Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

County Commissioner's meeting on September 8th. We welcome all of our guests. Madam Clerk, would you please call the roll?

Commissioner Howard? Here. Commissioner Hunt? Here. Commissioner Mason? Here. Commissioner Mitchell? Here. Commissioner Smith? Vice Chairman Jones? Here. Chairman Bucher?

Here. Ladies and gentlemen, if you would join me in standing and our Attorney Mr. Grady is going to give the prayer, and then we will do the Pledge of Allegiance. Mr. Grady.

Lord God, may our hearts and minds be quieted in this moment. May we take this time to catch our breath, and in this moment of pause, may all of us be restored and refreshed. We pray for this county. We pray for these county commissioners, for all who support them, for the constituents they represent, and for all who are affected by the business conducted here. May our ideas and ideals pull us more and more into a future of peace and prosperity, wholeness and justice. May we resist the lure of pure ideology in all of its forms and keep humanity always before us. May this place truly be for the people's work. May compromise and mutual forbearance enable this good work. And whether votes pass or fail, may the work here be done with honor, with compassion, with conviction, and with an open heart. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Folks, if you would make sure your cell phones are on silent, if you've not already done so, so we don't have an interruption. Commissioners, you have the agenda in front of you. Are there any additions or changes? Hearing none, do I have a motion? Motion to approve. Second. I have a motion and a second. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Commissioner Howard? Here. Commissioner Hunt? Yes, I'm sorry. Commissioner Mason? Yes. Commissioner Mitchell? Yes. Vice Chairman Jones? Yes. Chairman Booker?

Yes. Our first item on the agenda is a public hearing for carts and Deanna Trouble, the Transportation Director, will come. Deanna?

Good evening. CARTS is requesting a public hearing to receive public comments regarding changes to the fixed bus routes and the implementation of a pilot program offering same-day ride service requests known as On Demand Plus. Modifications to the fixed route includes reducing the routes from three to two, in addition to adding requested stops and eliminating underperforming ones. The proposed on-demand plus service will offer same-day ride service during midday, non-peak hours. Rides are reserved on a first-come, first-served basis dependent on best availability. The reduction in the number of fixed routes creates the opportunity to offer this pilot program at no additional operating expense. Staff will monitor this pilot program to evaluate its use and effectiveness. The public hearing notice and proposed changes have been available for review on the CART's website, CART's office, posted in buses, and shared with the Transportation Advisory Board. The public hearing notice was also published in the Sun Journal on August 1st of 2026. Staff is requesting a public hearing to receive comments regarding these changes.

Okay. Commissioners, would someone like to make a motion?

I'd like to make a motion that we open this public hearing.

Second. Public hearing is open. All in favor? Aye. Public hearing is open. Mr. Vice Chair, is anyone signed up to speak at that public hearing? No one signed up, Mr. Chairman. Is there anyone who would like to speak?

regarding the carts yes yes chairman we did receive an email with a public comment that i would like to read for the record my name is sierra welsh and i would like i would like to provide a comment regarding the proposed changes for cart service i have used the cart service multiple times over the course of 2026 and it has been very beneficial to me i think the on-demand plus service would be a great addition to carts There are times when people have to take care of personal business at the last minute and it would be useful to be able to call carts to arrange a ride. I know that this service would be something that I would use whenever possible. Thank you.

Thank you. If there's no one else that wants to speak, could I have a motion to close the public hearing?

Motion to close the public hearing.

Second. Motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion passes. Okay. That is item number one. Deanna is also going to bring us item number two.

CARTS is questing another public hearing to receive public comments regarding CARTS' applications to the North Carolina Department of Transportation Integrated Mobility Division for the FY28, 5311, 5310, 5339 and applicable state funding or combination thereof. CARTS historically has applied and received grant funds to assist for rural administration, 5311 administration, and capital purchases such as buses or combined capital. In FY28, CARTS is exploring new grants to help fund rural operating, which includes 5310 operating and rural operating. These new grants will allow carts to maximize available rural and urban grant funding. The total local share amount will be offset by rope funding, contracted revenue, and sale of disposed vehicles. Actual funding amounts will be determined at a later date once NCDOT IMD has reviewed grant application requests from other public transportation providers. The grant information and public hearing notice have been available for review on the CART's website, CART's office, posted in buses, and shared with the Transportation Advisory Board. The public hearing notice was also published in the Sun Journal on August 1st of 2026. Staff is requesting a public hearing to receive comments regarding these grant applications.

I'd like to make a motion that we open the public hearing.

Second. Motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Public hearing is open. No one signed up, Mr. Chairman. Okay, no one signed up there. Would anyone like to speak on that subject? Hearing none, do I have a motion to close the public hearing? Motion to close the public hearing. Second. Motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion passes. We've done our duty. Okay, item number three. Petition of citizens on items that are on the agenda.

Mr. Chairman, no one has signed up.

Okay. Item number four, consent agenda. Consent agenda tonight is kind of lengthy. Let me read through real quickly the items that are on there. The minutes of the August 17th regular session, tax releases and refunds, CART's Rural Operating Assistance and State Maintenance Assistance Program budget amendment. Under planning, request to set public hearing, FY26, community development block grant neighborhood revitalization. Craven County Alcohol Beverage Control Board travel policy. The military service person of the quarter A joint resolution regarding tolls for North Carolina ferry routes. Juvenile Crime Prevention Council Area Day Reporting Center Air Conditioning Repair Budget Amendment.

I would make a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. Okay.

Second. We have a motion and a second. Roll call, please.

Commissioner Howard? Yes. Commissioner Hunt? Yes. Commissioner Mason? Yes. Commissioner Mitchell? Yes. Vice Chairman Jones? Yes. Chairman Bucher?

Yes. Okay, that's item number four, so we'll now go to item number five, which would be Craven County Board of Education. Dr. Stuart Blunt is going to speak to us about the five-year facility needs survey.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the Commission. I'm here tonight on behalf of the Craig County Schools and School Board to share with you, as required by North Carolina General Statute 115C-521, Subsection A, Every year since January 1st of 1988, every school system in the state of North Carolina has been required by this general statute to provide the State Department of Public Instruction a five-year facility survey. This survey is strictly back in 1988. It was developed that in the event the state ever wished to do a statewide construction bond, that the state public construction would have data and information to support that bond. So every five years since then, we were required to do that. I'm here tonight to just, one, at the end of this, the goal is we are required to share the report with you and basically asking for your signature and certification that Craven County Board of Commissioners have reviewed and received and reviewed a copy of this facility needs survey prior to the submission to the State Board of Education. This acknowledgement by you does not constitute an endorsement of or commitment to fund the projects that are identified in this submission. So I want to share that on the front end because as you've read this report, this report and this survey identifies $251 million worth of capital projects. for Craig County Schools. Obviously, I am not here on behalf of the school board to request $251 million. I'm just here to share with you through this process. Those are the capital needs that have been identified. So this process We work with Exist, our staff, along with the company that we use to facilitate this, and it is a web-based format by DPI where it's a check the box and filling in information. So the information, what we do with this information, to carry the next step, what we will do with this information, our facilities director, Mr. Jerome Williams, which is here, forgot to recognize him again. He, along with our facility staff, myself, the school board, our superintendent, we will look at this as one piece of data to determine what capital outlay projects we will need as we move forward. So this is one piece of data. There's other pieces of data that we use to develop capital outlay projects, which we then come to you in May and present in regards to those needs. So I'm only here tonight requesting that you acknowledge by the chairman's signature that you have received it, I've told you about it, and I'm not asking for the $251 million. I'll be glad to answer any questions.

