Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Okay. Good evening. I'm going to call to order the February 16th regular meeting of the Haywood County Board of Commissioners. Uh, our first order of business will be our our pledge of allegiance. Then I'll ask our sheriff to come forward for the invocation. But I also want to let everyone know that Commissioner Long could not be here tonight because because his wife April's mother passed away. So appreciate it if y'all remember that family in prayer. So that's why Tommy's not here tonight. So if everyone please stand for the pledge.

To the flag of the United States of America to the stands nation indivisible. Okay. Have a seat. The Apostle Paul in 62 AD was imprisoned in Rome. He wrote a letter of encouragement to the church at Philippi because while he was imprisoned, they supported him and his family and his friends at a time and place when he couldn't do that. So he wrote a letter of encouragement back and these words are found in Philippians 4:8. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. I've mentioned this before. Each day we awake, we have a choice. We can choose to go about our day to work for other folks and to serve with honor and dignity or sometimes we can get caught up in all the negativity that we tend to see on social media and other places. But the point is we have a choice. And what Paul is reminding us is that choice to be positive is what's lovely and what is pure and what will guide and direct us in the course that God has chosen for us. I want to invite you to join me in prayer. Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for the words from a man who was imprisoned and soon to die for what he believed in yet kept focused on what

was good. Lord, I pray that you would put these words in our heart and remind us each and every day that we have a choice [snorts] to focus on what is good. And I'd pray that we'd do that particular this day, this evening as we go about the business of the people as elected officials. Lord, pray that you would keep our hearts and our minds focused on that which is good and that which is best to serve those who have elected us to make decisions on their behalf. It is in the name of Jesus that I pray. Amen.

Thank you, Sheriff. Okay, the next order of business will be our public hearing. And this is a rescheduled public hearing to receive. We didn't have it at our last meeting because of the snow. Um, [clears throat] so this is a rescheduled public hearing to receive comments concerning the proposed amendments to the full county of Haywood, North Carolina code of ordinances in advance of reprinting and recodification of the American legal publishing as well as more substantial amendments to chapter 150, which is building regulations. And so we we've got uh our clerk to the board of commissioners, Amy Stevens, and the assistant county manager for recovery and resiliency, Garen Bradish here tonight to open that topic up. So, welcome.

Thank you, commissioners. Um, as you mentioned, tonight's public hearing is to receive comments on the proposed revisions to the county's full code of ordinances that have been reviewed and updated by American Legal Publishing. Um, just to cover our legal bases, public notice was published in the mountaineer January 21st and 28th because of the rescheduled February 2nd meeting. It ran again February 4th and 11th. And the draft with all of the red lines has been available online on the county website and in the clerk's office since that original publication date of January 21st. And I just thought before we dig into the changes, we'd take a little look at where we are and how we got here. Uh this public hearing marks one of the final steps in a multi-year ordinance update process. You probably recall all the public hearings we had uh over the past few years looking at ordinances and things like that. We had department heads and program specialists work with the county attorney to review and update uh ordinance chapters that applied to their program areas. Um the updates went through the required public review hearings and adoption at the county level and then the full code was submitted to American Legal Publishing for external legal review formatting and retyping for consistency, comprehensive internal cross referencing, things like that to make sure that any revisions are reflected anywhere that's referenced within the code. Um we'll be looking at the revisions this evening and accepting comments. uh if pending approval of those revisions at the next meeting, we won't be activating or adopting most of those ordinances until they come back from American Legal. We'll just be accepting the suggested revisions to go forward for publication. Uh the final draft and legal report will be returned to American Legal and they in turn will provide 10 hardbound copies, updated

electronic word files, so we'll have a clean slate when next we need to do substantial revisions which will be nice. Uh I believe the last time we did this was in 1996. So, a lot of those uh documents from that time have passed through a lot of hands and anybody that works with uh Microsoft Office Suite knows that things can get really wonky in files after they go through a lot of different hands. Um they'll also give us a formal adopting ordinance for board approval. So, now we can get into the changes. Uh most of the changes that American Legal made were formatting. uh they created a consistent font numbering style across the full code. The good news is that we did uh a lot of the substantial work inhouse and reviewing internally and making those changes. So like I say the majority of changes are formatting the title, chapter and section numbers are the same as they were just so we don't have to go exhaustively review every document in house and update any references. Um, content related edits. Uh, oh, let me go back. The formatting changes were not redlined because they do not alter content. The content related edits include minor grammatical updates, citation corrections, and clarifications of language. And then there were a few more notable content changes. Um, chapter 50, solid waste. There was no uh description in the definitions of what constitutes household hazardous waste. those Andre provided that we updated the hearing process to reflect the staff that actually conduct those hearings at this point. Um, we had a penalty change in chapter 97 off- premise sign control. The prem the penalty increased from $50 per day to 500 per day. Uh, chapter 99 tobacco use restrictions. We removed a

redundant appendix. Chapter 115 wireless telecommunications. There was an update to a measurement that uh got missed the first time around. Chapter 116, adult entertainment establishments. We removed an outdated section. Chapter 159, public health and solid waste awareness. We increased a penalty from 50 to 500 per violation and added language saying that each day of a continuing violation is a separate offense. Uh chapter 150 received a few more substantial changes which Garen will be covering. um and he'll review those. Let's see. At the next meeting, like I say, it'll be it will vary from the typical ordinance hearing followup because we will just be asking for approval of the proposed revisions and authorization for American Legal to finalize and print the updated code and that would all be adopted and active once that returns in published form. The exception is uh chapter 150 which we will be asking for approval to formally adopt at the next meeting. So those changes can take effect immediately and those changes will also be incorporated into that final published code. Nobody has any questions. I'll hand it over to Garren. Okay. So, in these ordinances, the biggest change you'll see comes under the violations and penalties section of three of them. The off- premise signs, uh, typically we don't have much of an issue there, but originally it was a civil penalty of $50 and we've increased it to 500. In my time, I don't think we've ever had to issue a civil penalty for an off- premise sign. It's very rare. on the public health solid waste

