Board of Commissioners - Special Meeting

call this meeting of the Craven County Board of Commissioners to order. February 16th version. And Madame Clerk, would you call the meeting uh roll call, please? Commissioner Don here. Commissioner Mitchell here. Commissioner Smith here. Commissioner Howard here. Commissioner Hunt here. Vice Chairman Jones here. Chairman here. Uh ladies and gentlemen, if you would stand, we're going to do the pledge of allegiance. But before that, we're going to hear a prayer from the county attorney, Mr. Perry Grady.

Heavenly Father, creator and sustainer of all things, thank you for your hand of blessing on the United States of America. Thank you for guiding and protecting the land of the free and the home of the brave. We humbly ask you to pour out your peace, mercy, and grace on Craven County. We pray that you would grant all those in this assembly the integrity of Joseph, the strength of Joshua, the faithfulness of Moses, the courage of King David, the wisdom of Solomon, the endurance of Job, and the obedience of Jesus Christ as they face the challenges which may arise before them. Empower those assembled here to work efficiently for the justice of all people. Sustain them, encourage them, protect them, provide for them, guide them, and bless them as they work together in the service of our county. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.

Amen. 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. Ladies and gentlemen, if you have your cell phone with you, please make sure that it's on mute or silent so as not to interrupt the meeting. Commissioners, you have the agenda in front of you. Do I hear a motion to approve the agenda? Motion to approve.

Second. Have a motion and a second. Madam clerk, call the role, please. Commissioner Mason. Hi. Commissioner Mitchell, yes. Commissioner Smith, yes. Commissioner Howard, yes. Commissioner Hunt, yes. Vice Chairman Jones, yes. Chairman Booker, yes. Item number one is a public hearing for the community development block grant application. And uh Jason Frederick's going to introduce Kate Hinger. How close? Two for two.

Kate's going to be with us a lot tonight. So, uh Jason, go ahead and take take over from there.

Good evening, chairman. Uh members of the board, uh thank you for the opportunity to uh come for you tonight. Um, I know you've had a long day and probably from the looks it an even longer night. So, I won't belabor my intro, but I would like to take a minute to sort of unpack why we're here tonight because we have several items that sort of look very similar to one another. Uh, three public hearings to be exact and one resolution request to wrap it all up when we get out of here. So, the plan department is applying for several grant opportunities. uh CDBGCV which is a co from the co cares act which say some co money uh cdbged which is economic development which leads to job creation and 21 21 CDBG in our neighborhood revitalization. So these are all three different programs that we want to participate in that target specific county needs. Um each one of those items I I described they require two public hearings. It's a federal requirement. So, tonight's first public hearing, we've been calling it, we're calling it the umbrella uh public hearing. So, that's going to sort of be the first public hearing for all three of those items. And then we're going to go in one by one, some tonight, some at a future date. We're going to have that second public hearing. So, um CV, ED, and NR, three separate programs, but we're we're very, uh much looking forward to launching these programs. We're we're very optimistic about it. um notice for all three public hearings was um mailed to the Sun Journal and posted February 3rd, 2026. Um so, not that she needs an introduction, but without further ado, uh Kate Finger is here. Uh she's everybody's favorite Insight Consulting Groups housing resiliency consultant program manager. So, I will turn that over to Kate. And

thank you, Jason. Hello, Kate.

Hello. So, hi everybody. Uh, my name is Kate Fursinger. I am, as Jason said, a Insight Consulting Group representative. We are based in Wilmington, so just a little bit further south from here. Um, it's actually colder up here than it was in Wilmington today, shockingly. But, um, yeah, thank you, Jason. That was a really good way to explain the CDBG programs requirements for public hearings. So, the first one, I guess I'll start. uh the community development block grant association or program is uh what you'll hear us refer to as CDBG. It is a HUD or US housing and urban development grant program. And the way that Craraven County receives their funding from CDBG is a pass through from the North Carolina Department of Commerce. They have a a department within the Department of Commerce called RED or the Rural Economic Development District. Red then passes the money down through Craven County and Craven County then spends the funds um how the county sees fit. And so there are a couple of different CDBG programs. They have the CDBGCV program that Jason mentioned which is the corona virus program. CDBGNR which I've talked about a lot with you all. The neighborhood revitalization program that we use for housing rehabilitation services. And then they have a disaster recovery program. And then lastly, they have the ED or economic development program. So the county has identified a good amount of projects that we thought would be a great fit under CDBG and not necessarily under CDBGNR, the neighborhood revitalization. And so we thought that it would be a great idea for us to kind of put our heads together and apply for some more CDBG opportunities that were available. So, this first uh public hearing that I'd like to open to the public is a general public hearing that's not attached to any specific

community development block grant program. It's just general. The county w is anticipating to submit applications and or amend their current CDBG program. So, I'd like to open the public for open the floor uh to public comment for that. Okay. Let me uh ask for a motion to open the public hearing. So moved. Second. And a second. Now my question, Mr. County Manager, can we do one public hearing on all three or do we need to do three public hearings? Okay. First public hearing is on the community block grant application. So, uh, we got a vote.

Okay. All in favor of opening that public hearing? I Okay. Uh, is there anyone in the audience who wants to speak on that subject? Hearing none. Do I hear a motion to close the motion to close the hearing? Second. All in favor? I. Okay. Awesome. Okay. Now,

so our next public hearing, we have we have two more. Our next one, this one is sort of piggybacking off of our first public hearing. It this one is specific to the CDBG Corona virus or CDBG CV application. So, the county h intends to apply for a CDBGCV grant. We intend to apply for 2026 funds with the CDBGCV grant. And the proposed projects are public service projects which would be purchasing equipment for various EMS and fire fire departments throughout the county. So, we have identified different materials like defibrillators and things that really support your the county's EMS and uh fire departments with uh responding to CO 19 even though we're sort of moved on past that. There's still some support that a lot of fire departments and EMS stations needed for that in terms of equipment. So that would let that would be what the next CDBG public hearing would be is to open the floor for the CDBG CV application with intent to apply for a total of eight $1,800,000 for the CDBGCV grant.

Okay. Do I hear a motion to open the public hearing for the CDBG-CV COVID block grant? Some move. Second. A motion and a second. All in favor? I I have a question if I may. You should I just wanted to make sure. One second. You should have a public hearing before we're going to have a public hearing. Sorry. Question. I'm sorry. Nobody. Okay. No one signed up. Is there anyone in the audience wants to speak on that subject? Hearing none. Do I hear a motion to close the public hearing? Some moved. Second. Got a motion to second. All in favor? I Okay, oppose. Okay, we got two public hearings.

Awesome. And with that, we have a question. Sure. U It also mentions the nature park construction. Yes, I forgot to include that. Yes, that is included in the application. It's one of the criteria that meets the basis of Just want to check on my part. Thank you. Okay.

And then there actually we'll come back to that. Yep. So the last public hearing that we have, this one it gets a little bit confusing. So this one we wouldn't do to submit an application, but we are doing a public hearing to amend the current 2021 CDBGNR, CPG neighborhood revitalization grant that the county is currently administering. We would like to amend that to request additional funds to support some additional public services like the nature park improvements and to purchase some public services equipment or EMS equipment that is not necessarily directed to CO 19. So in that application we would apply for hose racks and the um coveralls that the fire department firemen wear. So that is the next public hearing to open the floor for the CDBGNR amendment to the 2021 grant program.

Okay. So do I hear a motion to open the public hearing for the 2021 block grant neighborhood revitalization program? So moved. Second. Motion and a second. All in favor? Opposed. The eyes have it. There's no one signed up to speak on that particular uh amendment. So uh I'll ask the audience does anyone want to come forward and speak hearing? No one. Do I have a motion to close the public? Motion. Second. All in favor? I I public hearing is closed. Beautiful.

I guess we're done with you for right now, but I think you're coming back up later. Yes. Thank you so much. Thank you. Item number four on our agenda is a presentation of the county's 2025 annual audit and we have Hunter Wiseman with us. Is that correct? Yes, sir.

Welcome. Thank you. Good evening. And Craig is handing out now a copy of the presentation summary that's also going to be in the PowerPoint on the screen. It's a little bit easier for us to follow along on this. I think it's my pleasure to present the 2025 fiscal year audit results for Craven County. If you will open that summary to the presentation agenda. First, we're going to start with the general comments and then any required communications moving into the audit results and then we will have time for questions and comments. Going to the next tab. The minimum requirements for basic financial statements include a management discussion and analysis, a governmentwide financial statements, fund financial statements, notes to the financial statements, and any required supplementary information. The types of opinions that can be issued are adverse, disclaim, qualified, and unmodified. unmodified being a clean opinion or the highest level of assurance which is what Craven County received. Next begins our letter to governance. This was dated December 12th, 2025, which was the date that the financial statements were issued. We note here that for fiscal year June 30th, 2025, we've audited the financial statements in conformity with government auditing standards and uniform guidance as detailed in our contract dated April 4th, 2025.

