Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

He's got HJ McDonald student down there was talking to us. But am I ready down there? Call to order. Monday, December 1st meeting, regular session of the Craraven County Board of Commissioners. Madame Clerk, would you call the role, please? Commissioner Mitchell, here. Commissioner Smith here. Commissioner Howard here. Commissioner Hunt here. Commissioner Hunt. Okay. Commissioner Mason here. Vice Chairman Jones here. Chairman Booker

here. If you'll stand with me, we'll do have the county attorney, Mr. Grady, give us the prayer and then we'll follow that with the pledge of allegiance.

Good and gracious father, you are the source of every good thing and the fountain of every blessing. We praise you for your great care that you have for us, your children. As a source of all that is good and true. We ask you to inspire within our hearts a greater longing to pursue these ends and draw us ever closer to yourself. We ask you to send forth your blessing upon all those gathered here in this place. May we receive your guidance and wisdom in accomplishing the tasks set before us. Protect us. Keep our country and county safe from all harm. And may we pursue in freedom of heart the things that are yours now and forever. 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. Ladies and gentlemen, if you would please make sure your phones are on silent so we don't have a disruption, nobody gets embarrassed. Commissioners, you have the agenda in front of you. Are there any changes, additions, deletions? I move that we approve the agenda. Is written. Second.

Have a motion and a second. approve the agenda as shown. Uh, Madame Clerk, would you call the role, please? Commissioner Mitchell, yes. Commissioner Smith, yes. Commissioner Howard, yes. Commissioner Hunt, yes. Commissioner Mason, yes. Vice Chairman Jones, yes. Chairman Booker, yes. First item on our agenda is the petition of citizens agenda topics. Mr. Chairman, we have no one signed up.

Okay. Thank you. Um, item number two is the consent agenda. We have the minutes of the November 17th regular session. We have tax releases and refunds administration. We have the Sudan parking lot holiday carriage tours lease. We have the military person of the quarter resolution. Are there any additions or changes to that? Move to approve. Second. Got a motion and a second. Would you call the role, please, Madam Clerk? Commissioner Mitchell, yes. Commissioner Smith, yes. Commissioner Howard, yes. Commissioner Hunt, yes. Commissioner Mason, yes. Vice Chairman Jones, yes. Chairman Booker,

yes. Item number three is the reorganization of the board, which we do every December. Turn it over to our attorney.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, with your permission, commissioners, we will conduct the election for chair as we have in years past. I will start by opening the floor for nominations. Then once it's apparent to me that the nominations are concluded, we'll close the nominations by motion, second, and vote. Uh then depending on the number of nominations will either proceed by roll call vote or appoint a new chair by motion, second, and vote. So any questions before we get started? Great. With that, um I will open the floor for nominations for the position of chair of the Craven County Board of Commissioners. I nominate Dennis Booker.

I second the motion. Any other nominations? Then uh Commissioner Smith, it sounds like you were making a motion to close the nominations. Yes. Great. Thank you. There's a second. All in favor, please signify by saying I oppose like sign. So the eyes have it. The nominations are closed. Um, since there is one nomination, uh, I would suggest that we appoint, um, the new chair by motion, second vote. If I can get a motion to the effect of appointing Denny Booker as chair of the Craven County Board of Commissioners. So moved. Is there a second? Second.

Uh, discussion. All in favor, please signify by saying I

oppose. Like sign. The eyes have it. Congratulations, Mr. Chairman. You are, Mr. Chairman. Again. Thank you. She's got and swear that you will support and maintain the constitution and laws of the United States and laws of North Carolina commissioners. I will

faithfully and truly ability exeute the duties of the office of chairman county board of commission.

I will Mr. Chair, are you ready to continue with

Let's uh let's do the vice chair now. Okay. We'll follow the same process, commissioners, as we did for the chair. With that said, the floor is open for nominations. Motion to nominate Commissioner Jason Jones for vice chairman. Second. Okay. Any other nominations? So, uh, Commissioner Mason, was that a motion to close the nominations also? Yes. Second close. Second was to also close the nominations. Any discussion? All in favor, please signify by saying I. I post like sign. The eyes have it. Uh since there is one nomination, um I would entertain a motion to appoint Jason Jones as vice chair of the board of commissioners. Second.