nuisance ordinance. With that one, we decided to up that civil penalty to where it is $500 and can be occurring each day of the violation. Uh that's at our discretion as we go after some of these people. This has to do with trash on properties, um things of that nature where the county attorney and I have consulted about this. We've had court cases in the past in front of judges. these cases can get continued over periods of time and sometimes we don't get resolution. So we decided to add a civil penalty in here that would catch people's attention when we have serious violations of this. Under the building regulations, a lot of those changes involved some redline changes. Um there was an update to whenever a new code comes out, we can just we don't have to go in and change the ordinance and change that code number that whether this is a building code or a fire code or something, the ordinance now can just stay as it is and it'll pass through. There was some changes also occurring with uh titles of staff, things like that. Um and some typos that we had saw in there. But there again, we addressed in this ordinance that if we see a violation, construction started without a permit, things of this nature, we could go out, of course, put a red card on that to stop work order to stop it. We decided to add this civil penalty from $50 up to $500 per day of occurrence for those that this is a repeat offense. We have some bad characters out there and we will issue a civil penalty now in place in as per this ordinance if we need to to try to correct some of these situations. Those will be the biggest changes you'll see in there. Like I say, most of what you'd see under the building regulations was minor. As Amy said, we've been looking at these ordinances over the last couple of years. We did some more serious more

more substantial I should say updates under 160D when that needed to occur, but we thought now we needed to really address these penalties for what we're seeing out there and to try to get some corrections and actions taken place. Okay. So, [clears throat] the $500 penalty that So, if you go out and they've started, maybe it's they didn't mean to or they didn't know, whatever. You're not going to just hit them right then. You're going to try to work with them. If they ignore it, they're going to get they're going to get this.

Correct. We'll always work with people. Yeah. Um, but again, if we have a a contractor or someone out there that's doing this repeatedly and we're seeing it and it's a way to rein them in, so yes. Yeah, they should know. Yeah. Okay. Does anybody have any questions or anything?

Okay. Well, I do appreciate the way the staff takes, you know, they try to work with you as much as they can. We don't want to have to do this, but if we have to, we we will because there's usually a good reason for that. And we are having to follow state statutes. We these building regulations aren't Heywood County building regulations. They are state of North Carolina building regulations. And they actually audit you, I guess, occasionally to make sure you're following that. Right, Garrett?

We we do have those that we've had to turn into the state um for doing work without license, things of that nature. Uh they do take this seriously at the state level. Uh we there again when we have people out there who just knowingly say I'm going to build whatever it may be. It may be multiple homes. It could be uh venues. It could be something for the public that they could access a structure they could go in and they are not pulling building permits and are not calling for inspections then yes we will go after them if we see we need to.

Anybody have any questions or anything? Garin, I guess that [clears throat] going from 50 to 500, is that 500? Is that something that we see other counties doing? I mean, why did we choose the 500?

Well, we chose 500 to make it substantial so that we could get people to come into compliance, come in and pull the correct permits and work with us. And like I said, we will work with people. Um, we we'll do our best. 500 was is basically the maximum we could go to and we decided to do it. I would make a note that the the state statute we're enforcing the state building codes, the state electrical code, the state plumbing codes. We are enforcing those by delegation from the state. The state delegates our building inspection department to enforce those codes. The state had changed its maximum per day penalty from back in the day when when our original statute was was ordinance was originally enacted. In those days, they had a $50 a day penalty at the state level maximum amount. The state legislature raised that maximum per day penalty up to $500. Now, the the the difference here is that the staff has the authority to to add these civil penalties on to get the attention of the repeat offenders, to get the attention of the unlicensed who are out there deliberately violating the the law. And then essentially, we had no means of getting their attention. We're I have has been I've been engaged by the inspections department recently and we've commenced a number of actions against violations that are occurring out in the county. We we've gone from zero to a whole bunch and that's because we're becoming more aware of it. It's because it's we've had some very serious

situations. unlicensed house that was built u that essentially collapsed and and that situation was um it didn't get a lot of publicity because it's private matter but it was got a lot of attention from our end. They had absolutely no permit built it in a slide zone. Blessed thing it's coming off the mountain. So the issue about all that is is this is another tool for the inspection department by delegation from the state and with the authority of the state to to uh enforce these ordinances and the state codes. That's what's that's the background for the the change in the dollar amount. It's went from I don't know our number came from the 70s or something. It's not been before this.

Yeah. So, so it's been since the 70s and we ain't changed it since. And it is it's your discretion. I mean, like Kevin said, you go out and you've got a first time uh person that's that's not abused it before and you put a red card or something up, I think I heard you say. And and but you can enforce it if you need to. So,

that for us to put a stop work order on a structure occurs fairly regular. I mean it's it's a common thing to put a stop work order but to have to go to this level. No. Usually once we put a stop order work order in most people will come in and meet with us and try to come into compliance but there are those that won't. So

right. Yeah. And this is basically just safety is what it is for the consumer and everybody. [clears throat] And if we don't enforce those, the county would be held liable. Could could be held liable for it. So, okay. Okay. Is that it? All right. Thank you. So, we'll move to public comment now. We're going to have public comment on this these issues and then we'll have our regular public comment after that. Okay. So, and I want to say Haven will be calling the names. I'm going to do this a little differently for the public comment for the ordinance that we're having and then uh and then we'll do regular public comment and she'll announce who that is. I'm going to do this a little differently. I'm going to have a clock. So, I'll I'll start the clock and if you would please uh limit your comments. Uh Haven's going to pay attention to it. When it gets to zero, she'll say time. if you would just uh and this will turn red and it'll start counting the other way and we uh if you would finish up your comments at that time. So, okay. Okay, Haven, go ahead and who who would be the first one that you

All right. First up for the public hearing public comment is Nate Roberto. Okay. Welcome, Nate.