We do note that there were two new Gazsby statements adopted by the county this year. Compensated absences, Gatsby statement number 101, and certain risk disclosures, Gazsby statement number 102, would say that compensated absences is the most substantial change this year, which relates to the treatment of sick leave liability. We encountered no difficulties when dealing with management and the performance of our audit. In fact, we always have a good relationship with Craig and his team. We are not aware of any uncorrected material misstatements in the financial statements and we also noted no disagreements with management over any approaches that we took during the audit. Our management representation letter was dated December 12th, 2025. We are not aware with consultation of any independent accountants during the course of the audit. Going into communicating any other significant matters, findings or issues. We do note a couple of items. One being that utilities for the general ledger receivables should be reviewed to write off any old balances. We also note that the county should be reviewing liabilities that are collected and remitted to the state or outside agencies to ensure that they're following the proper pre- audit steps. And we also note that the county should be aware of the bond requirements to ensure that you're continuing to be in standard with the new requirement. I believe it was issued in fiscal 2023. We had no financial statement findings. There was one finding relating to compliance which is finding 2025001 which is detailed completely in the

financial statements in the compliance section. We do note that the local government commission will no longer initiate communications to the board. It will expect respect excuse me expect a response within 60 days of this presentation to any financial performance indicators of concern which we will discuss later. As for other matters, we note here that we do not audit the information obtained from the actuarial reports for the local government employees retirement system, the register of deeds, schedule of proportionate share of net pension asset, the law enforcement officer special separation allowance or for other post-employment benefits. We do want to draw your attention to the implementation of Gatsby statement number 103, financial reporting model improvements. That can take a significant amount of time going into fiscal year 2026 to be sure to implement it implement it properly and there will be further discussion about what that means later in the presentation. Lastly for the letter, restrictions on use. This information is intended solely for the use of the board of commissioners and management of Craraven County and is not intended to be and should not be used by anyone other than the specified parties. Next begins the presentation of the financial results for the year ended June 30th, 2025. And you'll see that we have a breakdown here of five years of financial information from fiscal year 25 to fiscal year 2021. I'm going to pretty much focus on the current year column, fiscal year 2025. We have charts that follow this which will help with viewing

this in comparison to the previous four fiscal years. Starting with the total fund balance for the general fund, it was 69.3 million. Unavailable fund balance, non-spendable or restricted by state statute, was 16.4 4 million. Available fund balance was 52.9 million and restricted committed and assigned fund balance was 15.4 million leaving unassigned fund balance of 52.1 million. General fund expenditures when including transfers out and disregarding any lease proceeds were 152.1 million for a fund balance available as percentage of general fund expenditures of 34.79% or of unassigned fund balance of 34.28%. Revenues over and under expenditures before considering transfers and contributions for the general fund and water fund were 7.4 million and negative172,000 respectively. Depreciation expense in the water fund was 1.6 6 million. And for the enterprise fund, net position versus cash in the water fund, it was 35.9 million in net investment in capital assets versus an unrestricted net position of 10.1 million and a total net position of 46.1 million and cash of 10.1 million. The property tax rate was445 with a collection percentage of 99.29% and a collection percentage excluding motor vehicles of 99.2%. 2%. The total property valuation was 14.5 billion and a net levy of 64.9 million. As for a breakdown of the general fund

revenues and expenditures, the largest portion of revenues is coming from advalorum taxes at 65.1 million, sales tax of 26.2 2 million, intergovernmental revenues of 35.1 million, sales and services of 20.7 million, investment earnings of 3.3 million, and miscellaneous of 1.1 totaling revenues of 151.7 million. And for general fund expenditures, the general government of 20.9 million, public safety at 28.6 million, environ environmental protection at 8.9 million, economic and physical development at 6.8 8 million, social services at 25.8 million, cultural and recreation at 4.3 million, education at 32.1 million, and debt service at 2.7 million totaling expenditures of 144.2 million. The governmentwide net position was $227 million with the beginning restatement of $5.2 2 million decrease relating to Gazsby statement number 101 implementation for a total net position increase or decrease of 17.6 million. Next we have a chart presenting the analysis of fund balance for the general fund. You can see that available, unassigned, and total fund balance have steadily been increasing over the previous five fiscal years. as an analysis of fund balance available and unassigned as a percentage of general fund expenditures. You can see that the available and the unassigned are very consistent with 2024 down slightly from 2023 and below the state average of 47.51%. I will note that the fiscal year 2025

numbers will always be trailing because the state takes all of the audit reports and combines them in order to get the number for the statewide average which will be presented on the fiscal year 26 results. for the collection percentages of taxes. Craraven County was 99.29% 29%. Again, down slightly from 99.35% in the previous year, but above the state average of 99.19% very consistent with North Carolina counties with general fund expenditures over hund00 million, which is the group which Craraven County is a part of. Here's a breakdown of general fund revenues. As mentioned, the largest portion of revenues comes from advalorum taxes at 42.9% followed by intergovernmental revenues at 23.15% and sales tax at 17.3%. Next is analysis of general fund revenues by source. Presents largely largely the same information that was s shown on the summary of information. But you can see here that I have warm taxes are the highest followed by intergovernmental revenue and then sales tax. is a breakdown of general fund expenditures. The largest portion of general fund expenditures is education at 22.25% followed by public safety at 19.87% and general government at 14.53%.

And then a breakdown of expenditure growth by segment. You can see here comparing social services, health, education, and public safety over the previous five fiscal years. This slide presents a breakdown of the general fund balance as it's presented on exhibit three of the financial statements. Your non-spendables include include prepaids of 1.7 million and leases of 1,000. You're restricted by state stabilization is 14.6 million and public safety at 99,000. You're assigned for subsequent years expenditures of 681,000 leaving an unassigned balance of 52.1 million or a total fund balance of 69.3 million. As I noted earlier, the LGC will no longer initiate a communication to the county for a response, but it does expect a response within 60 days of this presentation to be adopted by the board and sent to them. The item for which the county is responding to relates to a stewardship violation for the representative P pay fund which was overspent by 32,000 and the tourism authority fund which was overspent by 89,000. the 89,000 relating to a subscription agreement which can be difficult to budget for. Neither of these items were considered a budget violation and did not rise to the level of a finding. Lastly, these present the two new Gazsby statements that will be implemented in fiscal year 2026. Again, I note that number 103, financial reporting model improvements, will require the most time and detail from the finance staff to be sure to implement properly as it relates to changes in the management's discussion and analysis, updates to the proprietary fund statements, and changes

to the budgetary comparison schedules as they are presented in the required supplementary information. Gazsby statement number 104 pertains to capital assets and ensuring that they are detailed disclosures of capital assets that are held for sale including any classification carrying values or specific asset types IG i.e. intangible versus tangible assets and that concludes the presentation. Are there any questions?

Any questions for Mr. Wiseman? My uh observation, limited as it is, is that um our financial health and our financial management are all looking pretty good. Yes, sir. And I'm sure that every county doesn't get this clean of a report or we wouldn't bother doing audits. No, they do not.

So, they definitely do not. I just have one other comment and then the board can for those of you in the audience and and those who were watching on online. Um I hope you noticed that um education gets the largest portion of any of the major departments uh with 22% of our total expenses going toward education. Now, the education for the uh benefit of the public again is Craraven County Schools and Craraven County Community College. Primarily those two entities are the recipients of these funds. And we often are accused of not funding schools. And I also noted in one of the charts that our amount of money that we've given schools over the last five years continues to go up. And uh this past year was the largest that we've ever done. So uh just wanted to make that point so that we u uh public wants to see more detail that chart is available. That pie chart is available. So any other comments from the board?

Mr. chairman to piggy to piggyback off what you said too. This number doesn't include the SRO's that are um provided at all the schools that the county commissioners um put all those SRO's in those schools. Yeah, we we fund a portion of the SRO expense which is I think sheriff just walks in 32 SRO's at this point. 32 police officers dedicated to our schools and that the there's some other funds I believe from the state that cover part of their expense. Am I correct on that Mr. P?

But a good portion of it is coming from from this board. So does anybody have any other comments? If not, thank you sir. Yes, sir. Hope see you again next year. I hope we do just as well.

I'm sure you will. Have a good night. And my comment would be also to uh Craig Warren. Craig, put your hand up. Those people that don't him know him. That's the man responsible for keeping us uh with a report like that. So Craig, thank you for you and your department and what you guys have done to uh take care of us. Thank you. Item number five is the petition of citizens with topics of our current agenda and there is no one signed up for that. So we will move to item number six, the consent agenda. Number of items on here tonight. I'll run through them. Um, the minutes of the January 20th regular session, tax releases and refunds, planning, a request to set a public hearing, CDBG economic development application. Planning, a request for addition to statemaintained secondary road system, Forest Oak subdivision. Planning a request for addition to statemaintain secondary road system Indian Woods subdivision. Planning a request for addition to statemaintain secondary road system South Castle Drive. Planning a subdivision for approval Lucille Adams, a four lot minor subdivision. planning E911 street signs, a budget amendment, and finance reimbursement declaration for the office building in Havlock. And lastly, emergency services, a military vehicle purchase budget amendment. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda?

Motion to approve. Got a motion and a second. Roll call, please. Commissioner Mason, I. Commissioner Mitchell, yes. Commissioner Smith, yes. Commissioner Howard, yes. Commissioner Hunt, yes. Vice Chairman Jones, yes. Chairman Booker, yes. Item number seven, a familiar face. Coming up, uh, Community Development CARES Act, CDBG COVID resolution, Kate Finger. Kate

alphabet suit. Thank you. Um, so as the public hearing we the second public hearing we spoke of earlier for the community development block grant CV or corona v virus application. Uh there is a resolution that the board must pass authorizing the county to submit the application. Okay. board. We're being asked to approve and authorize me to sign the CDBG CARES Act COVID resolution and authorize the county manager to execute all documents related to this grant. I would make that motion. We got a motion. We got a second. All in favor?

Opposed? Motion passes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Item item number eight, register of deeds. It's Joshua Core. Welcome, Josh.

