Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to the August 25th, 26th regular meeting of the Gasson County Board of Commissioners. My name is Chad Brown. I serve as chairman of the board as well as commissioner for the Riverbend Township. I would like to welcome our viewers and thank Spectrum Cable and AT&T for making it possible for our citizens. For our television and livestream audience, I would like to present our Gasson County Commissioners, beginning on my far right.

Good evening, Scott Sheehan, Gastonia Township.

Good afternoon, Jim Bailey, South Palm Township.

Good evening, Kathy Cloninger, Dallas Township.

Bob Hovis, Crowders Mountain Township. Good evening, Tom Kiger, Gastonia Township.

At this time, I will have the invocation of the Pledge of Allegiance. The invocation will be given by Commissioner Hovis and the Pledge of Allegiance given by Commissioner Sheehan. If you'll please stand.

Please bow with me. Gracious Father, we're here tonight to take care of the business of the county. Give us your graceful knowledge, understanding, and wisdom Help us to continue to provide a safe, thriving community for all of our citizens. Help us to be leaders in our community. Help us make the right decisions, and we ask that in your name. Amen.

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.

First item on the agenda tonight is public hearings. Commission will now take citizens' comments for three public hearings. Comments will be taken on the following issue. Zoning map change REZ-246. Conditional district REZ-249. EDC incentive grant for Project Alliance Gastonia 85. EDC incentive grant for Project Atlas. Access permission to apply for the NCDOT PTD FY28 community transportation grant program. Before we begin, let me outline the rules and procedures of the hearing. Citizens wishing to make comment will be recognized by the chair, then requested to step to the microphone for their comments. Citizens will state their name and address for the record. Comments will be limited to three minutes. All questions shall be directed to the chair for response. The chair shall rule on all points during the hearing. Do I hear a motion to go into public hearing? Motion made by Commissioner Kieger, seconded by Commissioner Hovis. All in favor? We are now in public hearing. The County Commission will now take citizens' comments on public hearing, zoning map change, REZ-246, Ronald Dean Probst, the applicant. Ms. Jamie Leasy, Planner 2, Building and Development Services, will provide a brief overview. Once she has completed her comments, citizens' comments will be taken. Mrs. Leasy.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. REZ26-06-26-00246 is a general rezoning request for parcel ID 166838 located at 107 Probst Road in Dallas. The applicant, Ronald Probst, is requesting to rezone the entire one acre parcel from the R1 single family limited zoning district to the R2 single family moderate zoning district. The property is located south of High Shoals. The ortho map shows that this is a residential area with a mix of housing types. The zoning in the area is R1, but there are a number of existing manufactured homes in the vicinity. As for the environmental features, the site slopes 20 feet from the roadway to the rear corner of the parcel, and there is no flood designation on the property. This is a map of the neighboring properties who received a mailed notice. These are the addresses of the homeowners who received the mailed notice. We have received three calls from citizens inquiring about the rezoning. Two citizens did not share concerns and one caller shared concerns about property values and possible rental of the property in the future. The property will be served by a private well and septic system and accessed by NCDOT maintained roadway. Gaston County TRC reviewed this project on Wednesday, February 18th, and provided the following comments. EMS, Natural Resources, Building Services had no comment. Environmental Health Department indicated that if the application is approved, the applicant will be required to apply for an existing system approval. GCLMPO stated there are no funded transportation improvements in the vicinity. The subject parcel is located in Area 2, North 321 Gaston Small Area Plan. Key issues for citizens in this area include preservation of agriculture and maintaining the rural feel of the community. The future land use designation is rural. These areas are largely residential homes located on large lots and set back from the roads they front upon. The application, as presented, aligns with the Comprehensive Land Use Plan. The Planning and Zoning Board heard this request at its August 3rd meeting and recommended approval by a 7-0 vote. Mr. Chairman, this concludes my presentation. I'm here to answer any questions you or the Board may have, and the applicant is here today, too.

Thank you, ma'am. Are there any comments from the applicant at this time?

Thank you. Yeah, I was just going to say I'm having this rezoned so that I can put a double wide on it. I have a son who's probably going to live there, but if not, we're going to live there and build another house on one of the other three acres. Those properties have been in my family for over 50 years, and my daddy just turned them over to me, so I'd like to do a little something with them before that he can see that I'm using them.

