County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Commissioner Quinn, will you lead us in the pledge of allegiance? 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. Next, we'll have a distinguished guest, worldrenowned Pastor G. Mlennon from Hope Mission of Coastal Carolina give the invocation. Thank you, brother. I wrote out a prayer for you guys. That's how bad y'all need it tonight. Father, thank you for being with us and working in and through us. And we lift up our county tonight. We lift up all those in places of leadership and authority. Your word tells us to pray for those in authority over us. And so we pray for peace and godliness as we ask you to bless bless our county commissioners, our sheriff, and all the law enforcements, our district attorney and their office. All the things they do. May you be pleased by by their decisions, by their wisdom, and by their counsel. And we will give you thanks in all things. In your name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Pastor Jean. I'll read the conflict of interest statement. In accordance with the state government ethics act is the duty of every board member to avoid both conflicts of interest and the appearance of conflicts. Does any board member have any known conflict of interest or the appearance of conflict respectfully any matter coming before the board this evening? If so, please identify the conflict and refrain from any undue participation in a particular matter. All good. I'd like to remind everybody to silence your cell phones and

electronic devices. And is there a motion to approve the agenda? I made a motion. Motion by Commissioner Moore, seconded by Commissioner Walder. All in favor? Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. Motion by Commissioner Quinn. Excuse me. Do we need to remove an item? November 15. Oh yeah, we do. Make a motion to remove item 15 from the consent agenda. I second that motion to amend the consent agenda. All right. All in favor of removing item 15. All right. Make a motion to approve the consent agenda as amended. All right. Second. Motion by Commissioner Chen, second by Commissioner Clark. All in favor? All right. Next, we have a couple of very very special guests. uh district attorney Scott Thomas and Jeff West, superintendent of Cape Lookout National Seashore, now retired. And uh Scott getting ready to retire in 10 days or so. So that's right. Certainly we wanted to bring both of you gentlemen here. Uh we're going to do Scott first and uh just tell you how much we appreciate you and all the hard work you've done for the citizens of Carter Craraven and Pamo County and done a good job. been a partner certainly the Carter County. I know you have the other two counties as well. We've got a nice plaque here for you. Come on up.

and it says a resolution honoring the distinguished career of district attorney Scott Thomas. Whereas a district attorney Scott Thomas has announced a retirement effective August 1st, 2025, including a distinguished career in public service spanning more than 28 years including nearly two decades as the elected elected district attorney for prose and counties. Where a graduate of East Carolina University, North Carolina Central University School of Law, Thomas began his legal career as a law clerk, the North Carolina Supreme Court Justice, later serving as an assistant district attorney, practicing law privately. He also served in the North Carolina General Assembly as both a state representative and a state senator, demonstrating a lifelong commitment to the people of Eastern North Carolina. And whereas after being appointed a district attorney in 2006, he was elected to five full terms. Long time leading a professional staff of assistant district attorneys, legal assistants, victim service coordinators, and investigators with officers in each county of the district. As chief prosecutor, promoted a firm but fair approach to justice through a comprehensive strategy that emphasized education, prevention, prevention, treatment, and strong enforcement. And whereas under his leadership, the district attorney's office advanced critical public safety initiatives, including the establishment of the child advocacy centers, implementation of substance use, treatment alternatives to incarceration, and expanded responses to the opioid epidemic. And whereas his statewide leadership includes serving as president of North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys and chairman of Governor's Crime Commission, as well as receiving numerous honors such as the Carolina attorney general's dogwood award and the save lives together award from the victims network of North Carolina. And

whereas Thomas's legacy is defined not only by his tenure as chief prosecutor but also by his commitment to mentoring young attorneys advocating for crime victims building trusted partnerships with law enforcement most notably a longstanding collaboration with C County Sheriff Pat. And now therefore, be it resolved that the Carter County Board of Commissioners expresses his deep appreciation to District Attorney Scott Thomas for his exceptional service, principal leadership, and devoted commitment to justice. Be it further resolve that the board extends his warmest congratulations and best wishes as he enters the next chapter's professional and personal life with profound gratitude for his enduring legacy and devoted service to Carter County and the communities of district 4. this 21st day of July 2025. Thank you. [Applause] A couple people want to speak. Do you want to get one with the staff with the staff? Sure, if we can. That'd be great. Got several staff. If you can come on up. Are there any You like each other

that slamming picture. Now you give us a short speech. It'll be very short. Mr. Chairman would like to thank you and you said it so well here. I don't know what else to add. I might mess up if I talk too long, but uh it has been an honor to serve the citizens of Carter, Crazy, and Pameo County for 20 years as district attorney and then of course prior to that for several years. in the North Carolina House and North Carolina Senate and Chairman and I I remember him supporting me on my first political endeavors and Keith and of course Sheriff Buck and some others. So certainly an honor to be here with you. Uh I was telling Sheriff Buck earlier I said, "Can you believe we've been serving since 2006?" Uh I started as DA in January of 2006 when David McFaden retired uh and then was elected after that and of course Asa ran for sheriff that year and he was sworn in in December. So we've been together for a long time and uh I don't have to tell you how aggressive and proactive he is and his deputies and he certainly kept us busy. But, you know, in thinking back about our certain my service, and I'm sure Asa will probably say the same thing about the sheriff's office, you know, as leaders of our organizations, we can set the agenda and set the priority, but the work is really done by the folks you you just saw on on this up here with me earlier. And if y'all would stand up again, my staff, if you would stand up. And then there's some back here in the back. Uh they're the ones who who do the work dayto day in our offices. while we set the agenda and priorities that we've worked to. Uh they're the ones in there day in and day out doing what's necessary uh to carry out the mission of the DA's office, which has been to protect victims, to prosecute criminals, and promote public

safety. And uh we have a great staff in place, and I'm very confident with the uh going forward that we're going to continue with stability and continuity and continuing to do the work that that we've been doing. Uh my chief assistant DA Matt Wearham is right here. He works primarily in the Craraven office, but he also works in Carter Pamico. Uh and Matt will be seeking the or is seeking the appointment uh to fill the remainder of my term and then he'll be running filing for election as well. And I know Matt is committed to the same policies and procedures that that we had in place. I'm sure he'll have even some some new and better ones. Um, but I think you can depend on this staff and the DA's office in the fourth prosecutorial district to continue to carry on the mission of our office to be sure that the citizens of our our district uh our counties are are safe and secure. Thank you very much again, Mr. Chair. Now, one's a preacher and one's a sheriff and both of them can be longwinded. a couple minutes each. You want to go first? You want to take the rest of your time? As a preacher, you can be the last one to talk. Okay. All right. Well, I appreciate the opportunity to come up and speak to a pack room full of our citizens and folks watching from home and on the internet. I can't think of enough good things I can say about my good buddy Scott Thomas and a lot of the things that were read off on your plaque there and some of Scott's comments. But I was just sitting there thinking, you know, there's a reason why the electorate doesn't turn over their sheriff and their DA every four years. And Scott mentioned stability. And we have, like Scott said, we're the ones that kind of decide how the resources are going to be allocated and what the priorities are going to be. Every crime is not a homicide. Every crime doesn't need to be treated like one. But we've worked very closely together. We've dealt with all types of different

issues. A lot of crises and epidemics that we've dealt with in society over the years, the prescription drug epidemic, the heroin and fentanyl epidemic that we still currently deal with. And you know, we've done the run-of-the-mill things every day and all of our staff working together. and we've had countless conversations and I don't know how many hours of riding together and talking on the telephone and having meetings and strategizing and all the different things that we've done over the past 19 20 years and it has been a fantastic partnership. Uh it's one thing to have a good working relationship with somebody, but when you're friends that makes it even better and the work that we've done and the difference that we've made in our communities has just been so special and I've been honored to be part of your journey and I'm glad that you've been part of mine. You know, I welcome a lot of conferences to this county. And I always tell people, especially law enforcement congresses, I always point out how great a working relationship we have with all of our court staff, our DA's office, our local police departments, our sheriff's office, the recovery programs that we work with. Jean's going to come up here and talk in just a little bit. We have three fantastic recovery programs that we work with here. And as was mentioned, you know, whenever you hear us talk about the issues that we deal with, Scott and I, we always sound like broken records because we always talk about education and prevention, strict enforcement, yes, is important, and recovery. We got to have those three things in place, especially when we're dealing with substance use addiction, which leads to so much crime and disorder in our communities. And so we've done a lot of work together and uh not just on the local level but on the state level in Scott's position with the conference of district attorneys being with the sheriff's association and all of our partners. We've just done so much good. We can stand up here and talk all night long. I know the chairman's going to wrap the G tell me to sit down and quit talking here in just a minute. But I have really so much enjoyed this uh this path that we've traveled together

and the work that we've done for the citizens. Everything we've done, everything we do is for the people who elect us, even the people that don't elect us. You know, we we we serve everybody. Don't make a difference what your political stripes are or anything like that. We put our best foot forward and try to do the best job we can. And like Scott mentioned, it's the folks that are doing the work every day where where the rubber meets the road, prosecutors, administrative staff, the deputies, police officers out here in our communities, everybody working together. I'm just so proud of what we've all done. Thanks. Appreciate it. [Applause] The thing that those of us who are in the recovery world love about uh Scott is his innovative way of approaching substance use and many of us are lived experienced individuals not only in the justice system but also in the substance abuse world and we're grateful for his willingness to step out where uncharted ground was going. and he helped us as we took steps to make a difference, not only here with the sheriff and his openness of his jail of allowing us to come in and do some of the recovery issues that we address with, but the the way that Scott steps in and supports, stands behind, gives you great counsel and words of encouragement to those of us that work with uh individuals that are suffering from substance use. my own organization, we have between 60 and 70 individuals that come out of jails and prisons that come to live at a place where they can find a better way of life. And you make that possible, brother. So, thank you so much for your understanding, your clarity of direction and the things that we have in the future. You're a great part of that. Thank you very much. [Applause]