And I want to make sure everybody understands also, this is not something that you requested. This is a requirement from the state that this survey be done.

Yes, sir. It is a valuable document for us as we move through each year. We don't wait five years to determine what our long range and short range and long range plans are for capital projects. But this helps us as one another piece of data to kind of fine tune and hone in what our needs may be.

Questions for him? Yes.

Throughout the general statute you cite, you talk about a long-range plan and understand you use this as one of the indicators. Is there a plan coming down where you're going to consolidate all the indicators and into a long-range plan so that we can look at the future. Because right now, this does not reflect what your footprint should look like 10 years from now, in my opinion. And also, it doesn't reflect what a good funding model that the average daily membership funds from the state to keep you going. That's my question.

Okay. The answer to that is yes, but a little clarification. We, when I say we, our staff along with our board are in the process of identifying criteria to look at long, short range plans and long range plans. That work has begun and we anticipate Obviously, the commissioners, well, you may not know it's obvious, but I want you to know at this point it is going to be obvious that y'all will be a part of those conversations, or at least we hope that you'll be a part of those conversations. As we develop a five to ten year plan, enrollment does come into play. Obviously, if you have decline in enrollment or if you have increase in enrollment, that has an impact on your facility plans. So the short answer to that is yes. Is it ready for distribution? It is not, but we are well on our way to pulling together a very strategic plan on how we're going to address the needs with very, we have quite a few aging brick and mortar buildings in our county that have served us quite well. Not only us as a school system, but our county as a whole.

Any other questions?

I have another one if nobody else is going to. Go ahead. Your adjectival ratings of the schools, is fair the lowest rating you can come up with on the adjectival ratings? Yeah, very good, good, and fair. Those are the three you've used.

Right. Those ratings are really kind of determined based on the company we've used in regards to how they assess where we are with input from our staff. the true definitions, I'd have to get back with you about how those typically the fair is going to be the older building utility costs are high. It's really going to fall on where the most critical projected, most critical needs are in the fair space.

Well, I just wonder what it would take to get like a poor rating.

That's kind of I think those are as far as I know, and I can confirm those are the only ratings that are afforded. Thank you.

Anybody else?

Okay. I just need y'all to say y'all want to sign the piece of paper. I don't know what you're trying to do.

Next item.

So, Mr. Chairman, I think it's been five years, Stuart, since we did this the last time, but I think at that time the board had a motion to allow the chairman to acknowledge the presentation by the school system of the document. Okay. And then you can execute the document.

Do I have a motion? Second. Motion and a second. I will...

sign that we have received this information thank you thank you very much okay all in favor aye we're in favor thank you very much okay thank you for your continued partnership with our capital needs know that you have many that have capital needs and other funding sources so we do appreciate the relationship that we have with our buildings and our students okay I'm next again yes sir all right so repair and renovations second item I'm coming tonight to present to you we are requesting your approval for three separate repair and renovation lottery funds Craven County Schools has identified these projects as the next in the strategic list and plan to address when it comes to needs. I'm not sure which order they are in the packet, but there is a request for work to be done at Trent Park Elementary School and the replacement of an air conditioning unit that serves media center in the amount of $170,450. And these will be funded through Repair and Renovation Lottery funds. The second one is for Oaks Road Elementary, which is a gym air conditioning replacement system. A figure of $149,745. And the third one we are requesting approval would be for Grove Street Fields, the main building air conditioning unit, to replace it at the figure of $48,925. And the way the repair and renovation process works, our board started to approve these as projects, but again, as part of the process, we need to bring them to you for your approval so that you're aware of that and that money would then be released upon your approval.

okay board we are being asked to approve funding application and a budget amendment in the amount of 369 120 for the repair and renovation project and again this money is coming from the nc lottery repair and renovations fund motion to approve second motion and a second madam clerk would you please call the roll

Commissioner Howard? Yes. Commissioner Hunt? Yes. Commissioner Mason? Yes. Commissioner Mitchell? Yes. Vice Chairman Jones? Yes. Chairman Bucher?

Yes. You're good. Thank you all very much.

Item number six, hearts, the antitrouble. FY28 unified grant application, request to apply for grant.

Parts is requesting to apply to the North Carolina Department of Transportation for the FY28, 5311, 5310, 5339, and applicable state funding or combination thereof. CARTS relies on these grants to assist with the cost of operating public transit service. CARTS historically has applied and received grant funds to assist for rural administration, 5311 administration, and capital purchases such as buses for combined capital. In FY28, CARTS is exploring new grants to help fund rural operating, 5310 operating, and rural operating. These new grants will allow CARTS to maximize available rural and urban grant funding. The total local share amount will be offset by rope funding, contracted revenue, and sale of disposed vehicles. Actual funding amounts will be determined at a later date once NCDOT and IMD has reviewed grant application requests from all public transit providers. Staff is requesting approval to apply for the FY28 NCDOT grants and acknowledgement of the applicable local share certification.

Okay, board, we're being asked to approve application for grants. I have a motion. Question first.

No, sir, I have a comment. Would you prefer for that to wait to a discussion?

Yes, go ahead.

Okay, all right, then in that case, I'll make the motion. Second. All right, now, I'd like to emphasize for the viewing public that when we're talking about making changes to the loops that go around New Bern, that the continuity of service will not be disrupted. It will not be changed. It will actually reduce wait times for people who are using the loop. The other point I'd like to make for the viewing public is this will not change the on-demand pickup service throughout the The southeast that most people are familiar with I need carts to take me to the doctor's appointment That you schedule several days in advance that service will absolutely not be impacted So what we're doing is what the NPO staff here is doing and carts is doing is providing better service with late less wait times and Expanding some on-demand service. So I appreciate the staff doing this and the carts doing this. I And I would urge the board to approve it.

Okay. So now, board, we're approving the application for grants. And then part B will be implementing the route change, correct? Yes. Okay. We did have a motion and a second. Yes, sir. Now I need a roll call.

Yes. Commissioner Hunt? Yes. Commissioner Mason? Yes. Commissioner Mitchell? Yes. Vice Chairman Jones? Yes. Chairman Bucher?

Yes. Now, Deanna, Part B.