We've got a motion and a second. Who made the second? Is that Commissioner Smith? Could be either one. Okay. Commissioner Smith or Commissioner Mason. Any discussion on the motion? All in favor, please signify by saying I opposed. Like sign. The eyes have it. Congratulations, Mr. Vice Chair.

Thank you. Do you Jason Jonesly and sincerely swear that you will support and maintain the Constitution laws of the United States and the Constitution laws of North Carolina and that you will faithfully discharge the duties of your office as vice chairman of the county board of commissioners.

Do you faithfully and truly the best of your ability execute the duties of the office of vice chairman of the county board of commissioners? Okay. Item number four, we're going to establish our 2026 meeting dates, times, and locations. You should have a copy of that, commissioners. Are there any questions, comments on the uh dates that are on that list? If not, may I have a motion?

Motion to approve. Second. A motion and a second. All in favor? I

opposed. The eyes have it. So, those will be our meeting dates. And our first meeting will be on January 5th next year. Item number five is to consider appointments of commissioners and boards to boards and committees. Uh commissioners, I'd like to uh table that and speak to each of you in the next week or so before our next meeting to confirm the boards that you're currently on and which ones you want to be on for next year. That'd be acceptable. I have a motion to do that. Motion to table. Second. All in favor? I

I opposed. Eyes have it. Item number six, emergency services. Mr. Stanley Kite. Thank you for the opportunity to be here tonight. Congratulations again. Thank you.

I'm here before you tonight to request a budget amendment. We had an unexpected retirement of one of my longest term employees 28 years. He's done. He's going home and revised budget in order to cover the retirey payout for because he's been here so long. That announcement is going to be needed from the $34,818. Okay. Board, we u are being asked to approve the budget amendment of 34, 818 to cover the cost of a retirey payout. You have a retire an employee retiring who's got a lot of years, right?

28 years, sir. Very good. Okay. So, uh, do I have a motion to approve that? So, moved. Second. Motion and a second. Would you call the role, please? Commissioner Mitchell? Yes. Commissioner Smith? Yes. Commissioner Howard? Yes. Commissioner Hunt? Yes. Commissioner Mason? Yes. Vice Chairman Jones? Yes. Chairman Booker? Yes. Thank you very much. Thank you. Item number seven is planning with the inspection services agreement. City of Havlock, Chad Strong, our planning director. Good evening, Chad. How y'all doing tonight? Good.

Last week, uh, we received a memorandum of understanding from the city of Havlock requesting the county to perform building inspections on all county owned buildings, including schools. The reason for this request is the city of Padlock's building inspector only possesses level one inspection certifications. Most of the county owned buildings require level two or greater inspection certifications to perform them. Another part of this agreement is to allow the city of Havlock's inspector to shadow a county inspector. This will allow the city of Havlock's inspector to gain hours to sit for his level two certification courses and exams, allowing the inspector to perform these types of inspections in the future. So, at this time, if the board does not have any questions in regards to thisou, I'd like to request the board to authorize the chairman to execute the attached.

Any questions? Do we have any similar with other municipalities in the county? This would be the first at this point. Yes, ma'am. But it sounds like it's mutually beneficial to the county and to have we have like interlocal agreements with like co city, dober, vansboro that would be close to this. It would be a similar. Okay, that's what I was thinking about then I think. Okay, thank you chairman. Yes, I would support this motion because it's going to expedite the work that we need to get done in the county, not just the county side of things, but also for the board of uh education. So, I would make that motion that we support this memorandum of agreement between the county and the city of Havoc. Okay. Thank you. Do I have a second? I'll second it.

Motion and a second. Any other questions for him? Um, if I'm not mistaken, too, this will actually be a cost savings for us from what we thought we were going to be paying. Correct. Yeah. Uh, to answer that uh directly, just um our fee schedule is a little less than what the city of Pedlock is. Yeah. So, it'll be I guess that's what I meant to say. Our fee schedule is a little more uh a little more conservative than theirs. Yeah. And they've told me they're going to be looking at their fee schedule and comparing it to our existing fee schedule. Okay. Any other questions? Motion and a second. We don't need a roll call on this, do we?