Nick, can we get a picture with Matt? Stand up. Congratulations. All right, got one more. Next, we have retiring superintendent Jeff West, the Cape Lookout National Seashors. The park service has sometimes been a contentious agency with people down east. They come took the land and made it a national park. So, people had camps and things like that. It was some hard feelings in the past. So, You never knew when a new superintendent come if you were going to get a new one, a good one or a bad one. But when you told me you were from Texas, I knew that was a a shining star. And then when you were driving a pickup truck instead of a Prius, I knew that was a newer even better sign if you were going to be a good superintendent. And you've been just that. You've been the man on the tracker after hurricanes. You've been looking out for Portsmouth Islands where his granddaddy or great-granddaddy was born and my granddaddy was born. and uh just just a great superintendent and a hands-on guy and just a hell of a superintendent. So resolution honoring Jeff West for his service to the community. Whereas Mr. Jeff West spent his last 42 years of professional life protecting, preserving and sharing his knowledge of our public lands to the National Park Service. Whereas Mr. Westend National on November 12th, 2017 parts of the southeast regional director stand Austin is deeply committed to

protecting America's most treasured resources whereas Mr. West has proven his commitment by supervising 36 employees and managing hundreds of volunteers not to mention overseeing a park that welcomes more than 500,000 visitors annually generating over $30 million for our local economy while also preserving the barrier autumns marathon forest and extensive dunes and whereas Mr. spearheaded reconstruction efforts at take lookout after hurricane Florence and Doran cause substantial damage to the harbor long into the historic building and whereas Mr. West was instrumental in completing the dredging project from back to lookout by working with the US Army Corp of Engineers to make the channel between Harper's Island and bar safer and more for private and commercial users and whereas Mr. collaborated with the Crystal Coast Starg and the Cart County Chamber of Commerce to secure the designation of Cape National as the first and only national park in the Atlantic seabboard recognized by the International Dark Sky Association as a dark sky place allowing astronomy enthusiast to marvel at the Milky Way and other cosmic wonders. And now for it resolved that the Carter County Board of Commissioners expresses his heartfelt gratitude and honors Mr. West for his years of dedicated service county and to our citizens and visitors. We have further resolve this resolution upon the minutes of the CL County Board of Commission and reminder service and wish him a joyful service. I didn't get two minutes. [Applause]

I I've got 44 people out now. I uh I truly appreciate this. 42 years of serving the public, I have gotten a lot of awards. This is one of the most important ones I've ever received and I truly appreciate getting this y'all. I mean, it it means a lot to me. Car wreck county means a lot to me. I'm staying here. I'm retired here unless a hurricane or two runs me off. I don't think that'll happen. Um, I came here because of hurricane Ira, you know. Yes, sir. So, uh I I truly appreciate this y'all and even though I'm retired, I'm going to keep my finger and things out there and try to help where I can. So, means a lot. Yes, sir. Thank you. We going to still see you at homecoming, aren't we, Jeff? You bet you. All right. I will be there. Sheriff, I think you set a record tonight for the shortest you've ever talked. I tried to do my best. We had a mother on it. Okay. Commissioners, we need to um do motions to approve those resolutions, please. Okay. Can we do them all at once or Yes, sir. I'll entertain a motion to approve the resolutions with Mr. Scott Thomas and Mr. Jeff West. Make a motion. Seconded. Commissioner Moore, seconded by Commissioner Walker. All in favor? that passes. Next, we have public comment. Several people have signed up about the reasonzoning on the law road. We will have a separate public comment for that particular issue in just a few minutes. So, if anyone has signed up to speak on anything other than the law road, now would be the time to speak.

And we've got maybe Chuck Flender. Mr. See the other room and Brian Nicolo and everybody else looks like are signed up for the law. Welcome, Mr. Chuck. Good evening. Didn't realize there'd be so much excitement tonight. I'll uh try to be brief. Good to see you folks staying healthy through all this hot weather. Mo City Little League has had a very busy spring. We just finished our summer schedule with the Crystal Coast Woodbat World Series. Really appreciate the effort the county made to improve the fields at Swinson Park during the spring with Charlie Smith heading up the maintenance crews at all the parks this weekend and a new county employee at Swinson by the name of Ian. I've only known him for a week, but Ian and his crew at Swinson put a lot of effort into getting the fields ready for all the games. We had teams from Virginia, Maryland, and as far away as Texas come to the Crystal Coast, helping provide the county with a huge financial impact. More his city little league benefited by raising muchneeded funds for more improvements at Swinson for the youth of our community. Other organizations at East Carter, Crowan, and Western Park also benefited. We want to be a contributor to our community so the youth of today can grow in a safe environment. We want their future little ones to stay here in Carter County to grow and prosper as good citizens. I have another grandchild coming in November, so I'm anxious to see the county provide more athletic fields for our youth. Now that our spring and summer schedule has been completed, we are more than willing to help move some

of these projects forward that we have discussed. Please let us know how we can help. Our community is growing every day and we need to get ahead of that growth. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you. Next Ryan Nicolo. Good evening. Uh my name is Brian Nicolo at 1502 Salter Path Road, Indian Beach. I'm here tonight uh well, first of all, I always start off I thank the commissioners and staff for their service. Sovereigns, it's great to see you here tonight. I'm speaking on just a general topic tonight. First, uh I want to say it was a great Fourth of July celebration down on the beach. We had high energy, great spirit, and the visitors coming to our area are welcome and they're um just friendly and uh it was just a great time. So my comments tonight kind of response to um a protest here. Uh Democrats held a protest down on the corner 58 and 24, which is great. They flew the American flag and I was like that's awesome. They flew the American flag and I was like there that's common ground I can get behind. They're also asking now, Democrats are asking for the Epstein list. We've been asking for it for four years, but it's a little disingenuous under the Biden administration where they lost 500,000 children were lost in traffic in some we will never see again. But my comment tonight starts with this, and I'll keep it brief because I know we're on a time, we got a lot of speakers, but collective consciousness refers to the shared beliefs, ideas, values, and knowledge that a group, society, and culture holds collectively. its mental and emotional framework that shapes how a community perceives the world, often influencing behaviors, norms, and social structures. And I've been doing some recent studies now on the Civil War. Back during the Civil War, there was a lot of collective consciousness on both sides, but they got together and they fought for what

they thought was right. We need to keep focused as MAGA. America first is not America only. America first means we need to take care of our own house, get our own house in order. When America becomes first, the whole world becomes better. We have midterms coming up. And the reason I talk to you about national issues is because it's a local issue. Uh patriots, we need to stick together and we need to win the midterms coming up. We need to focus on our elections. We need to get poll workers to the poll. A lot of times we don't see a lot of um patriot pole workers. A lot of times it's um we need to show up. We need to get that collective consciousness working together. Um, finishing up on just a couple random things. Uh, I wondered, immigration has always been an issue and it's a topic that the Democrats talk on, but illegally entering Mexico is a felony under Mexican law, specifically outlined in the general law of population. The first offense is a felony in Mexico. Here, it's a misdemeanor. A foreigner who attempts to reenter Mexico for a second time after being deported, you get 10 years in prison. and their prisons are overpop populated, unsanitary, and as a foreign national, you're not going to be treated right. So all this hoopla about al Alligator Alcatraz is unfounded. They'd rather be in Alligator Alcatraz than down there in Mexico. Then my comments tonight are only to to reinvigorate, remind you, don't forget that we need to stay together as patriots in Carter County. Thank you for your time. Thank you, M. Nicolo. Is there anybody else that would like to speak? If you will come to the podium and state your name and address, please just got a couple quick things. Won't be too long here. I wanted to uh been involved with politics for a long time. Your name and address, please.