You just have a seat, Mr. Probst, right there. Any citizen wishing to comment on this matter at this time? Seeing none, any questions from the Board of Commissioners? Seeing none and well, there are no additional comments. I will now declare the public hearing closed. Just to recap, the Planning and Zoning Board recommended approval by a seven to zero vote, finding it reasonable to the public interest and interest consistent with the goals of the Comp Plan and as keep with the parcel residential and nature and advisement of Envision by the Rural Future Land Use Designation. Rural areas and residential homes located on large lots and set back from the roads upon front from the front the proposed use district would also allow the preservation of existing conditions in the area do we hear a motion to approve as given from the with the modifications given second motion made by commissioner hobart seconded by commissioner keegar any questions all in favor unanimous madam clerk The next item, the Gass County Commission will now take citizens' comments on public hearing. Conditional District REZ-249, Tyler Carpenter is the applicant. Ms. Peyton Wiggins, Land Development Manager, Building and Development Services, will provide a brief overview. Once she has completed her comments, citizens' comments will be taken. Ms. Wiggins.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. RAZ 2605-2900249 is a conditional rezoning request from Tyler Carpenter for PID 157438 or 821 Landers Chapel Road in Lincolnton. The applicant is looking to rezone the entire 19.23 acre parcel from the R1 single family limited zoning district and CDR3 single family general conditional district to the C1 light commercial conditional district. The property owner is Wade and Diane Carpenter. The subject parcel is in the northwestern portion of the county, right at the Gaston Lincoln County line. And the ortho photo outlines the entire parcel in blue. However, this is a more accurate depiction of the property today. There's a fire suppression pond on site to the north of the building as well. There are no flood hazard areas located on the property, as shown on the environmental features map, and the area surrounding the existing building is relatively flat, while the remainder of the property slopes downward toward the north and east property lines. The current parcel is split zoned R1 in a portion of a conditional district. This was approved through the conditional rezoning process in 2021 to allow the existing machine, metal, and welding shop. With this request tonight, the applicant is proposing to expand both the site and the conditional district to accommodate for future growth of the existing business. Surrounding zoning districts include R1, R2, and R3. This slide shows those who were noticed for tonight's public hearing. Staff mailed the notices on August 10th, and a sign was placed on site the same day. We've not received any calls or emails about this request. And then this is the information for those that were notified. Like with any conditional rezoning request, here's the associated site plan. The site plan includes the existing building and parking areas as well as a conceptual location for future buildings. It shows a type A buffer around the property utilizing existing vegetation where possible and supplemental plantings where needed. Also, as shown on the site plan, the site plan meets all the required setbacks for the C1 underlying zoning district. Since the property is adjacent to a residential district, a 30-foot setback is required along the rear property line. And given the size of the property and the business location, the structure and all future structures will exceed these setbacks. We also reviewed the supplemental regulations for the machine, woodworking, and welding shop use. Section 8.3.6 outlines these regulations. And in this case, no regulations apply within the underlying zoning district. And therefore, the applicant complies. In addition, section 10.5 outlines the parking requirements for this use. And the site plan presented provides 15 spaces, which is the number of spaces required. General ordinance sections that we looked at during this review included the definition for the proposed use and the underlying zoning district definition for the proposed C1 district. And we also reviewed the conditional district definition in the table of uses section in 7.5, which confirmed this is a permitted use in the C1 zoning district. This proposal includes two requested areas of relief. Chapter 10 required all off-street parking areas to be paved. However, the applicant is proposing to continue the previously approved gravel parking from the original conditional district approval throughout the site and for all existing and future parking areas in lieu of the paved parking required by the UDO. The other area of relief includes buffer requirements outlined in Chapter 11. The ordinance requires a minimum Type D buffer when a commercial district abuts a lot in a residential district, and the applicant is proposing to continue the Type A buffer that was also previously approved as part of the original conditional zoning. The buffer is shown along all three property lines and is intended to utilize existing vegetation where available with supplemental plantings provided where necessary to meet the buffer requirements, and this has been incorporated as a condition of approval. The site is currently served by a private well and septic system, and Landers Chapel Road is an NCDOT-owned and maintained roadway. We took this request before the Gaston County TRC on July 2nd and received no comments from Environmental Health at this time. Natural Resources stated that any future grading or development may require a sedimentation and erosion control permit, depending on the extent of land disturbance. As the property is located within the WS4 watershed, any required watershed protection permit shall also be obtained, and all of this would be submitted at the time of permitting. The GCL MPO reviewed this request and provided there are no transportation improvement projects in the immediate vicinity of the site. As for public input, this case was added to the Planning and Zoning Current Cases page on the EngageGaston.com. As of this afternoon, there have been no questions or concerns posted on the website. The Planning and Zoning Board heard this request at its August 3rd meeting and recommended approval with a five to two vote. The motion included the approval with the modifications of the construction of any future building shown on the site plan shall require a type D buffer along the northern, western, and southern property lines. And the second area requested, excuse me, the second requested area of relief was removed and a type D buffer shall be required in accordance with the approved conditions. The Planning and Zoning Board recommended the Type D buffer rather than the applicant requested Type A buffer because the Type D buffer is required by the Ordinance for Development in the zoning district. For the proposed conditions of approval, I just want to briefly distinguish between the original proposal, which is in white, and the Planning and Zoning Board's recommendation, which is in yellow. As originally proposed, existing vegetation could count toward the required buffer with supplemental plantings added as needed, and the applicant has also requested a Type A buffer. And the remaining condition states that the future buildings shown are conceptual and must meet applicable UDO requirements at the time of permitting. The Planning and Zoning Board added the requirement that a type D buffer along those property lines should be installed at the time of construction for any future building. The applicant can speak more to this during his presentation, but I just wanted to clarify he's requesting to move forward with the conditions as originally proposed rather than the modifications recommended by the Planning and Zoning Board. The Comprehensive Land Use Plan identifies this parcel with an area one, rural Gaston, Northwest Gaston, small area plan. And the comp plan identifies this property under the Rural Future Land Use designation. And this designation exemplifies Gaston County and its existing natural resources that exist throughout the jurisdiction. It is understood that this is the default use designation for the county. Staff finds this application as presented consistent with the goals and role of future land use designation as it would serve neighborhood needs. So with that, I ask that you receive the staff report and presentation, the recommendation from the Planning and Zoning Board, and then render a decision on the matter. Mr. Chairman, this concludes my presentation. I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, ma'am. Are there any comments from the applicant at this time?

My name is Tyler Carpenter. I'm the owner of Tyka Industries. We've just been growing so fast here lately. It's mainly to allow future growth throughout the rest of the parcel instead of cramming up over on one side where it's currently zoned for that. Do you have any questions?

Mr. Carpenter, Tyler, if you just have a seat right there, then we'll come back to you. Are there any citizens wishing to comment on this matter at this time? Yes, ma'am.

petitioned kelly peldington live at three zero zero six gaston webs chapel i live next to the facility that he's building to local planning and zoning officials city uh... community commissioners uh... environmental officials and other appropriate authorities proposed additional building expansion of taika industries we are we the undersigned residents and concerned members of the community respectfully petition the appropriate local officials to deny reconsider relocate or place strict conditions on the proposed construction of the additional building of taika industries near existing residential homes Leaving there, we have heard disruptive noise from the industrial machinery and operations. We are also concerned about the chemicals, substances, fuels, solvents, waste products, and other potential harmful materials that may be used, stored, transported, or disposed of as part of TICA Industries operations. We are concerned about the potential impact of septic systems, wastewater, industrial wastewater, drainage runoff, and other waste disposal systems associated with the proposed building. We ask that the officials thoroughly evaluate where wastewater and septic drainage will go and whether it could be affecting neighborhood homes, yards, wells, groundwater, streams, drainage areas, and other properties. If Taika Industries is permitted to expand, we strongly request that any new building be located as far away from existing homes as reasonably possible. We ask that officials consider increased setbacks and adequate separations between the industrial buildings and residential properties, as I've heard that they've proposed. We are asking, let's see, carefully review the proposed expansion of the TICA industries before granting approval. Conduct or require a professional noise impact assessment sound study. Determine what chemicals, hazardous materials, fuels, solvents, and other substances will be used, stored, and disposed of on the facility. Require appropriate safeguards to protect resident soil, groundwater, air quality, and surrounding properties. Conduct a thorough review of all septic, wastewater, and drainage and runoff plans associated with proposed building. Require appropriate environmental and engineering studies before construction is approved. Consider increased setbacks between the proposed industry building and existing homes. Require the building to be relocated further away from our residential properties wherever reasonably possible. deny or postpone approval if the proposed expansion cannot adequately protect surrounding residents and properties. I just have the signatures on the back.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other citizens wishing to make comment at this time? Seeing none, any questions for the Board of Commissioners? Mr. Sheehan.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can you tell me, this type of industry, what kind of product material do you manufacture or use? What kind of potential waste is there from that product?

It's just all carbon steel. It would be just welding, laser cutting. The only real chemical we use is called anti-spatter that you spray on the metal to keep welled spatter down.

Has there been any kind of environmental study on the contaminants in the ground or anything like that?

Not that I'm aware of, no.

Okay. Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Any other comments?

