Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Again, we want to welcome you this evening to the board of commissioners meeting for February 23rd, 2026. Uh we're going live now on Facebook and YouTube and all the other mediums that we have. And so we appreciate everyone's attendance here this evening and those that are joining in at this time by media. So our first item of business is our invocation with Pastor Doc uh Dr. Josh Hughes of First Baptist Church in Lenor and then we'll follow that with our pledge of allegiance and Commissioner Mike Leose will lead us in that. So welcome pastor.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being here.

Let us pray. Almighty God, we pause now as we begin this meeting to ask for your very presence to be here in the room in a time of division and anxiety and fear and worry that grips not only our community but our nation. We ask for peace, peace here and peace upon all these who gather. We ask Lord in the name of Jesus for wisdom, for understanding, for discernment as these commissioners tangle with significant issues. We ask Lord for the best use of resources that might not go for all people in our community and in our county. Lord, we pray a special blessing of those who are indeed unfortunate. You've heard those concerns brought before you tonight. And we ask Lord for your strength and understanding to recognize that all of these and all of us are simply your children. and we ask for love and grace to be upon them this evening. Help us Lord to be your people. May we make you our God. And may all that is said and done in this place glorify your name. For it's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Amen. Please face the flag. Attention. Salute. Pledge. I pledge allegiance 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. All right. Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you everyone again. Are there any amendments to our agenda this evening? No amendments. So, do I hear a motion that we adopt the agenda this evening? Mr. Chair, I move that we accept this evening's agenda as the county manager has presented. All right. Any other discussion or comment? All in favor say I. I. Any opposed?

And that motion carries. And I did want to make one announcement I think just as we were uh coming live. There was a question from our [clears throat] audience. If you want to have the during public comment, and this is just good to put out on the air as well, but uh we do allow that at the beginning of the meeting. Uh we put the forms to sign up to do that on the back table when you come in and we've got people back there directing that. So, if you ever want to come to the commissioner meeting and have a public comment, we allow that time, we just simply ask that you sign up and so we've got the information that we'd be able to go uh forward with our meeting. So, uh apologize for not being able to squeak that in tonight. Uh but just want to be able to uh let you know that you do need to sign up in order to be able to come up and uh and we do appreciate that. And so our first item this evening on our agenda is the appointment of our uh new clerk to the board, Miss Tasha Brown. And I've got she's here with her family this evening and I've got a little bio about her and that I'm going to read prior to her coming up, but uh she is self-escribing this. So I'm just going through it. Tasha, but has been working in local government for over 17 years with a vast knowledge and experience of governmental policies, statutes, and the nature of the things that we do in local government. She describes herself as a hard worker, organized, and a perfectionist. And probably her biggest critic is herself. Very self-motivated and determined to always get the job at hand done with an absolute accuracy, which by the way is something that you need to have in a clerk that is keeping our minutes. Uh nothing makes her happier than to be able to lift someone else up. Uh she's faced many challenges in her life and she describes herself as still standing and willing to work and

do. And so with all the things that goes on, she says, "I may not have all the answers, but I'm always seeking to gain more knowledge about everything related to my job and life." She's married, has one daughter, two grandchildren, and they are the light of her life. Uh she has been serving recently in the town of Blowing Rock, and she where she's been blessed to learn and grow and improve professionally. and uh she is from Caldwell County having attended Granite Falls Elementary, Granite Falls Middle School, South Cwell High School, and Cwell Community College and Technical Institute. And her [clears throat] heart will always be in Caldwell. And she is ready to come home and to give everything that she has to the people of Caldwell County. And we are very fortunate that she was willing to come and be a part of our group and to serve in our uh position as clerk. And so, uh, we appreciate you willing to be able to do that. We went through an interview process and and interviewed, uh, several candidates and she certainly rose to the top as our next clerk of of, uh, to the board. And so, if you will, I guess, come up. I think the honorable Wayne Rash is here this evening going to uh, administer the oath of office. And, uh, you can bring your family up if you want to, Tasha. However you want to do that. And then after you do the oath, I'm going to let you have an opportunity to say whatever you want to. Okay? [laughter] Not to put you on the spot or anything, but to get your speech ready. Okay? Tasha, it's an honor and a privilege to administer the oath to you this evening. I'm going to read some statements to you, and if you agree, say I do. Okay. Uh, do you Tasha Brown solemnly swear that you will support the Constitution of the United States? So help you God. Okay. Do Tasha Brown