Thank you. Good evening. Good evening, board. Good evening, county manager. Good evening, uh, uh, public. I just want to very quickly go over kind of what we've done over the last year. Um, I know that, um, I'm a little bit newer to the office and I wanted to kind of explain, you know, it's it's as an elected official, it's it's my responsibility to explain to the public what we do with their money. Um, we do have the distinction of being one of the departments that we don't have to have our funding come from the tax rate. We generate our own funds and we actually hand the county money at the end of the year. But I just want to briefly kind of go down kind of what's happened over the last uh, year and then we do have one other item to talk about afterwards. So, we're going to talk about the uh space uh records uh space and records management uh operational improvements and initiatives for future planning. First off, uh space and records manage or um yeah, space and records management. This was basically the first four months after I entered office. Um there was a lot and I do mean a lot. Basically, if you take from here, this side of the deis to the other side of the deis, stack it up with furniture and broken equipment about this tall, about this wide. I cleared that out about four times to get a bunch of stuff that wasn't uh that had broken down, and just really just didn't need to be there anymore. It wasn't an intentional play on anybody. It was just a fact of as things happened, it just builds up and things break. We throw it in the closet and it gets forgotten. We cleared out so much space that I now have an opportunity or where we've actually uh have an out of circulation room. Um it's one of the newest projects we just got uh some of the last finishing touches uh put on there. It started last year. But this is a example of some of the equipment and stuff that we had to get out of there. Just again broken printers, broken typewriters, broken label makers. When things break, they didn't get removed. They just got shoved in a closet. So um the other thing that we did is we evaluated which uh items

that we had on the shelf. There are certain documents that I have for example real estate records, vital records. They are permanent documents. They can't go anywhere ever. Period. End of story. However, there are some things that do change over time such as shadow mortgages. They went away in the 1960s. They were supposed to be destro destroyed in 1967. They were never destroyed. Uh UCCC's were supposed to be destroyed in 2008. they were never destroyed. Juries, uh, logs were supposed to be given to the clerk of court in 2012. They were never given to the clerk of court. Um, also fee books that were supposed to be destroyed in the 1990s. Uh, those also were destroyed. Um, I had 129 years of mail. There's actually now a letter that was in my office that is now in the state archives because it was from the late 1800s. Um, it was literally shoved in a drawer, left there for 130 years, and now it is in the state archives where it should be, where it could be maintained. Um, we also organized the vault. The predominant reason why we did this was not just because we couldn't find the books, although that was a big deal. We literally had like A through F and then you had to go to the other side of the vault for the next series. And it was all confusing. It was all jumbled up. We now have it 1 through 768 and then the next series comes in and we have them sorted by grantor grantee chronologically sorted. But the main reason why we did this wasn't for aesthetics or to make it easy although that was a benefit. It was for inventory. We didn't know what we had. We now realize that we have books that have walked out of the office. Who knows? It could have been 30 days before I took office. It could have been 30 years before I took office. We don't know and there's just no way of finding out. But what we do know now is that we have books that are missing and we can take the steps that are necessary to replace or just to address it and move on depending on which books are missing. Um so that was the first four months. It was a lot of work to get things just kind of stabilized so that we could actually get work done. The next four

months we moved into operational improvements. Um there was a lot of things that we did under this. Uh we went to walk-ins only. We used to have appointments for almost everything. We have switched up the the way in which we do business to make it faster. It's easier for people to come in. You don't need appointment. You just walk in. Boom. We're right there. We're helping you. You're in and out faster than you used to be. And it doesn't create a huge uh queue and a huge problem. Uh we now do instant returns. Whereas before I took office, you had to when you had a real estate document, you would give that to our department. It would stay in our department for 24 hours. Then we would either put it in your box if you were an attorney and you had a box or we'd mail it back to you. Now we sticker the document, verify the document, hand it back to you. You walk out that day with your document. Um, a lot of other counties have been doing this for years. We just adopted it. Uh, we updated all of our public facing documents. Uh, we had documents that were referencing general statute that haven't been on the books since 2002. And so we removed all that stuff, made the documents easier to read, easier to understand. We updated our website. We're still updating it. If you see anything that you want changed, please let me know. Uh we're always looking for improvements there. We did a one-stop marriage license. This is um basically right now, uh if you get a marriage license from my office, you can pay an extra $5 fee if you choose to. It's a completely optional fee, and we will mail you your license once it comes in. Some c some couples, especially military, really enjoy that because they don't have to come back up here all the way from Havlock. Some don't enjoy it and they don't pay the fee and then they come back in. That's fine. It's just an extra service that we can op offer as an option. We also uh put in place a policy based standards for denial. this one for a week. We slowed down entire operations because basically what I told my staff is you will not tell the public no

unless you have a statutory a Craven County ordinance or an internal policy reason to tell them no because we are the executive branch. We don't get to make the laws. We get to enforce them. And so if we don't have a reason to tell you no, we're not going to tell you no. We immediately had all kinds of things where we were return we were saying no to customers where we have turned turned that around. That has increased our revenues. It's increased our customer service and it's lowered our liability because there were multiple things that we were telling people no to that we did not have the statutory authority to say no to. We've also done risk reduction. We've read 172page emergency operations manual because we had none. It doesn't cover everything, but it covers a whole lot. It's basically what do we do in case those books get flooded. And uh god forbid that that ever happened. It never has, but let's hope that it never will. Um, we closed a open digital maintenance tunnel. This was with a third party vendor that we had. This was the way that the school system got hacked two years ago. We closed that off so they can't access our terminals without our permission. Uh, we changed our online vital records uh, vendor to Permidium. And the reason why we did that was predominantly to secure the record. Before, if you found somebody's ID card on the ground, you could send us a copy of that ID card and you could potentially get that person's birth certificate. Now, with the new system, there's enough security in place to where that makes it highly unlikely for that ever to happen. Um, individual employee login, we were locking each other out all the time, which was really slowing us down. And now we all have our own individual lock in, so you only lock you out, not everybody else. Um, we also cut down on the amount of receipt paper that we're using. We cut that by 50%. We cut our f call volume down by 50% by changing our phone tree. Uh, we got a centralized storage system. There was literally documents in my office all over this county. We gathered them up. We put them in filing cabinets and, uh,

we put an affidavit storage system to make it faster to serve customers. We implemented a centralized digital storage called SharePoint. Uh, that way we have one document. we were having letters that we'd send out that there would be three different versions of the same letter and we stopped that. Um, we added a shredder contract because we were spending more time in manpower to shred stuff than what it was worth. Um, then we move into the last six months of what we've been doing. This is when we get out of kind of the crisis zone into more of management and actually getting things done. Um, we've gotten some preservation work done. We sent off deed book 24. That's actually a picture of it right there. It was literally falling apart. It is from 1794 if I recall correctly. And uh one of our older books, not the oldest, but it was in horrible condition and needed a significant amount of work. That is currently sent off. It will be back here in a couple months. Um we finished map project phase one. Uh I'm not going to get into all the details, but that has taken a lot of time to be able to save the pro save the maps from actually deteriorating. Um there is a phase two that we're going to have to do, but I need more manpower to be able to do it. Um m we have our microfilm project. Basically uh you heard in that uh brief uh thing about the uh state law changes uh before in your work session. Uh basically what that has to do with is we have to pay a contractor to come in and microfilm stuff. What we've done is we've stopped the bleeding so that we're in compliance with state law now, but we have about 20 years of non-compliance going back and that's going to cost over $150,000 to get into compliance. As such, um we're basically what we've done is we've just stopped it for now and then we will address the non-compliance at a future time when we have more money. Um we've also completely done redone the front office. um not not 100% the way there, but we got a lot of things done. We did a color

printer and that was because we have a public facing document that literally has color coded on the marriage license who fills out what. And the reason we did that is we saw about 20 mistakes a month, which is a very involved process. You have to get people from out of state to come in. It's a whole thing when you have a marriage license that stuff. We saw that go from 20 mistakes a month down to about three or four just with that one document change. We removed a wall. We removed old cabinets. That allowed us to move our mat printer up front so you're not walking 150 ft to the back and 150 ft back up front. That's saving time every day. And we painted the walls. Uh we also are writing SOPs because when you ask three different people, how do you do this process? And you get three different answers, that's never a good thing. So we're trying to standardize processes, make sure everybody knows exactly how we're doing it the same way. We're writing a strategic plan. I'm going to get into that in just uh a little bit in the next one. And we also will be writing a continuity of operations plan. Basically, what do we do if we have a hurricane and we have to pick up and we have to move over? Some of our surrounding can counties, Pamlico, Bowfort, Carterette, already have those in place. So, I will be using some of their uh techniques and such to try to um get that in place for us. Before I go on to the next thing, are there any questions about the uh last year in the register of deeds office? questions.