CARTs held a public hearing on September 8th of 2026 to receive comments regarding changes to the fixed bus routes and the implementation of a pilot program offering same-day ride service requests known as On Demand Plus. Modifications to the fixed route include reducing the routes from three to two, in addition to adding requested stops and eliminating underperforming ones. The proposed on-demand plus service will offer same-day ride service during midday, non-peak hours. Rides are reserved on a first-come, first-served basis dependent on bus availability. The reduction in the number of fixed routes creates the opportunity to offer this pilot program at no additional operating expense. Staff will monitor this pilot program to evaluate its use and effectiveness. Staff is requesting approval to implement the proposed CART's fixed bus route changes in the on-demand plus pilot program.

Move to approve, but I do have a discussion point.

Second.

I have a motion and a second. All in favor? Discussion. Discussion.

I'm sorry. I just, when you guys implement the on demand service, will there be like an, I know that we talked about like an app or something that could go on and see wait time, stuff like that. Something that's good. Or is it just going to be like a call in?

It'll be just a call in, sir. So, um, we've got with the cost savings that we're going to have with elimination of that third route, that bus driver will be available in the commercial area of New Bern to respond to those same day requests.

Okay.

And I think to clarify, this is a pilot program, so before we start putting in the mechanics, we're going to see what the demand for the on-demand is. Yes, ma'am.

Thank you. Okay. Now, we have a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Any other questions for Deanna on this program? Okay. We're good. Thank you. Item number seven. Mr. Stanley Kite.

Mr. Chairman, members of the board, I'm here tonight because of provisions in the contractual services that we have with our fire and EMS agencies, pretty much stating that for their capital improvement programs that they come and inform the board of their desire and what they're going to do. I'm here tonight to introduce to you Captain Travis Blalock with Township 7 Fire and Rescue to talk to you about their intent to purchase a new fire apparatus.

Thank you, sir.

Hope everybody's doing well this evening. I think so.

Here's a handout.

Yes.

All right. I'll walk through it. Okay, so of course with our contract, we're requesting to purchase a new apparatus. It is a 2025 KME pumper. It's a two-door international chassis, 400 horsepower Cummins engine, Allison six-speed transmission, 200-gallon hail pump, has a 1,000-gallon water tank, two crosslays, Booster reel, those three items right there, the two proselytes and the booster reel, meet the North Carolina Department of Insurance requirements for a first-out engine. It has high-vis scene lighting on all sides for firefighter safety. And from the picture that's attached in the PowerPoint, we will be adding an extended bumper with a hose tray, so we'll have another firefighting line on the apparatus. We initiated an apparatus replacement plan in 2017 which tries to purchase a truck on a three-year interval. We have eight large apparatus and our desire is to retire them around 25 years of service. Monthly budget for apparatus acquisition is $23,000. We will stay within our monthly budget. Our existing debt for an engine is currently just shy of $300,000. It's a monthly payment of just over $10,000. The new engine cost is $554,000. Worked out financing with First Citizens Bank, the monthly payment will be $6,437. So that's well less than our $23,000 a month is budgeted. What we have been doing is we add extra principal payments so we can pay off each apparatus early to stay within the three-year goal. This new apparatus will bring our fleet age to just over 11 years so median for age should be about 12 and a half so we're a little bit on the young side. Typically this purchase this apparatus will be purchased next year on our three-year cycle however we have the opportunity for this truck and It is not a stock truck. It comes from a department in South Carolina. They ordered it with some extra features that are a benefit to us. That department unfortunately closed, and so the manufacturing was offering this as an at-large purchase for any department. Cool. Expect our current engine six to be paid off by April 2028, and then the new engine should be paid off by April 2030. Any questions? i just have one uh is there a truck that's being replaced yes sir and what are you going to do with that um so right now we're proposing to replace our oldest engine it's a 1998 american la france what we have typically done in the past is through a broker offered these trucks to sell we have also donated them to other local departments for a dollar so um We donated a couple trucks to the western part of the state. So we're still kind of deciding what route we're going to go with. We kind of need to figure out the purchase price of a 30-year-old fire truck. So there's not a lot there. It's usually more beneficial to a department that has the need.

Yep. Makes sense. Okay. Any other questions? Okay. We do not need to take a vote. All we're doing here is receiving information. So thank you very much. All right.

Have a good evening. Thank you.

Item number eight would be subdivision for approval, F&D Properties, Jason Frederick. Thank you.

Chairman Booker, Vice Chairman Jones, members of the board, thank you. I'm here to present the final plat for F&D Properties, LLC subdivision. The planning board met on August 27th, 2026. I've recommended the following subdivision for approval tonight. The property is owned by F&D Properties LLC, surveyed by Wheeler Land Serving, PLLC. It's located within Township 2 off of Great Swamp Road. This is Commissioner District 1. Parcel ID 2-041-014. Subdivision contains three lots on 6.54 acres. Lots will be served by the 1st Craven Sanitary District. water district and the individual septic system. Excuse me. Upon answering any questions, the planning department would like to request the board to approve the subdivision if so desired.

Okay.

Motion to approve.

Second. Second. And it's in your... District are there any questions about?

No, it looks like they're I just have a comment I guess it looks like there's a lot of potential for that particular section and it gets in the kids swamp area Potential for more Lots in the future the access way has been set aside to accommodate that in the future easements for extension of Services such as water and sewer back there. So yeah, I A little bit of flood in the back, but not too much.

Okay. Anybody else?

Mr. Chairman, yes. What kind of road? Is it going to be a paved road going in, or is it rock?

So the lots up there, they have frontage on Great Swamp, so that will have a DOT driveway permit only at this time. If they were to go in... to the lot and develop the 22 plus acres of the remaining that would just depend on the amount of lots they wish to develop if it's up to uh five four lots then it's gonna be a semi-improved road five i'm sorry five to eight lots would be semi-improved road anything beyond that once you go into that ninth lot would be a full scale dot spec road uh and design okay i heard a motion to approve

Did I hear a second?

Yes, I second. Okay. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Okay. Thank you.

Social Services, Mr. Jeff Merritt. Chairman, commissioners, county managers, thank you for having me here tonight. First matter of business we bring before you is a budget amendment to add additional funds to our foster care independence program, also known as LINCS. This is additional state funding. There's no county match, and that would be in the form of $18,300. I'd be happy to answer any questions if you have those.

Okay. Any questions for Mr. Merritt?

I would make a motion to approve the budget amendment in the amount of $18,300.

Second. Motion to second. Roll call, please.

Commissioner Howard? Yes. Commissioner Hunt? Yes. Commissioner Mason? Yes. Commissioner Mitchell? Yes. Vice Chairman Jones? Yes. Chairman Bucher?

Yes.

Item B. Item B, this is to carry over our start program fundings through the end of the federal fiscal year. This funding goes through federal fiscal year, not state fiscal year, in the amount of $97,700. So we were budgeting expenses, but it'll pay those through September 30th, 2026, when the federal fiscal year will end.

Good. Any questions on that?