Hey, good evening. Happy President's Day. Uh, one of my favorite presidents is Jimmy Carter because of what he did for housing. Affordable housing is infrastructure. Um, Haywood County Schools is also part of infrastructure. We got to support these programs. Uh, in particular in regard to ordinance, we don't currently have an ordinance for chalking in the courtyard. If you can envision the courtyard of the historic courthouse, it is this half circle and this double paved footpath leading up to the courthouse. There is no term to define those perimeters that I just told you. It's I contacted the county office doesn't exist. Um no no ordinance on the book. However, I was arrested last year for chalking in the courtyard. Um, I was charged by the sheriff's department with defacing public property. Um, went to court, went to trial. The judge dropped defacing public property because neither he, the district attorney, nor the state attorney could find any statute relevant to what I was charged with. So, it was dismissed. what is uh a felony, what I would come to find out is writing on the wall of the courthouse and possibly even the steps, but I my activity was incorporated within the courtyard. Um, and to make this matter even more complicated, the sheriff came out July 5th, 2025 after this matter was decided in court and said that it's illegal to chalk in the courtyard and that you'll be arrested. So, um, you know, for someone who holds up due process, um, and the Constitution, I

think he missed a few steps in the process. um mainly you all sitting up here, the people that create laws. Um so, you know, a lot to unpack here, but I think if you want to get out of a gray area in regard to this, you should either ban it all together, which would be really sad, or you should uh somehow enshrine it into these uh these ordinances and protect it. Because what the sense I'm getting from the state legislature is that there is less and less room to express oneself in the public square. And that's what I'm calling it essentially. It's historically been a place where people come together. It's uh for the community. It's to express grievance. Uh to announce a run for an office, uh to have a concert, to run around with your kids. It's a safe place and we need to protect those rights. Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up, we have Vicky Hyatt.

Welcome, Vicki.

Um Oh, thank you. Um, I would like to propose several amendments to the Haywood County's high impact development ordinance being considered in this group of multiple ordinance amendments. Heywood County showed great foresight in addressing data centers and crypto mining in 2023, but since then more information has surfaced about the industry. Many other local governments are following Haywood's lead and either restricting the industry or seeking moratoriums to allow more time to refine their ordinances. The suggestions I have that could strengthen chapter 160 in your public hearing ordinance are as follows. Number one, um, in section 160.03, 03. It defines the vulnerable areas protected by the ordinance. I would like to see a subsection 8 that protects agriculture districts. This would ensure that farms within these special agriculture districts would have 1,000 ft of separation just like the other vulnerable categories when it comes to certain developments. Number two, in section 160.07, specifications for separations, setbacks, and buffers, I would like to revisit the noise issue by inserting another section. When Haywood amended its high impact ordinance in 2023, it was determined noise issues couldn't be addressed unless they applied equally to all industries within the the ordinance. Could we examine applying the noise

restriction across the board, perhaps with variances in certain instances that would give the board options? When the ordinance was amended, it was concluded that the cost of electricity in the county would restrict the consideration of a data center placement in our county. Given the massive investments we read about that are driving the AI data center industry and the stock market if I read right my question is do we want to rely on utility cost as our main deterrent and section three it's number 160.10 10. A permit required. In addition to requiring a permit, I would suggest adding a provision for a public hearing. The ordinance addresses high impact industries. It is only fair that residents have a chance to speak out and be heard when industries such as chemical hazardous waste or explosive facilities and data centers are proposed in our county. Uh, lastly, and this isn't addressed in the ordinance, but perhaps could be part of the county's overall policy, I have read that non-disclosure agreements are being used by data center developers to withhold information from the public about the specifics of their plans until the last minute. I would hope this board would examine the overall non-disclosure issue and heir on the side of full transparency whenever legally possible. Thank you for your time.

Okay. Thank you, Vicki. Okay. Next up, we have Becky Phillips. Welcome, Becky.

Good evening. My name is Becky Phillips. I live at 114 Phillips Road. Uh this is in the matter of the um housing that is projected for uh the that that area up there. I live on the the bottom area of that and we have had historically uh tons of traffic there that have caused innumerable problems and they my my mailbox has actually had to be relocated uh in against what they normally do because it got knocked down so many times. The traffic is horrendous. But beyond that, the water issues there are constant. My basement and my adjacent neighbors uh properties have been flooded numerous times and just recently with the hurricane, but there's just so much water coming in at any point in time. That land area is nothing but fill and rock that came off of the highways. And there are innumerable springs up there and that is the physical part of what is going on. But beyond that, I have high questionable um I have questions about this this Mills Corporation in the first place. They have a a p a case pending them in 2021 that deals with handicap and disability. How can someone like that put up a 60-unit property uh for seniors? I just do not trust that. Um, I know that this is only a recommendation board or whatever. It goes to a planning committee, but if if Hazelwood rejected this, why are we going to accept it? Um, I think at this point in time, this should be highly questioned as to its motives uh, regarding whether we need more tax revenue or if we if we have to worry about the people that actually

live there and don't do anything about what is going on. So, it is our time to stand up about this. And I I I for one will put my foot into the votes with with putting my voice where it counts on the streets with the appropriation of this. I highly disagree with it and I think that my my uh neighbors will disagree with it also. Thank you very much for your time. Okay. Thank you. Next up, we have Nancy Crawford. Welcome, Nancy.