I guess you did a pretty good job because we don't have any questions. That's my goal, sir. All right. The uh next part is um uh we're going to talk about a scanning test project. Um I'm going to give you a little bit of background about this. Um so let's back up to the year 2001. The general assembly put in place a automation and preservation function. Are you okay, ma'am? is

the general assembly put in place an automation and preservation fund. Uh chairman, you just told me if you want me to stop. Um and uh what that basically did is it siphons off a little bit of funds off the bottom of the income that we get and it's designed to protect the records. The problem is in essence,

the uh the problem is in essence that the money that we have coming into that fund does not fund the actual preservation cost that we have. Um so one of the first things I did is I tried to analyze how much we actually need in order to do preservation projects. So this chart shows exactly that. This was a year's worth of work trying to figure out all this stuff. But essentially what that solid line is is the total amount of money that we have to spend. It is an astronomical number. Although I did bring it down from where it originally started is $3.26 million. That's the amount of money that we have to spend in order to preserve all the records. That does include, by the way, getting rid of some more records that we haven't already gotten rid of. But even with that, preservation is extremely expensive. And so the red line right there shows the current funding rates. This is if we change absolutely nothing. We will get the amount of funding we need in about 202 years. The problem with that is I have documents that are going to go bad in about 10 years and I will not have the money for it. So we have really two options. One is that I come to you 10 years from now and I ask you for an astronomical amount of money, which is a conversation that no one wants to have or we start funding it over time. So, this is the context that I brought to the county manager earlier uh uh late in the late part of last year. When I brought this to him, we basically kind of came up with two ideas. One, we're going to have to discuss in the budget, which is basically how do we do this over time. We're not going to discuss that today, but the other one was let's do a test bed project to see to get the ball rolling a little bit, see if, you know, get our feet wet basically. So, what we did is he basically said go ahead and do 200 books worth of scanning and send that off and we'll do that first and then uh see where there see from there. So, tonight I'm here with a budget amendment. I put it out for bid. We had

two bids on this. There's really not that many people in the state of North Carolina that do this kind of work. The bids were $64,320 and $104,679.75.

$40,000 difference. The reason for the difference is because the one company physically sets up their machines in there. They scan 24/7 until they're done and then that costs a lot because you pay for hotels, transportation, etc., etc., etc. There's no need for that. We don't need it done that quickly. If we did, that would be like an emergency during a hurricane type thing. So, my recommendation to the board, and I'm seeking a board motion, but I will take questions before we go into that, of uh $6,432 for a budget amendment from the general fund balance into the contract services of the register of deeds. Are there any questions about questions for Joshua?

Then I do I hear a motion? I'm sorry. You guys I have one question. Does the state specify how you have to preserve the records?

Yes. Um so as part of this plan that was one of the things that I went into is um basically what we did is we divided the records into two stacks. One is the ones that I can get rid of and one is the ones that by historical reasons even though I could get rid of them you wouldn't want to get rid of them. The delineating line that we came up with is when they went from handwritten books to typed books. That was roughly in the 1900s. I have 175 books that were handwritten. All the rest of them are typed, photocopied, photo stat, etc. So the point being is although by state law I'm allowed to get rid of all of them, I would recommend to the board not to get rid of those 175. That chart that I just showed you includes the preservation for those 175. That's how expensive it is. If I were to keep all of them, we'd be talking 10 million, 20 million, $30 million. It'd be an astronomical number. So, um, this particular project that we're talking about today is just one eighth of the 14 different projects that have to happen. It's a small sliver of a sliver of a sliver, but it's the first step in the right direction.

Okay. Any other questions? Move to approve. I'm sorry. Move to approve the 64,000 branch 20. Is that Is that a Can we do that? Is that what he's asking for? Yes. He's asking for a budget amendment 64,000 to get started. Move to approve the budget amendment for $64,320. Okay, we got a motion. Do we have a second? Question. We have a question over here. Sorry, another question. I have a question. I I think I'm probably way off. But these books that you were talking about getting rid of, are they books that tell us part of our history from 18 1700s and that kind of thing? So the ones that I've elected to keep are the ones that are before the year 1900.

And what what are the tell me what's give me an example what would be in one or two of the books. A deed a deed of trust etc. Things of that basically any real estate transactions which would include during the unfortunately before the civil war would even include unfortunately slave being sold etc. Those ones would not be touched. It would only be the ones after the 1900s that would be exclusively things that we already have digitized. We already have microfilm. There is no state law. So the ones that you are getting rid of are the ones that you have the information that's in the books already. You have them in another place. Yes, ma'am. Correct.

And to be clear, we are not talking today about getting rid of any books. That is on the timeline of that big chart, but that is probably more than a decade out at this point. We don't have the capacity to do that today or else we'd be talking differently today. Okay. So, I have a motion. Do I have a second? I'll have a second. And a second. Madame clerk, could you call the role, please? Commissioner Mason, I. Commissioner Mitchell, yes. Commissioner Smith, I'm not sure I want to write down. No. The motion is for $64,000.

It's not It's not the amount of money. I'm concerned about what it's for. It's to get started and copy some of these documents. So we can see what whether this process it would cost him millions to do it all. He's just asking for to get started and to see what it looks like to see what we get back. Am I saying that correctly? Yes, sir.

And I think Commissioner Smith from a historical preservation point of view, it's a positive because all those things that you're concerned about and I'm concerned about as a history mate, you know, with someone who values history, he's going to keep those. And this is a good step in that direction. We don't want those things to go away. Okay. That's my concern. So often, you know, it's my history that's thrown out on the side. So those would not be gotten rid of. No, ma'am. Those would never go anywhere. Okay. Are you okay with that? I'm okay. Well, you you can vote no if you want to. I just did.

Okay. So your vote is you she called your name. Mr. Chairman, she she was a no vote. She already Commissioner Howard? Yes. Commissioner Hunt? Yes. Vice Chairman Jones? Yes. Chairman Booker? Yes. Okay. So, you got your approval to get started and we'll be interested once you get some some examples for you to come back and show us what that looks like. Absolutely. will be can we make comments

and before you leave the one I would like to make one comment I have the occasion to go to your office to get so for resources and I commend you for your the the attitude and quickness of service so you doing a great job thank you in that regard appreciate that

I and I'll just repeat what uh Miss Miss said and if you ever look into res preserving uh the any part of our history of our county particularly as Miss B was saying the black history of our county. I'm 100% supportive of that if backups or whatever we can have a different proposal maybe a different day and I'd love to go into that in immense detail. I do have plans for that. I'd love to talk to you about and I would encourage all the board to stop in and take a look at his office and see what he's done. Um, I've only peaked in, but it looks like it's a whole lot nicer than it used to be. So, yes, sir. What what we saw on screen. So, thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

Okay. Item number nine, economic development, Mr. Jeff Wood.

Good evening, commissioners. Uh, in fiscal year 2023, the county received $2,450,000 from the Office of State Budget and Management. These funds were deposited into the general fund to support infrastructure improvements at the industrial park. Upon reviewing the grant agreement, it was determined that the remaining grant funds must be placed in a separate fund. This action will ensure compliance with the grant agreement established uh with OSBM. The attached project ordinance and budget amendment is in the amount of $79,430 and that reflects the unspent grant funds and are requested for the board's approval.

Okay. Questions for Mr. Wood? Okay, if there are no questions, do I have a motion to approve the project ordinance and budget amendment in the amount of 709430 for a state grant? So moved. Okay, motion and a second. Second. Okay, a second. Now we need a roll call, please. Commissioner Mason, I. Mr. Mitchell, yes. Commissioner Smith, yes. Commissioner Howard, yes. Commissioner Hunt, yes. Vice Chairman Jones, yes. Chairman Dooker,

yes. Before you uh leave, Jeff, um I I just want to share that a couple of us were at u the industrial park earlier this week for a ribbon cutting. Uh, one of the projects we approved a while back was Chadzsworth, Chadzsworth Industries, uh, expanding their operations. They already been here for a number of years and they are moving an office here from elsewhere and they are going to spend 100 the building was there but they're going to spend 150 million setting up the lines in that building. Was that the right number?

15 million. 15 million 15 with 150 employees once they're fully staffed. uh that'll take several years, but this is a very impressive operation. What they do is they they build the equipment to put the computers on that are going into all these AI facilities all over the country. So, they're in a perfect business right now because this business is exploding and they are an impressive company. So, Jeff, uh congratulations on that. And

I'd like to say too that that that investment in jobs and dollars is a testament to the value proposition that Craven County gives both through our excellent workforce, through our competitive tax rates and uh our can do attitude. Uh we were competing with multiple states on that project. Uh and along with a valuable piece of real estate, those other components made it happen. I would only add lastly that um I've attended in my long life a lot of uh events with employees uh and you get a sense whether or not the employee they brought all their employees from their existing facility. I would guess it was more than a hundred.

Yeah. Currently they have over 200 employees. Okay. They have 200. So they brought a couple hundred employees for for lunch and they served a full meal to these folks and the attitude and I sat and ate with some of these employees. The attitude was outstanding. They are a positive bunch which is always good when you're uh when a company is going to expand. They're obviously a company that people would want to work for. That was my impression. Absolutely. Yeah. They are they are a star amongst our employers for sure.

So that's a another win for our industrial park and for our county in total as we bring in more people, more employees, more revenue. Uh that's where that increase in our income comes from those kind of projects. So congratulations. That was really a nice deal. Yep. I if I may add, we sat down with some skilled trades workers who were eating and they credited Craven Community College for their for their to build them, get the education to go to work out there. So, it's been a whole whole effort for the county. Absolutely. Y Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Carts, approval of various amended policies. Deanna Treble.

Good evening. On November 18th of 2025, individuals from North Carolina Department of Transportation and their contractor were on site to complete a compliance review of carts. A compliance review is conducted every 3 years. Both the ADA complimentary paratransit policy and the procurement policy were recently updated and approved on at the December 1st, 2025 board of commissioners meeting. Additional guidance has been provided by NC DOT requiring small amendments. All three policies follow state templates. As a result, the following policies are being revised. The ADA complimentary paratransit policy. We're memorializing current practices such as cancellations and no-shows, suspensions procedures, wheelchair mobility and securement, service animals, and use of lifts. The procurement policy, we're adding some NC do procurement checklists and the grants and financial management policies and procedures. We're updates. Updates include clarifying staff's financial roles and responsibilities and adding the requirement for SBI criminal background checks. Um carts request approval of the policies as amended.