Doesn't hurt. It doesn't hurt. Let's do a roll call. Commissioner Mitchell? Yes. Commissioner Smith? Yes. Yes. Commissioner Howard, yes. Commissioner Hunt, yes. Commissioner Mason, yes. Vice Chairman Jones, yes. Chairman Booker, yes. Thank you. Thank you, Chad. Item number seven is I'm sorry. Item number eight is carts. Jean Hajes is going to speak to us about that tonight.

Good evening, board. Uh on November 18th, individuals from the North Carolina Department of Transportation Integrated Mobility Division and their contractor WSP conducted a compliance review on site at the cart's office. I participated with CART staff along with some staff from finance. A compliance review is conducted every three years of all subreients of NC DOT IMD funding sources. As a result of compliance review, the following policies were revised. the ADA complimentary pair of transit policy specifically to remove goals as a percentage out of the policy. Number two, the procurement policy specifically updating the dollar amount thresholds. And number three, the public transportation agency safety plan specifically update the accountable executive due to the hiring of a new director. The request is the approval of those policies as amended and copies uh in total were included in your agenda packet for review. There's a lot of of detail.

Yes, sir. Is there anything in here specifically that you want this board to be aware of? The only thing again that mainly these were just being in compliance with like dollar thresholds that change or federal procurement rules. Um there were some minor changes like changing the address from the news boulevard to Clark's Road. Um and then specifically uh removing they talked about like when you've got your ADA pair of transit not having having goals but not having tied to specific percentages and as they said if you tie a specific percentage you've got to show you're calculating those percentages if you got a percentage in the policy. So have the goals but remove the percentage numbers from it. Okay. Any questions?

No sir. And as chair of the NO board I recommend that we approve these. So I'd like to make that motion. Second. I have one. Go ahead. And I had a question too. Let me have a second first. I have a second. You got a motion and a second. Okay. Commissioner Howard, as we remove those goals, we still keep an internal kind of account of that. Absolutely. Okay. And getting rid of the loop and calling it something else. Was that I mean, we always Yeah, it was still u going back to the omnibus, which is what is currently being marketed as until we uh make some changes as we've talked about in the previous work session. Okay. All set. Yeah, we're good.

Okay. Any other questions? Okay, we have a motion and a second. Madam clerk, call the role, please. Commissioner Mitchell, yes. Commissioner Smith, yes. Commissioner Howard, yes. Commissioner Hunt, yes. Commissioner Mason, yes. Vice Chairman Jones, yes. Chairman Booker, yes. Thank you, board.

Thank you. Item number nine is appointments. You'll note under pending we have the aging planning board. Senior Tarheel Rep, Craraven County Clean Sweep Committee. There are two vacancies. Craven County Highway 70 corridor committee. Havlock board of adjustment alternate ETJ. Juvenile Crime Prevention Council, Mental Health under 21, and Volunteer Agriculture District District 6. And that's pending. Those will be coming up next. Uh under current. First item is the Craraven County Health Board. Mr. Eddie Gains would like to be reappointed.

I would nominate Mr. Gains. Okay. Mr. Gaines has been nominated. Is there anyone else nom you'd like to nominate for that position? Hearing none, he'll be approved by acclamation. Second one is Donald Bob Whitley, also for the health department board. He is a dentist. Um, would someone like to nominate? I nominate Dr. Whitley. Okay. We have Mr. Whitley nominated. Are there any others? Hearing none, he will be appointed by acclamation. Fire Tax Commission Board. Um, I think we have two. First of all, Jason Simpson seeks reappoint 3, Fort Barnwa. I would nominate Mr. Simpson.