Hi, I'm Nancy Crawford and I have 80 and 60 Phillips Road. She's my neighbor and cousin. Uh where is Will Phillips Road? It turns off right there at Big Lots. It joins Hall Top. Okay, go ahead.

Goes on up to the motel. Anyway, um when they built the road, they filled in that property above us with nothing but granite rock and field dirt. And there's been a constant and it's full of springs and there's been a constant problem with water and runoff. And I almost gotten a lawsuit over it other than it was active nature when 6 ines of mud flooded my house and yard and everything all the way down to the Little Caesar's place. Anyway, they want to put in a threetory, five, let's see, three, fivetory housing unit up there for the elderly. Uh, I don't know how my little our little Phillips Road will handle the traffic that will be there. And how do they determine seniors at 50 years of age? And um the traffic light right there, you can't make a right turn. So you have to wait if somebody's making a left turn, you have to wait in line and that backs traffic all the way up to our driveways trying to get onto Russ Avenue. So I'm really concerned about the water runoff which has impacted us for years. I had to put in a sump pump. Then I had to put in a generator in case the power went out so the basement wouldn't flood. So, this has been an ongoing thing with me and it really concerns me about having three fivestory buildings right above me and the runoff. So, um I would appreciate and I have it on the record that should there be a water problem that these people will address and take care of it. So, thank you for your time.

Thank you, Miss Wil. That's all the people that signed up for the public hearing public comment session

I think. Would anyone else want to address that since this is a public hearing not public comment? You have to sign up for public comment but you don't have to for this or whether you can but okay I just want to make sure everybody. Okay. Okay. Thank you Amy. Okay. So u Okay. So next, oh, and I want to say the Phillips Road. I think that's in Wel's jurisdiction. So make, you know, go to the town of Wesville meeting and and the I'm not sure. I guess the planning board has to approve that, Frank. Is that correct? So uh we're not I don't want to say we can't do anything about it, but we don't have the jurisdiction.

The the issues that they're talking about are issues that are with the town's planning. The town of Wesville's planning. Yeah. And approval process. The the county has no input at all. No, they don't ask us and they don't do what we they never ask us. It's it's not in our jurisdiction,

right? And I'm not and I appreciate y'all coming and making us aware of it because I would be the same way if uh and there should be ways to mitigate flood. there are flood devices they can put or storm water devices they can put in to make sure that you don't have that issue of uh storm water because I know when you build above somebody u you need to take care of it. I know my property's above some folks and I was having trouble with storm water myself and uh I was very judicious and trying to make sure that I had it fixed. So, but that's all we can do. I can't really do back and forth. Okay. But but please talk to the town and I appreciate the other comments. Um and uh and Vicki, you're right. They they do have u the data center technology has uh it's not like it used to be. I from what I understand they had some bad problems in Murphy with the data centers being very loud, but I think they've been able to quieten those down and uh to where they don't make the noise that they did before. So, and I'm glad because the when somebody was when they was first started building these, nobody knew about the noise and then all of a sudden there it was and then evidently they've been able to mitigate that somewhat. So, anyway, just FYI. And then as far as the uh the chalking and things like that, I'm I'll maybe have Frank look into that and try to clarify that more. I know when we did the grounds use ordinance, we that was at a time when they were people were camping on public property and um that was one of the reasons that kind of spurred us into doing that. So we didn't have people camping on the courthouse lawn and I forget what that issue was but anyway that we did the ordinance because of that and there were some other issues. seems like we had people placing things on the courthouse lawn and then it was um it wasn't welcome

there and it wasn't they weren't supposed to be there but we didn't have an ordinance for it so we put out the ordinance and so we need to keep tweaking it till you know we can cover all those uh because when you draft an ordinance you're like what can happen what can happen and we always don't know what you know what issues might come up so but we definitely take a look at that Okay, next will be public comment. If you would uh limit your comments to 3 minutes and I'll be keeping time and go ahead. Uh H. Did anybody else want to say anything by the way on that on the Okay. First that signed up for public comment is Dale Glance.

Okay, Dale. Welcome Dale. [cough] Yeah, thank you for letting me talk. I have a problem here and other places during politicians time. We come to this meeting, this is supposed to be a historical or sacred place. But whether you're a politician or whoever you are, that flag and God and country is what this country is made about. My family goes back to the Civil War. But you can come in here and when the prayer said, they won't even take their caps off. When you pledge allegiance, they won't take their caps off. And some want to run for office. I don't know how anybody in this c county or country could vote for somebody that will not stand for that flag. And I have a problem with it. And I want to express my way. If you can't remove your caps, bow your head, you should move to some other country. Thank you.

Next that signed up is Ted Carr. Hey, welcome Ted.