Okay. My address is 616 Island Road, Hawkins Island down east. All right. I wanted to first tell you I've been uh following the budget process and I thought you guys did a great job in ladies uh with the budget process and uh I thought it was fair and equitable and uh you did what you had to do to take care of the county. More importantly, I thought uh taking care of the uh county employees I thought was extremely important. I visit a lot of the departments and your departments are very professional. I don't know them all. I'll tell you the ones that I do visit and the staff there and the staff here and the staff anywhere I go is extremely extremely professional. They're pleasant and they're really good to deal with. I I've been in the planning department, environmental health, building department, tax department and other departments and those are just a few. Everybody is really professional and I've gone down there recently because I got some stuff going on now and they're quite happy with finally to see that they're going to be getting a raise and you you can see that they feel a little more empowered, a little more emotional and thankful. I'm not speaking up for the employees, but I'm just telling you I could I can sense my talking because we have that conversation. Does that mean my time is up? And last but not least, I just want to tell you the uh the being a I'm not a original Down Easter, but I live out there now. And then my neighbors are hardcore. I'm never going to change I'm probably not going to change I'm not going to change my accent. Sorry. But uh um I I live near a lot of shrimpers with the shrimp trollers. And I want to just tell this board, you did a phenomenal job uh supporting the people in your county, many of them who do this for a living. They've been doing this for generations. I got neighbors who um work 9 to5, come home, go out at night and shrimp and try to make a few extra dollars so they can pay some extra bills and just try to, you know, get by. And I know this board here voted unanimously to um take it to Raleigh and let them

know you're not going to sit there quietly and let the local shrimpers around here, the trollers, get screwed by them with that lastm minute legislation that they got going through the process and at the last minute they decide they want to add on ban shrimp trollers. That was horrible. Didn't give anybody the ability to lobby or fight against it. And you guys pulled together. Not just you guys, our state senator was this Anderson, our house rep name is Terren, and uh all the shrimpers, the the the the business owners, everybody in the community. I was so proud and I would have been been in Raleigh with you had I not been on vacation. And I just want to say I'm really proud to live in this county. I only been there six years, but more importantly, I was proud of our elected officials standing by the res. So, I just want to say thank you. All right. Thank you. to do it. Is there anybody else that would like to speak? Anybody next door? Okay, thank you. Uh, next we have presentation of the Trillium Health Resources Annual Report, Miss Victoria Jackson. Good evening. So, um, as mentioned, I'm Victoria Jackson. and I'm one of the regional vice presidents for Trillium Health Resources serving Carter County and let me just say proudly serving Carter County. So, excuse my voice today. I was

working at a food distribution center earlier and I realized that I am not a spring chicken like I used to be. So, I did not bounce back as quickly. So, please um my apologies for my voice. So this evening just want to take some time and give you a brief update of uh Trillium Health Resources, kind of give you an overview and then also some data points in our community engagement efforts. As you may know, we are one of four LME MCOs in the state of North Carolina. U we manage care for individuals that have the most severe behavioral health needs. um that receive Medicaid benefits. They may not have insurance at all or they may be underinsured. So that's our population of individuals that we serve. At the heart of what we do, um we are committed to transforming lives. We want to strengthen our community well-being and we also want to make sure that we have strong partnerships with the community and the stakeholders. That is extremely important to us. we don't know how to serve your community unless we have that connection and we understand what your needs are. Um so and I'll talk a little bit more about our partnerships um as I go through the presentation. Most of our work involves connecting our members to contracted providers and I see some of our provider friends in the room. Pastor Jean, it's great to see you. Um and so we don't provide services ourselves. We contract with providers to deliver those behavioral health services. We have a network probably over 1,600 providers in the state of North Carolina and then also some surrounding states. We have some providers that provide residential treatment as well. So, we have a pretty robust um provider network. There is no wrong door to um services for our

members. Um which means that they can actually go to our contracted providers to receive services or they can contact us and we can link them to a provider in their area. Geographically, as you can see on the slide here, we are the largest in terms of geographical coverage in the state of North Carolina. We have 46 counties that we manage. Um, in that 46 counties, there's about a total population of 3.1 million. And of that 3.1 million, we have three different health plans that we manage. We have the tailored plan, which is something new that we started la um last year. So, we had our one-year anniversary with the tailored plan. And what that means is that not only are we managing behavioral health services, but we're also managing physical health, pharmacy, um, long-term support services, vision, and non-emergency medical transportation. Um, and that is for individuals who are on Medicaid and who have the most severe behavioral health need. Now, our Medicaid direct, which is about 163,000, these numbers are fluent because people can change plans at any time. Um, of that 163,000, the state also managed some of those individuals. So, technically we manage about 132,000 of Medicaid direct members. And that is that old Medicaid model, behavioral health model, kind of the fee for service model. and it's only for behavioral health services for individuals that need behavioral health services. And then we have about 287,000 individuals who are uninsured that we're covering. As I mentioned before, local connections matter. Local connections are important to us. We understand that we are a large entity in terms of geography. So, we

want to make sure that we have that local presence. We also believe that through creative solutions, clear visibility, and open communication, we can help ensure community stakeholders are heard and that Trillium receive the essential guidance and local needs um of the of the county. So to do this, we established five regions, and those five regions are listed. They're colorcoded. Carter County is in the South Central region and that spans from Samson County all the way to York County. Um we also have five regional vice presidents and each region has a dedicated RVP. We also have community engagement staff and then we also have um uh community liaison as well. Listed on this particular slide here, you will see the individuals who are representing Carter County and also the Trillium team who is serving um Carter County. Just the community engagement um team. There's a multitude of us working um here in Carter. I would be remissed if I did not recognize Commissioner Waldrop. We are so excited and thank you for um serving on our regional advisory board and thank you for appointing um Commissioner Waldrop. We also have Miss Lee Wolf who is serving on our board as well. We have what we call the consumer family and advocacy committee. Let me just say you have some really strong representation here in your county on our boards and on our committees. Um the SEFAC group is a group about advocacy. They want to ensure that individuals who have mental health, substance use, intellectual developmental disabilities ensure that they have a voice at the table and that they get the the care

that they need. Mr. Frank Msina and Miss Crystal Foster, they serve as your SEFAC members, CFAC representatives. I can tell you they are they have a strong voice. they are advocate. One of the most um advocates, one of the most recent um endeavors that Miss Crystal Foster kind of spearheaded was traumatic brain injuries. She wanted to see a list of resources. What are the resources to serve individuals that have a TBI diagnosis? And so her voice allowed us to kind of take a look at what we have within the means because we have to answer to the state as well. And so what we're doing is developing a project. It's called the TBI resource directory. And so um that's in um full swing right now. So we're hoping to have that resource list together. It will help us identify gaps and services as well. Um here today we have Melissa Reese. She is the community liaison coordinator for your county. And let me just tell you because I I like to take a moment to brag about Missy. She she likes to be called Missy. She has over 20 plus behavioral health and community engagement experience. So when I say she's topnotch for your county, she is topnotch for your county. And so we are blessed to have her on the team and I feel like you guys are blessed to have her here in the county as well. So thank you Missy for being here today. So now let's take a look at the number of lives we've touched overall as an organization and the resources invested to support our members. So this time frame listed here is July to December 2024. We served 80,19 unique individuals with severe behavioral health needs. And so you'll see the color-coded breakdown. We had a

little over 57,000 that we served that had a mental health diagnosis, over 15,000 substance use, and over 18,000 individuals that have ID. So, as you can see with the category, you can see the percentage is 63%, 17% SU, and then 20% ID. And let me also note on that slide as well that we spent, and this is just for that particular time frame, over $82 million in services for individuals. And specific to Carter County, um we served a total of 1,834 members during that particular time frame. You can also see the breakdown here by the disability groups. And then also note that the totals are unduplicated given that individuals may receive services in more than one category. So we may have a person that has mental health that's receiving services for mental health and substance use at the same time. Tailored plan that was a huge endeavor for us. um and not to mention that it was on um the heels of a major consolidation that we have went through as well. So the imple implementation of tailored plan launched July 1st of 2024. Um and again like I said it manages behavioral physical health pharmacy transportation and etc. Essentially we are managing individuals from a whole person approach. The lift was extensive. Um there was a ton of lessons learned and any project of this magnitude, we know that there are going to be lessons learned and we take those lessons and use it for the next time a change of

this um significance happen. So, and I won't read those out to you, but they're there to to see, you know, around increase call volume. Want to make sure that there's there was no disruption of services. So we think that a little bit more provider flexibilities could have occurred as well. One thing that I do want to highlight um on this um slide here is that we are not your only managed care organization that is serving individuals that have Medicaid. There are five standard plans. Those are your private companies. They have been managing care for individuals who have mild to moderate needs since July of 2021. So you see them listed here, America Health, Blue Cross, United Heated Healthcare, WCare, and Carolina Complete. Um on the next slide, you will see the breakdown of who's serving whom. Um for the standard plans, you can see for the 46 county, this is our entire catchment area that our standard plans are covering about 72% managing about 72% of individuals and we're managing about 28%. And specific to Carter County, the numbers shift a little bit, but not much. Um the private companies are managing 36% and we are managing 60% of individuals. And on the next slide, this slide we placed in here just as a Medicaid transformation refresher here. And it just gives you a breakdown of the phases over the the years that we've been implementing Medicaid transformation in partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services.