And this is all from grant awarded money, correct? Yes. This is all grant awarded money. There's no county funding in this either. Thank you.

I make a motion that we approve.

Second.

Second.

Motion and a second. Roll call, please.

Commissioner Howard? Yes. Commissioner Hunt? Yes. Commissioner Mason? Yes. Commissioner Mitchell? Yes. Vice Chairman Jones? Yes. Chairman Bucher?

Yes.

Mr. Chairman, can I ask a question? Oh, sure. Go ahead. So the START program, I was looking forward to a little bit of an update. And this is also a pilot program. Am I mistaken?

Yes, you're correct. That program was one that was offered through an RFP process by the state. It began in federal fiscal year 24-25. As we've said before, we were looking at this program initially to try and combat substance abuse that just, you know, possibly 70% of our children in foster care and parents have. Substance abuse is a contributing factor, a sole contributing factor, of reason for care. This program was actually being used in our state by Buncombe County. We looked at some data there that showed positive results over a number of years after implementation. So yes, that is how we became involved. We applied for the state grant, and we were one of four initial counties chosen to start this program and administer it.

And you currently have how many families in the program?

We currently have nine open. We currently have seven open cases. We've had nine total. I think we're about to get a tenth. So we've been seeing some positive results early on while it's still early. I can tell you some, you know, we have had some challenges. You know, we've had some staff turnover, but we've been working with Easter Stills to hire those new family mentors, a new service coordinator. And we've been very fortunate in that when we've had to make those new hires, they've come in and they've worked very well. They've come into the program rather seamlessly. They've picked up on what's needed to be done in their positions in relation to the program and trying to serve our families. So that's worked very well. You know, we're seeing some very quick results when it comes to implementing assessments, which we find very beneficial in working with individuals who are struggling with substance abuse addiction. For example, the previous way that we would serve a family with substance abuse, we wouldn't have access to services this quickly. It would take 30 to 40 days for an assessment. Now it takes about a week, if that. It's very important to get that, because then we can look and see what services and that service coordinator and that clinical supervisor really start helping getting those families engaged in those services quickly. We find that the more time that lapses, the less engagement tends to happen with those families. So we're very excited about the initial, about our initial progress that we've seen. We've seen two families that have actually, one was closed by us, the other by the court, some of them were both doing very well. We've seen some families with some historical substance abuse issues with other children that have not been able to keep in their care, and we see some early positive results with them as well. Individuals going to treatment, testing negative, engaging in services while still early. That's a much different result than we saw in those past cases. So that is something that has given us some hope in this program, especially in its infancy. So we're very excited about some of those things that we're seeing. with these cases, and especially the family mentors, I want to mention those. We see a real difference in that they have that warm handoff to where they'll drive those individuals to their first floor appointments. They go in there and talk with them. They've had that lived experience. We've really seen how that's really encouraged those families to engage more than when it was just our staff going in. We want to break down a little bit of that adversarial barrier while also making sure we keep children safe, but trying to see what we can do and seeing how individuals want to engage these services. Hopefully, when we offer them early and they continue to engage in those services and they're moving towards recovery and sustained recovery.

Wonderful. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay. Anything else? All right. Thank you, Chef.

Thank you.

Steven Astor. Solid waste emergency services consulting contract renewal.

Good evening, Board. Thank you for having me this evening. One item for your consideration, that is the emergency services consulting contract renewal. Historically, Craven County has maintained a pre-positioned contract for emergency services consulting through the Solid Waste Department. This agreement, along with the related procurement processes, must maintain strict compliance with state and federal regulations in order to ensure eligibility for reimbursement in the event of a natural disaster. The Selective Contractor Insight Planning and Development has provided essential consulting support not only for the Solid Waste Department, but also for public assistance and resiliency efforts in collaboration with the Planning and Inspections Department for Craven County. Craven County awarded Insight Plan and Development the emergency consulting services contract in September of 23 with the agreement set to be renewed each year. This request is exercising year three of four as stated in the original contract dated September of 23. Staff is requesting the Board of Commissioners to consider approving the renewal so that the consulting services can continue through the 26-27 budget year. Happy to answer any questions if you have any.

Okay. Are there any questions?

So during like a natural disaster, we're applying for FEMA money. This contract is supposed to help us prevent any delay in procuring those funds, correct?

Yes, sir. Oversight of that and anything to CFR compliance and all that. Uniform guidance.

And we haven't had any of those delays since we've been working with these folks?

Not to my knowledge. Our experience has been very positive with Insight.

Which, I mean, that's important geographically for us. Thank you. Sure. No problem.

Steven, I think it's important to note that there are some of our municipalities that do, and I can't think of the right word, piggybacks the way I think use this contract as they're on because we bid it out. And I know Riverbend's one and others you've worked with.

Yes, good point, Jack. We do offer cooperative purchasing agreement on all of our natural disaster contracts. That's including the consulting contract, our disaster debris monitoring contract, and our debris removal. And we do have primaries and secondaries, as you all know, for both of those contracts.

Well, as you see in some of the western areas and other places hit by natural disasters, the delaying funds is huge. And anything we can do to facilitate that moving in quicker, faster for our local municipalities and our county. I'm in favor of that, so thank you.

I would just comment the delay generally is on the other end. I think we and they could do it perfectly and FEMA would take forever. That's historically the way it's worked. Jack.

I'm shaking my head, yes.

Yeah, I saw you over there. Okay. Thank you.

Motion to renew the contract within sight. Second.

We've got a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Okay. Thank you, Board. Okay. Sheriff Hughes is not here, is he? He's got a spokesperson here.

We're here to ask for the budget amendment, 2026 fiscal year local law enforcement, the state authorized payment for anybody who's sworn law enforcement on June 30th of 2026 this year for a one-time bonus payment of $1,750 to be paid by the state. The SBI, State Bureau of Investigation, shall award all local agencies compensation bonuses and reimbursement for Craven County. Currently, we have 117 sworn law enforcement officers employed by Craven County who meet the requirements to receive the bonus. The county will be reimbursed for all costs associated with the bonus, except for the workers' compensations, which totals $5,946. The total amount we're requesting is $221,462 for the compensation through the state. Okay. Sounds like a pretty good deal.

I make a motion that we approve this resolution.

Second. Got a motion and a second. Roll call, please.

Commissioner Howard? Yes. Commissioner Hunt? Yes. Commissioner Mason? Yes. Commissioner Mitchell? Yes. Vice Chairman Jones? Yes. Chairman Bucher?

Yes. So all you guys are going to get a nice bonus.

Full-timers get the full amount. Part-timers get a reduced amount.

Quick question. Yes. I know about a few weeks ago I had two deputies contact me asking was this a thing because they were not aware of it at the time. Is everyone aware of this now, I think? They are.

So the problem came out is that it was a rumor for a while and it was never... completely verified through anybody. The state voted on it. It was budgeted. So it was a rumor that was floating around. We put out a memo notifying them that all was legitimate and it was just a time frame as far as when it was going to be put out by the state. In July the state made a notification to all agencies and then we proceeded at that point with collecting the numbers and the employment verifications we needed to satisfy the state.

