Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Commissioner's regular session, April 20th. Call the meeting to order. Madame clerk, roll call, please. Commissioner Hunt, yes. Commissioner Mason, yes. Commissioner Mitchell, yes. Commissioner Smith, yes. Commissioner Howard, yes. Vice Chairman Jones, here. Chairman Booker, yes. We're going to do the pledge of allegiance, but before we do that, the county attorney is going to uh give us our prayer for the day.

Gracious God, we give thanks for the goodness of this county and for the commissioners who offer themselves in service to lead our county. Bless, guide, and protect them along with their families and all who serve this county. Grant them strength, courage, and resilience as they face the challenges before them and help them to make wise decisions for the wellbeing of our people. Keep this county ever under your care. Amen. Amen.

I pledge algiance 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. We welcome you all this morning. We have several guests, but we have two special guests here from Leadership Craraven. And if you're not familiar, it's a organization that every year um invites a group of uh I will say young. How's that? Young

to us. upandcoming cravenites who are uh uh going from organization to organization to learn how this county functions. So uh if you would stand and give your name and your organization. I'm Ashley Cutler. I'm the assistant manager of nursing resource. Welcome. I'm David Royals. I'm a vice president also with Caroline East. Well, thank you. Welcome. Welcome. Okay. Next item on the agenda is the agenda. Commissioners, you've all had a copy. Uh, do I have a motion to approve the agenda? Motion to approve.

Second, Madam Cler. Yes. Commissioner Mason, yes. Commissioner Mitchell, yes. Commissioner Smith, yes. Commissioner Howard, yes. Vice Chairman Jones, yes. Chairman Booker, yes. Next item on the uh agenda is the consent agenda. There are four items on it. The minutes from the April 6 regular session, tax releases and refunds, emergency services, a volunteer fireman's insurance service budget amendment and a donation to be 2526 budget for the senior center budget amendment. Um could I have a role? Do I have a motion to approve that consent agenda?

So move. Second. Have a roll call, please. Commissioner Hunt, yes. Commissioner Mason, yes. Commissioner Mitchell, yes. Commissioner Smith, yes. Commissioner Howard, yes. Vice Chairman Jones, yes. Chairman Booker. Okay. Item number two, departmental items. Uh, number one is the airport. Mr. Andrew Sharter. Shortter. Andy. Good morning. Morning, Mr. Chairman. Good morning. uh here today uh once again I guess uh to have you uh review and uh approve a or accept the FA grant agreement. It's uh for the amount of 1,200

$213,700.

Yes, sir. You got about right. Um this grant was a competitive grant from the FAA. It's called a uh FCT grant. FCT for us means federal contract tower. So our air traffic control tower at the airport is run by FAA contracted employees. So the airport owns the tower and actually every piece of gear inside of it. And then the FAA supplies the contractors to provide the air traffic control services. They do that 7 days a week, 365 days a year between 6:00 a.m. and 1000 p.m. Um, so we're very fortunate for that. There's six contract towers in the state out of all the um air traffic control towers. So we are but one of six and and that's a very costefficient um service for the FAA. the one time removed the the budget problems getting people paid in the FAA. You heard the FA was or the contract the tower operators were involved in that. But ours were not because of course they're being paid under contract which was paid at a different time. So that's one side benefit if that should ever happen again. What I wanted to do is uh can you do the next slide too? So this is a quick orientation. If you see in the upper right quadrant uh the little red circle, that's where the current tower is. So if you know where the fixed space operator is, where the aircraft on what we call the general aviation side come in and out for gas and things. That's where the control tower is and you can see a picture of it there. It was built in 1974, so it's getting to be a little bit long in the tooth. Um probably reaching the end of its useful life. And what we've done previous to this is under FAA uh opices was to do a site study. So that's the first step required before replacing a tower. So they come in, they

survey all the sites on the airport where a tower may go. They set up a uh virtual reality system in a room about this size and have the controller stand in there with a VR headset and then look around from these different spots that they're thinking about using to uh place the tower. So what they've selected if you go across down into the left the red circle that's where the new tower uh will be located. Uh and then also just this is our master plan and you can see number 19 on the list of the master plan which was approved by the FAA in 2018 is air traffic control tower. So it's circled there in the lower uh lefthand corner from phase 2 projects 6 to 10 years. So, we're kind of on timeline to replace this in accordance with the master plan. Next slide. Uh, this is our corporate aerospace development area. Uh, where we built the road in, we put sewer in, we've had the leie um rent it for or the less or leie rent it for 55 acres of it. But you can see in the upper right hand corner of that that same red circle is where the tower. So, we preserve some property uh within that area to put the new air traffic control tower. And it'll be good because the road leading in when the development is done, we'll use share that same road. So, there's a little bit of um economy and scale there to to be able to use the same road. Next slide.

Um Andy, I don't have pilot size. Could you go back? The is the road in the red and green to the right just south of the circle where the correct tower the road's kind of a gray color in between that red line and the green. So the green is the water line, the red is a fence line. Okay, and then or actually the property line and then the gray is the the road. Okay, thank you. Yes, ma'am. Next slide.

All right, so and this is just a real world picture of that. So, um, there used to be trees there, but now it gives you some sense of where we are on clearing that area for the development area as well. They're hard at work now. And the just to the left of that circle is where the first apron's going in and the first building will be constructed under FMR Aeronauticals um, investment. All right, next slide. And this is just the last one. If you hadn't been over the terminal lately, that was a finally piece that we did was the new ticket counter. As you can see, that's a backlit display behind there. There's one of the TDA's pictures from across the water downtown. It's uh pretty impressive in person. My camera didn't do it justice, but uh after three and a half years, we can say we're done with that uh terminal project and we're just closing out the grants. Ended up being a $34 million project paid for by FAA grants and state grants. Good thing even about the FAA grants, if you don't fly, you weren't paying it because it comes from ticket fees. Um so we're very proud to have done that um uh on time even though it was three and a half years, a little bit under budget and um with those helpful grants between the state and the federal government.

That's it. Okay. So we we need that approved or accepted and approved. Uh board, we're being asked to approve the following uh that's excuse me. We're being asked to approve and execute the FAA grant in the amount of 1,213,700. Do I have a motion to approve? Some moved. Second. Have a motion and a second. Madam clerk, call the role, please. Commissioner Hunt, yes. Commissioner Mason, yes. Commissioner Mitchell, yes. Commissioner Smith, yes. Commissioner Howard, yes. Vice Chairman Jones. Yes. Chairman Booker. Yes. Uh, anybody have any questions for I had a question. Just for clarification. Um,

what do you think the to the tower relocation rebuild? I know that Greensboro was like 40 to 60 million when they did theirs. What is our total looking like in the long run?

Yes, very good question. And it won't be that much. Uh, the initial engineers estimates were 11.5 million. And interestingly enough, two weeks ago, the FAA office that we work with uh called down and said, "Hey, what do you think the estimate is for that?" And lo and behold, two days later, the president's budget had uh a specific emphasis on air traffic control part of the budget and they increased that part of the budget. So that's where even though air traffic control towers don't take a huge priority normally in the FAA prioritization of their budget, that's gathering steam right now as you've seen in the media. There's a lot of things about air traffic control. So we think we're hitting this at the right time. The intent is to get this design uh done. You know, we say put it on the shelf and then it'll be probably some type of competitive process to get that grant. and we think we're, you know, sitting in the perfect zone for that to happen over the next few years.