Okay. Any other nominations for that seat? Hearing none, he will be appointed by acclamation. Um, did you want to add one other? The this is for the uh um tri community. This next one is for tri community. Okay. Yeah. Donald Paul Gaskins, Thomas Cthroll seek appointment by recommendation to fill seats by Tim Mason and Thomas Gascal upon resignation. So we have two resignations and a recommendation letter for Mr. Gaskins and Mr. Cthell

and and I'd like to nominate Mr. Guy Greg and and Mr. Thomas Cutheril instead of instead of Mr. Gins. Okay. Second. So we have Mr. Greg and Mr. Cuthil are nominated. Are there any others for those seats? Hearing none. They will be appointed by acclamation. Havlock board of adjustment. We want to table that one at this point. Yes sir. Okay. We'll table that one. Juvenile Crime Prevention Council Jennifer Knight seeks realignment. I'm sorry, reappoint for youth and family advocate. I hear a nomination from Miss Knight. I'll nominate Miss Knight.

Okay. Any other nominations for that seat? Hearing none, Miss Knight will be appointed by acclamation. Regional Aging Advisory Board. Allison Schneider seeks reappointment to her first term. Notice note that she was uh appointed in September to fill a vacated seat midterm. So now she's uh wants to be appointed for her first full term. Do I hear a nomination for her? Yes, I nominate Miss Schneder. Okay. Any others nominations for that seat? Hearing none, Miss Schneder will be appointed by acclamation. And the last one, Southeast Economic Development Partnership, Mr. Owen Andrews seeks appointment.

Uh, nominate Mr. Andrews.

Okay, Mr. Andrews has been nominated for reappoint. Are there any other nominations for that seat? Hearing none, Mr. Andrews will be appointed by acclamation. And you'll note that upcoming we have the fireman's relief board fund board of trustees. Uh Mr. Warren and Township 2 will be coming up. Okay, that takes care of our nominations and appointments. Next item, I believe, is the county attorney, Mr. Grady. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, commissioners. I have two items for your consideration this evening. Both involve uh county owned surplus real estate that we acquired through the tax foreclosure process. Uh both parcels are located within the city of Havlock and we own the parcels jointly with the city. And on both parcels, the city of Havlock has given uh its final approval. The first parcel is located at 206 Hollywood Boulevard with a parcel ID number of 606314. Uh we've got a final high bid of $28,000. The original taxes and cost of foreclosure together were $21,968.98 and the tax value of the property is $35,000. Since the Havlock is all since the city of Havlock has already given its final approval, I would recommend that this board uh do likewise so we can get the property back on the tax rolls. Okay. We're being asked to adopt a resolution approving conveyance after expiration of upset bid for partial 663104. Do I have a motion?

Motion to approve. Discussion. Motion and a second. You have a question? I do. Go ahead. I thought we did this last year. I think I think it actually fell through last year. We we did not finalize the sale. Okay, that answers my question. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. I would second that nomination. Okay. Yeah. Did we have a Did you Somebody down there nominated. Somebody did it here. I didn't hear who it was. No, I thought it was Tim who made the motion. I made the motion. He made the motion. Okay. Who's on first? We got a motion and a second. All in favor? I I

Let's do a roll call. It's $21,000. 26 $36,000. 26. Whatever. Let's go ahead and do a a roll call. Commissioner Mitchell, yes. Commissioner Smith, yes. Commissioner Howard, yes. Commissioner Hunt, yes. Commissioner Mason, yes. Vice Chairman Jones, yes. Chairman Booker, yes. Okay. The second item B.

Uh, the property is located at 514A Hollywood Boulevard with a parcel ID number of 6059030. We've got a high bid amount of $10,000. Um, the original taxes and cost of foreclosure together were $3,619.85. The tax value of this property is $26,250. As the city of Havlock has given its final approval, I would recommend that this board do likewise so we can get the property back on the tax rolls.

Okay. Board, we're being asked to adopt a resolution approving conveyance after exploration of upset bid period for parcel 659030. Do I have a motion? Motion and a second. Second. Okay. A second. Would you call the role, please? Commissioner Mitchell. Yes, Commissioner Smith. Yes, Commissioner Howard. Yes, Commissioner Hunt. Yes, Commissioner Mason. Yes, Vice Chairman Jones. Yes. Chairman B. Yes. That concludes my report. Thank you. Item number 11, petition of citizens. Mr. Chair,

Mr. Chairman, we have uh two citizens who signed up this evening. Uh the first is Mr. Ray Griffin.