Okay. So, commissioners, you all got your copies of all this. I'm sure you all read every page. Oh, it kept me away. So exciting. Word by word. Word by word. Okay. So we're being asked to approve the amended ADA complimentary paratraic paratransit policy procedure policy and grants and financial ma management policies and procedures. Do I hear a motion to do that? Motion. Got several motions and a motion and a second. Second. All in favor? Opposed? The eyes have it. Thank you. Thank you, Diana.

Okay, next is recreation and parks. Mark Seymour, parks director. Mark, welcome.

Thank you. Thank you, commissioners, for having me tonight. So, several items on the agenda for you to take a look at tonight. Uh, start off with the Harold Bait Foundation grant. For over 25 years, the Herald Bait Foundation has been a strong advocate and partner in providing highquality recreation opportunities to the citizens and visitors of Craraven County. In November 2025, Craraven County Recreation Parks received notification of successful $50,000 grant request from the Herald Bait Foundation. Funding is allocated for amenities related to the construction of the new Craraven County Nature Park. Work is ongoing at the park. Uh we have the parking lots have been cleared. Utilities are actually put in today. Um over the next several months, the restrooms will be installed along with construction of a shelter, foot bridges, and a dock. There'll also be five miles worth of biking and hiking trails at the new park. Uh the grant requires $50,000 match with Craven County from Craven County. The Bay Foundation along with Craven County Match would ensure all phases of the project can be completed. The goal is to have the park completed by the by June of 2026.

The board is requested to accept the Bait Foundation grant and approve the related budget amendment of $50,000 to receive $100,000 to receive the grant to provide matching funds for the completion of the park project. I moved it. So moved. Second. Discussion. So the letter from the Bates Foundation said that they needed to have an answer by December of 2025 to accept the funds. Yes. So you already did accept. We did accept funds contingent upon Okay. approval from Yeah. I took a sneak peek on Friday. I went by. Yeah. And we we we've spoken with them and they we've been working with them for 20 years. I mean, that's kind of how we operate with them.

Okay. Mark, the entrance to go into the parking lot of the park, uh, is it from County Line Road? So, there'll be two entrances. Um, so the County Line Road, which is, uh, near Blue Water Rise, right past the bridge over there. Yep. So that would be the entrance for the kayaking uh access and the bike trails. Okay. Old airport I mean uh excuse me old airport road. Old airport road. County line road will be more the main entrance. That's where the restroom facility will be. Shelter, walking trails, water fountain, things like that. Um I was there the other day and I wanted to make sure that was it's cleared.

Yes. Yes. And that's where the main parking, restrooms, and entrance to the park typically, unless you're going to go kaying. Correct. Okay. Yeah. So, both sites are cleared. Um utilities is what's going in today. That's on the county line side of things. Okay. We have a motion and a second. Are there any other questions for Mark? Yeah, I have one. So, you're going to have lighting at the other parking lot, too, though, right? So, you're going to get electrical over there or no or not? At present, we do not. Um, we will be open from sun up to sun down. So once the park is uh once it gets dark, we'll lock gates up. Okay.

I would just add that this is an incredible u addition to our county park system for almost nothing. Um the the the land was donated. Bait gave us 50,000 of the hundred we need to get the amenities in place. Um, what a wonderful uh improvement to our county at very little cost. So, uh, Madame Clerk, we have a motion and a second. Call the role, please. Commissioner Mason, I. Commissioner Mitchell, yes. Commissioner Smith, yes. Commissioner Howard, yes. Commissioner Hunt, yes. Vice Chairman Jones, yes. Chairman Ba, yes. Mark, thank item number B.

All right. Uh, another fun unique project that we have going on, uh, kayak rental agreement with Craven County TDA and, uh, whenever water sports. Kayak rentals have been a long had long been a popular request at Creekide Park. While the department previously offered rentals for several years, the program became difficult to maintain because demand was highest on the weekends when we didn't have staff. They were limited. To address this, staff began exploring thirdparty options. In recent months, Craven County Recreation Department and Craven County Tourism Development Authority, the TDA, have partnered with Winver Sports to install a self-service kayak rental kiosk at Creekide Park. Uh the kiosk will include six single kayaks and two tandem kayaks for public use during park hours. U rentals will be managed through a secure QR code system. Customers can simply can scan the code on their chosen kayak, complete the registration, the required information, and unlock the equipment for use. process makes paddling more accessible to uh for rentals for folks coming in out of town and and local folks. Kiosk cost $25,000 will be funded by the TDA. TDA and whenever wersports enter a revenue sharing agreement in early 2026 once TDA recovers their initial investment, Craraven County and County and the TDA will revisit a revenue sharing arrangement moving forward.

Okay. Interesting project. uh board. We're being asked to approve theou with Craven County TDA um and allow the county manager to sign theou agreement with with Craraven County TDA to partner with whenever water sports to provide a kayak rental kiosk at Creekide Park. Before we uh before I get a motion, do we have questions for I do. What will the rental for a kayak cost approximately? So for one hour, the single kayak is $20, $19.99. Uh 2 hours, $29.99, and $50 for a full day.

Okay. Um tandemss are $40, $60 for two hours, and $80 for the full days. Not bad, Mr. Chairman. Yes. I would say Havlock started this two years ago, and they've been highly successful. They've had no issues whatsoever. Great. Great. That was what we built upon that pro. That's what started us down this process. And as I read this, we have very little or no risk. Correct. Okay. Yeah, I would make that motion to approve that motion. Is the kiosk operating now?

It is not. It is at Creekad now. They were coming through from a conference asked if we could put it there. I told them we need approved before any of this happens. They're willing to take that risk. We've been working on TDA and whenever water sports and county attorney and so, okay, as soon as we say go, we got nice weather coming up. We should be good to open anytime. They're ready. Okay, we have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. A motion and a second. U Madam Clerk, let's do a roll call on this, please. Commissioner Mason, I. Commissioner Mitchell, yes. Commissioner Smith, yes. Commissioner Howard, yes. Commissioner Hunt, yes. Yes. Yes. Um, item number C, parks update. Mark.

All right, you got me for a few more minutes here, so I won't won't try to bore you too much, but um, uh, in December, I believe last time I was here, Commissioner Hunt was asking about, uh, parks update. So, try to put something together, uh, scale down a little bit of what we usually do, but, um, I'll go through all of our parks. If you got any questions at any time, feel free to ask. And at the end, I'll take some some questions as well. So, uh, here is presently, uh, all the parks in the Craven County Park system. Um, Creekide Park, West Craven Park, Leam White, and Rocky Run are ones you're all familiar with and helped fund throughout the years. Uh, the Craraven County Nature Park is the one we're currently working on right now. So, bring us to five parks within our system. Um, we are with this 176 acres, it'll put us a little over 600 acres of parkland throughout the county. Just a little 2025 in review. Um, over the past 12 months through Placer AI, we've had over 599,000 visitors to our parks. Um, that is, uh, we can track that since 2017, we have gone up year-over-year. This year was a record. Um, two parks in particular, we saw growth in West Graven Park went up about 30% from last year and Leam White up around 10%. Um, but we are seeing numbers in all of our parks. Whether it's leagues, whether it's shelter reservations, whether it's birthday parties, any kind of get together, we're seeing it grow at all of our parks. Uh, 592 total picnic shelter reservations. That ranges anywhere from one to two-year-old birthday parties to corporate outings to the from the hospital. We've had squadron gettogethers. We have, you name it, we've had it at one of our parks. Um, Creek Side and West Craven being the most popular, but uh, Rocky Run will see some Fourth of July celebrations as well as, uh, some RTC stuff at at Lake White. Um, games and practices and athletics are

certainly our bread and butter. We are a a a workerbe type of park, folks. After five, if you go to West Graven Park or Creek Park, you were going to see hundreds if not thousands of people on any given night. Um, we had over 5,000 games and practices. That was anything from volleyball to baseball to softball to soccer, lacrosse, anything you can think of with a sport, we have it. Uh 3,500 youth participants in our leagues and programs. We run some of these leagues. We also uh partner with some of the local organizations to to provide some of our leagues as well. Uh 1,700 adult participants in our leagues and programs. Those are primarily run through the county. We have our golf lessons, tennis lessons, co-ed softball, co-ed kickball, we have beach volleyball, and some other classes and lessons throughout the years. Uh 60 programs were offered by staff in 2025. That's anything from our summer day camps, our clinics, our classes, uh throughout the year. Our busiest time is certainly during the summer for our camps, but we also offer leagues and camps and clinics throughout the year. We partner with over 30 youth and adult leagues, groups, and programs. As I mentioned, um, primarily West Grand Park and Creek Side Park. Two other, uh, groups that work out of our office are Special Olympics, Craraven County, and North uh, News River Senior Games. We have over 700 participants throughout the year participate in those events. We host our botchi days with the elementary schools, middle schools, high schools out at Creekide Park. In the fall, we're doing our basketball uh, skills competitions right now at the YMCA and Stanley White. Um, and of course our big event with Special Olympics will be our spring games in Havlock in April. Senior Games, who I think we have some participants in the