I want to add, I've been out to this many times to the facility. We also asked you to jump through a lot of hoops the last time when you came through and exemplary on everything that had happened out there. I know we asked for the retaining pond, and you did a lot of different things for the fire suppression. And I'm going to support this measure just for the simple fact. I know you've done it before. I look forward to seeing what you can bring to this as well. Any other comments from the Board of Commissioners? Seeing none, if there are no additional comments, I will declare this public hearing closed. Just to recap, the Planning and Zoning Board recommended as a five to two vote finding it is reasonable to the public interest and consistent with the goals of the Comprehensive Land Use Program. plan as it will increase job opportunities and steer development toward existing infrastructure and vision by the area one rural gas and small area plan. Do I hear a motion to approve as given from the board? Motion made by Commissioner Hovis, seconded by Commissioner Bailey. All in favor? All opposed? It is unanimous, Madam Clerk. The next item, the Gasson County Commission will take citizens' comments on public hearing to approve county-level IV incentive grant to authorize the Gasson County to enter into an economic development agreement with Project Alliance Gastonia 85. Mr. Donnie Hicks, executive director of the EDC, will provide a brief overview. Once he has completed his comments, citizens' comments will be taken. Mr. Hicks.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. For the last 18 months or so, I've been working to try to identify sites that have been bypassed for some reason. There's some issue with the site that has made it tough for someone else to buy and or develop. I've been doing that because it requires less money from us, and it frees up sites that generally already have infrastructure, but we just can't for some reason get access to the site. So I'm working on an infill site in Belmont, one in Lowell, also one in Ranlow. trying to get those sites developed, and again, requiring very little to no infrastructure to them. So we have a site in Gastonia that's been there since the interstate was built, so more than 60 years ago, and the market's had to mature long enough for someone to be interested in the site. The soil conditions there are less than ideal, and it's going to be substantially more expensive than your average site to develop. so we were trying to encourage a developer to go and build five buildings that would total about 800 000 square feet we're going to build smaller buildings because the topography will not support a single building or two buildings of 400 000 square feet and what we'd like to do and propose to the board of commissioners is we do the same thing that we did with north point at gateway 85 between exits 21 and 22 is go in and offer them a level four for the entire property to encourage them to develop it. First we have to get someone to buy it, which we do have someone that has it under option, part of it they own, and then we have a developer that is trying to raise the equity to come back and do the project. Under this proposal, they would get a level four grant for the entire build out. Instead of trying to incentivize each one, we would have to encourage them to get to the level four number, or I would work with Mr. Goldberg to put something in there that the level four burns off and it's only applicable to what what you're eligible for. But this is what we did at Gateway 85 on a smaller scale. Gateway 85, full build-outs, four million square feet. This would be about 800,000. So the days of 21 to 23 when people would build every square inch they could possibly build and then worry about leasing it later or over, And it's much tougher to raise equity for the developers, and they're much more cautious. And so this would free up a site that's only been sitting there for 60 years, and with no one in the buildings, current valuation of the buildings create about $80 million worth of investment, and then jobs and additional investment as that occurs. And I'd be glad to answer any questions you may have.

Any citizens wishing to comment on this at this time?

Any questions from the Board of Commissioners?

If there are no additional comments, I will declare the public hearing closed. Thank you. Is there a motion to approve? Motion made by Commissioner Hovis, seconded by Commissioner Keegar. All in favor? It was unanimous, Madam Clerk. The Commission will now take citizens' comments on public hearing to approve Gaston County Level 2 incentive grant for the authorization of Gaston County to enter into an economic development agreement with Project Atlas. Mr. Donnie Hicks, Executive Director of EDC, will provide a brief overview. Once he has completed his comments, citizens' comments will be taken. Mr. Hicks.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is a project that was brought to us by the state of North Carolina. And the company makes, designs, makes, and distributes products that help advanced manufacturers operate their facilities. So you have motion control systems. The company intends to create 95 new jobs in the next five years with an average salary of $79,000 a year. So our average salary for incentive purposes is 56. So we're almost getting one and a half times the income that we would normally receive on an average paid job. for each one of the ones that we're having. They intend to invest about $21 million in upfit to the building and machinery and equipment in this place. This will be their first U.S. facility and there is competition for it, but we're down to, we think, the last two sites. Us and another state, we're the only site in North Carolina. We think we have a decent shot at it. The thing about this is it would help us advance a lot of the things that we're interested in, advanced manufacturing. There's some software engineering to it. There's a lot of application engineers that would be there. So it really helps us take advantage of all the advanced manufacturing that goes on in the region because these people would supply a lot of the items that they need to run all the machinery. And I'd be glad to answer any questions you have.

Any citizens wishing to comment on this matter at this time? Seeing none, any questions from the Board of Commissioners? If there are no additional comments, I will declare the public hearing closed. Thank you. Is there a motion to approve? Motion made by Commissioner Sheehan, seconded by Commissioner Bailey. All in favor? It is unanimous.

Thank you.

Please, one second. Yes, sir. I want to let you know something while we're in public hearing as well. You're one of the finest economic development people I've ever met in my life. Being around you for the time that I have, I'm proud that you work for Gaston County. I will tell anybody that and anybody who wants to listen You're a great man, and you know what you're doing in your job. You brought more economic development to this county than we could ever deserve of what's going on here. And I want to say I appreciate you for being a part of it. If we can do anything on this board, you please let us know.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. The County Commission will now take citizens' comments on public hearing and request permission to apply for the NCDOT PTD FY28 Community Transportation Program F311. grant to provide rural transportation services enter into agreement with the North Carolina DOT and provide unnecessary assurances and required local match. Ms. Tawana Littlejohn, Supportive Services Administrator, will provide a brief overview. Once she has completed her comments, citizen's comments will be taken. Ms. Littlejohn.

thank you chairman brown i'm here to present the fy 28 community transportation program grant this is a state and federally funded program administered through the north carolina department of transportation integrated mobility division the goal of this program is to is to support public transportation services in rural North Carolina by promoting a more coordinated and effective transportation system. It helps ensure that residents have reliable access to essential services, including health care, employment, education, shopping, and other public services. The program also emphasizes the effective use of transportation funding by coordinating available programs and resources to better meet the needs of the communities they serve. As a part of this administrative grant, we are requesting a total of $242,319 with a 15% local match of $36,349. These funds will help cover the salaries and fringe benefits of the support services administrator, the accounting technician, too, and the billing specialist. It will also support training, travel, and the cost of our scheduling software. And that concludes that.

Thank you, ma'am. Any citizens wishing to comment on this matter at this time? Seeing none, any questions from the Board of Commissioners? Mr. Bailey.

a while back about phasing out access. Where are we at at that point?

So we made adjustments and reduced the cost there by over 25% this year. That would obviously be something that would have to be a board decision. Internally, we made adjustments and cut costs where we could there, as well as obviously all of our other departments. But if that was something the board desired to take up and discuss, then we'd have to have further conversation.

OK. Mr. Keger.

What term in relation to how many years down the road will this grant cover these employees?

This grant is something I've been with ACCESS since 2007, and we get the grant each year. Now, the amount of funding that we get each year will vary, but we get the grant each year.

So there's no plan to increase the number of employees? No. Just continue with the ones we have? Yes. Okay. Thank you.

Any other questions?

How many does this serve as far as service rides that in providing the transportation?

You want to know how many trips? Yes. So FY26, we provided a total of 27,209 trips. And the average cost of the trips was $10.92. Thank you. Mr. Bailey.

Yes. How many of those were actually were in Gastonia City?

I would have to get that information because this is collective. We do break it down each month by the cities. So if you would like the information, I can send it out. But I didn't bring it here.

Would you say the majority are in townships or in the county?

It's more so in the rural area. I think the other transit system services a lot of the guests on your trips.

OK. All right. And you had mentioned something about the majority of the money was going to administrative.