So in phase one, that July 2021 date, that's when the private companies came in. They're managing the bulk of individuals on Medicaid. And then also the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indian tribal option also came into play. And then Medicaid direct, the LME MCOs's were still managing Medicaid direct. Phase two, we talked about the tailored plan. That was the tailored plan implementation in July 2024. And now we're in phase three. Phase three relates to foster care plan. Um, so it's specifically named the children and families specialty plan. And what this plan consists of is that our children who are in foster care and their families will be managed by a statewide managed care organization. Last year, the department um announced that Blue Cross Blue Shield will be handling that plan statewide. So there will be trans we'll be transitioning our children and our families if they want to go to Blue Cross Blue Shield. We'll be making that transition and it's stated it's slated to start um December 1 of this year pending no changes. Give you a quick update of the projects here in Carter County. This is not an all-inclusive list. This is just an insert and just want to highlight a few of the projects that we're doing here. We um have substance use prevention um option for the schools. We have distri we're distributing and have distributing distributed nlloxxone kits. We're also adding the testing strips for xylazine and fentanyl as well this year. And so we really want to thank you all for your partnership in helping fund those that distribution. and we've been working with the health department to get that

out. And then Miss Sharon Griffin also. Yes. So, we're we're excited um to be able to distribute that to the community. There's the chess health app. Do want to um highlight that. That stands for Center for Health Enhancement System Studies. It is an evidence-based mobile app that offers options such as daily check-ins, support group meetings, and a moderated 247 online peer community for individuals who are in recovery. It is provided free of charge to our providers um so that they can share it with um the patients that they are they are treating. the small business funding project. We know that having a job and financial security are important to people. So, we do offer uh financial support for our members and recipients um that are interested in starting a new small business or supporting their current business as well. And then the last thing that I'll touch on on this particular slide is Tula. Tula is the Trillium Ultimate Living Assistant. It is an innovative technology-based program that empower individuals to improve independence through the use of enabling services. So this particular device, it monitors glucose levels, it can monitor um your pulse, it can tell you when a door is open in your in your house. And so the whole point of it is for individuals that have ID, just a better quality of life for them and their families. So, we actually won a couple of awards on that program. So, we're really excited about its implementation and how well it's doing. And lastly, and I think this is the most important slide for the public is how to access services. We want to make sure people can access us for behavioral

health crisis. An individual can call us 247 365. Yes. Christmas, Thanksgiving, at night, we are on. And so they can call us if they're in a crisis. We have trained clinicians that would triage the situation and make the referral. We also have a member and recipient service line um that operates Monday through Saturday 7:00 a.m. to 6 pm. That's for more of the general type questions, but we also have trained individuals on that line in the event that they see or hear that they hear that there might may be a crisis going on with that individual and they can get them to the correct subject matter expert. Lastly, I want to say in your packet is my business card. It has my cell phone number on it. I do not want you all having to call the call center. If you have a question, if you have a need, please feel free to reach out to me. Um, I can be reached through text, email, or cell phone. Um, so I am happy to take any questions that you may have. Any questions? All right. Thank you, Jackson. Thank you so much. Thank you. I'll open it up to ready for you to drink. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Next, we have a public hearing to request the reszone 15.62 acre parcel located on Law Road from R15N to B1 conditional use. Mr. Greg Hartman, county planning interim planning director will present the information. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good evening to the county commissioners and good evening to the members of the general public. Planning department does have one item to bring before the board tonight. Jeff Piltchure on behalf of property owner Leslie Halls is requesting to reszone a 15.62 acre parcel located on Laurel Road in Bowfort

from R15M single family residential district to B1CZ general business conditional zoning district. Currently the parcel is vacant subject properties bordered by single family dwellings in the Laurel Road water treatment plant to the north. agricultural fields to the south and to the east and a vacant wooded parcel to the west. The subject property is bordered by R15M zoning on all sides. The conditional zoning requests include certain spite sight specific conditions that have been agreed to by the property owner. These conditions include limiting the site to the following uses. mini warehouse, aka mini storage or storage units, storage for overnight recreational and/or camping vehicles, a contractor's office, and a storage yard for boats. The current property owner has also agreed to provide a 20ft vegetative buffer surrounding all residential uses and/or districts. This is double the required 10-ft of vegetative screening that is typically required by the county's zoning ordinance. The subject property is situated within the rural with services came classification. Areas included within the rural with services are developed at very low densities. Land uses include residential, public facilities, healthc care facilities and scattered commercial and industrial uses. Essential water service is provided or may be extended to the area. Wastewater treatment is by individual septic tanks and lot sizes are large and the provision of services services should not disrupt the primary rural character of the landscape. 37 property owners have been notified. To date, staff has received four objections and one no objection. At its meeting on May 12th, the planning commission tabled this resoning request and requested more information from the applicant in the form of a septic denial letter issued by the county's environmental health department and a soil report. These items were attained and were a part of the June 9th planning commission packet. The applicant also significantly reduced the number of proposed storage buildings from 38 to 18, eliminating the need for

a storm water runoff pond. At its meeting on June 9th, 2025, the planning commission voted 6 to zero to unanimously recommend approving the proposed conditional zoning for the 15.62 62 acre parcel located on Laurel Road in Buffer from R15M single family residential district to B1CZ general business conditional zoning district. Staff is happy to answer any questions that you may have. Are there any questions for Mr. Hartman? All right, we're going to entertain a motion to go into public hearing. I move to go to public hearing. Motion by Commissioner Walbert. Seconded. Second by Commissioner Shen. All in favor? All right, we are now in public hearing. I have a signup sheet here. If anyone else uh did not sign up, you're more than welcome to sign up now and speak. But the first one looks like a Mrs. George from 836 L Road. Wanita George. You will state your name and address for the record when you come to the podium. We didn't sign up because okay George has a petition if you didn't have the opportunity. So that's 57 plus these folks here and the other room across the hall has probably 20 folks and they wonder if they could come over during this portion of the meeting to be seen. So could you ask those folks to come over during this portion of the meeting?

So I think Dave wanted to come over are coming over and they understand if the fire marshal if they just need to walk through or just stand for this portion. So there's no violation. Just sit on the front. This is another person who would like to speak. I think that's all folks. So um if you all are here regarding the Laur Road reszoning. Would you please stand just so you can see our numbers? Um we are a residential agricultural rural busy road that is the evacuation route from down east the way to Cherry Point. So um if I may make my comments and they start now do I have three minutes? I will talk like a speed. You do not have a time limit although be respectful. I certainly will. I did send each commissioner an email and Chris, thank you for letting me know you'd received that. Um, my name is Tabby Nance and I own three parcels on Law Road. I am opposed to the resoning request on Law Road for several reasons. Many of the Law Road property owners have signed the petition asking you to deny this request. And as I said, we had 57 signed and then there was probably 25 more here who did not have the opportunity. A lot of us went door todoor and we tried to catch as many people as we could. When considering this request, one can draw a parallel to entering a fishing

tournament. A person enters a fishing tournament and hears about it, expresses interest, and likewise, a person hears about a property and expresses interest. A person checks the rules and regulations of the fishing tournament. A person checks the zoning and permitting uses of the property. Based on that information, the person decides if he or she wants to enter the fishing tournament. Likewise, the person decides if they want to purchase the property. Then the person immediately begins to ask to change the rules of the fishing tournament to suit his or her needs, his or her wants. The person wants to change the reasoning to fit his or her wants. The others in the fishing tournament entered in good faith and know the rules and think they should be there to protect them and give them guidance. Likewise, our neighboring property owners of said property have confidence in the county zoning plan and trust the rules will be not will not be changed to accommodate one person. Add to that this that this applicant does not own the property and only wants to buy it if you change the rules to suit his or her needs. I am 100% in favor of an individual doing what he or she wants with their property. Absolutely. However, when they want to do something that is not an allowed use in a zoning, why have zoning at all? The county has it in place for our protection. We invest in our properties financially, physically, because we know we are in an R15 zone. So, when you change the rules, let's just do away with zoning all over the county. The county has zoning in place for many re reasons and we have an expectation that the zoning will protect us in our investment. Yes, this new request was scaled down a bit from the applicant's previous request. However, it still a request for a change in zoning and if granted, there is no restriction that would prohibit him from returning to the other request to add

additional development that was outlined in his initial request. a good business owner would get in, get a plan going, and then revert back to the larger scale and come back to you. And even a verbal agreement does not hold anyone accountable. They can come back and ask for that. Additionally, I'm concerned this parcel, reszoning this parcel would set a precedent and open the zone the door for more zoning reszoning requests. Laurel Road is a very busy street. Yet, it remains rural residential and agriculture area for with family businesses. All of Laurel Road is zone R15 with a few exceptions. Parker Boats, a vacant parcel owned by a non denominational church, the water plant, the county's fire center. The large parcel that Mr. Hartman referred to as a wooded area is owned by the Corsound Waterfound Museum and is is in a conservancy trust. It cannot be changed. So, it's more than just a parcel of wooded land. It's in a conservancy trust and it seems to grant his request would constitute spot zoning. This request for this request for this land to be reszoned is not compatible with the rural residential family businesses and agriculture properties on Law Road. On the application process, the applicant noted there were horse stables on Law Road. One of those is mine. I asked Mr. Hartman what the relevance was of that being noted and he said he did not know why it was mentioned and I don't either. Was it to deflect? But horse stables, business and uh private are cons are allowed in the R15 zone. There is no need for this resoning to take place if all the requests. This is spot zoning and we ask that you not grant this. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. N.