And when you say 117 eligible, these are people under the $65,000. Was that what I read, one of the ledges that's under $65,000 or under a certain amount? Not everybody was eligible, correct?

So everybody's eligible that was sworn law enforcement on June 30th of 2026. so anybody that we've hired since that date are not eligible for it um or anybody who was not who has not sworn with us after that date who have left in that time some of them will be some of them won't be um but the 117 is the entirety of the sworn members of the agency that were sworn prior to june 30th or on june 30th 2026. so nobody looked no income limits then i'm sorry no income limit there was no income okay thank you from the state how many were part-time of the 117. i believe we have eight total part-timers okay And I think they get 800, I believe, and I'm not going to tell you that's the exact number, but I believe they get 800, and then full-timers get 1,750. Thank you. Good.

Very good.

Thank you.

Next slide. Craig Warren, Finance, 2026 Limited Obligation Bonds.

good evening board i have one item on the agenda for tonight and that is an approving resolution related to our our 2026 limited obligation bonds um as you know over the last few months we've been bringing items before you to um to present to you the necessary steps for a tax exempt series and a non-taxable series of limited obligation bonds to finance various capital improvements. Those proposed projects include enhancements to county facilities in New Bern and Havelock, along Martin Drive, Chillers at the judicial center, renovations at our public defender's office, and upgrades to our Cove City Library, and improvements at our social services facility. The approved resolution in your agenda item authorizes the issuance of these bonds, approves the associated financing documents, authorizes designated county officials to complete the offering, sale, and closing process. The final principal amount, series allocation, and interest rates will be determined at the time of the sale within the limits set by the board in your previous resolutions. All draft financing documents reference in the resolution are available to the clerk. They're very voluminous. So instead of doubling your agenda size, we elected to send them electronically to her. So they are for viewing if the board so desires.

Okay.

I'm happy to answer any questions that I can.

Questions for?

No, sir. I make a motion that we approve. Second.

Motion and a second. Let's do a roll call on this.

Commissioner Howard. Yes. Commissioner Hunt. Yes. Commissioner Mason. Yes. Commissioner Mitchell. Yes. Vice Chairman Jones. Yes. Chairman Booker.

Yes. Okay. Thank you, Board. Mr. Chairman, may I make a quick comment?

Yes, sir. I think it's really important, and it may have gotten missed. There was a small press release, but Greg worked very hard with the rating agencies for this debt. We received the second highest rating available from S&P, and that's a big deal because that saves the taxpayers money at the end of the day. But what it shows is that the fiscal conservative approach we've used for many, many years of this board allows us to be in this position where We got that rating. So just want to acknowledge that and Craig's hard work and his whole team downstairs. Thank you, sir.

Not only that great rating, but we got our county book, Jack. Weren't we per capita one of the third best tax rates in the state per capita? Yes, sir.

Thank you, Craig.

Thank you.

Thanks, Craig. Mr. Gene Hodges.

selection of contractor for government center east project and approval of project ordinance and budget amendment good evening board so in april the board of commissioners adopted a project ordinance establishing the government center east project this project entails the purchase and renovation of a building located at 1208 east main street and havelock This facility will be used to relocate and house offices from multiple state of North Carolina and Craven County departments from their existing location at 300 Miller Boulevard. Additionally, this location will provide space that can be used to conduct future elections, as well as provide flex space for Craven County departments to offer services in the eastern portion of the county. An RFP was issued on May 29th, and a pre-bid meeting was held on June 24th. Bids were received on July 16th, and 10 firms submitted bids for this project. Hudson Brothers Construction Company was the low bidder at $3,258,980, including the alternative restoration of the exterior facade. Please see that included in your packet was the bid tab that showed all of the bidders that we had on the submitted bids. Hudson Brothers Construction is a company based out of Greenville, North Carolina and comes highly recommended with an over 30 year history of successful commercial municipal projects in eastern North Carolina. We also included a portfolio of some of their projects also in the packet. With the construction bid included, the total project budget for Government Center East is $6,057,238. This amount includes the property acquisition costs of $1,252,242 and design fees of $450,000 that were previously approved in April. The total budget also includes $233,000 to add the building to Craven County's fiber optic network, $250,000 in furniture from the state contract vendor, $450,000 in HVAC control, security cameras, special inspections and landscaping, and a 5% contingency of $162,949. In order to proceed, the Board of Commissioners is being requested to approve the attached project ordinance amendment and related budget amendment in the amount of $8,701,814. The total amount being added to the project is $4,350,907. The budget amendment appears double due to having to budget the transfer from the general fund into the project.

Okay. A lot of numbers there. Who asked questions?

I don't have a question. I have a comment. Just I'd like to thank county staff finding this building. We've had a plan for many years because with the Miller Boulevard expansion potentially damaging the current DMV facility and the current DMV facility being antiquated, basically a closet, not able to service Havelock and that being an important part of our county. Also, not having a place to vote consistently in Havelock, this is a necessity. But not only is it a necessity, we've saved money. We've cut the bill more than probably half from having to build from scratch, and we're utilizing an old building in Havelock, and I think that's a plus too. So thank you guys for what you're doing. I think it's a good project for the folks in Havelock.

Any other comments, questions?

I would just add to that. Well, while it's going to serve the southeastern end of the county very well for many, many reasons, when you talk about the voting facility, there's no doubt in my mind that it's going to increase voter turnout across the entire county because 9,000 people work on that base. So whether they live next door to Commissioner Jones or Commissioner Mitchell, you know, they can pop in and vote on their lunch hour, before work, after work, and it's going to be easy access, easy in, easy out. It's also going to relieve a lot of parking issues right around here with early voting here next door to the courthouse. So I think it's a win for the entire county. Thank you.

Okay. Do I have a motion? So moved.

Second.

Motion and a second. Any other questions? Okay. Roll call, please.

Commissioner Howard? Yes. Commissioner Hunt? Yes. Commissioner Mason? Yes. Commissioner Mitchell? Yes. Vice Chairman Jones? Yes. Chairman Bucher?

Yes. I do have one question, and that is the Miller Road facility,

will be taken by the state ultimately is that what we're assuming that the the plans have changed numerous times in the years that i've been here as of right now the latest plan is the the right of way is going to go right by the front door like right here to the front door so making it practically useless but none of that's actually until they actually sit down and start talking you know directly really don't know exactly but the latest plan show it going right by the front door okay at some point we're probably going to get some cash back that's the desire that's the hope okay all right thank you very much thank you

Item number 14, growing rural economies with access to technology grant match for Bright Speed for broadband expansion. Shane Diggins, Shane?