Perfect. Thank you, Mr. Smith. I have I have a comment. I've observed that Ellis in Jacksonville is giving you some competition with that uh uh commercial advertisement. They're advertising their airport now in our area. with um digital advertisements, what used to be, you know, the zone where you would put a billboard and things is a less defined now. So, we did the same in their area. Um they had doing it on TV.

We've uh run TV campaigns uh probably two years ago. We we hit that pretty hard when Breeze came into town, but we backed off on to the purely digital and we see that, you know, more using a sniper rifle than the shotgun that the TV is. But we're looking back at TV. However, if you do notice as you if you're coming up 70 before you make the turn off to go over the bridge, we have a nice billboard there for for Breeze. So, uh we're always working that. Thank you for that comment. We're always keeping in touch with each each other. Uh I call it our coopetition. So, we we cooperate with them when we can. We share resources when we can, but we certainly do like to compete with them as well. Vice Chair,

at our last airport meeting, uh, Miss Shter gave the board a, uh, detailed summary of projects that have occurred in the last few years. And just a shout out to him, um, over $50 million in projects and he's got over 95% of that funded through grants. And, uh, I mean, it may even be a little bit more than that, but um, and I think you were talking about you could add another 10 million projected to that summary sheet. and uh we're still at that. So, a lot of investment made at our airport that uh taxpayers paid for it, but it it came from other sources other than having to come from local. So, where not local taxes,

that's money we sent to Washington that they sent back, right? That's right. Yes, sir. They don't have any money in Washington. They only have our money that we send to them and then they send a little back. Uh, one quick question uh from me and that is the road that we've talked about moving so that we can expand the runway. Where do we stand on that one?

We're in the design phase of by moving that road, it creates a larger area for a runway safety area. So, we're designing that now and then our grant this year, the FA grant, we will have the money for the actual road design part of it. Even though we have a preliminary design done when the environmental uh portions were done, uh we have to obviously do the formal road design. So that'll kind of be done this year and then we'll look at the FAA for our project next year to uh get the additional funding to do the runway safety area and of course we already have the funding for the road from the state. So uh next year hopefully we'll start uh you know putting shovels in the ground, moving dirt and uh getting that

Yeah. for everybody's information that will allow us to bring in larger airplanes than we can bring in today because it will in effect it'll expand the length of the runway. Not actually the runway actually but the safety area at the back of the runway. Yes, sir. Which artificially limits the length of the runway for that. So, good news on that. We'll move forward. Anybody have anything else for Mr. Shore? Thank you for coming today. All right. Thank you. Appreciate it. Item number three, carts approval of various amended policies. Deanna Tre Treble. Deiana's a a regular here. She's frequent flyer.

Yes. Good morning. On February 10th of 2026, the North Carolina Department of Transportation and Integrated Mobility Division issued a new procurement policy template for transit providers to adopt by May 10th of this year. This new template meets current federal and state requirements. Additionally, the drug and alcohol testing policy is being amended to reflect the transportation director is now the drug and alcohol program manager. Other than some formatting for both, nothing else has changed. Um, and I stand ready to answer any questions you might have. Anybody have any questions? I have a motion to approve. Motion to approve. Second. Second.

Motion in a second. All in favor? Opposed? Motion passes. Thank you, Diana. I have a comment because I've been I I hear from some folk that ride and they're very pleased with what you're doing. Wonderful. So glad to hear that. Thank you for sharing. Item number four, facilities. Mr. Hodgeges going to spend some time with us this morning.

Good morning, board. Good morning. Um, good morning.

First item we're going to talk about, we're going to talk about the Sudan property redevelopment project. On June 16th, the board of June 16th, 2025, the board of commissioners approved a budget amendment and authorized execution of agreements with Barneal Contracting Company to begin pre-construction activities related to the Sudan Property Redevelopment Project. Since that time, a considerable amount of planning, surveying, design, and permitting activities have been conducted. Bid packages were developed and bids solicited from qualified biders. On March 24th, 26, all bid packages were open and reviewed. After condu after conducting a scope review with all the apparent low biders, Barnhill was able to provide a guaranteed maximum price or also called GMP of 2,841,494. Uh the information was attached in your agenda. This part of the project includes the demolition of the existing structure, salvage and restoration of particular commemorative portions of the building as required by the historic preservation commission and the construction and restoration of the parking facility that will be used by Craven County government and the court system. As designed when completed, this project will result in 213 parking spaces to be used for these mandated critical functions. In addition to the amount listed above, staff has identified $169,000 in items that are needed by facilities department that are outside of Barnhill scope. These include cameras and related infrastructure for the new parking facility, signage and special inspections, and $44,000 to rent the city of Newurn parking lot at the corner of Pollock and Craven Street for temporary parking for 115 days. Altogether, this phase of the project is budgeted at 3,003,95,494, which includes an $85,000 contingency. To proceed, staff is recommending approval of the attached project ordinance amendment, a related budget amendments the amount of $6,190,988

and a reimbursement resolution. This budget amendment also budgets the transfer between funds. Thus, the amount appears doubled. along with the project and budget amendments and reimbursement resolutions. Staff requesting authorization for the county manager to execute all necessary agreements to begin this phase of the project. Okay, a lot of information. We're being asked to approve the ordinance budget amendment and reimbursement resolution to authorize our staff to execute all necessary agreements with Barnhill to get this project rolling. Uh questions for Mr. Hajes, before we uh before I ask for an approval questions,

I just have a question about revision two where the total is $3,762,57. That's not the same as you've been showing for the cost of the the project. I'm just wondering what revision two is supposed to represent there. So, revision two is your So, that is your project ordinance. So, as we've mentioned in June, we created the project ordinance and then we also added money to the project at that time which included Barnhill's pre-construction fees and architectural fees related to this project. So, that's why now what you're seeing is the is encompassing the entire construction cost up to this including what we had previously been approved. Okay.

Yes, sir. Any other questions? Mr. Chairman. Yes. Uh, can I just add Miss I'll just add something to the record, please. Uh, Jean, could you confirm what the amount um that we're having to spend that was required by the Historic Preservation Commission to complete this project? Yes, sir. So, we asked the uh ask the contractor to go into the bid and talk to the um the biders um compliance with the HPC Historic Preservation Commission's uh requirements. There's $256,000 in these costs related to the HPC requirements of the retainage of certain artifacts for the building.

Those of you who don't know, HPC is the Historical Preservation Commission, also known as the Hysterical Preservation Commission. Um, so we had to spend over a quarter of a million dollars to get through that process of getting approval to do this project, approval to tear a building down and put build a parking lot. Yes, sir. Okay. Any other questions?

I just have a question. What are the artifacts that they're preserving? So, uh, there are certain things such as the door that is, uh, facing Broad Street. Um, preserving that door as it sits, um, which is going to require us to we reconfigure the parking lot to accommodate that. Saving a piece of granite over the door that faces the river to then place above that door frame. Um, salvage of the, uh, row iron fence and replacing that in certain areas. um and salvaging the beige bricks and creating a wall behind the statue that's there on the corner. Um so that's that's pretty much it in a nutshell is encapsulating all that because in the preservation that a lot of that work has to be done by hand. So then you then can't necessarily use a claw machine and start tearing the building down. You're going to have to start deconstructing a building versus demolishing a building.

And the statue on the corner will be maintained as well. Correct. Um, any other questions? I have would like a motion to approve. So moved. Second. Second. Madam clerk, would you call the role on this one, please? Commissioner Hunt. Yes. Commissioner Mason, yes. Commissioner Mitchell, yes. Commissioner Smith, yes. Commissioner Howard, yes. Vice Chairman Jones, yes. Chairman Ber, yes. Okay. My last question on this one, and um we all I'm sure I I get my share. I know cuz in my district questions about when we might start this project.

