really good number. And then I looked even further today before I came over here and it's even lower that I think we're at about 3 and a half% vacancy rate if you take into account there's a couple offers that have been made and wait on those people to start. But a lot of pro lot of folks worked really hard to make this happen. So um two of the positions that are listed on here that I'm really happy and and then of our first time for us is we hired a training supervisor and a quality assurance supervisor within our child welfare. A lot of our child welfare staff just at NEDSS is new. There's a lot of turnover in child welfare. It's really difficult work. So, being able to hire this this training coordinator to really help, you know, when when someone first starts, being able to go out in the field with them, being able to to a warm hand face you can go see every day when you say, "I don't I don't have a clue what I'm doing. Where do I where do I need to go today?" So, I think those two folks have just started. And I think that's going to have a real big impact on our child welfare staff and hopefully lead to better retention in that area. Next is just some operational reports. This is just the theou standards for economic services. We continue to meet our outcomes every month and economic services. And I know I mentioned this last month, but like that's something to never take for granted. It's really hard to do and and not every county meets their outcomes every month. So really proud of the work that they do and that they continue to to do consistently month after month. So and then just some of our just recipient numbers you can

see there our total Medicaid recipients is about 28,851 and then our SNAP beneficiaries total recipients is about 10,84. In terms of our child welfare, one of the things that we've in CPS been focusing on is is our transition into PATHNC. So if if any of you were here five probably 10 10 years ago when the state wrote out NCAST, that was a an attempt to create a statewide document management system. There were a number of counties who went into NC FAST initially. They didn't stay very long. It wasn't successful. It didn't work. It was it's very cumbersome. So since that time, the state has been working on a new document management system statewide. You know, if you think of of a hundred counties all doing CPS, there's a lot of crossover between counties where someone lived in in county A and they had some CPS history and now they're over here and we're working in the middle of the night trying to find out if this house is safe. Sort of the benefits of the statewide system is we can see CPS history from across the state. So in order so this is only for our CPS intake and our investigations are the first two groups that will go into path and see over time our CPS inh home and foster care and adoptions and all that stuff will eventually go but this initial group went live on August 11th in in order to prepare to go live we had to send all of our CPS staff and leadership to to two two different weeks of of training. So, you know, you can't close the doors and say we're preparing to to go live. So, we're not taking any more reports this week. So, we had all those people out of the office while continuing to to accept new reports and work cases. So, that was a pretty significant undertaking getting ready for pathnency. I I would say it was a s a successful launch. We were in group three. So, we were the third group of about 15 counties to go live. And then I think by the end

of this calendar year, all all counties will be live for intake and assessments. and then we'll start rolling in in those other areas. But so far so good. I think it's definitely I was in another county when the NC fast went live. It was not so so far so good. So this has been a much smoother transition than than that was. And then just a snapshot of our our kids in care. You can see there our to again this is a a point in time. So on this day, there was 187 children experiencing foster care. And during the month of June, we had eight children enter and and six children exit foster care. And just to kind of piggyback off some of the stuff that Brian talked about earlier, you know, we're continuing to work to to increase the number of foster homes. You know, the we we are fortunate that we have a large percentage of our kids who are placed in kinship care. So that means they're placed with a family member or someone they know, someone they have a connection with. There's obviously research it says kids are better off with um someone they know, someone they're connected to. But I think it can be a tall ass to ask someone to to to want to become a foster parent and to take on a you know an angry 14-year-old in their house 24 hours a day. But one of the things I think is helpful for you guys in terms of like spreading awareness in the community is there's lots of ways you can be involved that don't involve you having a kid in your house all the time. whether that's through there's um Amber Bess's organization I can't think of their name and then fostering hope by two organizations that support foster parents and they support foster parents through the collection of beds sheets clothes all sorts of material items that that if we um if your nephew comes into forest gear and you're willing to take him you might not have a a baby bed or clothes for a three-year-old or all these things that you don't think about in that time so these organizations are excellent in helping to collect those items and offer those to foster parents when kids come into care. So, there's lots of ways you can get involved in becoming in helping

helping and supporting foster care that don't necessarily involve becoming a licensed foster parent. So, I think that's also I think you have a lot of people to to some what Brian mentioned who have this desire to help, but taking a kid in your house can be a lot, but there's there's lots of ways you can help. So, if anyone ever approaches you and says that they want to get involved, but they're not sure how, definitely have them reach out to us and we'll we'll get them pointed in the right direction and let them know the different ways they can help. Just a little bit of information about our adult services team. We continue to have a pretty significant number of wards. I think there's a lot of factors that that cause us to have a higher number of adults in need of guardianship. You know, we have a state hospital here. I think that plays a role. So we we we have a large number of boards. We were fortunate enough a couple years ago to to be able to contract out a number of those and that has significantly helped our child our adult services staff and and their workloads. We we have 17 of those awards who were under contract. And then there's some data there on the right about the number of APS reports that were received during the month of June and and the different ways those kind reports were were screened. And then lastly, just I wanted to share some information. And there's this is in in response to House Bill one that was passed at the federal level. This information comes from a pres or information that was sent to counties by DHS just as sort of things to kind of be aware of as you move forward. Obviously, federal rules added the work requirement and the limited use of provider tax which would create an additional administrative cost for counties. So, you know, all counties, the state included, are working through what that would look like moving forward, how how those services would continue to be administered and what where where that shift will be between the county and state's responsibility. And then this is some of that same information related to SNAP, which is the the food benefit. So, and this just sort of talks through if that funding from the federal government isn't there, what is how how will the