father solemnly and sincerely swear that you will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the state of North Carolina and to the constitutional powers and authorities which are or may be established for the government thereof. that you will endeavor to support, maintain, and defend the Constitution of said state not inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States to the best of your knowledge and ability. So help you God. Okay. Do you Tasha Brown father swear that you will well and truly execute the duties of the office of clerk to the board of commissioners according to law? So help you God. Congratulations. CONGRATULATIONS. [applause]

CONGRATULATIONS. All right. Yeah. Now you can speak if you want to. And before your family leaves, you can get them all up here and make a picture, will I? I would just like to thank the board for allowing me to come back home, serve Corn County in property tax for about nine years a while back. So, um it's good to be home and looking forward to serving the community and the board. All right. All right. So, you want any pictures in front?

Got to get them grandb babies up here. [laughter] We probably need to be out of this picture. So we don't ruin it. Wait a minute. All right. And Tasha hit the ground running. Today's her first day of of uh being here with us and so uh she's on the payroll and and already moving along with her job. So we again welcome you and appreciate you being willing to come. Next we have a recognition in a retirement and of our library director, Miss Leslie Griffin. And uh I've got some things to read about Leslie. I don't know if I want to make you stand up here and uh and listen to it or if you just want to sit there a moment.

Yeah, it's entirely up to you. [laughter]

Well, I'll get you up when I do the resolution. But uh just a little bit of background about Leslie. She started as uh at our Cell County Public Library in uh June of 2021. She had earned a BA and a master's of history from University of North Carolina at Charlotte. received her mers of library and information science from the Catholic University of America in Washington DC. Uh she is a native charlatanian who originally pursued careers in television and production and as an academic before relocating to Washington in 1996 where she began working for a transitional company until establishing her own and ready for a change after several years of business ownership. Leslie applied for a position with the District of Columbia Public Library System and started as a library associate in 2006. She was promoted a librarian after receiving her MLIS and ultimately served as a branch manager and audit services manager uh there until 2017. Returning to North Carolina to be closer with her family, she accepted a position of adult services librarian at the Cowwell County Public Library in 2017. And she then became the technical services librarian in 2019, was appointed interim library director in February of 2020 and serving in that capacity through uh May of 2021 when she was appointed as a library director. Uh when not working or thinking about working at the library, Leslie loves nothing more than sharing time and good food with her family and friends and traveling. And she also has a ferocious multi-reader and news analyst junkie and baseball and rugby fan. So, a quote she says is, "I've been fortunate to have had many opportunities to discover new careers and skills, but doubly blessed to have [snorts] found my handsdown favorite and

most important in public libraries. I believe that library staff are the stewards of a sacred public trust and as such I and our staff work hard to provide the best information, access, engagement, and service to all. I have loved working in the library in any capacity and being surrounded by great staff [snorts] and our customers has been magical. So, a statement from her this evening. Now, you come up here. I'm going to read the resolution that we're going to adopt this evening uh in recognition of your service with us and for being our library director. And the resolution is as follows. Whereas Cowwell County Library Director Leslie Griffin is retiring from Cwell County after 8 and a half years of service. And whereas Leslie began work for Cwell County in June of 2017 as an adult services librarian, then becoming interim library director in February of 2020 and was appointed library director in June of 2021. And whereas Leslie has worked in libraries since 2006, she has loved sharing communities in her roles and working with a fantastic team at the Cwell County Library. And whereas Leslie worked with library staff to revamp the collection, increase access and circulation, increase programming and outreach for diverse groups within our community. And whereas Leslie worked with the commissioners to offer fine free book checkouts and other services to our customers. And now therefore, it be it resolved that the Cowwell County Board of Commissioners takes pleasure in recognizing the achievements of library director Leslie Griffin during her time with Caldwell County. And be it further resolved that the Cwell County Board of Commissioners thanks Leslie for her time. She has served Cwell County and its citizens and wishes Leslie a happy retirement. Adopted this day. Do I hear

a motion we adopt the resolution? Motion. All in favor say I. I. And that carries unanimously. So, thank you again Leslie for everything that you've done. We're going to come down there and shake your hand and make a picture with you if you'll let us. All right. Thank you, gentlemen, chairman commissioners. Yes, ma'am.