So, uh, after this meeting, we wanted to make sure we dotted the eyes and cross the tees. Barnhill will begin working with the contractors and getting all their contracts in place. The go live date of when you'll start seeing construction fencing, I've been told, is going to be June 8th. June 8th. Wow. I thought that day had never come, but it's coming. It'll come quickly. Okay. Any other questions on uh item A? Item B.

Uh second item that we've got is um the first um first steps in our Government Center East project. So for many years, Craraven County has been developing a project that has been given the name Government Center East due to plans that have been shared with the county. A future road winding project of Miller Boulevard uh in Havlock by North Carolina Department of Transportation will have a substantial impact on the C County Office Building located along that road. As a project was being developed in scope, the property located at 1208 East Main Street in Hlock came on the market for sale. After careful analysis by county staff and the design team at Oakland Collier Architects, it was determined that the property provided a better opportunity for the re for redevelopment by Craraven County than a groundup construction project. The benefits include significant parking capacity and reduced construction costs. The purchase of the property closed on December 30th, 2025. On February 16th, 2026, the board of board of commissioners endorsed the Craraven County capital improvement plan. The Government Center East was a part of the initial projects included in the CIP. At this time, the project consists of the purchase of the property at uh 12 at 1,252,242. Costs associated with securing the property after acquisition of $4,89 and an architect and engineering budget of $450,000. This totals 1,76,331. At this time, the board is being requested to approve the attached project ordinance and budget amendment in the amount of 3,412,662 that establishes this project and allow staff to proceed with further development. This budget amendment also budgets the transfer between funds. Thus, the amount appears doubled. To date, initial programmatic schematics have been developed and meetings have been conducted with Craven County Departments and State of North Carolina agencies that will utilize the facility. County engineering staff is developing the civil engineering designs in house. The goal is to have this project bid by

early summer. Okay. Do I have a motion to approve? Motion to approve. Second. Second.

Motion and a second. Questions for Mr. Hajes. Uh I have one question uh for the county manager. Uh Mr. Vite, could you articulate for the audience primarily what departments will be utilizing this building because it's not just the county. Yes, sir. Uh, Steve, you don't have that drawing, do you? Okay. Um, can you forward Is there any way you can forward that, Steve, real quick? I know I hate to use your phone. Okay. Anyway, so we got what's in the Miller Boulevard building now. So you have a magistrate, you have adult probation and parole, and you have a DMV office there, which is a full-size DMV office, and it was put there years ago because of the Marine Corps's presence and FRC's presence in Havlock, so they didn't have to take a long period of time off to come get their driver's license renewed. So you have those three state functions and then you have a portion of Mr. Merritt's here of our social services team that's there. So as we enter into the new facility, all those things will come over from Miller Boulevard along with a large flex space room which will now be the primary voting site, early voting site for Havlock. As many people are aware, we've bounced around probably four locations over the last six elections or so. And it'll also have flex space for other county uh departments or offices that want to come and and have some office hours or have a specific program they want to do. There are gene I believe two offices dedicated sort of as floating offices for those different departments and functions that want to want to have a footprint there.

Okay. It has and I think the greatest thing it has 150 parking spaces which is unique and one thing that pointed us to the building for elections and for other purposes it really meets that need. We think there's some additional testing that DMV can do there on site they can't do now. So it provides an advantage. I think that's related to motorcycle lensure and things like that. So good. Sounds like a winner. Anybody have any other comments or questions on this project? I'll make a comment. It's a Jack. It's a considerable savings compared to the plan that we had, plan A. So plan B is saving the taxpayers four or $5 million. You want me to speak to that a little bit?

Yeah. So initial, as the board members, we had identified a piece of land to have a new construction site. Estimates were around $10 million. As inflation was hitting, we were seen at 10 and a half1. We're able as Commissioner Howard just articulated to come in at about half of that. I think Jean I don't want to speak for you. I know bids are still there but we think in the four to five a.5 million range. Oh yeah. For construction cost. Construction cost. So we have some land we can sell now. Right. We have land we can sell and we were never going to be able to have the science building we have now nor the parking in the other site. It was going to be heavily restricted by a railroad line and and some other developments. So Okay. Commissioner Hunt.

Yes sir. I would like it noted that we are not growing local government. We're just moving some of the services that we already provide to a better to another location to make it easier access for our residents. Correct. Okay. Anything else? Madam clerk, could you call the role, please? Commissioner, excuse me. Commissioner Hunt. Yes. Commissioner Mason, yes. Commissioner Mitchell, yes. Commissioner Smith, yes. Commissioner Howard, yes. Vice Chairman Jones, yes. Chairman Booker, yes. Mr. Hodgees. Item number C.

All right, last item on the GAN show. Um, for many years, the US Department of Agriculture, USDA, has leased space within the Craraven County Agriculture Building located at 304 Industrial Drive, New. The space is used to house the local office of the Farm Service Agency, commonly known as FSA. This serves Craven and Carter County. The current lease term expires December 31, 2026. Craven County staff has worked with USDA staff in Raleigh to negotiate a new 5-year extension of the lease that will extend the agreement until December 31st, 2031. Under the new extension, USDA will continue to lease 2,983 ft of space for an annual amount of $86,57. The previous annual lease amount was $50,711 for the same square footage. Craven County values the services provided by the FSA to the citizens and local agriculture community and having them located along the soil and water and clo extension offices makes it convenient for Craven County citizens. The request is for the board of commissioners to approve the 5-year extension of USDA lease with Craven County for $86,57 per year. A copy of the lease renewal was included in the packets.

Okay. Motion to approve. Second. Motion and a second. All in favor? I I opposed. Motion passes. All right. Thank you. Item D, Mr. Zach Chennowith. Morning, board. Good morning.

The Riverfront Convention Center of Craraven County opened in 2000 with artwork as part of the original interior design of the facility. The facility was restored and remodeled in 2020 2021 after experiencing significant damage from Hurricane Florence. Some of the original artwork is no longer needed as part of the interior design of the remodeled facility. There are 11 prints from several artists that staff is requesting to transfer to the Craven Pamela Regional Library, Newurn branch. Newburn Craven County Library Management has identified specific locations for each piece should the transfer be approved. Craven County facilities staff will install the prints at the library. The board is being requested to approve the transfer of the attached 11 prints from the Riverfront Convention Center Craven County to the Craven Pamela Regional Library, Newurn branch. Staff is available for any questions.

Okay. Motion to approve. So moved. Second. Got a motion, a second. Questions for Mr. Chenn? Anybody? No questions. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. Thank you, board. Thank you.

Item number five, social services requesting additional funds for special assistance and the home 5215 program budget amendment. Mr. Jeffrey Merritt. Morning, Jeff. Good morning, chairman, commissioners, county manager. We come before you requesting additional funds for the payment of our individuals in our special assistance inh home program. Um we've given a write up related to the issue of these costs continuing to rise. Um and this is to ensure that the county um has money available for their portion of the cost. I'd be happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Okay. Questions for Mr. Mayor? We're asked to approve the budget amendment in the amount of 64,000 to cover the county's portion which is half of their special assistance inhome program. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Have a motion and a second. A roll call, please. Yes. Yes. Mitchell. Yes. Commissioner Smith. Yes. Commissioner Howard? Yes. Vice Chairman Jones? Yes. Chairman Booker? Yes. Thank you, Jeff. Thank you.

Under departmental matters, item number six, under finance, Mr. Craig Warren. Morning, Craig.