in the audience. I know

we've got some medal winners. Um, senior games, uh, another big program that we offer in our department. Uh, we have we're registering right now. Our opening ceremonies will be April 21st and we'll run through the first part of May. So, we'll talk about some of the parks individually. Creekide Park uh is the largest athletic park um in the county. We host we have 17 soft soccer fields. We have two softball fields, two baseball fields, adult softball, adult baseball, eight uh beach volleyball courts, three tennis courts, six pickle ball courts, 18hole disc golf course, and a and a

park. Exactly. Exactly. So, um that is uh certainly our most popular park. We had over 450,000 visitors to the park last year. Again, it's anything from a birthday party to a a youth league to just getting out and walking your dog. We try to provide something for everyone and um certainly seeing a lot of growth and and use at those parks. Um we have five shelters located throughout the park. Most recent one was built by our beach volleyball courts that we'll use for our youth leagues, our adult leagues, and some of our football leagues that can can use that out there. Three playgrounds. Um, we have our outdoor fitness equipment. We've had some success with 18 hole disc golf course, 200 foot dock that was just redone in 2021. And of course, our tennis courts and our pickle courts, some of the capital projects, um, commissioners have been very kind to us over the years. Uh, we identify areas that we could improve the parks and and we've been very successful over the years. Um, we got some grant funding through some of these and also some county budget funding. Uh, you can see in that top left corner, uh, that is a waterfront dock replacement. We replaced that everything but the pylons in 2022. That was a partnership with the state grant. Has, uh, two fishing cutouts and two new kayak launches on it. Um, very scenic. Have a lot of folks come out, take pictures. We see a lot of Christmas cards, a lot of family folks, family pictures coming out there. Um top right you'll see the botchi courts. Those botchi courts are used by our special Olympics uh botchi team as well as hosting senior games botchi. We also have a group out of burnup primarily. It's the new botchi club that comes out every Monday and Thursday. They have some fierce matchups out there. So um we work with them work with Special Olympics to to upgrade those several years ago and they've been very well received.

Um, also bottom left, that's our, uh, cornerstone, our Keystone playground, uh, inclusive playground built in 2016. Seen a lot of use. We have, um, upgraded throughout the years, fixed equipment that that needed repair. Also added some turf to our musical area. Um, that's been very well received as well. Um, six new pickleball courts. Um, the minute we opened those up, we saw folks all over the place. They continue to be popular. Um, we have a heavy use in the morning and also youth at night. We're seeing a lot more teenage use out there at the at those pickball courts, beach volleyball courts and saw lights there. One of the things we were running into was running out of daylight. Um, we have a very active adult league as well, a very active youth league that is using those courts. Um, our leagues have expanded considerably, especially with these lights and um, we consider we'll certainly see that again. This is our first year with that. um except some new swing sets, batting cage, shelter. Again, just keeping up with stuff that we see that that needs repair or we see a need for throughout the park. Uh we're currently renovating our restrooms out at Creek Side at the front. Those were built in original to the park in 1997 when we had one small playground and 100 kids playing soccer. Today we have a large playground with around 1,400 kids playing soccer and it just outgrew its use. We're very excited about that. It's crazy to say I'm excited about a restroom project, but it is exciting to to have new project new restrooms out there. I also replace trucks, mowers, and gators to make sure that we're keeping up with times. All right, West Park, another very active park, very popular park, opened in 2009. Um, it's a multi multi-purpose park. Um, we have three youth baseball fields, baseball, softball that we combined. We have one full-size field. We have four full-size soccer, football, lacrosse fields. Primarily football and lacrosse that is played out there. We do

have some soccer with West Craven High School, but primarily it's football and soccer that plays out there. Six tennis courts that are used by West Craven High School and then also just by the public in general. Outdoor fitness equipment, which has become very popular. Soon as we put that out there, we're seeing a lot of folks rehabbing using that equipment along with the 1/4 mile track. It's been very, very well received, and we're excited about that. Got a picnic shelter and a playground that was just built. uh playground that was just built two years ago. We have a driving range. We've just recently installed a 18hole disc golf course that the Craven Chains and Fairway disc host some tournaments between Creek Side and West Craven out there and excited. We have six new pickleball courts out there that are being used very often. Uh some of the youth groups we have out there, we have a new baseball league, the West Raven Tar Hill Little League group of locals that have put a youth league together, t-ball, minor league, major league, and potential to add some softball in the future. Uh West Raven Eagles youth football, the Jaguars play Craven Jaguars play their football games there as well. Um West Craven High School soccer and tennis also practice and play their games out there. This year we are adding the East Carolina Adult Baseball League who has played at our fields for a little while. Played at Caper Park with City of New for a little while. Excited they're going to make our their home field out at West Caven uh Park starting this weekend. Actually doing some shrink training games out there. We just lit those which I'll talk about in a second. So excited to offer that for everybody. All right. Capital projects over the last five years. Um kind of mentioned it throughout. We've constructed some new swing sets that we built indoor uh in-house. Our guys built those. Um we've got new security cameras out there. New lights on the football lacrosse field that has gives us three lit football, soccer, lacrosse fields out there. Um been very well used. Um we can host big events and have practices any time of the year. New playground which is right up there in the top left. I believe we

have the tallest slide in Craven County. I can't say that for sure, but it's it's certainly right up there. It's a fun one. It's caged up. A lot of spins and and kids have enjoyed that. Um, two new beach volleyball courts. Um, again, another popular attraction that we did not see, you know, 10, 15 years ago, but once we built the eight at Creek Side, we saw the popularity and built two out there. We've seen that as well. Again, 18 old disc golf course, six new pickle ball courts, um, new lights on baseball field three, which is one that was approved in the budget. Those just got installed late November. So, we have not actually used those for any events this year and ECBL will be the first team that will use those here in a couple of weeks. Um, again, new football, new outdoor fitness equipment and we've played the truck, mower, and the field room. Rocky Run Park, smallest park, but um still giving it some love. Uh it's a 5 acre neighborhood park on the way to Riverbin just on the right hand side. Um it is one we have enjoyed seeing the growth in. Again had some good capital projects with work from from you guys that that have helped fund some of these things. Um got a fullcourt basketball court, glass backboards there. We've just redone the picnic shelter, added a new um parking lot over there. So we have two parking lots over there. uh new playground structure which you can see in the back. What you don't see is a new shade structure that's right beside that. I need to update the pictures on that. Um also work with community to add a new chest table right by the um by the shelter. It's been very well received as well. All right. Lake and White Nature Park. Beautiful spot um on the way towards Fairfield Harbor off Broad Creek Road. Opened up in 2011. That was a partnership with Kushland Land Trust. Similar to what we're doing with the

Craraven County Nature Park, 133 acres of preserve, pristine land. Um, any time of the day, if the sun is out, you're going to see folks out there walking. Um, we certainly heavy heavy heavy use in the spring and the fall, summer, the bugs may take you away, but most of the time it's it's a fun walk and we see a lot of folks in there. Um 20,000 foot dock overlooking Broad Creek with observation area, fishing sections, canoe, kayak, launch. Um we have trails throughout the uh throughout the park. Gazebo on the main trail as well as off of the parking lot. All right, Craraven County Nature Park. Give you a little update. We talked about it a little bit earlier. Uh 176 acres. So the bottom right uh the bottom red line is County Line Road. The longer one on the left hand side is the red is old airport road. Um construction got underway in December. Um we are we are getting there. It took a while, but now that we're starting to see some momentum, um I I certainly feel it uh going going well. Now um this will end up featuring three miles of nature trails. and H trails are in the blue on the bottom right right there and also at the very tip uh going up to Bryce's Creek. The green will be the biking trails and then we will also have access, you can see a little green um kayak launch right there at the top left of that property. These are the parking lots that have been cleared. Uh so the one on the left is off of Old Airport Road. Again, that's just past the bridge before you get to Blue Water Rise. Um, that will house the entrance to the bike trails and the kayak access. The one on the bottom right is off Old Airport Road. Again, that's where we foresee the main

hub of activity that will lead you into our walking trails, restroom area, shelter, and larger parking area. Quick question. Um it's okay if the chairman um I know when the coastal land trust donated this there's some limitations on development right correct like that would include lighting and other things or no lighting I'm not sure on but uh paid parking lots um permanent structures the the restroom is one that we do have the shelter we do have but there are some some deed restrictions which it'll be it's the same thing we dealt with with um the like the white so it'll be similar in that in that regard. It coast that was a coast land trust project.

Made me think that earlier when Commissioner Hunt brought up that I was thinking could we do that? I didn't know the answer to the question. So lighting has not really been brought up. We don't have lights out at Lake and White as well, but it's the same time frame. Okay. Gotcha.

Um and the uh the restrooms will run on solar, so we will not have to have anything as far as that goes. So, all right. So, next steps. Uh as I mentioned, the uh utilities were installed today. As a matter of fact, uh should finish up tomorrow. Rain pushed us back a little bit. Snow pushed us back a little bit, but we're we're we're in good ground as far as that goes. Um speaking with the county engineer, we're going to put bids out for uh the parking lot grading and sidewalks. Hopefully that will come out this week, if not early next week. Spoke with the installer today. I actually have up there the restrooms in March, but it's actually going to be mid to late April before that's going to come in. Um we will then go out for our bike and hiking trail um contractor spoken with our shelter contractor um also our doc talked with that um looking for all that to get done by summer of 2026. Um so there's there's movement along the way once we got it cleared the dominoes will start falling and we hope as the weather warms so will the work.