Miss George, would you like to speak or you want to Oh, yes. I love how everybody doing today. All right. All right. Okay. Um, Mr. Chairman, Mrs. Chairman, uh, my family, North River Lo and distinguished guests. My name is Wanita Small George. I'm at 836 Lo, Bowford, North Carolina. I thought I only had three minutes, so I narrow it down to three minutes. Okay. I would like to read everything I thought about since Chris read his, you know, so I can read mine. I won't be looking at y'all pretty faces. I'll be No, sir. I already got a pair. All right. My first thing is we don't need zoning. Since I only had three minutes, I only thought I had three minutes. Let's work on the root of the problem. We don't want zoning. Period. Zoning is about separating incompatible use from separate people each one. Zoning was originally justified as a mean of protecting people from harm use originally. But almost immediately it was used as a tool for protecting favor neighborhood from unwelcome people. Right? We know that Supreme Court rule out some of the ways zoning was used because it was unlawful. However, this will always be the point zoning is inherently exclusionary. To say something that is inherently exclusionary, you might be thinking what is she talking about? Do she know what she talking about? You bet I do. It mean

that the very very nature of structure of that thing by it design or operation whatever you had scheduled whatever you plan whatever you wrote down for 2025 for 2030 for 2040 whatever you had in the back of your mind had the effect of delivering leaving out or shutting out certain certain individual or group in an unfair way. Lo nor forever do not want that. We are family. We are one. It implies that the exclusion is not just an accidentally coincident but rather it was built in feature something that is hidden from the natural eyes come down the pipe before you even know it happened. There it is. Boom. Sometimes it come subtly or sometime could be just like a snake that just went across your yard and you didn't know it till it was too late. Those who defend zoning often argue that zoning provide certainty. We say that sometime don't we? But if zoning were predictable, developer would not need armies of lawyers to interpret it. When a law does not clearly spells out what a property owner can and cannot do, we do not have the rules of law. We have lawless and subjectivity. This is not sitting planning. It's an

alterity to micromanage what we have. And we do not want zoning. We want what we have, our home, our land, and do what we need to do with it. Thank you very much. [Applause] Amen. Next, we have Mr. Clyde Phelp. My name is Clyde Felton and I I live on the law road on Felton Lane and I I'm I'm 100% against zoning. Amen. I your um my daddy, he worked hard and bought 35 acres farm and uh and he died at 52 and left all us with property that we can have and and we we that we can manage. But we don't have authority over our property do we want to do. I mean, you know, it's in your hands and uh but we don't want it have to come up like another place or the manfield. We don't want to resume if somebody come in there and put a lot of stuff in there that we won't be able to that they even go in our own pro place. And once they get in there, they'll run us out. And I don't I don't I don't like that. I want to die out, not be run out. And we we are um it's things happening in

our community that I I really don't approve and y'all had to pass it that three towers in North River. I heard about it. But then when I look, they was up there. And then and if there was a a threat on other community, they a threat on our community. I don't want to be leaving a threat. I'm 86 years old and I don't want to be had to catch some kind of disease or cancer or something from a tower hanging right in my house. And three right there. Right point going right to my house. cuz I'll get right on the Felton Lane in Law Road. And not only that, the FA training station. I'm a farmer. I belong to North River farmer. We didn't agree for that far training station, but it's there. A whole lot of thing that we don't agree for is there. But the thing that we want, we can't get. That's right. The thing that we want, we have representatives. It represent everybody, but it don't represent North River the way it should be. We need somebody from North River to represent North River. I don't know how we're going to have to do it. I I I told you I'm 86 years old. I work for the I' I've been in this county all my life. I've been on the planning board. I work for U headstock. I've been on the head start for four years and many think I've been a a president of the uh Democrat precinct for about 20 years or longer and I just got off it. But we want So if we going to be taxpayer, we want to be treated like taxpayers.

We want to have some voice. We want to have some voice. We can't much build on our property. And I know that I might be out of line, but that's the only chance I had to say it. And and that's all I'm going to say. I'm not for reasoning. We'll be just like Manfield. Look at Mohead. And look at both of all the black folk is run out and we've been running out. I'm scared now. My baby, my baby boy, he finished school, went to college, now he living in Raleigh. I'm afraid that if I die, and my wife die, he ought to stay to Raleigh and sell everything I got. And and and not only that, every month, every every other month I get a letter, somebody trying to buy me out. What can I do about it? Nothing. Nothing but read the letter. I mean I mean I worked all my life. I worked all my life. Logwood, Puckwood on the phone. And and listen, let let me tell you something else about this flooding. Y'all heard lot about flooding and and and and ain't much you can ain't nothing you can do about it. Draining gut the ditches in there. on river ain't going to help cuz when we get high tide uh it's all over the marsh. What happened in the early 60s? How many remember that the the the uh dairy farm was over north river road? Huh? Mr. Phil, most of us weren't alive. Huh? Most of us weren't alive before our time.

Well, well, well. See what you Okay. Now, this what happened when that when that when that Daryl was in North River. Where was it? Huh? Where was it? Right from my house. You know where I live? Yeah. Okay. Right from my house over there where they they got a farm there. Now, Cotton Mill, Mr. Cotton Mill had the farm. And then tell the R tell them to b the farm and start farming. Okay. and and no matter. Okay. Then she made to put the dairy there. Okay. Okay. They start when the cows and stuff will go up. They will the oil make the poop and stuff. They'll put you right in outside and will go in a canel. A big D. It go right by my neighbor house and it filled that canel up and it went right by Lion Bridge or another Lion Bridge. It filled Lion Bridge up and feel on back the creek up and and everything were bubbling. You couldn't see no more bubbling. Everybody get in their 60s in the 70s and and when the creek stuff got fill up then when the tide come up the water had nowhere to go but on the marsh and then it feel river up and it's still doing it and not anywhere down there we had had name for all them places back there because we me and my brother used to go back there and fish and I'm getting ready to quit but but but we we are We we will go that fish and and we you couldn't walk across there. Now you can walk anywhere you want all across there and water. Look the only way about going to help to drain it. And I tell the people ain't nothing going to help the draining but go out there and and and do the whole channel. Dig the whole channel. I drudge it out. Yeah.

And I know it going to take a million a billion dollars to do that. But we got to do something. We huh? Okay. No resuming, but I I guess I want y'all to know that I don't want to. Huh? Okay. Thank you. Thank Thank you, Mr. [Applause] Now, you do uh the next person signed up is Miss Teresa Parker. Good evening. I'm Teresa Parker. My address is 411 Craraven Street right here in Bowford, but I'm North River born and bred. And when I died, I planned to be North River dead, but not reszoned. Okay. So, I have two questions. I want to know if there's been any in engineering done to determine the safety of our community of as flooded flooding. Do y'all know? Does anybody know? I want to know. I don't think there's been anywhere in the county any of that. Excuse me. I don't think there's been any of that done anywhere in the county. Don't we kind of need to know that, you know, if it's going to be flooding with all all that's going on? I know you all are in intelligent individuals. I know you watched the news. You saw what happened in Florida. I mean Texas, all that flooding. What are y'all going to do if it happened to us? Y'all got nowhere to go. If there's no warning, we're going to be

like those kids at the camp. I don't want to wake up and we do have a system that comes out on any cell any mobile phone you have. comes out commercial. Say it again. Say it again. There there is an alert. So in the event of any emergency, whether it's a tornado, hurricane, there is an alert that goes out emergency services to all cell phones across the whole county. So we we do we we don't we do have what they didn't do. We do have that. Okay. But what kind you asked, was there a study to do with the flooding? And the answer to that was no. That okay. That's what we need. We need a study. We don't want the zoning. We don't want you to study to give us the reasoning. But if if you think that that property need to be reszoned, don't you think you need to do some study or you need to do some study? Somebody need to do some study. Well, the applicant would have to apply. They would have to follow all state and county rules in regards to storm water. But where is our safety? That's why all I want Where's our safety? I survived cancer. I survived diabetes and all that. I don't want to I can't swim, number one. I cannot swim. I cannot swallow all that water. I don't even go over there cuz I can't do it. So, you know, I I don't want to die from drowning when I didn't even swim in it. You wouldn't want it in yours. Mark, you're a teacher just like I was. I remember you driving that uh uh activity bus. Give us the care you gave those children. Was a good driver. She didn't say I'm a driver though. She said she didn't say I'm a driver. She said I was a driver.