I'll stand in the back. No, get in the middle. Well,

y'all got the scatter. [laughter] You can spray that and hang it in the garden. [applause] [applause] Yeah. All right. I get moved to my next item. A public hearing this evening. uh ambulance franchise with uh surge non-emergency medical transport and Mr. Trevor Key is with us this evening. And as Trevor comes to start his uh presentation, I'll go ahead and declare the public hearing open so we can have his testimony introduced into the record. And so Mr. Key, welcome.

Thank you. Yes, sir.

Chairman and commissioners. Um, per North Carolina general statute as well as our county ordinance, we anyone wishing to operate an ambulance within Kowell County must have a franchise. Um, furthermore, um, a little background with administrative code and general statute. Uh, North Carolina does not have something referred to as a stretcher van. So, anything that hauls a stretcher must be an ambulance. um said entity must be a licensed EMS provider and have a ambulance not just a van that meets certain criteria. So um Surge Medical Transport currently has contracts with hospice in the county um Department of Social Services and they're they're doing wheelchair transports for those that can't do that. But when it comes to an ambulance, if someone simply needs to go to a doctor's appointment, but they can't sit in a wheelchair and they must need an ambulance, then they have to call the county ambulance service. And that can be from going from say we have several that go from the hospice unit to um Cleveland County, um Kataba County, Meckllinburgg. Same way with some of the nursing homes and the doctor's appointments. anybody that needs a stretcher that has to go to an appointment or to another facility, they must call for an ambulance for that. So, with this, it'll alleviate and take the stress off some of our ambulances um not having to go as far out for just a per say a ride um that way. And um I'll let Ryan speak a little bit about his company with Surge Medical Transport.

Hi, thank you for your time. Serge non-emergency medical transport. Uh I'm Ryan Graph and I'm the owner of Surge. Surge stands for safe, urgent, reliable, gentle, and efficient. So it's an acronym. And right now we're doing wheelchairs and ambulatory services. So people that just, you know, like you or I that need a need to ride, but uh usually it's medical related. So doctor's appointments, discharges from the hospital, [clears throat] um hospice trips sometimes. But right now we're just doing wheelchairs and ambulatory. What we'd like to do is help assist Caldwell EMS and contribute to the ambulance services by providing convolescent ambulance service which is all non-emergency person in stable condition that needs to be in a laying position. So, that's what we're hoping to do. And my background is I owned and operated um 18 van fleet in Oklahoma. And um two of those were stretcher vans. The requirements there were a little bit different than here. And I also have a masters in safety and health that uh so my focus is on safety and um smooth transport um of patients to appointments and to be able to contribute and assist the county so that they can focus on the emergency critical care transports that they that they provide. Um and I hope to alleviate some of any bottlenecks in the system or any way we can help at all. That's that's kind of the hope here. You know, if we're not contributing, if we're not um strengthening the overall system, you know, we we wouldn't want to do it. So, thank you.

All right. Any any questions? Does anybody have any questions of either one of these gentlemen? Are you billing insurance? Are you billing the county? How how's this work?

No, we're simply private pay. So, if it's an insurance related trip, they would probably still contact the county. And, you know, during those times when there's a a surge in uh in flow, um that's where we're hoping to be able to assist the most is when um there's a increase in call volume and you know the you know the 911 dispatcher if it's non-emergency could say, "Hey, give Serge a call over there. this is a good trip for them. Um because you know we we just do private pay. So if it's a assisted living let's say we would send them an invoice and we would have a contract with them for it just as we do with the wheelchair transports we're providing now.

So basic Go ahead. No, you go ahead. So you're just doing nursing homes only? Uh nursing homes, hospice, hospitals. Um, a lot of this is, you know, doctor's appointments, so we could sit on appointments with them. Okay. Um, yes. How many ambulances do you have now?