Mr. chairman and commissioners, you might call this talk timing is important. Uh I think it was back in se in December when I came and had a presentation on uh broadband, how well that's being distributed in the county. Uh last year Skyunner ran all the way up Mccclure Creek Road to 3/4 of a mile of Mccclure Creek. Bill Hollings said and everybody along the way tapped into Skyunner and they're in good shape. Last year AT&T said they're not going to mean Copper Lines to my house anymore. So, I've been looking for what to do and I got uh Starlink. Uh Thursday, got a call from Freddy at Spectrum. Uh he said, "Mr. Carr, I saw your uh private sign and your phone number. Uh want you to know that you're on the list. We're going to run a line on the poles up 3/4 of a mile and then where it goes burial, which it is burial the next mile up to my house. We're going to trench in the road and get broadband up to your house. Timing is important. A month ago, four weeks ago, Monday, Caldwell Trucking had seven trucks for five days bringing 140 loads of gravel up to 1812 McCclure Creek Road. And here last Thursday, Spectrum says

they want a trench through that road that uh Caldwell had a box blade to smooth it out and a compactor [laughter] to compact it. I said, "Thank you." No. And he said, "Okay, we'll put it on the list that we contacted you, but you said no." If it had been two months earlier, they would have I'd been happy to have them run it up to the house, but not to trench through that newly compacted road is fantastic. Thank you.

Next that signed up is Howard Neper.

Welcome, Howard.

Hi, commissioners. I'm going to make this actually just 90 seconds. I wasn't even going to speak, but I've decided to say it. First of all, I've I've said a couple of times about wearing my hat. I had surgery, very serious surgery about two years ago because I laid in the sun. It's called melanoma skin cancer. And that hat is on here because there's some serious surgery I had to have. And I just want to apologize if for I've said this many times that I I love our country. I love our flag. I love everything it stands for, but you know, my doctors have asked me to wear this cap if I've offended anybody. I do apologize for that. I've I've said that before when I've spoke publicly, and I think the hat should be taken off. But in my case, I had surgery, so that's why it's on. And I just want to apologize to anybody that feels that they've been offended by it. But I respect our flag. I respect our country. But the flag, that hat has to stay on for about another 6 months because of that surgery. That's I don't want to take any more of your time. Thank you for all your service again. Bye.

Thank you. That was the last one, Kevin. Okay. Okay. Thank you'all for your comments.

Okay. Next order business is constituent concerns. Um, I [laughter] have asked that we pull together some numbers. I don't know if it's just the state of the world that we live in or that um because we are in campaign season, it makes for a better case if somebody is uh or if people are are touting the negative. But I want to um always try to be positive and look at the things that we're doing as a county. we the way we work as elected leaders and the way the staff works, the way the community works together. And I just wanted to bring some numbers um to light so that so that we're we're getting the whole story about what a special place it is we live in. Um you know, we've had some challenging years and you know, we had tropical storm Fred and we lost six lives in the Bethl community or Crusoe community. We followed that by the closure of the meal. We had a hurricane that impacted our still is impacting our community. And so we we've really been dealt some pretty tough blows. But the but the good news about that is um Haywood County and the region in general has is very solid and um before I want to talk a little bit first about unemployment rates before the or at the time of the mill closure which would have been June of 23 our unemployment rate was 3.2%. And these numbers are coming from the labor department. So I'm not just making some numbers up. But um following Hurricane Helen, which would October of 24, unemployment had risen to 5.3%. A year later, we saw those numbers decrease back to 3.4%. Still not back to where we were exactly at the mill

closure, but in December of 25, Hwood County's unemployment rate was 3%. That's a very low unemployment rate. Um, that means our people are working and maybe they're not working, you know, five miles from their home, which was maybe ideal, but at least our region was strong enough that we could absorb those workers when we had the meal closure. In addition to those um those numbers about unemployment, I asked for numbers regarding our small businesses. We live in a community of small business owners. I sit on this board with Terry, Brandon, Kevin. We're all small business owners and um I think that makes our community very unique. We know who we're doing business with and whose stores and shops that we're in. So in um the second quarter of 2020, we were reporting 1583 small businesses. In the second quarter of 2025, five years later, we were reporting 1,981 small businesses. And those numbers are reported from an organization, the Federal Reserve Economic Data. So again, not just numbers that I'm pulling together, but these are actually resources of numbers that we can we can monitor and and verify. So that's an increase of 398 small businesses over the course of five years. So each one of those small businesses is employing employees. I have a small business and I I have a a gal that works in my office full-time. My husband joined us in January of last year. He's come out of retirement and is working full-time. So that goes back to our unemployment numbers and our economy is strong here. And I'm I'm really proud of that. And I feel like in this particular season that we're in, we're getting a lot of negative press about

where we live and how things could be better. Things are pretty good here. Um we've had some recent job growth. Giles building reuse grant brought 43 new jobs. Drake Software brought a new um I guess arm of their business here. That was 50 new jobs. Velocity Truck Centers, which is in the old Anton building at exit 31, brought 35 new jobs. And Bujam Brewery bought 16 new jobs. And these are newly created jobs in our community. Um there's some I I want to give you only hard facts, but there are some there's some potential for some new jobs, big numbers hopefully coming in the next couple of years here. And then I also want to talk about broadband and housing. And I'll make it real quick. We've got a long meeting, but you know the cost of housing increases because of demand and we we had people moving here because we all know it's fabulous place to live. It's beautiful. We have outdoor tremendous natural resources. Um I say a lot of people move here for the things that we don't have and it's a beautiful place to live. But the more people that want to live here, that makes the market harder for our local people. And so a lot of people fuss and complain about the creation of of places to live. But when we get those we get the housing numbers up so that there's appropriate inventory, what that will do is balance our market both to purchase and to rent. And that makes purchasing a home and renting a home much more affordable. So, the increase of, you know, housing for seniors or down payment assistance. We got a grant for a million dollars in down payment assistance and literally had to turn the website off because there was so much interest in that. All of those are really good things that happened in our community. And then

since I've been on the board, you know, broadband is another reason why industries were hesitant or unable to come to our community because in a world that we live in today, if you don't have internet, you might as well turn the lights off. I mean, that it's the equivalent of getting electricity. And so, um, we are now down to, hold on, 121 homes that do not have access to high-speed broadband. And it's unfortunate for those 121 homes, but let's celebrate the 8,200 homes that we've brought online in the last few years. So, I think for all of us, like I said, to live in the age that we live in and to have access not just to some sort of internet, but high-speed really quality. I have a house literally at the end of the road, and we didn't think we would ever have the option, and now we've got the option of two providers with fiber to the home. So, it's very impressive that we have we have that sort of technology in a in a rural county like where we live.