Was he a good driver? Was it a good driver? Okay, just to be clear, there's already zoning in pro in place on Law Road. Some of us zone business, some of us R15. So, you already have zoning. I don't know how that part of the county got zoned when South River, Marman, Down East, there is no zoning, but for way back that part of Bowfort got zoned. So, there's already zoning on Law Road. Uh, and this gentleman is trying to change it from R15, which is houses, to a business conditional use to put some storage buildings on. So that so that's what's going on. Next on the list is Trey Ryvenbart. Trey Rodenbark represent Carter at Farm 263 417 and 407 Little Road. Um I'm the adjacent land owner on two sides of this property. Um just a little background on me. I got a a graing business, sand pit, um farm last 15 years, land management, storm water runoff, cleaning out ditches, been appointed to boards by represented from the county to study this stuff and try to get additional funds to do what Mr. Felton and some of these people are talking about. Um Mr. Pilcher doesn't own land yet, but it's called the Halls land. Um is base level sixoot elevation right now. for him to put in these buildings. It's AE9. I've heard some talk of it going maybe to an eight at some point, but I still he's gonna be over two foot of field bringing in. He's going to be higher. He's going to have over four acres. It brought up plan board meeting, it's not going to be the whole four acres raised up three foot. It's just going to be the buildings. Well, we all know if you're going to back a boat or RV or a camper in the building that's raised up three

foot. You got to have three foot of elevation to get in there. Also, um, also his rock, there's no classification on be permanent sustain under the 25% to try to get away with that. Four acres, in case y'all don't know, raise three foot higher than everything else on the road and surrounding areas. It's still a lot of runoff and we're already low to start with. Um, I'm not against progress. I make part of my living off of it. Um, but that's all four acres is going downhill to affect all the rest of it. If you pull up a map or any of the studies, he's at six foot and the farther you go east where a lot of these people live, it's at 4 foot or less. It's all going downhill. There are certain parts of the county and I deal with this on a daily basis with whether it's community developments, commercial developments or whatever going around trying to figure out ways to get rid of water and where people in the past have developed land in neighborhoods and didn't put in aquid ditches or never shot grades to figure out how to get rid of water and there's ponding everywhere. There's certain parts of the county that are not that does not have the infrastructure set up to start this commercial type building where you're putting up 18 buildings at one time and raising up three foot over four acres in one place. This is one of them. Um this is not a me problem. This is widespread throughout the whole county. Um there's no other no nothing else on Lur Road has been resoneed in the last 30 40 years I know of. If any of y'all can bring something up this is said a new president. You've got Parker Boats has been brought up several times. That's more 101. It also offers jobs and helps and does stuff for the community. Same thing has been brought up about my farm being a business on L Road. I provide jobs and stuff for the family. I'm also still mostly agriculture. All

my equipment is used on agriculture and estate issued sand pit mine. And you live there? And I live there. But it also adds to the community. And I've not raised anything up over three foot to affect any kind of other drainage. If anything, I've helped it out by making my ditches bigger because I already hold all the water and what I don't hold overflows to all these people that live on the side of me. Um, you know, uh, Mr. Pilcher's plan, it's no benefits for the community. It's not going to provide any jobs for anybody in the community. Nobody on L Road or the immediate community that I know of is going to put a boat in storage. I'm not I'm most of these people here, I don't have $100,000 boat sticking in storage. So, I mean, really, as the whole community, none of us are getting any benefit out of benefit out of it. Um, I think that's pretty much it. So, I'm I'm against it anyway. [Applause] Next is Mr. Zack Brown. Good evening. My name is Zach Brown. I live at 620 Lower Road and I'm against the reasonzoning for storage units. So last year this was brought to the zoning board and the zoning board shot it down saying that 101 was the industrial area for this part of the county that lower road was residential and they weren't going to change it. So I I ask why does it get brought up? Will it be a yearly thing we're going to bring it up? Like if we it does get passed this year will next year we're going to bring it up keep happening. That's just curious. So a little history of me. I'm not from here. Trey would call me a a ding batter. I'm from Florida. When I got out of the Marine Corps, I went back to Florida where I grew up from. Little small town. That small town grew up to now roads that

were two-lane roads were now six lane toll roads. Everything's built up. This is how stuff starts. A precedent changes, zoning changes, a storage unit, a Walmart, a McDonald's, and things start coming in. So when I got out of the Marine Corps, I wanted to come back up here where it looked like home. Small town, good people. That's where I wanted to be. So I bought a house. I bought 37 acres, old house, 620 L Road. It was a old house. It needed fixed up. I could have tore it down. Probably would have saved me a lot of money just to tear it down and build a new one. I I spent way more fixing it than I did when I bought it. But I wanted to keep that small town kind of neighborhood, right? So, going off of that, I don't know if y'all seen the latest article in the Carter Times, Morehead City ranks the fifth in the nation for upcoming storage units. Everywhere you turn around, there's a storage unit. And uh I don't think that's a good look for the county. And like I said, it sets a precedence for what's going to happen here. And I believe from what I understand, the property is not owned by this gentleman yet. Driving to here, drive down 101. There's places for sale. There's 23 acres right there on the left. Buy that. It's already zoned or maybe I don't know if it is, but they said 101's industrial area. So maybe it's already zone for that. Go by that lot. Let us uh keep road like it is. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Brown. I didn't know if you were Zach Brown, the singer, or what. [Applause] Next, we have Nicolina Merl.

I'm let All right, that's all who signed up. Is there anybody else would like to speak? If you will state your name and address. Hi there. Uh I'm Kelly Garvey. I live at 107 Bowfort Walk. Um I'm here to uh also um speak in opposition to the uh reasonzoning changes. I'm the executive director of Lighthouse Environment Partners. Um we're um a small nonprofit that uh helps communities with planning such as flood resilience planning. Um we have recently started a partnership with uh a few other NOS's in the area and um uh North Carolina State University. Um we are working with the Coastal Dynamic Design Lab on what is known as a floodprint and we're also in partnership with the Ladies Outreach Committee which is a community- based organization based in North River and the um North Carolina Coastal Federation. Um I'm not sure if y'all are familiar with uh what a floodprint is, but um there was recently a floodprint. There's been about 11 of them across the state. They focus particularly on flood resilience. Um the most the closest one that's completed was in Pollockville. Um Pollockville actually won an award from the Association of Landscape Architects. Um and the NC State has helped raise up to $7 million for infrastructure projects for various floodprints. Um since March, we've been working with them and with co um and with the North River communities on flood resilience planning in the area. Um, and in particular, um, there's locations on both Marman Road and Laurel Road that are, um, severe life-threatening locations in high, um, in in extreme weather events, uh, particularly at the corner of Laurel Road and Marman, as as many of you may

know. Um, and so, you know, like many folks have said, this property, it is act it is in the hundred-year flood plane. Um, and with how much it would have to be built up, the areas around it, you know, we can expect that it would probably likely in increase uh flooding, which you know, could obviously have negative economic and you know, impacts to people's property, but could also um be worse for um you know, those those life-threatening events. Um, there was also an article in the Coastal Review last week on a study that looked at 90,000 homes that were in that were in and out of FEMA flood planes. And it actually found that about 40% of homes that had flooded were not in a FEMA flood plane. So, what that's also telling us is that flooding is much worse than it is actually even looking on the flood plane maps. So this is all to say that um there is a flood resilience planning effort happening now. It will go through um the spring of 2026. And I would um urge um urge you all to consider that you know this sort of resoning be part of a broader planning effort uh that looks more holistically at the at the roads at the entire area. Um so you know so that folks uh lives aren't at risk from increased flooding. Thank you. My name is Randy Figgle. I live at 480 Laurel Road which is across the street from here all back here. Uh several addresses but I get water. It's it's it comes on my land from when it rains now. But anyway, the the thing is that I want to talk I've lived here for 20 year well 23

years. I moved there in 1999. Um I moved there with the expectation that it was agricultural and residential and I that's what I wanted. I I lived in Bowford before that and I was some kind of tickle to get out of it. Um the it's beautiful the way it is. I looked all over Eastern Carter County. I mean everywhere. And I picked that this place cuz it was the prettiest place in Carter County. And I just don't want it developed. I don't want uh it changed. We're happy with the way it is. We got good neighbors. We get along because we don't crowd each other. Um, I I I hate to see it change. This happened a year ago. We came down here and talked with the zoning board and they they agreed with us. Uh, they brought it to the commissioners. The commissioners voted to not reszone it. Lo and behold, a year later, we're back at the zoning board. uh had to come twice that time and this is the first time we've had to come down here and talk to the commissioners. But this is like the fourth or fifth time in two years that we've had to come down here and beg to leave it like it was. If I was going to buy a piece of land, I would look at it and if it was zon residential or if it was zon business, that would be the first thing I'd look at. I wouldn't have any expectation of changing it. I'd buy it for what it was. And I they they stole some of my thunder, but there is some there is some uh some some business uh acorage on 101. And 101's already quite a sight with all the storage units that are on it. I think

there's five between my house and Bowfort on 101. Um but there are some more land that you can put another storage unit up there. Matter of fact, they can start skyscrapering them if they want to. But that keep them on 101. We don't want them. We don't want them in our neighborhood. That sir. Amen. Thank you. [Applause] Is there anybody else that would like to speak? JP, come on down. Um Jeff Piltchure, live at 248 Gatsy. I'm the one that has applied for the resoning. Um guess there's a lot of objections. Um when I went to the planning department, I asked, you know, when I let me back up. When I contacted Miss Hall, she told me it would not perk. So I went to the planning department and said, you know, what's the easiest way to reszone this where something can be done with the property? U and that's why they came up with conditional use which is more restrictive. Uh they brought up doubling the vegetative barrier which I agreed with. Um if if I could get it to accept septics, it would be more profitable for me. It would it would you'd be able to put homes on it. But I've it's been tested twice. I paid for a uh soil consultant to test the property and you know it's it's just not suitable. I just thought this was going to be the the least intrusive use for that property and Miss Halls wants to sell it. Um had no idea that it was going to cause this much objection. But