Good morning. Um, I have one item on the agenda for you this morning, and that is a uh a proposal to uh perform the county's annual audit contract for the uh fiscal year ending 2026. Uh the accounting firm uh Thompson Price Scott Adams Company and Company PA has submitted a proposal to conduct the county's annual audit for the fiscal year ending June 30th 2026. The proposed fee is $83,750 which represents an increase of $2,250 or 2.8% compared to last year's uh fee. Uh this fee will cover uh both the the the airport coast Carolina airport and the Craven County Tourism Development Authority will also be included as well and each will be revealed their respective shares of the audit once completed. So at this time I'm asking this board consider motion to approve.

Motion to approve. Second motion and a second. Questions uh on this item for Mr. Blair? Are there any? Uh, I have one sir. And how many years now does this make uh for Thompson Price, Scott Adams and company? I think we I believe we'd be hitting on that fourth or fifth year at some point. We've talked about this before. We need to think about a different provider. What are your thoughts on that?

Yeah, I mean, every so often you should go out there at least, you know, kind of make sure you get the right pricing and checked. um uh make sure we're getting to the charge market, you know, for the audit that we're doing. Um there is no requirement to do so, but it's always good practice to do so um you know, after several years. So there's um plenty of firms in the state, but they are um at this time we are shrinking the number of them that are available. They're out there. we would um in order to do that process, we would um probably get started a little bit um earlier in the year when we do decide that best year. So I don't you don't have any problem with this firm. I know they've done a good job, but at some point it's good to put a new set of eyes.

Yeah. If the if the board would like me to um certainly bring back I'd like to emphasize everything Chair Booker just said. It's not just about the pricing. It's about fresh eyes, new perspectives. Um people see things that get missed. Okay. Uh we have a motion and a second. All in favor? I oppose. Motion passes. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Okay. Number seven, Mr. Mark Seymour, recreation department. Morning, Mark.

Morning, Mr. Thank you for having me here today. Craven County continues to see growing interest in recreation opportunities, particularly within the Harllo community. The FY26 budget included funds to identify and purchase land in Harllo, the Harllo area for development of a new park. County staff evaluated several locations along Highway 101, identified a 50acre parcel owned by Warehouser as an ideal site. The property is situated between Harllo and the Havlock city limits. Future Park is planned to include multiple athletic fields, a playground, a shelter, walking trails. The department will pursue grant funding to support construction. The purchase price of the 50 acre commercial partial is $287,500. The board is requested to approve the contract and authorize the chairman, county manager, assistant county manager, clerk to the board of commissioners, andor the county attorney to take all actions necessary to accomplish the transactions contemplated by said contract, including but not limited to the execution and delivery of any and all documents which may be necessary for desirable outcome.

Okay. board. We're being asked to approve a contract and authorize staff to take actions to accomplish the transaction that he just went through and mentioned. U do I have a motion to approve, Mr. Chairman? I would make that motion to approve this. Really? I would. I second. Shocking. Uh second. Can I have a second? Second. Okay. Questions for Mr. Seabour. Well, and also question for the county manager to clarify for the citizens watching. Could you discuss when construction of the park would actually begin given the the the timber reservations?

Sure. So, when you deal with Warehouser, which is a timber company, obviously they have and their product is is trees. So, the more mature the trees, the uh more expensive it is to buy them out, so to speak. These were pretty mature trees, Mark, if I don't remember, and I believe there's a three-year reservation of rights on timber. So, we're looking at a 36-month window before we could start any land disturbing activities. I expect that'll be ample time for Mark to master plan, look at grant opportunities, funding opportunities, and those things. So, we have gotten permission to do some limited land disturbance things there like surveying, soil testing, but it's very minimal to what we can do for three years. So,

what and I know the commissioners from that end of the county were aware of that. I simply wanted the citizens who were watching to be aware of and reflected in the minutes. And I would add that's why we were able to get it at the price that we did because we negotiated that, right? So we got a lower price. That is correct. Madam clerk, call the role, please. Yes. Yes. Yes. Commissioner Smith. Yes. Commissioner Howard? Yes. Vice Chairman Jones. Yes. Chairman Ber. Yes. Okay. Thank you, Martin. Thank you.

Item number eight is appointments. We've got four pending. The Aging Planning Board, the Clean Sweep Committee, the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council, and the Recreation Advisory Council. Uh take a look at those board for future meeting. Today we have only one uh appointment that we're being asked to approve and that is the local emergency planning committee and Carrie Hanford is seeking reappointment. Are there any other Well, do I have a motion for Miss Hanford? I second. Okay. So,

are there any other nominations for that committee? Hearing none, we will approve her by acclamation. Upcoming we got Jonathan Gaskins and Paul Bryant uh for the local emergency planning committee. We'll be talking about them in the future. Item number nine, Mr. Grady, our county attorney, is going to give us a report.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and good morning, commissioners. I have uh several items for your consideration this morning. The first is uh countyowned surplus real estate acquired through the tax foreclosure process for property located at 11:03 Biddle Street within the city of Newburn. We've got a parcel ID number of 80062A is in Apple and this is an initial offer in the amount of $3,000. The original past due taxes and cost of foreclosure totaled $14,625.91 and the tax value of the property is $6,000. Um, the city of Newurn has already given its preliminary approval and I would suggest the board consider doing likewise so we can get it out for upset bids.

Okay, motion. Motion to approve. Second. Second. All in favor?

I opposed. Okay. The uh second item is also an initial offer uh to purchase uh county-owned real property acquired through the tax foreclosure process. The address is 1108 Lraange Street within the city of Newburn. The partial ID number is 8 014194. The uh offer amount is $3,000. The original past due taxes and cost of foreclosure were $2,238 and the tax value is $6,000. The city of Newburn has given its initial approval and with the first item, I would ask that the board consider doing likewise so we can get this one out for upset bids as well.

Okay. We're asked to approve u authorizing the upset bid process on parcel 8014194. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Have a motion and a second. All in favor? Opposed? Motion passes.

The uh next one is another initial offer uh to purchase county owned real estate acquired through the tax foreclosure process. The address is 830 Eubank Street uh within the city of Newburn. And we've got a parcel ID number of 8007090. The offer amount is $3,000. The original taxes, past due taxes, and the cost of foreclosure total $2,483.71 and we've got a tax value of $6,000. Uh the city has given its initial approval and I would ask that the board consider doing likewise so we can get this out for upset bids.

Okay. Board, again, we're being asked to approve this transaction authorizing the upset bid process. So move a motion and a second. All in favor? I.

Motion passes. Item number D. Uh this is an initial offer as well again to purchase county owned real property acquired through the tax foreclosure process. The address is 1131H Street within the city of Newburn with a partial ID number of 80604. Uh the offer amount is $3,000. The original past due taxes and cost of foreclosure totaled $7,3371. The tax value is $6,000. As with the others, the city of Newurn has given its initial approval and I would ask that the board do likewise uh for this one so we can get it out for the upset bid process.

Okay. board. We've asked once again to adopt a resolution to authorize the upset bid process for 8006004. Do I have a motion? Motion to approve. Second. And a motion and a second. All in favor? I opposed. That motion also passes.