That is all I have. Anybody got any questions? I have a comment. Sure. Have it. Go ahead. No, you go first. The ladies first. Um, will people be able to kayak from Creekide to the new nature park and back again? Yes. Okay. So, it's a really neat aspect of it. So, um, Andrew is here. Andrew and Chris Horsinger, our program manager. When we first acquired this land, um, they paddled that and it's about a half day paddle. Um, and it's it's a really neat paddle. You'll see it's pretty all sorts of wildlife. We've seen a little bit of everything. I stumbled upon a gator every one of my walks through through there. Um and uh

so when the um kayak rental kiosk is successful, we'll have to talk to them about maybe setting up some at the other nature park for bikes maybe. That has been discussed. It's a good idea. Yeah. I just want to commend your team for being responsive to my constituents concern over the road into LA and Whiters. Uh they submitted the complaint and it was done within some two days I think. So thank you very much and you're doing a great job. I appreciate that. Thank you. Other questions, comments? I have a copy. Yes, ma'am.

Um I congratulate you also on the on the good job you're doing. And I'd like to mention that in the city of Newburn, we have two small areas that um that your group has helped a little bit with. And that one is Samson Park. Samson Park has not received funds, but uh the county manager has gotten together with the city manager to to look at some things that they can do in kind services to Samson Park. and the same for the Pimbrook Park. So, we appreciate that and I think our citizens need to know that as well. Do anything we can to help.

Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Any others, Mark? Thank you for coming. Appreciate what you're doing and uh good stuff. We are again blessed in this county with wonderful parks and uh we appreciate it.

Thank you'all for all your support. Y'all have a good appointments under pending. We have the Craraven Aging Planning Board, NC Senior Tarheel Rep. We have the Craven County Clean Sweep Committee with two vacancies. Craraven County Prevention Council, Crime Prevention Council under 21 and Volunteer Agriculture District.

Mr. Chairman, uh under uh volunteer agriculture district, we've had a vacancy for quite some time. I'd like to uh nominate Miss Marjorie Gonzalez for it. Are there any other nominations for that position? Hearing none, we will approve her by acclamation. Excuse me. Under current adult care home advisory committee, breath powers received necessary state certification and seeks appointment to fill the seat vacated by Caramel George for health reasons. Do I have a nomination for breath powers?

I'll nominate breath powers. Okay. And are there any other nominations? Hearing none, she will be approved by acclamation. Next is the emergency medical services advisory council. Nathan Awalt seeks appointment to the seat vacated by Bill Smith as recommended uh EMS provider private friendly medical transport. Uh, do I have a nomination for Mr. Nathan Awalt? I'll nominate Nathan Awalt.

Okay. Are there any other nominations? Hearing none, Mr. Nathan Awalt will be appointed by acclamation. Lydia Monet seeks appointment to fill the seat vacated by CJ Hill as recommended EMS provider, Cove City Rescue. Uh, do I have a nomination for Lydia Monette? Mr. Chairman, I nominate Miss Manette. Okay. Do I have any other nominations? Hearing none, she will be appointed by acclamation. And Tony Fiser seeks reappoint emergency medical dispatch Havlock communication. Do I have a nomination for Tony Fiser? I would nominate Tony Fiser.

Do I hear any other nominations? If not, she he he will be appointed by acclamation. Thank you. Fire Tax Commissioners Board Chad Braxton seeks appointment to fill his vacancy due to the recent passing of board member Alan Gaskins. M Township One Vansboro Fire. Mr. Chairman, I nominate Mayor Chad Braxton to the Township One Vanceboro Fire.

Are there any other nominations? Hearing none, Mr. Braxton will be appointed by acclamation. Last but not least, Marissa Byer seeks reappoint as to the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council. Do I hear a nomination for Miss Byer? Mr. Chair, I'd nominate Melissa Byer.

Are there any other nominations? Hearing none, Marissa Marissa Byer will be reappointed by acclamation. We have no upcoming appointments at this time. Item number 13, county attorney's report. Mr. Chairman, commissioners, good evening. I have three items for your consideration this evening. All three involve the sale of county owned surplus property acquired through the tax foreclosure process. The first partial parcel is an initial offer to purchase for property located at 1428 Lincoln Street. It is within the city of Newurn with a parcel ID number of 8 013055. The offer amount is $4,250. The original past due taxes and cost of foreclosure together were $2,558.19. The tax value of the property is $8,500. Um, we do own this jointly with the city of Newburn, which has already given its initial approval uh to this offer. I would suggest that the board consider doing likewise so we can put it out for upset bids.

Move to approve. Second. Motion in a second. Madam clerk, call the role. Please. Commissioner Mason, I. Commissioner Mitchell, yes. Commissioner Smith, yes. Commissioner Howard, yes. Commissioner Hunt, yes. Vice Chairman Jones, yes. Yes. Item B, initial offer to purchase real property 615 1st Avenue.

Yes, sir. Also located within the city of Newburn with a parcel ID number of 8012205. We've got an offer amount of $2,700. Um the original passes and cost of foreclosure at least as listed in the original deed from 2003 were $388.96. Um, we believe that may not be accurate, but the actual number has been lost to history, as I would call it. The tax value of the property is $5,400. We do owe own this jointly with the city of Newburn, which has already given uh its initial approval. I would suggest the board consider doing likewise. Motion to approve.

Second. Okay, we have a motion to second. Call RO, please. Commissioner Mason, I. Commissioner Mitchell, yes. Yes. Commissioner Smith, yes. Commissioner Howard, yes. Commissioner Hunt, yes. Vice Chairman Jones, yes. Chairman Booker, yes. Third item, initial offer of purchase real property, 1205 Mechanic Street.

Yes, sir. Also located within the city of Newburn with a parcel ID number of 8 014318. We've got an initial offer amount of $3,000. The original past due taxes and cost of the tax foreclosure totaled $4,5558. The tax value of this property is $6,000. We do own it jointly with the city of Newurn which has already given its initial approval and I would suggest the board consider doing likewise. Okay. Now I have a motion. So move second. Motion and a second. Adam Carter. Commissioner Mason. I. Commissioner Mitchell, yes. Commissioner Smith, yes. Commissioner Howard, yes.

Commissioner Hunt, yes. Chairman Jones, yes. Yes. That concludes my report. Thank you, sir. Yes, sir. Item number 14, petition of citizens. Mr. Chairman, we've had uh three citizens to sign up this evening. The first is Mr. Ray Griffin. Hey, and God bless you. Ray Griffin, 1981 street. Did I hear right when I heard in the name of Jesus? Was that right? Uh Jason, on your letter I signed in right there. Um and it says under uh what we're going to say. Can you read what is it said there? Nothing is impossible with God.

I wrote that the night before we came in. Nothing is impossible with God if we work on it. Uh years ago, some of you remember Pete Bland. He was chairman here in 2001 when we petitioned to put in the ten commandments. Pete said we could not do it. Uh Jimmy Hicks was here. Suggs was here. Law said we cannot do it. And anyhow turned around Pete said no need for you to come back. We can't do it. We went on for about a year. I said Pete we can do it. This law has been passed. We can't do it. Pete said we can't do it. And Pete said no need for you to come back anymore. By a month or two later, I was sitting in Verd and who came in? Pete came in and sat down and said, "Brother Ray, we're going to put those ten commandments up." So, don't say we can't do something when nothing is impossible with God. I wrote that tonight before we even came in here. I put it on that list. So, if if it worked out, what I'm saying is keep up good. I've heard a lot of good things tonight. Parks and recreation. our our world is the Osprey is going to hell on a hand basket. Kids need a good education. They need places to go, things to do other than run up and down the roads and different things. But like I said, God's still in control. But like I said, Pete came in that day and that is called the Democratic uh headquarters there. But at that point in time, Lee Kay Allen uh there were several Republicans and um McCabe and all them here. Samson was here. It was a divided it was divided up with Democrats and Republicans and they decided to put those ten commandments up. Nothing is impossible with God. So just remember that and thank God for what God is doing. Praise God that maybe America will get back to some general standards, some good standards, and we can have some peace. The Bible says that we'll never have peace until Jerusalem. Uh

pray for Jerusalem to have peace when they come back and sets up his throne in Jerusalem. then we'll have peace. But until then, we're going to have to survive. But anyhow, God bless you. I appreciate it. And and you keep up the good work. And I hope this is not just a one time thing. It will last forever and ever. Amen. But remember, nothing's impossible with God. Keep that sheet and remember. Amen.

Mr. Chairman, our next citizen is Mr. David French. I'm David French104 Johnson 1,44 481 number of days from Hurricane Florence in 2018 to when cousin Marian passed away in 2022 never returning home due to the absolute fraud of Roy Cooper and Josh Stein over four long years 2712 number of days that I have been out of my home over seven years 11,654 Four number of people who applied for the rebuild NC help 3522 number of people supposedly helped about 30% have issues with the quality of work 8,132 number of people not helped of which I am one.3 billion taxpayer funds mismanaged by inor rebuild NC HUD 316 number of days it took rebuild NC to respond to my valid appeal they were required to respond within 15 calendar days 144 number number of pages of Rebuild NC's response to my valid appeal research written by at least three state of North Carolina uh taxpayer funded attorneys. Zero number of attorneys that I have two number of North Carolina elected officials and staff who have helped us. Craven County Commissioner Jason Jones who is not even my representative and Craven County planner Chad Strong. Two, number of ENC candidates helping us. Colonel retired Lori Buck, Republican candidate candidate for US House NC1. Angela Umpre, NC State Libertarian candidate for NC House 3, 105,000 amount of fines that the city of New has assessed against cousin Maryanne, a stroke and hurricane survivor, and now me instead of helping us get back home years ago. This is the absolute failure of former mayor outlaw and present mayor Odum. At least three. The number of times that Rebuildn has been given the

information that proves that I own my home. Zero. the number of elected officials holding Rebuildn accountable. Roy Cooper has committed crimes against humanity. Josh Stein said he doesn't have time to meet with the hurricane flood survivors of the VNC. Eddie Buffalo, Laura Hog said, Prior Gibson, Matthew Arland, Richard Trumper. Why have they not been investigated? Greg Murphy, Steve Tyson, and Bob Brinson refused to fight for us. Will not even sit down with me to get me back home. Dave Bullet lied under oath about the rebuild NC fraud. Denny Booker, my Craven County Commissioner, said it's not his job. We must stop sending billions to foreign countries. We got to help the people here at home. Will you please help us? My prayers are for ENC and WNC. I will keep my family home. I will keep my temporary apartment. I will keep my family belongings in storage. Incorrect HUD will fulfill my signed contract and will pay the back and future siphon and storage until I'm back in my completed home. The Lord is our shepherd. We shall not want. I will not yield. What do y'all have to say? This is a crisis in Eastern North Carolina.