Yes, so this grant can cover operating or administrative costs. It has been the history of this department to use all the funding for the administrative staff. And then we also get the rope grant that covers the operational costs.

OK, so most of this doesn't support the vehicles and the drivers. This actually doesn't work?

No, this is just for the administrative staff.

OK, all right.

Mr. Hovis. Thank you, Mr. Chair. From numbers that I remember from the past, Ms. Littlejohn, it appeared that somewhere greater than 75% of your trips were outside of municipalities. Access provides transportation to our most impacted, and since we have no other formal transportation mode in Gaston County for those, it really does serve us portion of our citizenry that would go unserved without it. Just for the public's knowledge.

Thank you. I just want to ask a question. Is this not one of these we have dedicated for veterans, correct?

So that's a separate one.

But it's in the same access field?

Yes.

Any other questions from the Board of Commissioners?

Seeing none, since there are no additional comments, I will now declare the public hearing closed. Thank you. Is there a motion to approve? Motion made by Commissioner Hovis, seconded by Commissioner Sheehan. All in favor? All opposed? It is 5-1, Madam Clerk. Thank you. This concludes tonight's public hearing. The approval of the business agenda. Any revisions to the business agenda or any items that need to be pulled? Commissioner Sheehan.

Mr. Chair, I need to pull item AA, please.

Any other revisions to the agenda? Do I hear a motion to approve the business agenda with items AA being pulled from the consent agenda? Motion made by Commissioner Hovis, seconded by Commissioner Keager. All in favor? It is unanimous, Madam Clerk. Approval of the minutes. You're provided draft minutes for the special meeting of July 14, 2026, regular meeting of July 28, 2026. Are there any revisions? Do I hear a motion to approve the minutes as presented? Motion made by Commissioner Sheehan, seconded by... Mr. Hovis, is there any discussion? All in favor? It is unanimous, Madam Clerk. Our next item on the agenda is citizens' recognition. A portion of the board's agenda is set aside for the purpose of allowing citizens the opportunity to offer comments and suggestions. The comment period is not intended to require the commission or staff to answer any questions or provide a response. Questions requiring a response shall be answered as soon as possible through the county manager's office. Tonight, citizens' recognition will be limited to three minutes. As I call your name, please step to the podium, state your name. If you have any questions, if you are a Gasset County citizen, please let us know. The first citizen to speak is Ann Doss-Hams.

and us home South Point Township and this will be brief. I just want to thank all of you, but especially Commissioner Cloninger for being willing to change the rules that required people to state our home address on camera. I totally get why that made sense back in the day when we were just speaking to the people in the room. But now that we've moved into an era of YouTube and social media sharing and doxing, I think it had become potentially a deterrent to public participation. So I appreciate the respect for the democratic process that you all are showing. There's one more thing that probably made sense at the time and is no longer appropriate for the 21st century, and that is, of course, the monument out front here. But I do understand that that is a much more complicated challenge and one that's likely to require state action as well as a lot of resolve on the part of the local community to do the right thing. So for tonight, I'm just sticking with saying thank you.

Next up person is Josh Brown.

Joshua Brown, I am a Gaston County citizen. Mr. Chairman and fellow commissioners, thank you. Hope you had a good summer. I just want to talk about Gaston County Fire Service. We all went through the contract. It's good for five years. But where we're at now is we continue to need to look at this contract and continue to work towards forward progress with what that entails. Some of the things that it covers is talking about the rural zoning and required staffing that is needed. I sent you all back a couple months ago the ISO requirements, some of the things that were broke down, and the two big things were water and people. Over the summer, we've had some pretty significant incidents that have occurred in this county that have required a lot of manpower that we did not have. July 5th, two alarm commercial fire in the city of Gastonia. While city resources were tied up, who backfilled the city of Gastonia and covered a response to another working structure fire, the contract fire departments as well as a couple municipalities that staffed those. And during that time, those other municipalities were left without staffing. July 5th, like I talked about, while that incident was going on, Dallas Fire Department was first arriving to a fire off Shannon Bradley, which was a working commercial fire as well with that. Manpower was imperative for that one. July 21st, Fatality House Fire and Act Centers District, right at shift change, from the time the fire truck arrived to the time the victim was removed out of the front door was four minutes. A nationwide study that has been done that is tracking victim rescues is showing that within five minutes of an arriving fire truck on the scene and conducting a search, a victim is removed. with adequate personnel. The only reason that person was removed in that timeframe is because it was right at shift change and they had four people on the truck they were able to get off. What did that entail? One operator pumping the truck, one deploying the line, two going in to find the victim that the neighbors were telling that he was in there unresponsive, and they removed him within four minutes. Obviously, they did succumb to the injuries of the fire, but we can't sit here and just say that that's going to be the situation for everyone because we don't know. We are the people that are trained for that, and we are doing everything in our right and our possibility to give every person inside a house fire that possibility and chance to live. Manpower is imperative for the fire service. August 8th, two-alarm structure fire in Trinada required a lot of manpower. a large 3,000-plus square foot house that was burning, rural offset. A lot of manpower was needed for the water supply, but also the firefight that was going on. As they were wrapping up with that operation, another two-alarm structure fire occurred in Ag Center's fire district that required assistance from Gastonia Municipality and other further out departments to respond to with that. The arriving units had to wait additional time just because of the time it was for those units traveling at those time periods. Some things that we've also worked on is we've worked with Mr. Lanphier and Jim's. We kind of streamlined some of our EMS response, trying to get a fire truck that is staffed now to high-priority medical calls. Not all of them that don't require tying up a million-dollar piece of apparatus, but the ones that can count and make a difference. So we need to look at this contract and continue making forward progress to protect these citizens. Thank you.

This person is Cassidy Silas.

Good evening. My name is Cassie Siler. I'm a resident of Gaston County. What does underfunding look like in our public school system? I can tell you what it looks like at my school. Belmont Central serves approximately 730 students in grades second through fifth. The impact of funding shortages is not just a number on a budget document. It is something that our students and staff experience every single day. It looks like the loss of several beloved teachers and programs that our students have counted on. It looks like no longer having a music program. Can you imagine kids 7 to 11 going to school and not having music? One of our most cherished yearly traditions, our music program will not happen this year. That is more than losing a class. We are losing an experience that brings our community together and allows our students to create, perform, and help celebrate their accomplishments. It looks like going from two guidance counselors to one. One is now responsible for over 700 students. Can we expect that one person to provide the social, emotional support, crisis intervention, classroom lessons, and student check-ins with our kids? It looks like class sizes that are approaching 30 or more in our fifth grade, with fourth grade sizes continuing to rise. We are expected to provide individualized instruction and meet unique needs of every student. We want to do that, but it's not feasible when our numbers continue to rise. And then there's our building. Our school was built in the 1970s. As the building ages, preventative measures need to be taken. Repairs are important. Would you enjoy going to work in a room where the temperature is in the 80s or higher because the air is not working? Would you find that acceptable for your day? It shouldn't be acceptable for our kids, and it should not be acceptable for the staff. Teachers should be able to focus on teaching. Students should be able to focus on learning. Neither should have to spend their school day trying to work through the heat, crowded classrooms, and the loss of staff. That's what underfunding looks like in our classrooms right now. The consequences are far beyond the walls of one school. This is all over the county, and there are different stories at every school. Thank you.