Number F. Chairman and commissioners, this is um a item and a request that I don't believe the county has dealt with in recent memory. Uh perhaps uh never, but it's a refund of revenue stamps paid when a deed is recorded in the register of deeds office. As the board is aware, the revenue stamps are based upon the purchase price and the county retains part of that revenue and then part of the revenue is remitted to the state of North Carolina. Um, we have a request from local attorney Steve Bell to refund an overpayment of revenue stamps. Uh, the refund amount is $5,821. Um the process set forth uh in the general statutes is outlined in your agenda narrative. We have met the various uh time horizons today. It is required under the general statute. Uh and the request today is that the board hold the hearing required under the general statutes and ideally after the hearing is concluded decide whether to refund uh the overpayment or not although the board does have up to 90 days to make that decision. So if the board's not ready to make the decision today we can defer it to a later date. Um, in so far as the format of the hearing, uh, Mr. Chairman, I would consider it like a public hearing if you will, uh, a motion to open the hearing, a second and a vote. Uh, then if anyone has anything to say, uh, Mr. Bell is here this morning. He may have something to share with the commissioners. And then after the, um, comments, motion, second, and vote to close the hearing. But I'm glad to

answer any questions about the statutory process or requirements uh before we jump into that. Okay. So, we will have a hearing. Yes, sir. Momentarily. Yes, sir. And then we will decide at a later date to either refund or not or do that also today. You can do it also today. And if the board's ready to do it today, that would be preferable. But I realize uh this is a novel item and the board may require some time to digest it. So if we want to defer the decision until a later meeting, that's that's perfectly allowable.

Okay. So if I understand that correctly, the first thing we're going to do is have a public hearing or have a hearing and we're going to uh I'll entertain a motion. So move second. Okay. All in favor? I Okay, the hearing is open. Uh does anyone want to speak on that subject? If I may, um, you may step to the podium. Identify yourself, please.

So, you're I'm Steve Bell. I'm the attorney who, uh, did the title certification for this transaction. I did not close it, so it was not my error, if we can be clear about that. But, uh, the way it occurred is we did the title certification for u an attorney's office who was handling the closing. After we got the documents recorded, we facilitated recording the documents. Then they called back through Chicago Title who was underwriting the transaction and said that they had made an error in the computation of the revenue stamp. And the way I understand it is uh when you're calculating a revenue stamp, like Mr. Grady said, you're looking at the purchase price. And apparently the contract involved had one purchase price that was split between real property and personal property. This was a multi-million dollar transaction that was very complicated. So, I think what they did is include the personal property amount in that revenue stamp when it should not have been.

Okay. And that's that's what it is. Simple as that. Simple. Simple as that. Um, any questions for him for Mr. Bell or for Mr. Grady? Um, if there aren't any questions, uh, did you want to make a question? Have a question, Josh? Yes.

Good morning, board. Um, I'm Josh G, the register of deeds. Um the um excise tax is not calculated by my office as you may be aware. Um it is calculated by the person uh Steve's Bell's office. They do business with us all the time. It's not abnormal for you know miscalculations or or you know people to not you know especially with something like this. This is a a very large transaction with a lot of specific things. So it this is not frankly that surprising. Um, it's actually surprising to me that this doesn't happen more often, but usually attorneys get their job right most of the time. And this is just one of those, it wasn't an unintentional play. So, I just wanted to add that in there.

Okay. Thank you. Any other comments? Hearing none. Do I have a motion to close the motion to close? Got one more. Yeah. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. My name is Errol Le. I live at uh 706 Bane Havlock. Just have a couple of uh how long have this when did this happen and when do we discover that this error had occurred and how can we prevent errors like this from occurring in the future?

Well, I don't think we can prevent an error that's done by an outside attorney, but I'll let Mr. Grady address your questions or Mr. Bell? I'm going to defer to uh Mr. Bell on the exact dates, but as I mentioned previously, the general statutes do set forth time horizons for making the request for us to consider it and for us to make our decision. And we're well within all those time horizons, but Steve, if you want to share the specifics.

So, the deed was recorded on December 16th, 2025. Uh, we got the call from the um Chicago title regarding the error that day and I believe we were in contact with Mr. Grady either that day or within a couple of days of that. Okay. Okay. That answer your question, sir? Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you. I'd like to make a motion to close the public hearing. Second. Okay. We have a motion and a second to close the public hearing. Now, uh, board, uh, it's my recommendation that we go ahead vote on that. Closing the public here. Okay. I'm sorry. All in favor? I opposed. Thank you.

Uh it's my recommendation board that we go ahead and u someone move if you would to refund this money. So moved. Got motion and a second. Um let's do a roll call. Yes. Commissioner Mason. Yes. Commissioner Mitchell. Yes. Commissioner Smith. Yes. Commissioner Howard, yes. Vice Chairman Jones, yes. Chairman Booker, yes. Um, okay. Are we done with that subject? Yes, sir. Staff will take it from there. There's some other steps to implement, but we'll handle that at the staff level. Okay. So, you're welcome.

Okay. Last item number F. Mr. Gre.

Uh, yes, sir, Mr. Chairman. Um, and this matter is strikingly similar to uh Mr. Seymour's matter from earlier because it is the same seller of real estate and it's pretty much the identical contract that the board uh approved a few moments ago. This is additional acreage uh out by the Craven County Industrial Park um that the county would like to acquire for future industrial development purposes. As the board is aware and has been aware for quite some time, uh there's not much acreage left at the industrial park. Uh Jeff and his team have done a stellar job of marketing and selling a lot of the acreage uh during his tenure. Uh and we just need some more room to grow. This 76 acres for warehouser will allow us to do that. Um the purchase price of the property is $6,250 per acre. We've got 76 acres um in our sites and that gives you a purchase price of $475,000. As with the other contract, um there is a timber reservation uh for three years, but much as with Mr. Seymour's project, it'll take some time to do, you know, studies and and things like that and divide up the property and get it ready for sale uh to a future uh owner. We do have actually in both contracts if we're ready to move before the three-year time horizon, we can buy out that timber reservation. So, if we get a big prospect that wants to come in before the three-year uh timber reservation expires, we can do something about it. So, I'm glad to answer uh any questions on this contract or this concept, but uh if there are none, I would ask that the board um take the

action set forth in your agenda packet to approve the contract and authorize all of us worker bees to do what's uh needed to be done to get the thing closed. Okay. for the public's information. Um, we've moved a lot of property in the last five years in the industrial park and we are running out. So, this is an important purchase. Mr. Bite.

Yes, sir. Um, echo what you just said. I would also note for the record that this is part of an original $2.4 million preparation from the state government. Uh, it was two years ago area, I believe. So, this is an extension of that and we're happy to put it to productive use. And I wish Mr. Wood was here today. He's actually traveling trying to find some folks to take these new acres, but um we think it'll move pretty quick. Okay. Do I have a motion? So, move. Second. Motion and a second. U any questions? No questions. Madam clerk, would you please call the role? Commissioner Hunt? Yes. Yes. Commissioner Mason, yes. Commissioner Mitchell, yes. Commissioner Smith,

yes. Commissioner Howard, yes. Vice Chairman Jones, yes. Chairman Booker, yes. I've said enough this morning, Mr. Chairman. So, that concludes our report. That was a marathon. Yes.

Item number 10, county manager. Eric's a lot taller than me. I just realized that microphone there. Mr. Chairman, commissioners, thank you for the opportunity this morning. I wanted to update you on a few things uh going on in the county. A few meetings I've been to over the last couple weeks. First, um I saw Mr. Aster that back there in the back. He and I attended um the latest Kerswama meeting which was two weeks ago roughly. They are starting to contemplate their budget. As I've shared with you, there's a large capital project related to landfill expansion that's ongoing. uh they uh approved the contracts for that. To uh continue with the pace they're at, it will require a $2 tipping fee per ton. So that's $2 at the Tuscora landfill. Obviously, if you take stuff there, you would pay that $2. Obviously, the county pays it for the solid waste is collected at our convenience centers and from our contractor that does the curbside program. That rate is $5 increase if you're using one of the transfer stations. And there's two of those. One in Grantsboro and Pam Lico, one in Newport in Carter County. So those there's obviously a um transportation increase in fee there that we don't have at the landfill. So those folks will have to pay a little bit more. Uh Vice Chairman Jones is on that board with me. I don't know if he has any comments, but I I know they've worked really hard to try to cash flow projects, and at this one with the cost escalation for whatever reasons that are in the construction industry, it's getting it right down to to where we uh very close. Let me say that.