Amen. God bless y'all. Nobody said merry Christmas to you. Merry Christmas everybody. God bless you. Matter of fact, even trying to take Merry Christmas off the wall now. Ray Griffin, 1981 Streets Furry Road, Vansport, North Carolina. I want to read you this Christmas prayer and you can wonder who was written by. Oh father up in heaven, we have wandered far away from the holy little Christ child who was born on Christmas day. and the peace on earth you promised we have been unminded of not believing we could find it in a simple thing called love. We've forgotten why you sent us Jesus Christ your only son and in arrogance and ignorance it is our will not thine be done. Oh forgive us our heavenly father teach us how to be more kind so that we may judge all people with our heart and not our mind. And oh God, in thy great goodness, may our guidance Christmas night be the star of the wise men follow, not a man-made satellite. So we can feel in our hearts again that peace on earth, goodwill to men, is still a promise that man can claim if he but seeks it in thy name. We need to seek it in the name of Jesus. And that's what I'm I'm asking about. Why don't we do it? I've got no information. Nobody's told me nothing. And I've asked for six months just for some information. In the book of Isaiah 9:6, he says, "For unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. The government shall be upon his shoulders. His name shall be called wonderful. His name shall be the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace." And we read it. You two put that Bible up here. That's what the Bible said. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God. And the word was God. And yet, we can't even say the name of Jesus at a meeting. It doesn't make any sense. Why is the word Jesus so just thrown out of the system? Jesus is the over all of it. He's the Lord of Lord. He's coming back in all his glory. And I leave you with this

because we're going to reap what we sow. Whatever we sow, we shall also reap. And that's what's happening in America. You see all the things that are going on today. Life is short and death is for sure. Sin is a curse. Jesus Christ is the cure. Hell is hot, heaven is sweet, sin is black, and judgment is sure. If we keep turning our our world away from God and keep denying the very existence of Jesus Christ and not calling upon his name, we're going to reap destruction. And I think all of you know that. So, it's time we be get back to God. We give him the credit. And I think this must have been written by a Democrat or something. I'm not sure. But he simply said, "Not in thy name." So, I just want you to think about if you want to have a merry Christmas, get closer to God. Let him come into your heart. Let him work and deal with you and you will have a much bright, brighter Christmas. I tell everybody, you can't find happiness in the end of a needle or in the bottom of a bottle. Already we're having sadly people that are already overdosing and doing things because of Christmas now that's happening. And I've seen it already. So, God bless you all and pray that we can get some in the name of Jesus back in our meetings like this and not be afraid to stand up, get fired up, prayed up and stand up and keep looking up because Jesus is coming back in all his glory. And like I say, whatever you sow also shall you reap. Amen. Amen.

Mr. Chairman, we have one more citizen who has signed up this evening. Um and and I apologize I can't read the name but I will say this this gentleman who wants to discuss the service academy and uh hey yes sir Mr. Bower my name is Russ Bower. Thank you. And I write in hieroglyphics so I totally understand what you're talking about. Well I apologize to you. Um give your address.

I live at 3809 Burleywood Lane in Newurn. I've been living there for about 5 years now. I moved down here from New Jersey. Um I'm a retired Navy surface warfare officer and both up in New Jersey and now that I've been here I've worked on the congressional staff with nominations to the servicemies. Um specifically I've been working with students for the merch marine and the navalmies for over 15 years. Um I thought the board should know that this year we had 32 applicants to servicemies for Congressman Murphy. That is superb and outstanding. Um, we started when I moved down here four years ago when I worked there were 11 applicants and we're now up to 32. So, the interest of the level of students is fantastic. The applicants all had superb backgrounds. Quite frankly, I'm glad I didn't compete with some of them. And a couple of them were in some real personal hardship areas. and they managed to get to a level that they had applicable uh applicants to be looked at for the servicemies. So I thought about a third of the students are from Craven County. I thought you all should know that and I thought you should know the level of interest from the students and I think this speaks highly for the caliber of the kids we've got and for the area.

Thank you.