Ms. Brittany Elkin.

Brittany Elkin, and I'm not talking about schools tonight, so I'm glad that somebody did. Many people don't have the time or the interest to dig into tax values until they get a bill that they cannot afford. I'm here tonight to urge the commissioners and the public to start asking questions now. In early 2024, Gaston County purchased 803 North Oakland Street for $7.5 million. Less than a year earlier, during the 2023 reevaluation, the county valued those properties at approximately $2.8 million. That's a $4.7 million difference. Commissioner Cloninger questioned the price at the time and voted against the purchase. She was the only no vote. The county frames it as if they used an appraisal of $7.5 million to decide on the purchase, but that timeline doesn't work. The county provided a purchase contract publicly that was dated January 3rd, 2024, but there was a contract before that, dated October 30th, 2023. The appraisal was not effective until December 28th, and that appraisal says the property was already pending sale for $7.5 million. So my question is, how did the county decide to pay seven and a half million before it had the appraisal that is now being used to justify that price? But there's another question that should have been asked then. If this property was worth seven and a half million, why had Gaston County just valued it at 2.8 million? And the appraiser even wrote that the property was assessed very low in comparison to market value. A $4.7 million discrepancy should have set off some alarm bells. It should have caused someone to question the purchase price. And it should have caused someone to question the schedule of values that produced that original assessment. It apparently did neither. And now we know that there was a problem with the commercial and industrial schedule of values used in the 2023 revaluation. This board had the schedule and values in front of you in 2022. It was placed on the consent agenda. Nobody pulled it. Nobody publicly questioned it. And you approved it. Tonight, you're going to get another one. Please do not make the same mistake. Ask what changed, why it changed, how it was tested, how the new values compare with actual commercial sales. Does it avoid creating an unfair tax burden for residential property owners? And if you don't understand the answers, say that and keep asking. I don't expect every commissioner to be an appraiser, but I do expect our elected officials to recognize when numbers don't make sense. You didn't need to be an appraiser to see a $4.7 million discrepancy and ask why. And the public shouldn't have to discover these warning signs years later. So this time, ask the questions while there's still time to do something about it.

Samantha Easters.

My name is Samantha Easters, and yes, I'm a Gaston County resident. Good evening. Tonight I want to talk about representation. We elect you to make difficult decisions. We understand that you will not always make the decisions that every person in this room wants. But representative government requires more than casting a vote. It requires listening, it requires explaining your decisions, transparency, even when transparency is uncomfortable, and it requires remembering that disagreement from citizens is not disrespect, it is participation in the government that you are elected to serve. For months, parents, educators, school employees, and community members have asked this board to prioritize public education. We've written emails, we've attended meetings, we've spoken here, we've asked questions, and we've tried to understand. and too often it has felt like we weren't being heard. That is where trust begins to disappear. You don't build public trust by simply telling citizens that you've made the right decision. You build it by showing your work. You build it by answering difficult questions and making information accessible before decisions are made, not after residents have to dig for it themselves. Education is one of the clearest examples. Public schools aren't simply an expense on a spreadsheet. They're part of the infrastructure of this county. Businesses look at our schools, families look at our schools, and most importantly, thousands of children who had absolutely no say in the decisions being made in this room depend on them every single day. These are Gaston County's children, and they're represented by you too. Public office does not belong to the person occupying the seat. It belongs to the public. These seats are temporarily entrusted to you by the citizens of Gaston County. Citizens should not have to fight for information. Parents should not have to repeatedly beg their county government to recognize education as an investment. And residents asking difficult questions should not be treated as adversaries. We are your constituents. Some voted for you, some of us did not. You represent all of us. Accountability is not an attack. Listening to your citizens is not a weakness. It is part of your job. As you make decisions in the months ahead, I hope that you remember that the measure of good government is not simply whether you can defend a decision. It's whether the people you serve can trust the process that produced it. Many people in this county are telling you that trust has been damaged. Please do not dismiss that and listen to us and then do something to earn that trust back. Thank you.

The next item is the approval of the consent agenda. Do I hear a motion to approve the consent agenda with items AA being pulled? Motion made by Commissioner Keeger, seconded by Commissioner Hovis. All in favor? It is unanimous, Madam Clerk. The next item is pulled, AA from the consent agenda. Do I hear a motion? Go ahead, Commissioner Sheehan.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Tarbus, where did you get to? Would you mind, please?

Good afternoon.

How are you?

Good. How are you?

Good. Good. Thank you. Thank you for the book. I appreciate that. Give me kind of a brief little rundown. Let's talk about what's changed, what's different, how we arrived. Just kind of give me some highlight bullet points. I'm going to be going through this page by page. I'm sure everybody else, but kind of give me a brief synopsis of it.

Okay, so tonight is just the presentation of the schedule of values, and I've given all of you a copy of that. We will also be making it public online for citizens as well. We will be doing a more in-depth educational meeting back here September the 8th, and we'll also have one of our vendors here to talk about statistical analysis and how that works. Just to give a brief overview of that, and then we'll bring them back after. Sorry.

Just want to note that this has to be received 21 days before we can actually vote on this for the schedule of value. So tonight is just the receiving. Correct. Go ahead.

Yes, sir. We will be bringing them back after we have our 27 values in place to look at our values and to give a presentation at that time showing where we are with the 27 reappraisal. So tonight is just a presentation giving y'all the information. One of the things that has changed the most is just market data. I do have John Shirell and Jimmy Tanner up here. Jimmy Tanner is with Tanner Valuation Group. We have contracted with him to help with the commercial and industrial properties. And then we will go over some of this information on September the 8th as well.

Mr. Tanner, would you mind? Good evening, commissioners. Good evening, sir. How are you?

Pretty good.

Would you mind giving me your take on commercial and industrial? I know that's been a hot topic from the last to the upcoming one. So kind of give me a rundown of what you've seen, what you found. How's it trended? What's changed?

Well, you know, I can't speak to the 23 reappraisal. I mean, I've looked at a lot of information. Of course, I live in Gaston County, so I got ties with Gaston County and kind of keep up with things. I'm not saying the values was wrong in 23. I think some of the data might be looked at differently. Tax is not a popular topic to talk about. It's not fun for anybody. But the process that we have to do to get here, it is a process that has to be done. Nobody likes it. And like I say, the Schedule of Values is just part of it. The Schedule of Values is a big moving document. You know, it's got a lot of numbers. It's got a lot of data. And on the commercial industrial properties, like I say, I know that's being looked at more than anything. You know, we've done a lot of things into 2027 to make sure the values we put in place is fair and accurate. I'm not sure about the 23, but there's been a lot of steps taken place that the values that's put in place in this schedule of values is fair and accurate. I think they'll be made public after this meeting. It can't really be public until they're presented to the commissioners. DAVID BURRAGE.

Can you go into a little bit of detail about those steps that you do have in place?

DAVID BURRAGE.

Sir? Can you go into some detail about what you're saying, the safeguards that are in place that might not have been in place the last time? What are the differences?