thank you. Thank you. Is there anybody else that would like to speak? Is there anybody in the other other room? There's nothing new. Okay. Motion to go out of public. Motion by vice chairman. Yes, sir. Come on in. Hello, my name is Patricia Smith and I live at 808 Laurely tell from here up here somewhere over here. Right there. And I don't want to see our road, Ruth. We've been on that road from babies on up. I mean, my grandparents was there when I was born and all of my cousins, my neighbors, and we don't want to lose all of that. We want to let our road stay like it is. We want to keep Lauren was born and grew up on it. We don't want to see it ring. That's it. Thank you, ma'am. [Applause] Motion. Motion by Vice Chairman Mansfield, seconded by Commissioner Clark. All in favor? All right. We're out of public hearing. All right. Is there any uh questions of Greg by the commissioners? Okay. So, There's been a lot of people from the community talk about the lots and

things on lots and I've read through the planning board meeting and the decision, but I don't I look at the plan of consistency, but I'm trying to I'm trying to there's been some the only good argument made tonight is spot zoning. And I wonder what are your thoughts on that? Because it looks like to me that that could be potentially interpreted that way. I'm not saying that it is, but I I was not at the planning board meeting, of course, for this, but it appears to me from the record that they relied upon the fact, and Greg might be able to help us with this, that there is Parker boats down the road, so there's something nearby. I think that's what they went on. But as reference, the main access for that is Highway 101. That that is true. That is true. But I think that's why they looked at it road is all residential or agricultural. Yeah. So, I worry about if even the change were made, the potential for the county, not to mention the other things that were mentioned by the people in the community, right? That that that clears up my question. Any other questions? What what happens to down the road with the uh businesses that are now working out of these residential environments? um in the future since there's been so much uproar against business being performed on the road. I hear your question, but I think the the question at hand today for right now, I think we can talk about those later in some workg groupoup sessions, but are we going to reszone 15.62 acres from general to the general business conditional from R15M? I think is the question. Well, that is the question, but let me give you a little Further explanation. Trey operates a farm and a dirt pit, but he does that

under agriculture. That's allowed in R15. Correct. Correct. That's correct. Tabby runs a horse farm, horse riding business, and that's allowed under R15. And I checked that before I purchased my property like due diligence. Anybody should the the uh the dump truck business on the law on the North River is probably the only one in violation right now. operating a commercial business out of a residential area and they would have to do similar to what the people down at was it Utopia Drive down past the EMC where they were operating a business out of a residential area uh to become in compliance should they get complained on. But I originally uh was for this u you know when you look at the paperwork you know they sent out all the notices two or three people objected mostly nobody objected I don't know if you didn't get the memo no we're not public hearing we're not comments so I don't know if maybe you didn't understand the process and show up to the planning board and do your uh objection there u but you know, overwhelming uh amount of folks here from the community that don't want to enter the community. And I've had some conversations with Mr. Piltchure. Uh you know, he has not bought the property yet. So, I know he has spent money on soil testing and engineering and stuff like that, but uh I just think that uh if the community wants to stay the way they are, I think, uh that's probably where I'm going to have to go tonight. It's up to any other commissioners like to talk before we take a vote. Commissioner, I I too um thought I understood this problem um and this dilemma that we've been presented with tonight based on the

paperwork. Uh but as somebody has spoken earlier about shrimp gate, you too have heard have have come and we have heard your voice and I think that when I started this evening I was for the reasoning but I sense have heard you all and Mr. Piltchure as much as I would like I think I'm in this vote I am I'm going to have to not vote for the reasonzoning. So that's all I have to say but it's been very compelling tonight. Um as it was when we went to Raleigh to fight for the shrimpers. You all have done the right thing by been a civil disobedience and and let your voice be heard and I appreciate that. That's all I have. Thank you. [Applause] M Chavlin, I think I'll just echo what Mr. W said. I think she said it perfectly and uh when everybody's turning out speaks and uh I think I'll be doing the same way. I'd like to say I was a a no vote before tonight's meeting began. Uh and the constituents coming out and speaking with a strong loud voice in opposition to this just bolsters my resolve to vote no. Is there a motion on it? Anyone else on this end? Yeah, like I say something. So, yes, sir. Clark, I'm I'm extremely pro business.

Completely the most pro business person you'll ever meet. But when a group of goodhearted people make their case known clearly and eloquently and as Commissioner Waldrip said in a civil fashion, um you you are you you are heard better. It's a better voice. Um, you're never going to stop progress. Uh, but tonight I believe you have impeded it. So, my congratulations to you. Thank you. [Applause] Anyone else? All right. Is there a motion on the floor? I make the motion, chairman, to deny the resoning request for the 15.62 acre parcel located on Laurel Road from R15M to B1CZ uh general business conditional zoning district. Mr. Chairman, I'll second that. Motion to deny by Commissioner Wal, seconded by Commissioner Shin. All in favor? [Music] [Applause] So we don't need don't need anything consistent. You it would be better to adopt a statement that it was inconsistent with the master plan. Okay. Correct. Could you read out more do more with spot zoning to me than anything with spot with spot zoning? Okay.

So the commissioners find and determine that case number 2025 00000023 is not consistent with the goals, objectives and policies of the camel land use plan because well because of the danger of spot zoning. I'm worried with the danger of spot zoning in this instance because of the danger of spot zoning and then it is not reasonable in public. It is not reasonable and in the public interest because I mean spot zoning that's it. Okay. Not consistent with the surrounding property. Not consistent with surrounding properties. That sounds good. I think that's a a very robust statement. Thank you. We need a motion to approve the statement. Yes. Yes. As Commissioner Clark said, I mean, I think you're never going to stop growth. I mean, growth is coming whether we like it or not, how we deal with it. But I think Mr. Felton made a good argument that some things need to remain the same. Um, and with the concerns of spot zoning, we do not. And we need a motion to approve the statement plan of consistency. There is there inconsistent with because Yeah. So just make a motion to adopt the statement that it was inconsistent with the neighbor the zoning of the neighboring properties and the current land use plan and the current land use plan. Is that your motion? Yes, that's my motion. Motion by Vice Chairman Mansfield. Seconded by Commissioner Quinn. All in favor? Okay. Thank you all for coming. Next we have the manager report. You don't have to stay for any of the rest of You're welcome to stay. Well, come on now. We stay for all yours. So, I'm going to proceed with the manager's report.

Look at Hey, Chris, can you explain Can you if y'all can if you're going to talk if you can please leave the meeting. We're still continuing business. Thank you. Madam manager, you're next. Thank you, commissioners. Um for our manager report tonight, I'm going to be extra brief, but um the first thing I'd like to do is to welcome our brand new um tax administrator, Harry Rising. And he's sitting right here. We're so excited he's with us. Um he came to us from Henderson County and he has a strong background in tax administration and in leadership. We're thrilled he's here. He's got um a challenge ahead of him, but he's the man for the job. So um we're really pleased he's here. Um, also very excited to let you know that the Leon Man Jr. Enrichment Center. Sorry, we're not very well insulated in here. The Leon Man Jr. Enrichment Center has once again been named a center of excellence by the North Carolina Division of Aging and Adult Services. This is the highest recognition available for senior centers in the state. And we want to thank our new senior services director, Shelley Ashley, and consultants that worked with her and the staff at the senior center

who worked diligently to make this happen. Um we are um among the ranks of just 84 in North Carolina to hold this five-year designation. Um, and finally, the parks and wreck tournament, the woodbat tournament that was referenced earlier. We did have 63 teams that participated in that. We had 39 games held at our parks Friday through Sunday. We're really proud of the staff that worked hard on that. Um, and that's all I have for this evening. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have appointments. The first one is Mr. Chairman, I'd like to uh renominate for reappoint Dr. Yur. um as the dental representative. He's been currently serving on the consolidated human services board and I served with him on my brief term on there myself. All in favor of Dr. Dure Jr. Okay. So, the Consolidated Human Services Board. Next is the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council. Can we take all those at once? Looks like they're all uh reappoints except for Miss Jessica Ery as an appointment. So, Grace Maxwell, reappointment to a two-year term. Jessica Emery, appointment to a two-year term, local school superintendent design. Mary Atlanta Buffalo, reappointment to a two-year term, health department representative. Lauren Tucker, reappoint to your mental health agency representative. All in favor of those folks? Okay. Next, we have the Carter County Zoning Board of Adjustment. Jeremy Thompson appointment to a three-year term as an alternate. All in favor of Mr. Thompson. And I believe that's all we have for appointments tonight. Next we have we're going to do a vote for a designate