Okay, go ahead.

So, we've already uh Stephen and I have already talked about that within the budget, which you'll be getting in May. So uh should not upset the apple cart too much here, but there will be some thinning of margins in the solid waste budget as we uh proceed with that. Also attended that same day an act meeting and I'm I'm sure Commissioner Mitchell will be sharing some information on that. It was great to have a congressional visit here um and and show off Cherry Point a little bit and what FRC is doing. There's some great things happening down at the base. We hear about it all the time. It's kind of interesting to hear someone else hear about it and their reactions to it. So, very positive visit there. Great news on the grant front. Uh, a couple years ago, we were awarded a brick project. Brick was an infrastructure. It was part of the bipartisan infrastructure bill. It is for an elevated water line in the western part of the county over the Maple Cypress Bridge area. That project was funded. We were very excited and it got halted at the federal level for a lot of reasons. We learned last week that project has been unjammed and it is moving forward. So, I want to congratulate the planning staff and our water department. They have worked very hard to get to this point for a critical project. Right. So, this this line is above ground. If you're driving over the bridge, you can see it to the left or the right depending on which way you're going. Uh we've always been concerned if a large piece of debris, if you had some flooding came through, knocked that line out, it would sever that part. We're going to bore it under the river there and uh we won't worry about that anymore. So, it's great news. I'm really excited for that to get it moving forward. just to put a call estimate on that was about an $850,000 project. Leslie's here this morning, our tax administrator, uh she provided me with some details. Uh as of today, we're um collection rate at 98.53%. So, we've seen that come up. Uh roughly $875,000 left to be collected from what was due back in in January. Leslie and her team have worked very hard uh so is our county attorney and reaching out to folks to to get payment. I think we're

probably about where we need to be, Leslie. Maybe a little ahead, but I know they're going to continue working hard to get that up in the 99 percentile range. So, looking forward to that. Last, Lyanna's here with economic development. I want to make sure you guys uh saw her. Uh Mr. Jeff and Lyanna have been working very hard on economic development. Uh we've got quite a few projects in the hopper. I can tell you it's probably the most exciting time I've had. It seems like every day, uh someone's looking at Craraven County for a couple reasons. one is we're very desirable geographically, but two, we have a low tax rate, and that wins these deals. And I just want to make sure the board's aware of that. Uh, as Jeff talks to folks, uh, and we compare where other locations they're looking at, and there's lots of different taxation across America, Craven County maintains a very low tax rate. It's very inclusive to recruiting business. So, thank you for that.

Okay, that's all I have unless you have things for me. Questions for Mr. Vite? I have a comment. Okay. Okay. So maybe not as big as the economic development, but I remember it's almost four years exactly when you started talking about that above ground water line going underneath the creek. And so that was one of the first things I did and so I'm very happy for Commissioner Jones and Commissioner Mason to get that water line under the ground so they don't lose uh water to all their residents. It's a big deal.

It's a big deal. when when they put in the new bridge at Maple Cypus, it it was um the board a hole in and that line controls all the water supply on that side of um the river there. And um without that one and the one we've got going over on 43 across there, we didn't have those two. That's our water supply on that side. So, um it's definitely um needed. Um Mr. Mr. Chairman, if I may ask one thing. We continue to hear a lot from u our legislature about um property tax reform and I think you just said it uh very well that this board of commissioners has continues

to keep a low tax rate. I know there are some u local governments that don't do that, but I don't think we can be accused of that or prior boards. And I'm I and that's one thing I will brag about.

Um, having said that, I think if any of you been keeping up with Pamo County, I've talked to some of their commissioners in recent day. They just had a revaluation and their average reval percentage went up over 60%. Where ours last time, Leslie, what was 43 42. My personal opinion, Jack, and I know the legislature is not going to listen to what I have to say, but common sense is if they want to do some reform, they need to look at the revaluation process. I think they need to put a some type of percentage that you cannot go over and rebound. Even though we as a board of commissioners try to maintain a revenue neutral tax rate, people, some people going to pay more taxes. We all know that. And what you've seen, we've got property owners that are residents here in Craraven County that have um residences at Bay River. A lot of folks on my end of the county years ago back in the 60s and 70s bought uh places on Bay River. And I had one uh who's a farmer. He said that they have valued his property in Pamako County over $800,000. And I mean he probably I don't know exactly I think he paid less than 100,000 when he bought it years ago.

I mean what you're literally doing you're you're taxing people or putting a value on it where country folk like us we can't afford it. Again I don't know I I know that and I I'll sum it up with this. North Carolina Association of County Commissioners are asking boards to pass resolutions etc to go to the legislature. I do believe something needs to be done, but I think they're approaching it the wrong way. I personally think you've got to do something from the state level and saying you're not going to revalue property over a certain percentage. Um, that's my personal opinion, but

I think can may I address that comment? I think he's exactly right. There's a lot of talk in these hearings and I think Leslie, Jean, Craig, Shane, everybody's been trying to listen in. There's a lot of talk about taxation, but we're not talking about what's causing the taxation problem, which is revaluation, right? And you're exactly right. There's lots of ways you can tackle revaluation. It's it's a very unenjoyable process for everybody involved, right? Um, you know, you could mandate that revaluation be done on a much uh quicker timeline, right? So, you don't have these huge swings. If you wait 8 years, you're going to get eight years worth of growth or eight years worth of decline. And I can go back to one of my very first meetings here. Uh, Vice Chairman Jones, you were on the board at that time in 2010 was we had gone eight years since 2002 and there had been a lot of growth in Craven County. By the time we got to 2010, the economy was starting to go the other way. But we had to look at those values for the eight previous years. So, it was a very difficult process. But, I will give a great example that maybe the only one in North Carolina, I don't know. I'd have to go do some research. But in 2016, we did another reval and our valuation actually went down, right? The values went down. So we actually in a revenue neutral scenario, the tax rate goes up. So it's the inverse of what you're seeing now. So the process can work if the economy and the sales are driven as Miss U. Young sees out in the field. But I think there's a lot more discussion. I still think that um you know they they moved two items out of the committee that will go to the floor of the house and then over to the Senate. One of them is a constitutional amendment dealing with caps on a levy, right? And I understand how they're getting there, but that does not solve the revaluation problem.

The other one was a tax loophole for what's uh considered affordable housing in that that definition has become very gray and there's been some abuse of that. We don't have a lot of it here in Craraven, but think Wake County, Meckllinburgg, Durham County, where there's huge pushes for that. You're seeing a lot more of that. They fixed that loophole that solves some of those larger counties problems, but doesn't fix the Craven County problem, right? They've looked at a thousand other options and they will continue to. This committee has now been extended through this term and I believe to the end of the calendar year. So, there's lots more work that has to be happen. But you're you're spot on. If we can start addressing where the problem's coming from, then I think we can actually get somewhere.

And as I said, we have quite a few people in Craven County that I know that own a right much property, but it doesn't bring in money and owning this property. Uh they're not able to pay get to the point. They can't pay the taxes because like it's woodland and low land and all that. That's true. Carpet has been in the family maybe for years and they u want to hold on to it but they they can't. Yeah. I mean we certainly and I I've just listened to the comments from different legislators. They're certainly looking at that affordability issue.