Um, that would provide stretcher transport. We've got two. Um, one's basically going to be backup to the other. So, one operating hopefully around the clock, you know, and then the other one, but it's all non-emergency. So, a lot of it would be scheduled scheduled in advance. So the only thing we're really doing is adding because the state requires the ambulance to take that stretcher patient. We're just adding them to take that that's that that particular nothing's really going to change outside of that.

So that's no no treatment, no emergency treatment, no none of that. You know, he'll the ambulance car has a convolescent ambulance. It just carries the basic oxygen. Um [clears throat and cough] very very few items needed to to transport from point A to point B. So if they're on oxygen they state or whatever.

No not. So all all emergency transports will still stay in there and most of the hospice transport in the county from home to hospice stuff like that we'll still do that requires they have a IV medication whatever be the case. We'll still do this. This is mainly our doctor's appointments that we take. Um we have several that go from local nursing homes to um doctor's appointments and at that point when they can go back and forth to there and most of those doctor appointments are in um Concord, Charlotte um several counties away that'll alleviate from having a paramedic level ambulance out um in those times currently. We're taking currently. Okay.

And you he does staff with EMTs. I noticed that in the contract. Correct. Yeah. An ambulance has to have a minimum whether it's comles and a BLS or a paramedic level ambulance has to have a minimum of 2 M. So that's what he's got with with that. Would you currently know what your limit of liability insurance is on your vehicles? And offh hand I believe it's 1.5 million. And that's a question I had and I just want to make sure because I was looking over that today and and u bodily [clears throat] injury per incident 100,000 and then uh each accident's 100,000 and uh policy limit is 500,000 workman's comp. That's his workman's comp.

Yeah, the general liability is right there 1.5. Some of those you have to add up each one for a and then that's that's standard and I just and and my question I guess Mr. Manager is making sure that we're everything's covered in that, you know, in in those limits of liability because we all know that an accident can exceed that pretty quickly. It is. Yeah. We've we've shared this with the attorney as well. If you Yeah. for standard procedures. Yes, sir. Has our county attorney reviewed the contract? Yes, we have. Okay.

Yeah, I knew they had reviewed it. So, good deal. This certificate of insurance is dated 10 1024. Can you provide a a more current one? Yes, I can.

Okay. All right. Any other questions? Did we have anybody signed up to speak to this during the public hearing portion tonight? Nobody signed up. All right. So, with that, I will close the public hearing and uh asked what the pleasure of the board is this evening in adopting this um ambulance franchise with surge on non emergency medical transport. I'll make a motion. Mr. Chairman.

All right. Got a motion on the floor. Any other comment or discussion about that? I'll call the question. All in favor say I. Any opposed? And that motion carries. So, thank you for trying to help us. We need all the help we can get. [laughter] Thank you. All right. Next is a public hearing for a local jobs retention grant for Baker's Waste, Miss Ashley Bolic. Welcome, Ashley. Thank you. I brought the signup sheet.

All right. So, before you start, I'm going ahead and declare the public hearing open. That way, everything you say is on the record and in in your testimony. So, fantastic. All right.

Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman, board of commissioners for allowing me to be here tonight. It's always a pleasure uh to have some time with you. So to begin with tonight, I'd like to talk to you about the local jobs retention grant for Baker's Waste Equipment. And staff are specifically requesting board approval to approve this local jobs retention grant for Baker's Waste Equipment, who's owned by Iron. Iron is a rapidly growing manufacturer and solutions provider for commercial trash containers. Over the past two years, the company has evaluated expansion and acquisition opportunities nationwide, including locations in Texas and Pennsylvania as [clears throat] part of a strategy to restructure its business model and establish a North American headquarters for the compactor industry. The company has acquired an existing business located at 1808 Norwood Street Southwest in Lenor and and this facility was at risk of closure. The approximate 10 million plus investment includes the acquisition of the business, retooling equipment, and retaining the existing workforce. In recognition of the business's history in Cogell County, the CA company will operate under the name Baker's Waste Equipment. As a result of this investment, 150 plus existing jobs in the Lenor facility will be retained with an anticipated addition of 12 new positions over the next three to five years. The projected average annual wage is approximately $60,000 compared to Calwell County's average wage of $51,338. The company will also offer health insurance and cover more than 50% of that health insurance premium. Staff recommend approval of the local jobs retention grant in the amount of $2,000 per retained job up to 150 jobs