So, again, I just I didn't mean to take up too much time, but and I don't want to always be the person that's just looking on the bright side and trying to celebrate the good things, but this we need to stop the the negative rhetoric. We we have come a long way. Things are really good. It's a great place to live. It's a great place to raise a family. And and it could be way worse. I promise y'all. So, thanks for listening. No, thank you, Jennifer, for sharing that. I know a lot of times we don't celebrate the

the victories and the good stuff. So, every now and then it's kind of refreshing to uh hear where we've been and where we've come from. But, uh, you know, and a lot of those people I've talked to at the mill that lost their jobs, uh, I don't know of anyone that I've spoke to, and I knew a lot of people down there that has not found a better job, a cleaner job, a better paying job. They're they're having to drive a little bit. Uh, but but all of them tell me they don't mind because it is a cleaner, better job. So,

you know, and I want to add to that. I had a conversation yesterday with somebody about, you know, my husband retired from the mill long before the mill closure. Um, my mother-in-law retired from there. My sister-in-law worked at the little mill. My family is a meal family. And I was really I mean, all of our friends, you know, worked there. And I was really concerned at the announcement. Um because you know those those friends of mine, that family of mine, you know, they've got mortgages and car payments and camper payments and boat payments and kids in braces and kids in college and and the results of of um our community and our region being able to absorb those quality workers. We avoided foreclosures. We avoided repossessions. We avoided kids not being able to go to school. And all of those things are that's a blessing that we live in such a strong region. And and I get it. If you've been driving, you know, five minutes to work for 30 years and now you're driving 55 minutes to work, that's difficult. And I I'm that doesn't go, you know, I'm I'm not missing that point. But I am so thankful that it was not it was not the tremendous negative financial impact it could have been.

So again, yeah. Yeah. I mean, I I was thankful for that meal and what it did as well. I mean, I had my both my grandparents and my father-in-law, my my dad, uh, uncle, brother-in-law, a lot of people that worked down there. So, it was it done its thing while it was here, but sure,

most of those people found better jobs, better paying jobs and moved on. So talked to a guy Friday in the office and uh he was very thankful for the job he had and uh again said it was a better paying job and had to drive a little bit but he said I don't mind that at all because he's sitting in air conditioning. So anyway, but I do have one thing I would like to follow up on with Mr. Morehead. I know that [snorts] we had spoke about the river situation and the cleanup and maybe we can get together later to talk about that. So,

you have anything to do you want to? Okay. Yeah, just reiterating what Jennifer was talking about uh the broadband issue u you know having the choice now that's pretty good you know because a lot of people didn't even have a choice they didn't have have one period and if they did it was maybe dial up which is almost you know non-existent anymore so but on the housing I will I will say this and I know a lot of people see housing going up and it's it's it's a negative in a lot of people's minds but I think some of the people that yell the loudest are the ones that have moved here to be honest with with you about that. But um we we they did a study a few years ago and I was thinking this number comes to my mind. I don't know why, but we were 4,000 units short on our housing in our community. And so the Mountaineer had done a story here a while back and they said, "Well, there have been a thousand units approved in Wesville, but only about 500 of those will ever be built." Well, we're still way below the amount of housing that we need. And um and a lot of the housing uh it it is expensive, but it it's it the more housing you have, the lower price should be because there's more competition for the houses. So I know that uh and I'm in I'm in the you know, I'm being a surveyor. I'm in the housing industry and I talk to people all the time that are building houses or are moving here and um and with the internet now and a lot of people move here and they work from home and that's almost like creating jobs there if you want to say that. Um and along with the the mill workers and y'all are exactly right. The people I've talked to that worked at the mill have gotten better jobs than they had. I'm sure some of them didn't, but a lot of them got better jobs than they had, and they're almost kind of glad they got, you know, that they've got kind of out there to where they could see what was available. So, I I'm I didn't know we had those kind of numbers, Jennifer. That's really encouraging to hear that. Um, and you know, our economic development, I've

heard some negative stuff about our economic development policies, and I'll just say this. In 2003, we did an economic study, economic development study. And one thing we found out was that you wanted to take care of the businesses that you had here was to find ways to retain your business, not try to get the the big businesses to come in. Although you you do want that somewhat, but was to make sure that you maintained what you had and tried to help those. And our economic development team that we have, that's what they're able to do. they're able to find grants that we have for other businesses like what you just mentioned to help them through the state. The state has incentives that we don't we don't know about and we don't want to hire somebody because we'd probably have to pay him more than a county manager to know everything. So we basically have a staff that we pay um you know that we contract with to make sure e economic development is not only bringing new businesses in but it's keeping us helping us to retain the businesses we have and if we did a list there would be a list but you know who has time for that because we're all busy working but we have uh our economic development team has really uh brought businesses uh that are here and helped them you know, uh, enhance what they have. And anytime a new business wants to come here, we always tell them about the mill workers that we had because when when the mill did close, they went to other plants in the area, mostly in Ardan, because Ardan has flat land. We don't. Uh that's the biggest problem we have where we live is our terrain is just won't lend us uh uh you know a 100 acre track that's totally flat like you have in Ardan and everywhere. I know in the early 80s I did sewer projects out there