Well, I was not involved in the 23 reappraisal. But I can tell you, I think the things that we've done now I think Chelsea could tell what was done. I know some of the things was done, but when we look at every property that's sold and we do a questionnaire to validate whether it's a good sale or not, when you get into commercial properties, industrial properties, everybody can look at a sale price. Say a convenience store sold for $2 million. That doesn't mean the real estate sold for $2 million. It's name and rights, business score and concern, the gas pumps, the gas in the ground. There's a property insurable that exactly example. The sale price wasn't nothing related to what real estate was. I bought a commercial building two and a half years ago. Mine wasn't undervalued. Mine, I paid 130% of market value, and that included about $15,000 of personal property. So my building was about 145% of market value. So, I mean, the trends is, you know, in the last year or so, sales have kind of, It's not that hot market that we've had, but you've got to understand the reappraisal was 23. So in 23, 24, 25, it's different than we have right now. It's not so much a seller's market now as it was. But the values has not really retracted that much. But we did a lot of things toward the commercial and industrial to make sure that the values is in place. Now, if you look at the schedules, there's base rates. I think that's probably what a lot of people will center on. But you've got to understand, the schedule of values is just a toolbox. And there's a lot of things that goes into that toolbox that changes these base rates. When you look and say, this office building rates $100 a square foot. That's not what the end square footage rate is, because it's a lot of things that go into it, heat and air, exterior siding, sprinkler systems, whether it's wet and dry, perimeter factors, wall height factors. There's a lot of things that takes them rates and generally takes them up. But, yeah, we've done a lot of things like that. But the market itself, the market has increased, you know, and so that's what we've kind of tried to center on and try to help Gaston. This is a joint project. It's not just town evaluation. We assisted Gaston with doing this. And so it's been a joint project trying to make sure that the rates that we put in place, especially on the commercial industrial, is where they should be.

Thank you, sir. Mr. Tarbush, how long has Mr. Tanner been involved on a contract basis, or how long has he been helping through this process?

A year. Maybe a year.

About a year and a half. And you think that'll be wrapped up approximately when?

So he's probably going to help us through the reval process into the appeals. If we have commercial appeals, we may consult with him some if needed. But I mean, we've signed a contract for a year, and then we'll renew that at that point if we need to.

Is that another year renewal, or can it be a month renewal, or how does that work?

It's basically on a as-needed basis if Chelsea sees their needs. The big thing was is assisting Gaston with doing the commercial industrial schedules.

What's the rate of that contract that we're paying for those services?

Off the top of my head, I know we didn't. The contract was not to exceed $50,000, but we're not nowhere close to that.

Could you give me that number when you have a chance?

Yeah, I'll send it to you. Yes, sir. And I would like to add just some information if I can. Sure. So talking about the 23 reappraisal, do you want me to speak into the microphone? I'm sorry.

Thank you.

Speaking about the 23 reappraisal, there was a lot of moving pieces in that. I took office or took this position in 22 right before we did the schedule of values. You have to realize that the 23 schedule of values was done in... August, September 2022. At that time, we did not have all the 22 sales and commercial was was seeing an increase at that time coming out of COVID. We have sales reports from 21 all sales of 21 to show that at the time we were 100% on commercial and industrial when we did the schedule of values. But then when you look at the 22 sales, which we did not have all the 22 at the time that we presented the schedule of values, it was about 90%. But we were still not I mean we were still within industry standards at that point on commercial industrial separately but North Carolina Department of Revenue takes it as a whole our sales ratio with commercial industrial residential data they do not break out property type so we we've been within state standards we have not fallen below 85% or went above a hundred and fifteen percent and like mr. Tanner said we do send out income and expense statements to all businesses. As a matter of fact, y'all received calls on some of those from businesses saying, what is this? Because it asks for a lot of information. And that's our market data. That's where we're getting that information. So we do use other services. And it was brought up in a public meeting that we had the other day. Where do we obtain this information? Do we use a valuation guide? The answer to that is no. We use Gaston County sales, Gaston County data. We talk to business owners. We do use services such as MLS for real estate. We do use CoStar for commercial property. However, like Mr. Tanner was saying, you can't just look at the sale price on that. Per North Carolina statute and NCDOR, there's multiple factors that go into that. So you just can't take a sale and call it valid. We have to do our research on that sale, and if it's a multi-parcel sale, if it's a forced sale, if it includes personal property or intellectual property or anything like that, that's not a valid sale, and we can't use that. So there's a lot of moving pieces that go into it, and it's not just, oh, well, this property sold for this, but it was valued at this. And that is all stated in here. I mean, it's a lot to go through. It's 320-something pages, and it will be uploaded on our website tonight after this meeting as a PDF.

One question on the market data for the commercial side.

Yes, sir.

What's the percent of businesses that don't send that information back?

There's a lot of businesses that don't send it back.

So in that situation, what do we do to get that data?

They're not required to, and we can't force them. And we also can't verify is that business sending in the same information that they're reporting to other state agencies or whatever on their tax returns or anything else. So we just have to take it as it is. We probably receive a third, if that, of the ones we get back.

Would you say that's a fair assessment?

We probably get a third of the ones back.

So to formulate that data, y'all were doing that in-house?

Yes. Yes. So we and that's the information that can't be shared. And it even states that and those forms are in this book. There's a copy of those forms, each and every one in this book. There's like six or seven pages of it for different types of businesses. It's blank forms. And it states that, you know, we won't share this data for public records law because it does would have to redact pretty much the entire document at that point. But those are what's sent out. And sometimes you'll have people just fill out certain pieces and send that back in. But that's still data. And there's conversations that's had. you know, we'll call those businesses owners and talk to them and ask questions. And at that point, they may feel more comfortable to give us that information and fill that in. And that's the stuff that we keep in house.

Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to make sure I'm right. That is state law. That's not something guessing County.

That is correct. That is state law. Yes, sir. So state law, they do not have to send that back. That is not a Gaston County thing. Um, and we have received that question from business owners. Is this mandated? And no, it is not state mandated, but it is a tool that we use to develop our rates for market here locally in Gaston County.

Mr. Bailey.

Yes. This is more on the residential side.

Yes, sir.

Over the past year, I've been looking at numerous properties on MLS and their appraised value. And over the past year, the appraised values are well below the MLS. Everything has went down compared to their schedule of values, I guess, what the county had appraised them at. So is that something that The residents of Gaston County will be able to see their properties lowering for residential values.

So you're saying that you're seeing appraised values lower than our current assessed values from the 2023 schedule?

I'm sorry? Every one of them.