subject to a one-year retention period. Grant payments will be made in quarterly increments and are contingent upon the company's maintaining of at least 90% or 135 committed jobs in accordance with the terms of the grant agreement. If the company retains fewer than 150 jobs but no less than 90% or that 135 jobs the full during the full retention period, the final grant payment shall be reduced on a per job basis at a rate of $2,000 per job for each of those retained jobs. This project was reviewed and recommended for approval by the Cowell County Economic Development Advisory Committee and funds are available in the sales tax reinvestment fund and budgeted for the fiscal year. I'd like to invite to the podium uh Miss Kate Cwley and she is the site selector who worked on this project and she's with Cap Civic as well as Jason Stubis who's the general manager with Baker's Waste Equipment. Please join me at the podium. All right, welcome.

Uh, good evening. I'll I'll be brief because nobody wants to hear too much from the consultant. Um, but my name is Kate Crowley. Um, I'm from Madison, Wisconsin, which is um just about half an hour from Iron Crest's other existing facility in Pointet, Wisconsin. And so I've been working um for for a long time [clears throat] uh with Jeff Horine and and Bob who own Bob Fields who who own Iron Crest um to help with expansion possibilities. As Ashley said, we've looked at acquisitions in other states. Um we've looked at expanding in Wisconsin and um the it was very clear from a business perspective as well as from a relationship with a community perspective that Lenor and Baker's Waist was the right home um for Iron Crest. And the experience working with with Ashley and with with Holly from the state has just been tremendous um on this project alone. talked to three or four different states and um just blown away by the level of service from your economic development team and the support that you're considering tonight. The support you're considering tonight is so meaningful to to to Iron to make this investment in Lenor with Baker's Waste. It's it's not just acquiring a company and operating at business as you usual. It's acquiring a company and investing in the workforce um to retain these these good jobs as you'll hear from from Jason as well as investing in relationships with many many North Carolina vendors that are so important to the operations of Baker's Waste. And this support from the county lets Iron Crest and Bakers Waist start on a really strong footing with those vendors and with employees. And so I want to thank you for your consideration and we'll be here if there are questions.

All right. Thank you. I'm so glad they got through with the numbers because I wanted to talk personally. Yes, sir.

Uh my name is Jason Stabs. I'm the general manager for the new Baker's Waste Equipment. And in the words of one of our salesmen, it is so nice to say that name again. Um it has been a very very interesting few years uh under previous ownership and I will say that I am one of the few that are left that finally are able to see it come full circle and I will say I would not have met my fiance had it not been for Baker's Waste Equipment. Uh, I considered Rick a very close friend uh prior to his passing. And I'm just going to say the the 161 number, I feel that is a very very low number because with with Jeff and Bob, the new owners, uh, it was it was very nice to hear Jeff say that he considered Rick one of his mentors. I think the sky's is the limit now. Thank you for your time.

Yes, sir. Thank you. All right. Does anybody have any questions? I just want to thank you. I just want to thank you guys for your investment here in Cwell County and um you know, we've had a long relationship with Bakers Race over the years and uh we're just glad to see you guys staying here and continue to do business here and continue to employ our citizens cuz uh you know we you guys mean a lot to us and we're very grateful for you to be here. Thank you. Yes, sir.

Thank you. they were the only two signed up to speak on this. And so with that, I will uh unless somebody else has a question of Ashley about this. If not, I'll close the public hearing and ask what the pleasure of the board is this evening in adopting this local jobs retention grant for Bakers Waste Equipment. Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion that we accept the local jobs retention grant for Bakers Waste Equipment LLC. All right. Any other discussion or comment? Hearing none, I'll call the question. All in favor say I. I.