Thank you. about um eight or 10 years ago, I wrote a letter to our then representative Jones uh recommending a young lady who was graduating from Newurn High School. I was just informed yesterday she is flying the helicopter that is fing uh Secretary of War Hegs. She is flying for him, flying his helicopter. A young gal from Craraven County. How exciting is that? She went to the Naval Academy and graduated obviously. And now she's uh she's uh flying a a VIP. So that's pretty exciting.

Beat Army two weeks.

Okay. County manager Good evening, commissioners. Uh, congratulations, chairman and vice chairman, on your election tonight. Look forward to working with you over the next year. Trust everybody had a great Thanksgiving. Enjoyed some time with family. We all had a lot to be thankful for this season. And I'm thankful for number one, which is tomorrow Deanna Treble will join us as our carts director. Tomorrow's her first day. Uh she's most recently been employed by the city of Newurn as the NPO administrator. She'll still assist with that process as she's with us now. Uh Miss Walker's uh Cuth's last day was the 26th. So we had a day with nobody there. So we're excited to have her in tomorrow uh to get started on that. Last two weeks ago, uh excuse me, I get my weeks mixed up. I was actually able to attend the Highway 70 corridor commission meeting in Kinston at Global Transport Park. uh received updates on the Havlock bypass which I know, drum roll, right? Uh next summer, summer of 26 should be complete. They they hope to have it sooner. Uh but they said just plan on on summer. So that's what we're going to do. James City

means before Labor Day.

I they didn't they didn't define it, sir. But uh I I like to think June for some reason. That's what I like to think. But anyway, uh James City still on schedule for 2027, late 2027 on that. Of course, you'll get an update. Chad, at your next meeting, uh Wendy will be here to provide you an overview of the progress and all the things. If you've been through there recently, you'll see one of the overpasses is almost complete uh with the structural work and it looks like they're moving to to Burnerna next where they've already started making some transitions there. They call it the in between. So everything between the Havalot bypass and James City is on schedule for uh 28. Uh if you've been down that way recently, we've done a lot of clearing, earth work, utility works getting ready to get started. Um that project's uh still on track as well. the uh Rubik's Cube of Eastern North Carolina funding for transportation projects is real u is very real and it's difficult to try to figure out how we can crack the nut of the formula to get large funding for projects like the Kinston bypass. Right. I've been here before and spoke to you about how difficult that is and the challenge for Craraven County will be that we'll have interstate quality highway when James City the in between and Havlock bypass is done. Goldsboro already has that interstate 42 quality and you're going to have a gap in the middle. So we cannot have an interstate until that Goldsboro section's connected to the Newurn Havlock section. So it's really important um to continue that. There's lots of innovative ways that have been looked at to try to fund large projects. Think a billion dollars. I mean that's reality now for what one of these projects will cost and nothing's really sticking. So there's going to be a big push from the highway 70 corridor commission over the next year to work with DOT at the leadership level to try to figure out what is that mechanism. Is there some part of it that we can get started on first to try to wait? Is there new criteria that could be used

like economic development being a huge driver? So the really the the crux of the problem, the transportation funding now goes to where there's congestion and traffic volume, two things that Eastern North Carolina doesn't have, but it doesn't value agriculture and freight and economic development, all things we do have. So getting a good mix of those for a statewide model is going to be key as we look at legislative goals for next year, looking at how we can do that. The uphill battle is is that so many people are moving to places like Charlotte and Raleigh. They need the money to continue to grow those projects they have. So anyway, I'm not an expert in transportation funding. I just could listen well in that meeting. It sounds like we're going to hit this, you know, we were lucky that the James City project was funded. Hugh Overhalt did an awesome job of getting those things funded before he left. If we had not gotten those funded, it would be almost impossible now to get those works done.

I have a question, please. For the I had, you know, I had a a town hall recently, DOT was there. So, in a room full of 60 plus people, they announced to the Havlock part of the bypass would be opening in December. Um, was this guy completely off by saying that? They said summer of 26 last two Thursday. Mr. Hunt was there and she heard the same announcement that I did. Correct. So I think I and let me be clear there may be parts of the I call it the staging areas on each side that may more of it may open but the entire connector was summer of 26. So the B part of the project may be correct. Okay. It's all segmented right

and that makes sense. Mile road entrance exit is good to go and the carter end of it that's correct is rock and roll. And that's what they said. There may be some partial openings. When I say 26, that's the full on full open be able to go from one end. That makes sense. Okay.