Thank you, Board. Here to talk about the great grant you may remember a few years ago. The county originally entered into an agreement in 2023 with Bright Speed through a program called Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology. It's a state grant program. Craven County's match to the program is $250,000. The board allocated $250,000 in ARPA funding to cover the county's match and install broadband in the county's rural areas. In the coming weeks, Bright Speed is wrapping up this project and they will submit their next reimbursement request for review by the state. Once that has been approved, the county is expected to pay the agreed upon match of $250,000. Just a little update on the project. They are 95% complete and they have 154 locations remaining to do this fall. So that will give them a total of 1,863 locations served. And I just want to point out this is separate from the recently discussed completing access to broadband program. So those are two separate things. This is the first one. So after that, you'll have one 1,863 locations, primarily in the rural at the rural reaches of our County, north of Cove city, the Fort Barnwell area along highway 55 Adams Creek Adams Creek road. Um, areas surrounding Vanceboro and also some closer to New Bern and west New Bern and along highway 70. And my request to you is to approve a budget amendment in the amount of 250,000 to meet the required match.

Wow. I never thought we'd get this far, Jack. It's a good day. Yeah, that's a great deal. Okay. Motion to approve. We've got a motion to approve and a second. Any questions for him? That's really good news. That big number. 1,000 plus people.

You're one of them, aren't you? I think so. And I will have to say, for years I could not receive a lot of... the emails that came through timely. But now I don't have no trouble. That's great. Thank you.

OK. What's the average cost of service to the individual?

I was thinking about that today, trying to find an answer, and I don't have a good answer.

The grant had some rate restrictions for the first five years. So I can't remember. I feel like it was around $90. And, of course, there's still the scalability. So $90 is your basic package. I think it was like $20 up and $10 down, something like that. Don't quote me. But you could buy up, and I think it maxed out at like $180. Shane also mentioned CAB. So these 1,800 homes were the first group. CAB was another almost 1,000 homes, which is in process. Then you had something called ARDOF, which was a federal auction of available addresses to providers. And two here, one was Starlink and the other was whatever – uh yeah one whatever time warner became now uh but those are in progress as well so we're down to i think that last one two percent of really really hard to reach areas commissioner hunt and i've taught she's got a few commissioner jones has some commissioner mason has some and there's some remaining programs particularly one called the last mile which we're going to talk about in october that we hope to really just get that last really hard to reach. The problem, Shane, I think you and I talked about today, is while these lines are on the main road, if there is a long run from that road to the home, there are still some challenges with a cost basis. And I think last mile will help with some of that final connectivity as well.

And our mapping department made a map just for county use of all these programs and where they are. I can share that.

That was going to be the basis for October, was to bring that out and talk about it.

Just a quick question. For this grant, Shane, about how many addresses or underserved addresses were impacted?

That's the 1,863. That's a lot, so you're getting banged for our buck.

Thank you. Shane, I can't remember what the 250 leveraged, something like $3.5 million?

I don't know if Craig has the number.

3.5.

Okay, we need a roll call to... approve the $250,000 match.

Oh, excuse me. Commissioner Howard? Yes. Commissioner Hunt? Yes. Commissioner Mason? Yes. Commissioner Mitchell? Yes. Vice Chairman Jones? Yes. Chairman Bucher?

Yes.

Thank you. Mr. Chairman, before you call up Mr. Alligood for item 15, I'm going to ask if the board would recuse me from any discussion and for voting on this matter. and I would leave the room, okay?

Do I have a motion to? So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. You are excused. Thank you. Item number 15, Mr. Duane Alligood, Water and Engineering Service Director.

Got a couple of items for us. Yes, sir, thank you. Commissioners, appreciate the opportunity to come before you tonight. The first item has to do with a contractual relationship the county entered into with CJS Conveyances. to perform an asset inventory and analysis of our water system. What that does is looks at your existing water system and evaluates critical components and the condition of those components and makes recommendations. It also results in rehabilitation and replacement recommendations and also some operation and maintenance. recommendations. So the purpose of that though is to evaluate your existing system, see the condition of it, and what it would take to maintain it and make some improvements there to that system. Not expanding it. Then the second part of that is a water system improvement assessment. And what they've done there is generated a model of our water system. And as part of this, they did some additional calibration of that model to see that it performed similar to the way our system actually performs. And with that information, you can say, all right, if I add a tank to this location, What does it do to help with our pressures in this area, our flow in this area? If we upsize the water line in this area, what benefits do we get from upsizing that water line? If we make this additional connection on our water system, what are the benefits of that? So it lets us put in different scenarios and make recommendations to optimize our system for future growth and existing conditions to select projects that will help maximize those funds expended. So CJS is in the process of doing that. The initial contract amount was $397,000. The amount remaining in that contract is $192,493. So I'm requesting a rollover budget amendment to move that money forward.

Okay. Move that we approve. Second.

Motion and a second. Are we talking about B or A now? B? A. We're still on A? We're still on A. Thank you.

Roll call, please.

Commissioner Howard? Yes. Commissioner Hunt? Yes. Commissioner Mason? Yes. Commissioner Mitchell? Yes. Vice Chairman Jones? Yes. Chairman Bucher?

Yes. Okay, your second item is an AMI meter project budget amendment.

Right, so the second item is the AMI meter project budget amendment, and that is the project where we're installing approximately 15,000 meters throughout the county that will give us capabilities of doing direct reading. It expands the information we obtain with meters and supports if we have any issues catching those early. So that work has been done except in the northwest portion of the county. And so I'm asking for a rollover amendment in the amount of $995,666 to finalize that project. This includes contract work and some costs directly associated with that project that the county will incur, such as putting some mounts on tanks for the collector antennas that have to be put up there. So there's a couple different contractors involved here, but the $995,666 encompasses all that work.

Kept it under a million. That's good.

I'd like to move to approve the $995,667,000. Second. I do have a discussion point, though, before we get to that. One of the issues I've come up with is, and I think these new meters address it, and Jack probably already knows what I'm talking about, is pipe bursts, someone's out of town, hose pipe is leaking, someone's gone for a month for surgery, which has happened in my district. This new system will notify you guys if there's an unusual water consumption. You can either turn it off or notify that guest, right?

That's correct. So there's two different reports we get regularly. One is a high consumption report, which would be what you're talking about if you have a... significant amount of water going through a particular meter, especially if it's not been accustomed. So we get a report and then we call those property owners and say, hey, we're seeing something that looks a little funny on your property. We're not seeing anything. We would check and make sure it wouldn't be if it's coming through the meter, it's going to be on their side. So we would go out and be willing to try to help them Identify something we can't go in their house and do that kind of stuff But but it would be a way that we could notify them early if that happens another thing that we get is called continuous consumption And that would be if it shows water is going through their meter continuously It could even be at a little slower rate, but it doesn't stop so if you waters going all night long could be a running commode could be whatever and But that indicates a problem too. So that's another report that we get where we could reach out to a property owner and let them know that they need to check into something.