Any opposed? And that motion carries unanimously. So again, thank you for investing in our community and the jobs that are retained and we're certainly happy about that and thank you Ashley for getting in front of that and assisting in all that. So very much for supporting this project. It means a lot. Yes, ma'am. To everyone. And so you're up again for another public hearing on a sales tax reinvestment fund request for economic development. And I'll go ahead and declare the public hearing open on item five. And u give us what you want to talk about now.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So moving on, um the next request is for a distribution from that sales tax reinvestment fund. I would like to point out an error on my PowerPoint slide. Um, this says what is being considered the purchase of approximately 15.91 acres. That's a mistake from our office. That's actually 15.38 acres on Lower Cedar Valley Road. Um, this property was identified back in 2023 when we retained the services of Western Piedmont Council of Governments to do a site assessment project. So looking for more projects or more locations within the county that could be easily flipped for industrial development. So, with that information in hand, um staff respectfully requests the approval from the board of commissioners to support the development of a new industrial building or industrial park located at 416 Lower Cedar Valley Road with the expenditure of $552,000 from the sales tax reinvestment fund to Vista Ventures Development. And in April of 2025, Cowell County and Vista Ventures, a nonprofit corporation, entered into an economic development agreement to promote and improve economic development for the benefit of Cowell County citizens. This action will enable the county to advance strategic economic development initiatives and position the site for future projects, creating jobs for residents and increasing the property tax, which in turn generates tax proceeds for the county to provide essential services. The requested amount is $552,000 which will be used to not only cover the acquisition cost of $525,000 but it also includes includes rather approximated closing co cost and

required due diligence. The property purchase price has been successfully negotiated and agreed upon in the amount of $525,000. The property consists of again 15.38 acres located on lower Cedar Valley Road in Hudson. Vista Ventures Development Inc. will be responsible for the pro or excuse me handling the closing of the associated transaction. The 27,000 in additional fees as stated above will be used to do the closing cost and required due diligence. The contract for purchase will include several conditions to protect the county's interest. This property is within the town limits of Sawmills. It's in their ETJ. Uh thank you to Mr. Chase Winebartger from Sawmills for being here to show support for this project tonight. The property must uh receive a resoning approval from the town of S Sawmills, changing the current zoning classification from R15 to general manufacturing. In addition, the proposed project area must successfully pass a compaction test uh performed by third party certified third party. We also want to make sure that we update the survey as part of the due diligence. And the only remaining item to be finalized is the actual closing date, the seller request approximately 60 days from the signing of an agreement, which today puts us at approximately 4:30. So, closing sometime around the the 30th of April. Um, so funds have been budgeted and are available in the sales tax reinvestment fund and I respectfully request your approval for this tonight.

All right. Uh, no one else has signed up to speak during this sales tax reinvestment fund. Uh, does anyone on the board have any questions of Ashley? The only question I got is we need to include the I'm assuming when you say survey that's when you're referring to the NCOD NC DOT project and exactly what that's going to entail. Correct. Yes, sir. That's correct. Yes. I mean, do we I'm Well, I assume they do because DOT's already bought the property. That's correct. So, we'll know where the Okay. Yes. Thank you.

All right. Anything else? [clears throat] With that, I'll declare the public hearing closed then and ask what the pleasure of the board is this evening and doing this sales tax reinvestment fund request uh that uh Ashley Bolic has presented this. Mr. Chairman, I make a motion that we uh follow up with this sales tax reinvestment request for economic development on Cedar Valley property. All right. Any other discussion or comment? I'll call the question. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? And that carries unanimously, too. So, thank you for all your work on that. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Commissioner. Thank you.

That moves us then to our consent agenda this evening, and it's pretty lengthy, so I'll turn it over to our county manager, Mr. Shane Fox.