and the the plants uh and I'm talking about you know plants that you work at not plants that you plan you know grow but uh there was just industry that came in overnight because they had sewer in those communities and I had helped work on that and it's because they had flat land and they could they could put those industries there. So it really um and we're we're in a region if you will. Uh, I know my dad worked on the railroad and he worked a lot of times in Asheville and he worked in Canton some when the mill was there. Uh, because they had so much business there. He worked on the railroad, but they were he was able to work in the Canton yard because of lining up the chip cars and and everything that that went with that with that business and that industry when it was there. But, uh, but I appreciate those those numbers and u and and it just, you know, kind of makes me happy to hear that.

[snorts] So, just one other thing I was going to add just was talking about the mail workers and [clears throat] I know of several of those guys that have actually was pushed out to start their own business and they've actually hired other employees. I know of three right off the top of my head. One of them started a grading business and it's continuing to grow and they've hired other people. So, you know, it's actually increased jobs I find too. So, and you can't find somebody to do grading hardly. I mean, they're all busy. That's true. You know, it's hard to get somebody out there. So that's good, you know, and and it's like you all were saying, I mean, we have our own businesses and we created our jobs along with jobs that we hire people for. So I mean I you know that's that's good.

Maybe the naysayers that report this stuff all the time, Commissioner Best will report on this. That's right. Okay. Well, thank you Jennifer for that. That that's really heartwarming. Okay. Our next order of B is anybody else have anything on constant? Our next order of business will be administrative agency reports and presentations. And the first one will be an update on the North Carolina private roads and bridges program. Our assistant county manager for recovery and resiliency is Garen Bradish. Welcome, Garen. [snorts] This is always a big question everywhere I go. [laughter]

This month is a significant month for updates in the state's private roads and bridges program as recovery from Helen. uh two weeks ago, the first weekend of February, uh emails and letters went out to all the applicants across western North Carolina who are entered into the state's private roads and bridges rebuilding program. Um so currently in western North Carolina there is over 6,500 applications with 3,610 project projects identified needing repair based on evaluations that the state has done. The estimated cost to fix all 3,610 projects would be around $500 million. The state prioritize projects based on emergency emergency access to these homes. Can we get ambulances and fire trucks to these homes that were affected? [snorts] Um, the state has done a prioritization and sent out these letters that have four categories involved. Category one is currently you have no access for emergency access or emergency vehicles to your property. Those in category one are approved for funding and those projects are moving forward as we speak. Category two there again this these involve homes that have no emergency access but they remain unfunded due to the amount of projects that were in category one. So when they looked at the amount of funding that has been allocated so far, these were put into category two. They're not funded at this time, but if more funds become available, they will be funded. Category three, these homes have emergency access but have a major repair in front of them. These are not being funded at this time.

And then category four, these homes have emergency access and it is a minor repair to fix it. They also are not receiving funding at this time. So, kind of the history of the private roads and bridges. The disaster recovery act part one provided a hund00 million in funding for this program. Then disaster recovery act part two provided another 75 million in funding. $25 million of that was for a reimbursement program. So, there are people out there who decided to hire a contractor themselves and go ahead and repair their road, repair their bridges. They are eligible for up to 50% reimbursement out of this $25 million that has been set aside. The reimbursement for that, and this is an important date, closes this month on February 28th. The county PIO Dylan, he has been pushing this out, and we're going to continue to push out this date, but this is for those seeking reimbursement for the work that they have already done. Now, I want to say if if you built your bridge back and you received FEMA funds to do it through individual assistance or if you pulled money together with other people to build your bridge back, there can be no duplication of funds there. They those funds from FEMA are separated. So, you can't get a second payment through this program for that. So [clears throat] Haywood County currently has 433 applications in the private roads and bridges. This is serving $2,458 households. This is an at an estimated cost of 1,942,526. [snorts] All across western North Carolina, there is currently 236 sites

that are in the process of being fixed. Out of those 51 have been completed so far in Haywood County. We have three bridges that are are currently being fixed and have uh got permits through the development services office. 19 have been completed so far. So there's more coming. We're in contact on a weekly basis with the state about the projects that'll be continued on. They come in and they pull their building permits to begin these bridges with us. So they're they're like I said, it's a weekly call we have with them. All right. So in the reimbursement program, so so far in the reimbursement program, the state has awarded $612,569 to $218 households across western North Carolina. Haywood County so far has received $49,000 off six requests out of 44 that have been made in reimbursement. Four of the 44 have been denied. So that means there's still 30 applicants out there that will likely receive reimbursement. They're just in that process, the 44 that have applied. Um to be qualified, you must be a resident of that property of the day of the storm when it happened. So it cannot be a house that you have bought now that did not get repaired, but you weren't living in it during the day of the storm. You must have been a resident of the day of the storm of that home. Um, so we know based on these letters that went out two weeks ago that there's a number of people who realize that they've been denied and we are encouraging them to reach out to some of the volunteer organizations around u, we can assist with that at development services. That's where the recovery and resiliency team is based. Come in and talk with us. We'll try to find you help if if you feel that you need it. If you feel that this program is not going to

help cover your needs, where where would they go, Gary? Uh to Paragon Parkway, 257 Paragon Parkway where the development services offic Yes. Yeah. Okay.