state and then how will the county administer those services moving forward. So, nothing to uh we don't have to make changes today, but it's just something to keep on our radar and to continue continue to work towards being prepared for what that might look like down the road. And I'm happy to answer any questions you guys might have about anything at DSS. Does anybody have any questions? Yeah, I've got one. Just Corey, first of all, I just want to thank you guys for all you guys are doing. I think that's a good point. A lot of times when people talk about adopting a child, I mean, it's just or, you know, foster care, it's just like, yeah, they don't know what to do. They want, they feel concerned, but they don't know what to do. Uh, having a way where everybody can get involved or support financially. Do we have systems like that set up where we can, you know, I know we're setting different things up, but where we citizens can say, "Hey, man, I I can't help but maybe I can give a hundred bucks to where can that go, you know, in the system." I think Meg's place and also Fostering Hope is another support organization that offers that sort of material support to foster parents where if someone's interested in just monetarily supporting I think that's a good place to to point them towards and let them make contributions

and not always but there is times donated car seats food they they maintain a pantry over at the social services building out of the food business because to maintain it was difficult but we do have a lot of car seats and pack and plays and stuff like that that We we do house in our in our uh pantry. If if people wish to make a financial contribution to his point, the nonprofit model is certainly the more it it's the better system that's built for that. But if there's things that um you know, all the time folks are contributing those, you know, those those those tools and equipment that that help support families.

Simple stuff like toiletries sheets, the things that you don't really think about that what it would take to bring a brand new person into your house at 3:00 in the morning. It's a lot of little things you don't think about. Any further questions? Would someone like to make a motion concerning this report? [Applause] I make a motion to accept the report as presented. This note by show of hands. Madame clerk, that's four of us. We'll now move to uh reports and comments. I'll open the floor for that. Beginning with our finance director over there, M Pierce.

No report tonight. Thank you. Okay. County attorney. For me, Mr. Strad. Well, absolutely. I want to say something because I knew you would. He made a couple of, you know, No, we're going to Thank you. They love you guys. We're doing great here. Everybody's working together, man. I'm excited. Mr. Burns, uh, you may be going to mention this. I did want to bring up the upcoming conference in Pit County, uh, the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners. Um, I'll be headed down tomorrow for a board meeting on Wednesday, and I think the balance of us are going down on Wednesday. Yes, sir. Mr. Manager, nothing for me, sir. Mr. Barry, nothing for me. Thank you, Madam Clerk.

I'm good. Thank you. I just want to say I'm glad we got the citizens academy started and now that we've got them all signed up and they can't get out of it, uh, we they can get over to Walmart and buy their school supplies before it starts and we can introduce them to our Truan officer, Sheriff Heinesman. So, they better be on time and they better be there every day. And, uh, some reminders I got for you. September the 1st, our county offices will be closed in observance of Labor Day. September the 2nd. Uh due to the Labor Day holiday, our pre-aggenda meeting will fall on Tuesday, September the 2nd, 3:00 PM. Any youth group that's interested in leading the pledge of allegiance at the start of our meetings can sign up via the form on the county's website. Please uh spay and neuter your pets. Foster or adopt a pet from the Burke County Animal Services. Cover your loads to the convenience centers and to the landfill. Please don't litter and pick up your trash. Use the community beautififications tab on our website ww.berknc.org to report littered areas. And most of the county commissioners will be attending, as Mr. Burns said, the county commissioners annual conference in Pit County from 21 August to 23 August. And we'll now move on to vacancy announcements. with the clerk.

Thank you, Mr. Vice Chairman, members of the board, ladies and gentlemen of the audience, we have the following opportunities for citizens to be engaged in county boards and committees. The Adult Care and Nursing Home Community Advisory Committee, Burke County Public Health Advisory Board, Hickory Regional Planning Commission, Drexel Planning Board, ETJ Alternate, Burke County Planning Board, Partners Health Management's Human Rights Committee, the Reevaluation Task Force, Morgan Burke Senior Center Advisory Board, and the America 250 Planning Committee.

Thank you, ma'am. I I think it's obvious that the uh the board here encourages any type of community participation on these vacancies if we could get any. If you're interested, please see the clerk about that, please. Uh next, we'll move to number 13, close session. in the closed session will be used to discuss threatened or pending litigation to preserve the attorney client privilege, to discuss economic development matters, and to discuss contractual matters and to discuss personnel matters. And I will now entertain a motion that we go into close session. Vice Chairman, I'll entertain that motion to go into close session to discuss threatened or pending litigation to preserve the attorney client privilege to discuss economic development matters to discuss contractual matters, land acquisition, and discuss personnel matters as authorized by NCGS143- 318.11A 345 and six.

Let's vote by a show of hands, please. Madame Clerk, that's four of us. We'll now relocate to the executive room. Mr. Vice Chairman, yes. For the convenience of those in the audience, you might want to let them know we do not plan to take any action when we come back out other than a journ.

If you didn't hear Mr. burns. Uh we don't plan to take any action uh in there and we will uh reconvene here as soon as the close session is over. Make a motion for Okay. A proper motion was made to come out of close session and the manager was given directions on several items, but no action was taken in close session. I will now entertain a motion to adjourn the meeting.

Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion to adjurnn. All in favor? Madame clerk, that's all that good. Good meeting. Good meeting.