Thank you, sir. Um, it is my pleasure to present a total of 14 items tonight for consent. The first four, six, seven, eight, and nine on the agenda all are dealing with budget revisions and they are grant related. The first is an airport utility study grant in the amount of $50,000 from North Carolina Railroad. That is $50,000 without a match from the county. So that is state money directly to the county. The second is an increase of $3,000 in wick funding. That is state funding coming to the county. Again, no county money being utilized. Number eight and nine are both related to repairs needed after Hurricane Helen that were not a part of the FEMA projects. The first is a $1.183 million grant. The second is a $323,000 grant. Again, both of these are free of any match from the county. These are both state related um OSBM grants. The first is to repair necessarily needs and repairs at the Wilson's Creek Visitor Center and the second is the for waterline expansion extension at the costful convenience site. Again, neither of these require any county match. Number 10 [clears throat] is a generous donation of $10,000 from an individual here in the county to animal control. Um that $10,000 is being asked to be allocated in two different ways. 5,000 towards adoptions and 5,000 towards supplies, pet feed, that type of thing. Number 11 is a budget revision being asked for by the sheriff's department, undercover vehicle trade. an additional $6,500 is requested and that $6,500 will be utilized from our drug forfeiture money. Number 12 is a resolution um in honor of Jerry Simmons who retired after 20 plus years of service at the sheriff's department um for his service weapon um and badge. Number 13 consent agenda is IBC transport agreement. Um this is in addition to what we have been utilizing in the past [clears throat] to allow for a third party to provide that um IVC transport versus our sheriff's

department who's been most utilized in the past for that. Number 14 is a listing of our new appointments to the board of equalization. So I have a total here of eight different names. Flip over to those and at least read those names into the record. [clears throat]

We have a William BJ4, Max, Jeff Roland, Phil Casease, Bob Price, Thomas, Larry Andrews, Wayne Parsons, Donna McCall, and Mitchell Laws as the eight names being asked to be considered tonight for the appointment to the board of equalization and review. Number 15 is another transportation agreement. This is through cognitive connections and this is a part of our recovery court participants. 15 is EDA disaster grant program application. This is just permission to move forward with the application process. If received, the monies would be utilized to help pay for the potential sewer line project that was approved. And the first item on consent tonight um to expand sewer from Gable to the airport property um that we have discussed in the past. Number 17 is reappointment of town of sawmills ETJ planning member and this is Jeff Plameumber. That recommendation comes from the town of Sawmills to you all for consideration. And prior to the minutes, the last on consent agenda is North Carolina Governor's Crime Commission. This is a another application allowance from you all to apply up to 500,000 for to apply for up to $500,000. And that again is based on our courtbased crisis program, our drug court. And then number 19, items for discussion is the approval of minutes from January 29, 2026 board of commissioners meeting. Be glad to answer any questions you may. All right. Anybody have any questions or comments for Mr. Fox? Hearing none, do I hear a motion from the board that we adopt this evening's consent agenda as has been presented?

Mr. Chair, I move that we accept this evening's consent agenda as the county manager has presented. Any other comment or discussion? All in favor say I.

Any opposed? And that motion carries unanimously. At this time, we're going to go into a closed session uh pursuant to North Carolina General Statute 143-318.11a4 and North Carolina General Statute 143-318.11a6. And those are a personnel matter matter and an EDC uh discussion of a project. So, uh with that, uh I'll make the motion that we go into close session. Uh any other comment or question about that? All in favor say I.

I. And that motion carries unanimously. And again, we want to thank you for being here this evening. We do uh anticipate having maybe a decision coming out of that closed session, but we'll come back out once that's finished and uh if you want to stay, but I don't know how long that'll be, just so you'll know. Uh but we do appreciate everyone being here this evening and those who have been watching by the media. So, uh have a good evening and thank you again. So, I'm gonna call this back into session coming out of our closed session and we have a personnel matter that we need to attend to and I'm going to kick it to our county manager, Mr. Shane Fox.

Thank you, Chairman. um as a part of your duties as board of commissioners is to um re review the recommendations of the board of trustees of Kawa County Library Board um for the appointment of a new librarian and they have made the unanimous decision as library board to recommend to you all the appointment of Janet for as the new librarian for Cobble County. All right. So hearing recommendation, I'll make the motion that we adopt the recommendation and appoint Janet for as our new library director beginning her duties March the 1st of 2026. Any other discussion or comment? All in favor say I. I.

I. Any opposed? And that carries unanimously. And being no other business before the board this evening to hear a motion that we adjourn. So move. All in favor say I. I. We are ajourned. Thank you again. You got plenty of homework.