What I think you know sometimes affordability isn't just taxation. It can be insurance particularly in East North Carolina. Western North Carolina now is going to see some rates going up. I also would note that, you know, we we've talked about it many times amongst this board. When Craven County sends a tax bill out, if you're a municipal resident, we're billing for that municipality. Well, we may be revenue neutral. Commissioner Mitchell, I think, really teed this up a couple meetings ago. We may be revenue neutral. Their taxes could actually have gone down on the county side, but because that municipality doesn't go revenue neutral, their taxes are much higher. So, it's a it's a weird math equation that most people don't do. They don't do. They just see that bottom line and they don't look at where it's coming from.

It's it's it's extremely complicated. And we talk about re-evaluations. Well, it costs money to do a reevaluation. Some counties can't afford to do them within four years. Correct. There's there's all kinds of complications with that. Some revenues, they say they go down in some cases, they go up in others. Um, but it's it's very complicated. One of the problems with affordability is people that that they're older, they have fixed incomes that when when there's changes to their property taxes, they're there it's an effect on them. Um veterans, uh disabled veterans, there's a lot of things that the the state legislature chose not to address and it's a very complicated process

and I think a lot of it and I I'll just end with my response to Vice Chairman Jones. It starts with discipline, right? at this level, discipline in expenditures, being fiscally responsible, and you know, like anyone, you could have certain scenarios all across North Carolina and all the municipalities and the counties where that doesn't happen. So, you have these large outcries from one region, which again, as we've talked about, is killing a NAT with a nuclear bomb in some instances where really you just go after that NAT and that's where your problem arises. Commissioner Mitchell,

there's a Thank you, Mr. Chair. There's another comment here that I think citizens need to be aware of. Your property taxes are what pay for our local services. So when we pay state taxes or federal taxes, they go to Raleigh, they go to Washington, they get dispersed all over the state of North Carolina or all over the country. Your property taxes are what pay for stuff here. That's your school resource offices, that's the sheriff's department, um that's social services, all of those emergency services. So, I don't like paying taxes any more than anybody else does, but by the same token, I like to see that our citizens benefit from our taxes. And some of what they're talking about in Raleigh is going to preclude county governments from paying for the things that our citizens need and frankly vote for when they elect their local governments. Um, so it's it's a complicated process and I don't it I think it needs to be studied some more before they start making um kill killing the gnat with a nuclear bomb.

Well, once again, it's up to us to remind our legislators u the people that work for us what we think is we elected. So, uh we all need to do that. not just this board, but the citizens in general need to remind our senator and our representative representatives uh how important this subject is.

Mr. Chairman, I um just last comment here. I'm sorry I get a little fired up on this, but I took a very critical eye as we were going through the budget with the departments, right? Looking at the things that we do and county government is very unique in that we are an arm of state government, inherently an arm of federal government. some of the programs that we run. There's an imagination out there. There's a huge amount of discretionary funding at your level. When you go through that budget, I challenge you just like I did. It's very little, right? And often times when you cut a program because of the federal funding and state funding that comes along because you're mandated to do it, you're really cutting a dollar to save 10 cent 25 cent that things. Really the discretionary things are what I feel like the citizens enjoy. libraries, recreation, our veteran service program, those things that really um make life here a little bit better. And I just note veteran services is a purely discretionary program. You don't have to have one. There are counties that don't have one, but Mr. Futurel was here last meeting and said, and I'm going to butcher the number, $198 million comes to Craven County in entitlements that were earned by our veterans, right? Were earned. And that's a big deal. and we have the third largest per capita veteran population in North Carolina. So, while it may be discretionary, is there really discretion with something that's so important like that? And that's as you go through it, I just encourage you to take take a look, you know, because I mean that's what they're doing in Raleigh right now.

Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Next item is commissioner reports. I'll start on my left. Commissioner Smith. Well, I want to say that I have nothing, but I will report that I had an accident on Saturday and uh someone while I was at the stoplight pulled in front of me and and um damaged severely the front end of my car and I happened to I'm a little sore but I'm okay. But um I did have an accident. I was I was not moving at all. Well, I was at a stop sign

and the person in the other lane decided to come and come out from the from my left. I was on the right on the right side of the road and come around to go into a drive and just hit my car and just knock me all everywhere. Well, I'm glad you're okay. We had some good citizens that stopped and helped me and uh I'm very grateful to them. I don't want to give their name because I don't know that they want me to do that in here. But I had some folk that stopped and stayed with me until the police came and went and they called the police. It was very very heart uh warming to know that uh these folk never never seen before. Spent so make much time making sure that I was okay.

Good. Mr. Hunt, nothing. I had the uh the pleasure to uh attend the legislators in our schools day sponsored by the Craraven County Schools. Uh they put on a great uh program. I was uh I learned a lot. It was very interesting to see some of the facilities. It's a it's really interesting to see how they keep some of these older schools going. Um but they did a good job. I'd like to thank Jennifer Wagner, the public affairs person for the Car County Schools, and uh Caitlyn Caitlyn Watson was the the um principal for Grover C. Fields, which is who sponsored the event.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Howard.

Um I will say that I did go out to spend a day during my spring break doing constituent services with um our planning director and our assistant to Jack Jack's assistant, Shane. Uh we we visited constituents talking about drainage issues, noise abatement, private road issues, demolition of property, government. We actually did an additional tour government center east. Um and some of course NC do DOT questions out at Liberty Church for turn issues while we were there. So that was that was fruitful. Um just on the property tax issue with our with our state is consider considering as I talk to commissioners from across the state the your perennial issue is people come and every year they ask for more and more and sometimes commissioners have to say no uh or limit that and I think we've done a this commission has done a good has had a historically been historically good at that u kind of balancing out thanks to our county manager and kind of going through with some of these folks in advance and then you know the final will say here of you know taking on critical eye those ask um and not just saying yes. So I appreciate that.

So um yes sir thank you. I actually have several things today. Um I also attended the legislative days with um commissioner Mason at Grover C Fields and I'd also like to commend the school for for its big focus on career and technical training um you know back in the dark ages when the earth was still warm. um everybody was focused on education had to be a four-year degree. Today we're seeing a resurgence of trade education, technical education, and it's starting in middle school. I think that is hugely helpful for our students who are um can earn very nice livingings in the trades and who don't do not want to read Romeo and Juliet. So, I was very impressed with Grover Cy Fields with the staff there and um highly recommend it for future years. Um couple of things on the military issue. Um, as the county manager mentioned, um, Congressman Don Davis came and toured Cherry Point and met with Allies for Cherry Point on the 9th of April. This is not the first time he has been to the facility, but it is his first time officially as a congressman uh because Graven County was not in District 1 in previous years. And the So, Congressman Davis now has Seymour Johnson and all of our Marine Corps facilities here in Craraven County with him. Um it was very helpful. His background was also helpful. For people who do not know, he is a um former Air Force officer and attended the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. So, it was nice to have a veteran touring military facilities because he understands the issues with families. Um the last thing that I have to talk about has to do with Lenor. The Navy has officially signed the lease with the Global Trans Park for the um C130 refurbishment facility that is being built at GTP. And for citizens who are not aware of this, the state of