Okay. So that's not what we're seeing. I'm not saying that the residents won't see an assessed value decrease, but the market has pretty much been stable for residential properties. As I stated, we're about 86% for our sales ratio for this year, and that's from the last reappraisal, and that's by DOR standards. But that includes all properties. And we try to be 100% of market as of the January 1 reappraisal date.

right on the commercial uh i spoke with you when we first first got into office and you were talking about you know the the last appraisals with commercial properties were were lower because of covet so we should see a substantial increase now because we've got a lot of companies moving into gaston county wanting property

Yes. And that's a two, two prong. So, and that's what I was just stating with the 21 and 22 sales with commercial and industrial and being, you know, a hundred percent and then 90% of market in 22, um, coming out of COVID, we had a lot of businesses that was sitting empty, you know, equipment and everything sitting in there. So it wasn't just the real estate. You're also talking about the personal property, the machinery and equipment. This is also being taxed and it was very unstable at that time. Um, so now you are seeing an increase in sales in commercial and industrial property, but you're not going to see, so your business owners are going to receive a tax bill for their real estate and then any of the machinery and equipment on the inside as well. So it's, it's a multi-pronged process and your personal property is reassessed annually to where as your real estate is reassessed on a four year basis, which is what this schedule of values is setting out is the real estate values for the next four years.

Do we expect an increase in that?

In the commercial and industrial? Yes. Yes, you will see an increase in the commercial and industrial. I'm not going to say yes or no to the residential. Are we a little lower? We're seeing that in some areas, yes, but it's not going to be across the board. You know, the increase that you saw in 23 at the 60% across the board, that's not what the residents are going to see.

All right, thank you. Mr. Oates. Mr. Chair, Ms. Tarbush. Talking about the residential side of the 23 appraisal, my property, which is over in Bessemer City, had 113% increase in valuation. And I kind of questioned that. So I went back, and of course, this is after the time lag from the data that you used to come up with that number. I went back, and I pulled up the comps. Real estate people understand what comps are. I pulled up the comps for 14 homes sold in the last six months, and this was about a year after the completion of your data because there's a time lag. Like you said, it's a living document. It moves. And I pulled up the comps, and the comps justified my property having an increase of 140% value. I did not appeal. I accepted my medicine and went forward. At that time, residential property was staying on the market maybe eight days before a sale. I know of one particular property in Dallas that was listed aggressively in terms of pricing in the last two months. It sold in three days. But now, granted, the seller had marked it 40,000 less than what it sold two and a half years ago because they wanted it to move. So prices for residential property are not unlike commercial property. It's based on who wants it and how much they want it and how it fits their needs. An appraisal is an appraisal. It's good for the piece of paper it's written on. But at the end of the day, that doesn't show the market value of that particular property in the eyes of the buyer. In the eyes of the seller, the seller has a number, and it's their number. That's absolutely nothing to do with that appraisal. So appraisals are used for one thing, but sales are done for another. Being on the board, we took that action to purchase that property that keeps being talked about and talked about. Gaston County wanted that property because of its location. And when you hear people talking about property, they talk about location, location, location. The services that we wanted to put at that facility, that site, that was the most central location that had all the services, the water, the sewer, the infrastructure in terms of internet access and all those things. And it dotted all our I's. I personally would have liked to have done it on 40 acres that we own that's in between Gaston and Cleveland County. I would have liked to have built a joint emergency operations center for dispatch between Cleveland County and Gaston County that we could have had one hardened site that would have done all of that. It's a little out of the way, especially for gyms, but we already own that property. We've owned it for quite a few number of years. But it would have cost $4.3 million to put utilities and service into that facility, to that 40 acres that we own, right off of 85, on South 85 and 74. With all that being said, we talk about appraisals. We talk about the validity of that $7.3 million or whatever the actual number was. At the end of the day, if we wanted it, and that's what the buyer wanted to sell it for, That has nothing to do with your department. It has nothing to do with our wishes. It has nothing to do with the evaluation of the property. It's what the buyer and the seller are willing to agree upon. So at the end of the day, there's something about the market that isn't driven by our tax valuation or whatever. And we keep talking about that piece of property. And that piece of property is invented 1,000 different times. And I was here with other people. I don't think any of you three, you were here, weren't you, Kathy? And you voted against it. That's correct. But at the same time, the board understood and understood what we had envisioned for that property, and it met our criteria. And at the end of the day, it's a business decision, and we made a business decision. And we can talk about it until the cows come home, but at the end of the day, it was the right decision by the county at the time. I still say that it's right. I still say we need to build that facility. I think it needs to be one of our priorities. But, you know, that's just one property. But there's hundreds of examples out there of those increases of valuations on the residential side. And like you said, COVID had depressed the industrial commercial properties because businesses weren't able to operate. A lot of businesses closed. So with all that being said, you know, we are where we are today. I know the tax department's done the best job that they could. I have no concerns with that. And I had asked Commissioner Sheehan, on several occasions to give me a copy of the data that shows the value, that comes up with the $16 million of lost revenue and what validates that. I want to understand the validity of that. I have yet to see that. I would like for you to produce that for us in the next 48 hours to the manager's office, to have the manager's office send that to all of us because I want to understand that because I've never seen it. I've asked for it. It's not taking place. And if we're going to say something like that to the public, we need to back it up. And I'm not picking at you. I'm just saying this conversation, we're wearing this old horse out. And I think it's time we put it to bed. Thank you.

I guess one of the things that we want to talk about, because I know you had some things that you wanted to relay, so we'll go into that after this, but we were talking about a good sale. That's also the state of North Carolina deems what is a good sale and what is not, correct?

That is correct, and that is in this book as well. Okay.

Can you give the public the notice of what they can expect in looking at this document? Where they can go if they want to talk about something inside of it, how they would get in touch with someone, whether it be your office or some, ever how, and I know you want to talk about several things if there's something you guys want to discuss that talk to the public, because the one thing I want to make sure is, which we've been back and forth over this is making sure the public is well identified in what's happening. We've always talked about that. So tell me a little bit about what the state says about a good sale and how it lives in this document and then we can go forward from there.

Okay, so a good sale by state standards is it has to be open market. And then there's other things that you have to take into consideration. Is it a multi-parcel sale? Is there personal property or other property included? If so, that would disqualify it. If it's between family members, if it's forced or coerced. I'm trying to think of any other. It literally has. If you look at the deed edit sheet, I don't know exactly what page it's on, but it's in here. If you look at the deed edit sheet, it lists A to S. It's about 25. Yeah, I mean, it takes up almost the entire page. alphabet of different reasons and you actually see that on our property record card. So you can look, you can pull up a property record card for any property on our website and you can use this schedule of values and you should be able to tell what each code is, whether the sale was valid, not valid, why we invalidated it, You can look at permit data on there. There's a sketch on there. So you can see all that. So looking up a property record card on our website and using that with this book, you should be able to value that property the way that we have valued it. But one thing to note is that we are doing property taxation valuations on mass and not fee appraisal. which is two different things. So, you know, we're talking about appraisals and stuff, and if you're buying a property or you're getting a loan for a property, you're getting a fee appraisal done. That is not something that we do. We do it in mass for property taxation purposes, and we're going to go into a lot of detail at the September of the 8th meeting with some educational stuff, with some examples, as well as the uh... websites and software that we have available for the public uh... that we actually put in place in twenty three and that we were fine since then to where you can go look at any sales in your area or anybody else's area and you can pull comp reports You can change that criteria as much as you want, but it shows our data, and there's pictures of that as well in here. There's three different examples of a comp grid in here as well, and we don't do that for every property, but when someone appeals their property, we do pull those comps.