If it's obsessive and you don't get a response, what would you guys likely do at that point? I don't know if that's...

question we were thinking I haven't come across that yet when we've had that and we've gotten in touch with folks sometimes they know what's going on and they say no we're handling it please let it go we're gonna take care of it and other times they've asked us to cut their water off for them we offer that so somebody's traveling somebody's in the hospital you don't get a response we reach out to a neighbor or you know to see what's going on there so excellent thank you

How timely are the reports? In other words, after the water's expended, how soon do you know that they're... Next morning.

So when I get that seven-day report, I get it 8 o'clock this morning, and it was through last night. So it's timely.

You can read the meters remotely. Can you manipulate them remotely?

We... there are a few meters i don't think we have installed any of them yet that can be turned off remotely but we can read them and see what's going on and there's a few that we have in stock but haven't installed yet that would allow you to remotely turn them off thank you okay do we have a motion i already made it i never seconded yeah a second

Yes.

Commissioner Hunt? Yes. Commissioner Mason? Yes. Commissioner Mitchell? Yes. Chairman Bucher?

Yes. Okay. Thank you, Duane. We can call Commissioner Smith back in.

Jones.

I mean Jones, yeah. Bob Smith. Commissioner Smith just left. I saw him walk out and had Smith on my mind.

Now we're going to add two Smith. Okay. Commissioner Smith is girl.

Okay. Item number 16 is appointments under appointments this month. We've got five or six that are pending community child protection team, Craven aging planning board, Craven ABC board, Craven County clean sweep, juvenile crime prevention and recreation. advisory council. You'll notice there are no current appointments to consider tonight, and there are several upcoming. Take note of those if you would. And we will move on to item number 17, which would be the county attorney's report.

I have no report, Mr. Chairman.

Yay. County manager's report, item 18.

Mr. Chairman, commissioners, thank you. Normally I get time to think while Arie's up here doing his dance, so we're going to move quick tonight. A couple things for your calendar. On September 21st, which would be two weeks from today, at 11 a.m., we will have a ribbon cutting for our Havelock Pharmacy, along with a reinvigoration of our whole health clinic down there with our VA partners. We're really excited about that. So if you would, we'll do our meeting here. As soon as it's over, tentatively 11ish, we will be down there and get a tour and all that good stuff. So put that on your calendars. As a reminder, at your second meeting in October, we will have a work session immediately following this meeting. I referenced it tonight. There's lots of subjects that are starting to pop up and evolve. So put that there. I would think we'll probably get started around 1030 and probably last until after lunch that day. And I am really excited because someone's in the room tonight that's brand new. And I'm going to get to introduce her. Her name is Melissa Austin. Melissa, if you would stand up, please. Melissa is our new information technology director. We're so excited to have her here. She's hit the ground running. She's visited with different departments and already jumping in on projects and all that good stuff. Melissa comes to us from the municipal side. So we are indoctrinating her to county government here, which I think she's going to love. But, again, Melissa came to us from Rocky Mount. She started a couple weeks ago. We're really excited to have her. I know Robbie and the team have already been working closely with her here. And we're live on TV tonight, so you get a thumbs up for that. Anyway, I would give Melissa a minute, if she'd like, just to introduce herself and anything I didn't say there.

Not put her on the spot.

Good evening. I just want to say I'm excited to be here and looking forward to working with everybody. I didn't really prepare anything.

Well, they can put a face with the name now. Commissioners, that's all I have to report. I just, for the record, want to thank you and the board and the whole Craven County family. So I'll just leave it there. But thank you a lot for your support. Any questions for me?

Anybody have any questions or comments for the County Manager?

Thank you, sir.

You're all set. Thank you. Item number 19, Commissioner's Reports. You want to go first? I'll go first.

I have a couple of items. The first thing, I was remiss. I didn't say anything when Mr. Allgood was up here. The reason I supported that water study is because we've seen municipalities, when they don't do those studies and find out where their improvement needs to be, that it costs them millions and millions of dollars. So we're trying to be proactive and prevent bad things from happening. But also, I think all the firefighters in our rural corners of the county are going to be excited to see this study report because they would all They would all enjoy better pressure for their water hoses and getting waters down into the rural areas. There's been some discussion about not having water flow to the homes when the firefighters have to put out a fire and other issues as well. So that might improve their ratings as well, if we could get some better pressure out in those rural corners of our county. So that's why I supported that. I want to mention that there's a 9-11 memorial service at the 9-11 memorial on Highway 70 East in front of the police department in Havelock Friday morning. That'll go at 840. The first 100 guests will receive a 25-year anniversary commemorative coin as a reminder to remember, honor, and unite. And then on Saturday, the Havelock VFW is also having a 9-11 memorial at the same place at the same time, and the public's welcome to join them. And I want to let everyone know that there's going to be a national night out at the fire station on Ferry Road September 15th from 5 to 7 p.m., and everyone's welcome to attend that as well.

Okay.

That's all I have.

Fairfield Harbor has another 9-11 memorial ceremony. It'll be at 6 o'clock on Friday night, competing with the football games, but we don't have any free giveaways, so we're in trouble there. But, yeah, it'll be good. We'll have the firefighters, local firefighters and local people giving the speeches.

Okay. Mr. Mitchell.

Just one thing with it. I know that we approved the military person of the quarter today. And normally that luncheon would be on Thursday at the Flame. However, due to the death of Ms. Ty Roberts, that luncheon has been postponed since people will be attending her funeral. So the presentation will be made at a time to be determined at a later date after Chamber of Commerce gets that worked out. That's the only thing I have, sir.

Is that all you have?

That's it. Okay. I just have a few notes from our North Carolina Association of County Commissioners annual conference a few weeks ago. I didn't list every session I went to, but one that I found particularly interesting, kind of important for local government municipalities was the LGC. One, maybe perhaps one of the best I've been to since I've been a county commissioner. Very detailed. Denise Canada was the lady in charge of that. LGC was established in 1931 during the Great Depression. They oversee 1,100 units of local government and public authorities, debt oversight, financial monitoring, auditing oversight. They also are one of the three authorities in the state that have the authority to dissolve a municipality if it's not financially viable, which I also found interesting. And they recently did just that. One of the big takeaways from it, someone asked her the question, like, you know, what's the most important thing we should take from this? And it's like local elected official accountability. Because often when she comes into one of these towns that are failing, the local government officials are pointing fingers at staff, this and that. And her response is always, you voted on that. you approve that. So it's not the staff, it's you who are making that error. So that was an interesting one. She also kind of really went into the ports of the county finance office. We're obviously blessed. You guys heard our rating earlier. So that is certainly... Good. Went to the fire protection and county responsibilities. There's several great points from that, but I'm not going to go over all of them. And then a great one on economic and market outlook, which was also I did have a whole paragraph on key takeaways for Craven County. I'm not going to bore you with that. I will leave you with this thought. I'm from Rockingham County. Jack's from Sox County. Rockham County is a two-horse county. Stokes County is what I'd like to call a one-horse county. But you don't really know the importance of a teacher and a coach unless you live in a county like Stokes with one high school. and program that every kid in that high school went through for 30 something years. And, um, you know, it's a big loss for Stokes County, Jack fight the second and, uh, want to pay homage to a little bit of a local legend, a local coach. And, um, I'm sure he'll be missed by his family, but, you know, big time by the Stokes County community, no matter how much I make fun of Stokes County, it's a Rockingham County thing. They do the same thing. Um, that's a, it's a big loss for them. Sorry, Jack.