North Carolina provided $350 million to build the facility. And the reason they did that instead of going through military construction is military construction takes seven to 10 years if all works well to get anything funded and built. And the United States had to have it immediately. We were going to lose the C130 rehab capability not to another state out of the country. Um but North Carolina stepped in, provided the money. It is going up at GTP. If you have driven by there, it is so big you cannot possibly believe it. This will operate as a satellite facility for fleet readiness center. Um we're not losing the fleet readiness center. It's expanding the it um the facility was available. It will provide another 400 plus permanent jobs in Lenor and that does not include the construction jobs that are putting money into the economy in Lenor as well. So, we have talked about in the past that we are an aviation corridor going from Goldsboro, Wayne County, um, all the way down to the Atlantic. Well, this is another piece of it and it is coming to fruition officially. And finally, North Carolina did not give the money to the Navy. The Navy um will be repaying those funds over time with it. So, this was not a gift. it was effectively I won't say alone um but they made it possible and the Navy will repay it and in the meantime we get the jobs here in eastern North Carolina so that was a big day um it was very important

okay thank you vice chair one thing with farm to school week craven county schools um I want to thank Miss Lauren Whan she's our school um nutrition director for Craven County she's done a great job over the last few years in promoting farm-toschool wheat uh having local grown um served in all our schools uh throughout the week. She buys local and uh so I'm going to be participating in a few days this week with them at Creekide um as a farmer. Um so I look forward to that. But I just want to say thank you to her. Uh we're blessed to have her in my personal opinion Craven County School System. So

very good. Thank you. I have nothing today. So board, we've been asked to go into close session pursuant to NCGS143-318-1 A3 to consult with an attorney to protect the attorney client privilege. Anything to add to that? Chairman one second. Anything to No, sir. That's a perfect motion.

Okay. Before we vote on that, um Leslie, come on up. Good morning board. Thank you for allowing me just a few minutes to speak on this. Um I want to qualify myself before I have three points to to provide to you this morning. Prior to beginning as Pamlico County tax administrator in 2019 I served in Spart County, South Carolina in the assessor's office for a total of 13 years in the assessor's office at as an appraiser. South Carolina has what's called an act 388 and it is identical to what uh Commissioner Jones was talking where you have valuation and then let's say you limit it. Well, South Carolina says uh they have a countywide revaluation in their counties every 5 years and that act 388 says that valuation taxable valuation cannot increase in five years more than 15%.

Okay. Now, what the what the voters hear is that my taxes won't increase more than 15%. That and that's what our our voters are going to hear in November. Okay. As the assessor, it has no bearing on me whatsoever if market if your taxable value is at market value or if it's 50% of market value. It has no bearing on my job because what it will create when we limit valuation, what it will create is now two values. it will we already have a market value but then we're going to have a taxable value.

It's the same analogy as we have for exemptions whether it's an elderly exemption whether it's a PUV exemption. So if you think of capping valuation it's like putting an entire blanket across the county of exemptions. If it if this motion or this vote goes to to where we limit valuation great there's some things to keep in mind. the effects of that. It takes two countywide revaluations for the for the taxpayer to feel those effects because we're here. We're at we're at market value. And if we continue to grow and grow and grow, it's going to take a good 8 to 10 years before the taxpayer feels the effect of, hey, I'm actually saving on my taxes because my neighbor who just bought my house is paying at the full value because that's when it reignites. That's when the re when the the full taxable market value reignites is when a purchase comes in. So while I'm in my house and 10 years has passed and my neighbor buys next door to me now, they're going to pay grossly more in taxes than what I will. But it's but everybody right now is at market value. Okay? So, just just know that however this goes, it's going to take at least two countywide revaluations for the effect of saving taxes. Um, I think that's all I wanted to speak on that part. when it comes to the second item. When it comes to uh valuation fe in February of 27 is is when I'm going to be the lady who's always talking, okay? Because I've got to prepare this county for our next reevaluation. And I'm really going to have to be very very clear and this is where I'm going to need all of your help and and very much Jason is

there is so much land in Craraven County that has the valuation has escalated specifically compared to our the assessor's value. Okay. The land is going up and it's going way up. Okay. land specifically 10 to 50 acres. I I'm was in my seat this morning writing down 5100 per acre, 6,100 per acre and and and you're right that timber being on there really

gave a lesser price per acre than what the market typically shows. Here's where I've really got to talk to my farmers, my PUV owners, because again, we just said earlier this morning, PUV, those rates are set by the state. PUV uh present use value. Present use value. I'm sorry. That's what a lot of our farmer that's what our farmers have. Present use value. Those rates that they pay taxes on is set by the state just like our other exemptions for the elderly. All that is set by the state, not by the local county. So when a present use value property owner sees that their valuation of land is going to double, it does not mean their taxes are going to double be as long as the state keeps the rates the same. And they have year after year after year. Okay? And right now I'm not hearing any any indication that the state is going to raise the rates on present use value. where it comes into play is when a roll back tax comes in. That's when the market value is really going to play into but the valuation of a present use value property whether it doubles, triples, quadruples that state setting the rates for PUV is what's key in keeping the taxes lower. Okay. So, and I'm going to talk a whole lot about this starting in February. A whole lot about it. Okay. Yes. Can you talk about a roll back tax cuz I don't know what that is.

Okay. A roll back tax is it is a very simple calculation. It is a it is what the present use value property owner paid in taxes with the PUV exemption versus what that owner would have paid had it not had that exemption. Very very simple. And the state says three years plus current. So four years worth of roll back tax can include and that's the North that would be the state of North Carolina who decreed that nothing to do with us. That's right. All exemptions come from the state. Okay. Yes, ma'am.

I'd like to say as we complain and and have concerns about our taxes, it is in no way questioning your ability to do your job. You do a good job and we know and see that. But we have concerns about what's happening. As far as the tax is concerned, I think the citizens need to know that. It's not that they we're questioning in any way. Right. Right. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. That's why I said starting off, it it has no bearing on me whether whether your property is appraised at 100% of market value or 50%. Right.

Where a property owner does need to keep in mind is that that market value that I that I have a property appraised when a house floods, FEMA looks directly at my value. So, there's other uses of the assessor's value than taxes, but I appraise for tax purposes. So, I just want you to keep in mind, um, it now I'm going to keep my personal opinion out. Um, just keep in mind that if we limit valuation, so be it. where the county is going to become very dependent on keeping the tax base is growth. Because if if all 100,000 of us or all 70,000 of us who own real estate here in Craven County,

if nobody sells their property and we all stay where we are and yet our taxable valuation can't go up more than 15% every four or five years, however often we have the reval, that valuation stays the same. where the growth comes in is when my neighbor next to me buys their house and all of a sudden they're thrusted into the current market value. So our tax base is going to be very very dependent on growth. So if we hear that our valuation is going to be limited that's fine but for that valuation we need to be very very focused on growth to grow that tax base. Okay. Um, again, please call me if you have any questions. Um, but you're going to hear me start talking a lot of it uh in February and however this thing goes. Like I said, I've got 13 years in South Carolina where we modeled after 388 and they limit the valuation. Okay. Um, personally in Spartanburg, South Carolina, their their growth is booming. It it's it's almost out of control. they're growing, but that's where they're getting their tax base from is from that growth. Um, if you have any questions, please feel free to comment, but I wanted to piggy back on this because I didn't want the conversation to span out this way. I just want to give you an idea of what to expect if those if we limit the valuation, it's going to take two two rebounds for it to really take effect. Okay. Thank you, chairman.

Thank you. Okay. Recess. Okay. Yeah. We uh we need a mo we have a motion to go into close session. Do all all in favor? I opposed. Okay, we're in go. Did we make a motion? We're going to have a recess for about five minutes. You don't have she don't have a I make the motion. Second now. Vote again. All in favor? Okay. All in favor? Opposed. All right. We're there now. I had for y'all too. See, this is the