What do you have to say? We don't respond to speakers at at this time. And I would like to call you out on that because you responded. You responded when it was about a trailer park next to your people. I call you out for being a hypocrite. Sir, your time is up. I call you out for being a hypocrite. You're concerned about you, but you're not concerned about the 8,000 people are not home. Your time is up. Shame on you. Mr. Chairman, our next citizen is Mr. Tom Glasco.

Good evening. Uh Tom Glasco, 105 Lookout Lane, excuse me. In 2005, a Craraven County resident appeared in Superior Court to answer charges of a noise ordinance violation. The individual had accumulated well over 60 dogs in her backyard in a subdivision near West Craven High School. So, we have extreme noise. The ordinance is enforced. It's not complicated. But when a large number of dogs in outdoor kennels began to accumulate on land adjacent to our neighborhood in 2007, there was no enforcement of anything. These were hunting dogs. It shouldn't matter regardless of who owns the dogs or what sort of dogs they are. Family pet, hunting dogs, beagles, hyenas, werewolves, whatever shouldn't matter. But that's not how things were handled. Despite years of complaints from numerous individuals, nothing was done until 2015 when the board revised the ordinance to elevate noise violations from civil to misdemeanor so as to resolve a nightclub issue at the same time excluding domesticated animals. That was a win for a minority of dog owners, but it continues to tie the hands of people dealing with extreme and chronic animal noise. Today, according to my research, only three or four out of 44 counties in eastern North Carolina definitely do not have a noise ordinance. Another four or five appear to have noise ordinances, but the content is unclear or contradictory.

34 counties have noise ordinances that include barking dogs. Only Craraven and one other county explicitly exclude dogs and/or domesticated animals. I'm a dog owner myself, but my right to own one dog or 10 dogs does not nullify the privacy rights of the people around me. I'm just not that big of a deal. But neither is anyone else. If this was 19th century Alaska and people relied on dogs for transportation, then dog barking would not be a an issue. But Craraven County is not 19th century Alaska and there are times when something needs to be done. The current ordinance ignores that reality and should be revisited. Barking dogs should be included in the Craraven County noise ordinance as they are in the great majority of eastern NC counties that had noise ordinances. Thanks for your time.

That's it, Mr. Thank you. Um, okay. Item number 15, Craven County Manager Report. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, commissioners. Appreciate the time tonight. I want to start with a recognition. A really important milestone was achieved uh Friday and that was our clerk. Abigail Wilson is now a North Carolina certified clerk. She put in the hard work and uh is doing a really great job and I'm really proud of Abigail for that achievement. Um just an update on a couple things some of them mentioned earlier so I won't go into detail. um did attend the Chassworth ribbon cutting. I agree with everything Chairman Booker said. What a great day. Great investment here in Craven County for that. Look forward to some additional ribbon cutings in the near future. Uh I was able to attend a visit from the lieutenant governor last week to Craven Community College in Havlock. She was focused on workforce development. It again reminded me of the really neat things that we're able to do through our community college system, particularly train the workforce for military related things in aviation and havlock. I was equally impressed with the NC State students there. What an asset to have a campus of NC State on uh Eastern Craven County. Uh I saw a lot of room to grow. Really, really great programs down there. Also, uh many of you noted there was some snow here. That was the one time every 20 years we're going to have a snowstorm like that. I'll say that. We'll get it next week. So, I'm going to jinx myself. But I do want to thank the uh essential Craven County employees that no matter the amount of snow, the amount of wind, the amount of rain, they're out there doing their job. Sheriff's Office, communication, hospice, animal shelter, maintenance folks. I mean, really, they uh make a difference. And I know Sheriff Hughes had his crew out and talked to him quite often about it. Uh I really want to thank our maintenance team. They really got on top of everything. We were to open Wednesday. If you'd have told me Saturday when I thought we'd open, I'd

say Friday, but um a little sun and a little warmer temperature helped us out there. So again, thanks to those folks. Also attended with Jeff Wood. Uh we hosted a contingent from the Southeast Economic Development Partnership. We met with Jones County. Some really interesting opportunities out there. It was great to see uh sort of how we can partner with them. Look forward to briefing the board on things like that in the future. Other than that, Mr. Chairman, I'm I'm here for questions if anybody has them or comments. questions for the county manager? No, we do have a closed session on the agenda and the attorney once we get to that point, we'll take you in on the citation. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Um, next report would be the commissioner's report. Who would like to go first? Mrs. Hunt.

Okay. Um, parks and wreck. Uh, parks and wreck are really important to me because they're important to everybody. Parks and Wreck is I don't want to go on and on, but it's health care. It's mental health care and and we're at the point now where we know that mental health care is healthcare, right? So, everything you're doing out there is needed and appreciated and um I'm going to continue to support all of those um projects. Um Mr. core. Um, I supported your proposal tonight because I believe those documents that you're going to scan correctly will have impactful meaning to the residents in district 5 that are south of Havlock. And so I appreciate that. I do understand where Miss B is coming from. So we can have some further discussion about that as well. But that's why I supported that um proposal you brought before the board tonight. um take a moment to um brag on my Harlo volunteer um auxiliary again. Their chili sale was extremely successful. I thank all of those members and for all that hard work that they put into that to raise funds to buy items that the firehouse would like to have to make their jobs more successful, keeping fires to minimum and putting them out as quickly as possible. Additionally, that same auxiliary held a blood drive yesterday and their goal was 19 donors. They had 26 donors. So, I thank everybody in that auxiliary and I thank all those donors that have saved multiple lives by taking two hours out of their day on Valentine's Day to save other people's lives. That's very, very impactful. And if you haven't donated blood recently, I would highly encourage you to donate. with the snow that most of the state of North Carolina got because it wasn't just east coast, it was west coast, too. Many, many blood drives were cancelled because of that.

So, if you have not, please look up Red Cross blood drives. They're all over Craraven County. And give some blood, please. Um, and lastly, I want to say, um, we lost I lost two great American patriots. Um, as we were sitting here, I got notification that my uncle Red Daisy passed away. Great American patriot. I ask that you pray for his family. Yesterday, another great American patriot passed away in Craven County that most of us know, a very good man, um, former Craraven County GOP chair Rick Hopkins passed away very unexpected. And I would ask that you pray for his family to lift them up and support them as they um transition to their new life without someone so such a good man. And that's all I have. Mr. Ch.

Okay. Mr. Smith, do you have anything?

I do. First of all, I'd like to say I to our register of D what I what I'm saying is is not to I'm not trying to say anything negative about you and your process. But I've I have been I have lived for quite a long time. When you when you live eight or more years, you know, you've been around for a while. And I have seen through these years many times when black history, black interest has been denied, pushed aside and eliminated. I have um had my personal libraries at schools when we asked to update the library and a lot of the black books when you go when you go in those books have been taken out, thrown away, you know. So it depends on who's doing the job and what they appreciate and I understand that and so it's what I'm saying is not an indictment against you but I know what happens and so I'm asking you and whoever else a part of that that when we are updating that we're careful to remember the history not just of the black people of anyone because sometimes just someone saying that John Brown had 10 sisters or two brothers. When we are trying to find who we are, that helps us to know who we are. When you don't have that that continuous line that you can follow, it helps us to find ourselves and that's important. The other thing I'd like to say tonight is this month is Black History Month. So, and we are having a parade on Saturday. We've had already several activities and continue to have more. And uh I would appreciate it if you would take part or

just watch. Uh I plan if I'm well enough to be in the parade, look forward to it. And I do thank all of you for what you do. And I'm not trying to, as I said again, make an indictment against anyone, but I think it's important that we understand that who we are and where we come from is important. And sometimes it takes a little more effort to to remember that, but uh let's do that. Thank you.

Um I'll just quickly echo what Commissioner Hunt said about Hopkins family. M prayers to an Melissa, Melanie, and the rest of the Hopkins family. Rick and I have been friends for a long time. I recruited them into many things. Uh same with him, recruited me into some things. uh getting involved in different activities and events. Um I'll miss him. Uh so if you get a chance to talk to Ann or Melissa or Melanie or any other member of family, do that. Um that's all I have. Nothing to report. Nothing to I have nothing to report. Do I have a motion to go into close session? So moved. Second. Second.

You want to tell us the uh Yes. Yes, sir. Mr. chairman pursuant to North Carolina General Statute 143 318 111 A7. Okay. All in favor? I opposed. Okay. We're in close session. Thank you everybody for being here tonight.