Okay, I have nothing, so item number 20, petition of citizens.

Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman, we have four citizens who've signed up. The first one is Mr. Albert Lester.

Mr. Lester. Good evening, boy. Appreciate y'all having me up here. You got a few things to carry your old... Tell us where you live. I live in Hat Block, North Carolina.

Okay, fine.

One thing I like about the board, when I first came here two or three years ago, I asked about the voting down in Havelock, and it's coming true. It's coming true, I don't know, maybe 28, 30 timeframe we'll be able to have a permanent voting site instead of moving around. We'll appreciate that. And this week is 9-11 week. And hopefully everyone can reflect back on where they were 25 years ago when the Twin Towers went down because I definitely know exactly what I was doing and where I was at. With that, I'll close. God bless America. God bless Craven County and all our commissioners and elected officials.

Thank you, sir. Thank you. I think those of us, in fact, my wife and I were speaking the other day and reflecting on exactly where we were when we heard the news. And also, I'm old enough to remember where I was when I got the news that JFK was killed. That was a big deal, too. I can't remember where I was yesterday, but I remember where I was in those days.

Okay, thank you, sir. Next citizen is Mr. Ray Griffin.

Amen. God bless you. Good to see you. Ray Griffin, 1981 Streets, Ferry Road, Vanceport, North Carolina. I remember exactly where I was at when the towers fell. I was in a little town called Smart, Louisiana, preaching revival down there. And I preached the night before. The end is near. It's not here yet, but we can see it from where we are. God is working in many different ways. I want to say thank you, thank you, thank you. As Elvis would say, thank you, thank you, thank you for doing the... Prayer and lifting up the meeting. And just for a few minutes, throughout scripture, God remains sovereign over history, orchestrating judgment along with his purpose. There's a purpose for the prayer. There's a purpose for everything. 9-1-1, there was a purpose there that we need to get fired up, stand up, get prayed up, and look at more of what's going on. The Bible shows that he judges nations while they reject his commandments and refuse to change. He gives warnings and great judgments to come. When a nation begins to experience rising disasters, violence, divisions, and moral collapse, people wonder, is God sending us a message? America is now experiencing the same reign that scripture associated with national crisis. Disasters are increasing, warnings are intensifying, and it seems as though time is running out. That's why we need to speak up more for Jesus than ever and realize that he is coming back. And we are seeing that America is drifting away from the truth. There's some churches today that are not preaching the truth and preaching false doctrines. But the Bible is clear. When a nation rejects the commandments of God, the judgment follows. The Lord has warned us, as in ancient Israel repeatedly, that if they turn away from his laws, he would send a disaster to wake them up. And that's why we need to stand on the word of God and why we need to have meetings like this that lift up God and give him the credit and give him the name that he deserves. In the book of Deuteronomy it says, But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord, to reserve to do all commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee. The same eternal God who judged Israel is the same one who is ruler today. He is not changed. These courses include natural disasters, economic collapse, defeat by enemies, social breakdowns, confusion, fear, instability, and mental stress. And I think we can see that all through our nation today. Our youth is going crazy. I was in the prison just the other night, and there was some, looked like kids shouldn't even be in there. There were just maybe 18 or 19. And they looked like they could bite nails into, but they had created some crimes. And we need to lift up Jesus more than what we're doing. America is failing. America is experiencing all these things right now. We see that God is in control and God still rules and God still reigns. We need to lift up what's going on and vote. Get out and vote for what is right. Vote for Jesus Christ and his commandments. Amen.

Next, we have Mr. Russ Bauer.

Good evening, board.

My name is Russ Bauer. I live at 3809 Burleywood Lane in New Bern. I want to bring up a topic of AI to the board. I think it's a very emotional topic that people are kind of weighing right now. It's a very important one in terms of the future. And right now, there's an obvious race going on between our country and our adversaries on AI and who's going to control it. You control AI. You control the computing infrastructure. You control the decision-making process. You control the outcomes of data mining. You control the data. And whoever controls that has control. We can't fall behind. Right now our country has a lead in technology and algorithms, but China has a lead in power. While we were shutting down nuclear power plants and coal plants, they were building them. In terms of data centers, we have a slight lead right now, but they've got plans that overtake us very quickly. A lot of emotion around it in terms of jobs, electrical, environmental, water. many different things that can and need to be mitigated and can be mitigated. And I can tell you that for a fact because Loudoun County has done that. They are in fact lowering their property taxes based on all the ratables they're getting from the data centers. And I had experience building the world's largest radar, space surveillance radar in the middle of the Pacific Ocean where I had a $360 million project to build the power plant. We did it not just for that radar. We did it for redundancy. We tied in with the base's radar. We gave them control. We had excess power that allowed for maintenance. We took care of all environmental and all radiation. All these concerns can be mitigated. Why am I bringing this up here? I'm bringing up here because I don't know what Craven County's position is on these things. I'm bringing up here because I brought it up to the state legislature and the state senator at meetings, and they said, that's not really our job. You should talk to your county. So I'm bringing it up to raise your awareness, and I'm not sure what has been done in terms of thoughts on that, but I think it's something that we've got to do. Now, having said all that... Remember exactly where I was on 9-11 as everybody else does I was putting in a bid for Department of Homeland well, it wasn't Department Homeland Security at that time. It was a Department of Transportation Coast Guard project and I was when it went out to visit a with my boss in there on the TV, saw the plane crash into the tower and definitely got my attention. And Chairman Booker, I was in fifth grade when Kennedy was assassinated in the classroom. So I remember that one too.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, and next is Ms. Diane Bowers.

Diane Bauer, 3809 Burleywood Lane in New Bern. Good evening, commissioners. Thank you for your time. I have a special announcement. The New Bern Fireman's Museum is holding 9-11 events this week. On Thursday night at 7 p.m., New Bern resident Patty Monachino, a 9-11 survivor who was working in the South Tower on the 69th floor when the second tower was struck, which was also the first tower that collapsed, will be speaking about the events that unfolded that morning and how she was able to survive. In addition, on Friday, 9-11, at 8 o'clock, the museum will hold a ceremony paying tribute to all those who lost their lives in 9-11 attacks. We all remember where we were. and we all remember how important it is to keep America safe and be vigilant. God bless the men and women who are continuing to protect our country overseas and at home, and thank you for your time.

Thank you. That's all, Mr. Chairman. Okay. Okay, Commissioners, do I hear a motion to adjourn?

Motion to adjourn. Second.

All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Aye. I talked to pe-