a voting delegate to the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners annual conference in August. Now that's going to be a Thursday, Friday, and a Saturday conference. And they vote on what? Saturday. So, the vote is on Saturday and it's from 2 to 3:30 p.m. is the business session that is in Greenville and Pit County this year. Um, and that's Saturday, August 23rd. It is at the very end of the conference. In the past, we designated county. Yes, that's the very end. You're going to be there. Chris said he's not sure if he may need to come back. So, do you want that pos that responsibility or do you want Sharon to have that responsibility? I will definitely defer to you if you're going to be there. If you'll coach me through it, I'll be happy to be the voting director or voting member. That's the deal. We can do that. So, can is it is it permissible to make the motion that Commissioner Wald will be the representative, but in the event that she would have to leave that the I'll be the alternate. Yes. Be the alternate. Yes. I'll make that as my motion. All right. Seconded by Commissioner Clark. All in favor? Miss Wald Commissioner Walder being the designate to vote at the county commissioner conference. Thank you. Next we have uh commissioner comment. We'll start with Miss Walbert down on the end. Well, thank you all uh for being here tonight. Uh I'm certain that North River and Laurel Road were uh all out here tonight. So I hope everybody's home is safe because nobody was holding down the fort. Um uh I appreciate uh that Jeff West and DA Scott Thomas were able to be here with us tonight. Congratulations on their retirement. What great careers. If if we all have an essence of their success during our life, we'd be in good shape. Um again, it was our honor. Uh several

of us went to Raleigh for Shrimpgate uh about three weeks ago. I'm telling you, being in Raleigh was eyeopening. And the security at the legislative building said that they've never seen such a public outpouring for a potential house vote. So, uh, we made we made the map in Raleigh and and I was proud to be a part of it. Um, and I thank um, Chairman Chadwick um, for promoting some of us to get out there and do that because I've never been to Raleigh. So, that was for those kinds of events. So, I appreciate your mentorship in uh, being an activist like so many here tonight have demonstrated um, in your own way in your local communities. Uh Chuck Linder um appreciate his um comments during public comment. We are a big fan of fields in this community and I think we're making big strides with our new assistant county manager um having a background in um public uh and parks and wrecks. Uh he's going to we've you've got an advocate in him um and certainly in the commissioners. Uh thank you to Victoria Jackson for explaining uh what Trillium does in our county. It's a pleasure to work with her and she's got a big area to cover. So um Dr. Williams, me uh and and it was a pleasure to meet Missy Reese. I don't know Missy, so I'm going to have to um make some uh effort to meet our community liaison. So I don't know her. um planning board. Um I I really hate I'm I'm a Marine, so one of

the things I hate is to trump my subordinate decision makers. Uh tonight, please let the planning board know that we appreciate all their effort, but I could not I could not vote um to endorse their vote from from the planning board. So, it's not something I do normally. I do it with a heavy heart because I really like my subordinates to do their job. Um, it was probably a very good decision that they made technically. Uh, but culturally it was not it it's really a tough one. So, appreciate y'all and uh welcome to Harry. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Walder. Commissioner Moore, I too would like to uh congratulate Scott Thomas um for his services. Five full turns a long time. Um did done a great job. Jeff West, superintendent Cape Lookout National Seashore. Beautiful place. They keep keep everything well kept over there. I want to thank everyone that went up to Raleigh personally u to help out our shrimpers and uh commercial fisherman on our coast here. Uh that that number of people was overwhelming and it it uh it just shows when you when you pull together what can happen and u anyway that uh I I thank everybody at uh taking out their time. you got busy busy schedules, but do support commercial fishing. Uh I won't say uh much more. I know everybody's tired and ready to go home. U but I do echo quite a bit what um M said and u with that being said, send it back over to you, Mr. Chair. Thank Commissioner Quinn. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um

gosh, it's been hot. I was on the job site today and I had to build a fire just to cool off. Congratulations to retiring DA Scott Thomas. Uh congratulations to Jeff West on on his retirement. He has been a a wonderful uh superintendent there. Got to know him and had the pleasure of working with him for Portsouth homecomings that we have every other year. Next one coming up in the spring of 2026. and he was always 100% behind our efforts and and the preservation efforts that he has undertaken to preserve the buildings, the homes of Portman's Village is just remarkable. And at our homecoming, we would have dinner on the grounds. He was always a big supporter of that. Not afraid to get out, get in the food line, uh get his h sticky hands, um serving cake. He was going to do every part that was necessary to make it a success. Um July 4th is a celebration for patriotism and I was u glad to be with friends and family to celebrate uh the birth of our nation or the anniversary of the birth of our nation, a big one next year, 250th anniversary. And made me think about what patriotism means and and tonight it kind of came to me as we were listening to these constituents passionately plea for government assistance in this resoning effort. And Mark Twain said, Mark Twain said that patriotism is supporting your country all of the time and your government only when it deserves it. And a government that deserves support is a government that listens to the voice and the will of the people. And so, thank you all for coming in tonight. I appreciate your uh your efforts. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Commissioner Quinn. Commissioner Clark, I'll be brief, but I just want to uh reiterate what I spoke earlier that um

it was a pleasure to hear the voice of dissent presented without malice and without name calling and with decency. Um because as soon as um people start yelling and screaming and name calling, their cause is lost. and your cause was maintained because of your discipline in your presentation and I do appreciate that very much. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Clark. Commissioner Shen, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll be really brief as well. Uh, and I would just say I would just reiterate what's already been said this evening by the rest of the commissioners. I appreciate the speakers that came out this evening and uh spoke wholeheartedly for their community. Um, I too, as a few others, stated, I was a I was a yes for that reasonzoning uh when we got here this evening, but the overwhelming uh show of support for uh for your community just uh changed my mind. So, thank you for coming out and uh hope it re I hope it uh just tells everybody that that your government, your local government does listen to you. So, I hope that I hope that's the message that you can take home. Um, I'd end with welcoming our new tax administrator, Mr. Rising. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Well, welcome aboard. Uh, you got a pretty large task ahead of you. Yes, sir. And uh we look forward to you uh jumping in feet first and and getting the job done. So, thank you, sir. Thank you, Commissioner Shin, Vice Chairman Mansfield. I think you ladies and gentlemen have said it all and stole my thunder. I'm good. I will be free. Okay. Hope everyone had a take. He's sick. Y my time to Mr. Clyde. He is a good speaker, Mr. Clyde. That

man's finished in a yard of concrete, too. Uh hope everybody had a great Fourth of July. Uh myself and Commissioner Commissioner Wal did go to the general assembly about fighting for our shrimpers. And uh I guess you don't realize the fix is in the bag when you until you're overlooking the Senate and they're voting 47 to zero. 47 to zero and then it's 45 to two and then it's two stand up say I'd like to change my vote and it goes back to 47 to zero and then you go over to the House of Representatives and we're all lobbying going from door to door. I told Mary she was going to have to go full colonel on a couple of those people and uh the speaker of the house said he was going to do what the members whatever the members progress was. So we they went into the caucus the Republican caucus and we had made enough impact that they decided to let it die in the committee and not move forward which is what should be done not one person controlling the whole Senate or one or two people. So uh that was a hard fight. it'll probably come up again. And uh we did speak with some other commissioners, commissioners from Dar County, Enslo County, Pamico County, up and down the beach. And we are forming a coastal county coalition. And the first meeting is going to be here in Carter County. And we're going to stick together. So when we go to Raleigh, we're going to have nine or 10 counties uh asking for the same thing. And we hope later on to partner with the mountain counties and the other rural areas and let our voice be heard just like y'all did here tonight. So when we go to Raleigh, we'll we'll be packing a bigger punch hopefully. So that meeting is going to take place August the 5th in Morehead City. So uh this week is National Telecommunicator Week. So uh it has been customary the past couple of years for us to send a meal over to our 911 operators. They're the people who answer the phone when you call 911. They dispatch the fire department, the

sheriff's office, and the EMS people. So we want to uh send them for each shift over there. Make sure it's something nice for them. We want nothing too heavy because we don't want them falling asleep. Get them something light. We do want to keep uh the folks of Texas in our thoughts and prayers. What a horrible flooding and all those children at the Christian camp. That's just a just a terrible flood of biblical proportion. So, we want to keep those folks uh in our thoughts and prayers. We want to congratulate Harry Imagine uh hopefully in a month we're going to nickname you dirty Harry. We want everything we want everything cleaned up at the tax office and moving forward. So uh we look forward to you earning that title like Clint Eastwood had over there at the tax office. And on the law road subject uh I am pro business 100%. uh you know, not many people showing up to the planning board when the our county staff did send out a notice to all uh surrounding property owners. I don't know if you received it or not. You didn't. We need to work on that at our county level, but notices were sent out and they had very few people come out and oppose it. So obviously the buck stops here and uh you want to keep your community as it is and that we respect that and that's what we voted for tonight. So without any further ado, does anyone else have anything to come before the board? I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. So move. Motion by Commissioner Shen, seconded by Commissioner Clark. All in favor? Thank you all for coming. real quick. I want to play