Question for you. Um for the the Kinston portion of this, it's not just economic development, but it is also a national security and defense issue to have that road open um with it which might have might have a little more Trump over congestion in Charlotte. Is there any way that our advocates either in Raleigh or in DC can help push the the national security issue? I think so. Um, so this is all found in legislation, right? The criteria for how projects are scored, right?

I don't believe national security or defense has any bearing on it unless you consider that economic development or you consider it some type of uh freight, you know, some type of movement. So, but I think it's a good push. That was something that it came up is how do we uh particularly in our part of the world, how do we push national security as a real motivator against we got 40% of the Marine Corps here. I mean, if it may not be um on the list now as something that is important, but perhaps we need to put it there. Got a note.

Thank you. Um, so with that said, we do have, and I talked with Chairman Booker about this, some musical chairs that need to transpire with the seating of our membership for the Highway 70 corridor commission. Um, obviously you're going to handle the part of putting a commissioner there. Uh, Mr. Strong is actually not on the board, but attends um because Mr. Bumgardner still also attends. So, we need to kind of reconfigure how those seats work. I'll I'll bring something to you at your next meeting to uh consider for that.

Thank you. Uh lastly, I did attend an ABC board meeting. Um I gave you an update last time. There's still relatively flat sales across the different stores. Obviously, um there was some impacts without having a Mumfest this year. We could see in the numbers there was some, you know, your your restaurants are a big portion and then your individual sales are a big portion. Those restaurants were were certainly off. Um the board's continuing to work um to try to figure out financially how to move some things around and get in a better position. and also um at that meeting their finance officer Melanie Ray who used to be with us for many times and now serve retirement for January. So Melanie's done a great job both as elections director and both ABC board. She'll be missed greatly. That's all I have unless commissioners have things for me tonight.

Questions? Yes. I just had a question. Uh Jack. Sure. Regards a uh security violet issue with one of our vendors with the emergency 911 system or code red or something like that. I did get a call from the media regarding that. Um I know it's not a county problem. It's more of a vendor problem. Correct. Have we had any updates on the, you know, security of people's information? Uh yes, they I was hoping Mr. Kite was here. Amber's here as well who's worked closely with Mr. Kite on there was some information that went out on that. Uh Amber, I'm going to turn it over to you.

Hello. They they did send out an email this morning that said that they verified that information was published online, though they can't verify that it's the exact information that came out of their code red system. That is a thirdparty vendor that Craven County as well as many other communities, counties all across the nation used for sending out mass notifications. They were targeted by a organized cyber criminal organization. So, it was a pretty big deal. We do already have a new system in place. took a training on it this morning to try to learn how to use it and we'll have to get some information out to citizens to let them know how to register. Okay. Quest. Go ahead. I just said thank you.

Okay, Amber. Um, before I was on this board, I was on the code red code. Is that what it is? Code red. So, what we had before it was the Onsolve platform. It was code red by Onsolve. What they're moving to now is that it was purchased by Crisis by 24. So it'll be code red by crisis 24. So it's a little confusing. It's still going to be called code red. It's just a different platform. Okay. I signed up when I was when I I lived in the lived in the city as I do now. Uh and I signed up through the city. Were they impacted as well? Do you know?

So I don't know if the city uses the exact same system, but anybody who's registered for any onsolve platform code red account could potentially be at risk. And for the most part, what those systems have, it would be your username, so your email address, phone number that you added in, mailing address. What you're really concerned about though is if anybody happened to use the same password to create that account that they used anywhere else, that password could be out there and linked to their email address. So the biggest concern is to let anyone know that if by chance you use the same password to register for a onsolve code red account that you have with anything else that they should change that password. Okay. Any other questions? Thank you.

You're welcome. Any other questions for county manager? Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Commissioner's report. I'll do mine if you want me to.