We also, just so everybody understands, if there's any aerial data that we find from the last evaluation to now someone has added something to what I think your part it puts a little red yes issue around it shows what's different also the commission is just judged on a different not by it so we all feel the same heat that everybody else feels it's not like we're getting special deeds because we have someone else come to do our appraisal so And then it's valued off of that how we kind of get our numbers. Can you talk a little bit about what goes on and what criteria that you use to pull any new data or something someone may see?

Yes, so we have two different teams. We have the reappraisal team that works on just the reval portion of it, and then we have our annual team, and they're out picking up new construction, working permits. So we pull the permit data from building inspections, and we're going out to those. And that could either increase or decrease value on the in-between years of a reval. And then the... Sorry, I lost my train of thought.

It happens. Talking about the little red swatches.

Oh, yes. That's where we were going, the sketch check program. Yes, thank you. The sketch check program, so we actually have boots on the ground. And then we also do two flights every reval. through a company and the year before reval we do a sketch check program and what it does is it takes our sketches that we currently have and it takes an outline of that building and it geolocates it and if there's an error in the or a mismatch is what it's called in that property. So there's three different colors. It will be green, yellow or red. Green is obviously good. Yellow means there's a minor mismatch and then red means either we're missing an entire building or there's a major mismatch. And at that point we're looking at the aerial data and then we're creating a field check in our system to put somebody back out there at that property to measure that, pick that up, get pictures. And by international and state standards, that actually qualifies as a full measure and list for a reappraisal.

This time, I would like to also have something when we send out these. I know that, Adam, I think we did the step-by-step online last time. I'd like to find a way we can get something that puts the public into being able to see so not just that they got this bill, how they can go through the process of if they want to appeal or whatever that may be early on. And that way we can educate. Also, you're giving tutorials right now throughout the community. What does that look like?

So we have multiple different presentations and educational meetings that we're doing. We were just in Bessemer City at 3 o'clock today doing a meeting for them. And really, anywhere that wants us, we're going. I don't care if it's one person or 100 people, we'll go. And we're walking them through why we do a reval. Here's the schedule that we have so far. That doesn't include some of our events that we're having, like we're attending Cotton Gin and Days. And I think there's one other meeting that we've added since then for Dallas. But, so we're going out to the public, we're walking them through it and then we will also show them, you know, we'll bring up our software and we'll show them what they can actually access on our website, how to pull the comps and what that looks like, you know, ask or answer any questions. We've had a lot of people that's had issues from the prior reappraisals and, you know, we talk them through that, we look at their properties and sometimes, we find out really good information of either our data is incorrect or they are making assumptions because they don't know the process and we're just educating them on that so that's really what that looks like we're just walking through it we have brochures handouts you name it we're giving it out just to try to educate as many people as we can and so we have those between now and october that's kind of this get that aligns with this schedule so we're presenting this to y'all tonight we'll be back September the 8th for a really in-depth presentation educational wise and then September the 22nd is the public hearing on this schedule of values and then the adoption for this is at the end of October and then once it's adopted We will publish it in the paper four times, four consecutive weeks. And there's a notice of appeal. So if you want to appeal the Schedule of Values, you have to go through the Property Tax Commission to do that. And it has to be evidence-based. And they will push us to the top of the calendar. And you had asked me earlier when I lost my train of thought about contacting someone in our office or who to contact if somebody had questions. So my telephone number, my desk number is 704-810-5811. It comes to my cell phone. Feel free to call anytime. If I don't answer, I'm probably sleeping if it's late at night. But, you know, we're open. We're available. You can walk in. You can talk to us. We've done it with numerous people. We don't have anything to hide. You know, if you want to come see how we do it, we'll take you for a ride-along. I'm happy with that.

So I've asked Adam. All right.

I've asked Adam to put up the public hearing schedule online that way everybody could see that through our social media pages and whatnot with that. I'd like to kind of after that's over, maybe if y'all could get together and do one-on-one from the questions that have been asked throughout, you know, kind of just give the presentation so people can see it, just so they're not feeling bad. And we can film one from someplace we can go do and figure that out. But I want to make sure that the public has every necessary piece to this to where we're is open a book about this because I think sometimes people think that this is where we've tried to hoodoo or something. We want to make sure everything is open. I want to make sure that happens from your guys. Thank you for allowing the public to call. They can set up an appointment, I assume, through that office as well, and then we'll do the... appeal part as well obviously we can't do it on the TV anymore because of some issues we have in there but we can do it on the social media side we'll ask the manager to make sure that we figure out all the pieces of that to get that anything else you want to add

I will say when you bring up the appeal so in 23 we did what we dubbed appeals on wheels and we went out to all the municipalities and we set up shop at the municipalities that wanted to work with us and we spoke with citizens and we let them file their appeals and talk to appraisers on site in their municipality that way you know they didn't have to come to Gastonia or If they're working in one area of the community and they live in another, they could do it on their lunch break or whatever. We have communicated with most of the municipalities, and they're good to do that again. So we anticipate doing that. We'll be sending out information on that as well. You can obviously come here, but we're also having that at other locations throughout the county. That way we're meeting citizens where they are.

Anything else you have to add?

No, sir.

Any other questions from the Board of Commissioners? Thank you very much for your presentation.

Mr. Tanner.

I just have one thing talking about the schedules. Part of this was we revamped the schedules. It's actually easier to find anything somebody's looking for. We restructured it and made it shorter, and it's indexed where anything you're looking for, you find, you look for it, and go to that page, and it's there. So it's much easier for citizens. We work with this stuff, so we're used to it, but we went through and revamped it where it's actually easier for people to find what they're looking for.

Thank you. Appointments. Mr. Sheehan.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Oh, sorry, what? If we couldn't vote on that.

We'll vote on that if we want to.

We're here in motion to approve the presentation of the schedule of values.

So moved.

Motion made by Commissioner Hogan, seconded by Commissioner Keeger. Any discussion? All in favor? It is unanimous. Madam Clerk. Appointments. Mr. Sheehan.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have two. Economic Development Commission, application received from Mr. Johnny Denton. Health and Human Services Board, application received from Ms. Kimberly Jones.

Second. Seconded by Commissioner Hovis. All in favor? It is unanimous, Madam Clerk. Commissioner Bailey.

Mr. Cloninger.

No appointments.

No appointments.

Commissioner Hovis. I have none, sir. Mr. Keiger. No, sir. And I have none as well. Reports. Commissioner Sheehan.

None at this time, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Bailey. None at this time, sir.

Mr. Cloninger.

No reports.

Mr. Hovis. I have none, sir. Mr. Keiger. I will just mention that Gaston College, at our meeting last week, announced, I think, the third consecutive year of record number of enrollees. And... I'll be attending the State Trustee Commission the rest of the week in Greensboro.

Thank you for doing that, sir. County Manager's report. No report. County Attorney's report. Nothing to report, Mr. Chairman. Any other matters need to come before the board at this time? Seeing none, this concludes our meeting for tonight. Our next work session is here in the Harley B. Gasson Public Forum. Courthouse, thank you for watching. If you have any questions, remit those to Donna S. Buffett, 704-866-3196. Good night, all.

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