As I said earlier, we had a town hall. The sheriff was present. Gave a report to our citizens. We had a capacity at the fire station with chairs added. Um we also had Representative Tyson who came and gave an update. Um we also had DOT as we discussed come and give give an update and take some tough questions from citizens because you know when when it involves DOT they always have a lot of tough questions but DOT does a great job of answering those questions. Uh and of course I gave an update. So um I don't know chairman if would it be okay if we called up these young people giving a report at some point maybe before we go. No. Okay. End of my report. Okay. Nothing to report. Okay. Yeah, I'll go ahead. Go ahead.

Uh, two things, Mr. Chairman. Uh, Commissioner Mitchell, Commissioner Hunt, and myself serve on the regional library board. U, we were informed, uh, recently that our regional director, Miss Katherine Clower is retiring, effect, at the end of the month. Uh, Kat has been with us for a number of years. Uh, she served as librarian down in Tamco County, then she was hired as our regional director. She's done an outstanding job. very appreciative for all that she's done for the region over the years. But we are in the process of hiring new executive directors which we will talk about this week at our meeting and uh so we want to give you update on that. Second thing and this is the most exciting news um West Craven uh football Eagles they are going to the east regional final for the first time since 2008. Wow.

I know Commissioner Mason might say something about it, too, but we're excited. 2008, uh, a lot of us went to, um, I think we went to Wake Forest to see them, um, when they played for the championship game. They lost, but hey, that's great accomplishment. Um, and so, um, go Eagles. If I can I don't get out of town much, but I am considering maybe trying to make that trip. Where is it going to be? Rageville, North Carolina. My home county. Okay. Who unfortunately is the number one seed in that division. That's who you want. They can do it. They can. That's right. Do you have anything you'd like to say? Nothing more than that.

Report. Thank you.

Yes. I have planned a town hall meeting for Tuesday, December 9th from 6 to 8 and it's going to be at the Stanley White Recreation Center that is at uh 16 601 Third Avenue in Newurn. We are going to be sharing information. Many folk in our area are concerned that listening to folk getting good information and bad. They're concerned about the services that we will continue to receive and everybody's concerned about their health care reasonably so. So we're going to have some folk there, the experts hopefully to share a little bit about uh those things as it happens in Craraven County. We won't be talking about what's happening all over the world, but we're going to share what is coming in Craraven County for 2026. And so I hope that all the district three people will be present and anyone else who wants to come can come. We want to get excited, share excited and share what is happening and what we can do to make our district and our community better. That's always important for us to do. So, we look forward to having a good crowd on Tuesday, December the 9th at 6 through 8 at the Stanley White Recreation Center, 6013rd Avenue, Newburn. Hope to see you there. We'll we'll probably have some light refreshments at the end of the meeting.

Thank you. I have an Alabama. Um, want to remind everybody that it's pancakes for pie on Saturday. Um, from 7 in the morning to uh 10, I believe, and I get to get there early to help set up. So, that is a great fundraiser for our schools Christmas and it's at Morgan's restaurant. Is that correct?

Yeah, Morgan. Morgan, they uh they do a great job of donating uh their facility and I think they provide the food too for us. So, we give them a big thank you when we when we go there to eat. Uh I just have one thing and that would be to make sure everybody knows that starting today. Um, anyone who wants to run for a county commissioner office for if anybody wants to run for sheriff's office, run for a school board. Not all seven. I think three I think school board seats are up. Just three this time.

Three of the school board seats are up. The clerk of courts. Um the nominate uh the uh I think Jack did you tell me it goes to like the 19th? It does, sir. It's to December the 19th.

So from today until the 19th, you can uh you can register as a candidate and then the March will be the primary. Um whoever comes out of the primary will then run in November. So just wanted to make everyone aware of that. Anyone have anything else that they'd like to mention? If not, we're going to take a recess. We've been asked to go into close session. Um, I'm going to let you read this because I don't have my glasses on and it's a little small.

Yes, sir. The motion to go to close session pursuant to North Carolina General Statute 143 311 A6 to discuss a personnel matter. Okay. Okay. Do I have a motion to go into close session? Second. Second. All in favor? I. The eyes have it. We will take a short recess and then we will go into close session.