All right. Um so given the amount of money that has been allocated so far, you can understand that if the state legislature goes back and meets and decides that enough work wasn't done, then they can provide additional funding if they so choose, then some of these who may have been denied could be reclassified depending on what that amount is. But currently that has not happened and we would not know. So that that is the only other option that is available is if the legislature decides to go back and provide more funding once this initial two waves of 170 m 175 million is runs out. So if there's any questions, like I said, we wanted to give this update because we do have this deadline for the reimbursements that's coming up on February 28th, but I I'd like to answer any questions you have.

I have a question. You knew that though, didn't you? Um, so this I guess is kind of maybe the chicken and the egg which came first, but if somebody is purchases a piece of property today that is going to require a private road and a private bridge and they come into developmental services, are we notifying them that in the event of a catastrophe, their homeowners insurance, you know, FEMA, all of these entities that we, you know, were very nonchalant about, oh, you our insurance will work or something will work that there could be no coverage and it could be out of pocket. The reason I asked this is because back in 2004 um when you know we had hurricane flooding in 2004 there were several bridges of neighbors of ours that were completely washed out. And I think they were surprised to realize even back then that there was nobody there was nothing going to help them. There was no insurance coverage. you know, the countyy's not responsible. Certainly, the state is supplying some money or they've allocated some money, but it's not really adequate to cover the need. So, are we telling folks, look, you could be on your own if something happens.

We try to give guidance when we see fit for those people that come in. So, if you needed to have a private bridge built to your property, you're going to be applying for a permit. depending on if it's in an area mapped for flood, there's going to be some additional requirements associated with that. And so you'll be meeting with our flood plane managers there in development services. And we do kind of discuss what this could look like and the options going forward.

So I won't say it happens every time, but when we recognize it, we certainly do try to inform the public. Yeah, that's that's really helpful because I think it really caught some people off guard actually in 2004 and definitely in 21 and this most recent hurricane because I'm sure it was far more reaching. But it it's you know it's unfortunate. I almost feel like that that should be something I don't know if it's um I don't know how we add that that would be something from the state level to and you know put it on a deed or something that somebody knows like a restrictive covenant or something that they're aware that they would could be responsible, right? Yeah.

All right. Well, thank you. Thank you. Thanks for laying on top of that, Garrett. Just remember February 28th. That's right. [laughter] Okay. Number two is the update on HVAC and roof project at Wsville Branch Library. And we have our facilities and maintenance director Tim Cisk and our library director Kathy Bosler here tonight. So, it's all done, right? [laughter] No. Does that conclude my report? Yeah. No. relax finish. All relax, finish in two weeks. Um, two weeks. That's That's what everybody tells you, two weeks. That's right. Two weeks.

I I drew the short straw, so I'm going to start this evening. But I want to start by thanking administration and the board for supporting this project. Much needed. Um Kevin, I think you mentioned when we started this thing that the can have been kicked down the road quite a bit. Uh so it was it was again outdated, much needed. So again, thank you administration and the board for your support. Current status, um, all three of the new air handlers are set and connected to controls and running. Two new boilers set, producing water temps of 180°. The new natural gas line was run to support this this project. So, we're no longer using electricity to heat the building. We've been on boiler heat for a little while. That is a good thing. Uh, the new chiller is set. Um, we're scheduled to start that Thursday. Uh, we've got some warm temperatures, so we want to take advantage of that and get the building loaded up on the chiller. Um, all piping bows, pumps, variable frequency drives set, connected, and are in use. Um, during this closure, excuse [clears throat] me, during this closure, we were able to uh replace some outdated fire alarm panel and added some devices in key locations. Again, the boiler room never had equipment in it, so we got some fire alarm protection in that space and the crow's nest. Uh, also during the downtime, we were able to uh replace a great deal of flooring, a great deal of the worn and really dirty carpet with some uh luxury vinyl plank. Looks like a kind of a weathered wood. If you haven't seen it, looks really nice. Um, and we've uh with with staff uh labor, we we have right now replaced all fluorescent lamps and ballast with all new LED lighting. So, honestly, as efficient as we can make uh an age building, I think

we've hit all those marks. Um certainly uh fantastic team, Superior Mechanical, McGill Associates on their MEP group, PisG Electric, Train, H Technology, all those folks really came to the table and worked well. Um the roof and the fascia and the gutter project, demolition of all damaged roof sections to include integrated gutter system that causes so much trouble gone. uh repaired all damaged trust tails, rotted sophet framing, subfaces structural elements. We have a um letter statement from our uh engineering firm FMA Paul FMA Engineering uh supporting those repairs, install new facet, gutter and down spouts are scheduled this week before we're ready to open back up. Uh everything's been primed and painted painted and uh removed all the old shingles and replaced with a 30-year architectural shingle. All of that was completed by Rise Construction. Um both portions of the project has met the design closure time and we plan to open back up fully next Monday, the 23rd. That's my part. I will answer any questions about that before I hand the floor to Kathy. Tim, do we know how much money we'll save by going with the natural gas versus the electric on the heat? You know, it's a it's a moving target, but I can tell you that we we actually looked before we ever started this project at a similar size building uh which was the Armory project, the Armory building during post Helen uh months at its greatest capacity versus the library's uh least capacity because we were closed during those times. and we saw a about a $4,000 difference in monthly utility

bills. Now, don't hold me to that, but we're we're expecting some really great savings from all of this work. But, but you know, the bigger key here, um, Commissioner Rogers, is we we've got something we can work on. We've got something that's bought us some longevity. We've got great control over it and um it certainly has made a difference during the you know zero degree temperatures that we witnessed. Kathy asked me to reduce the temperature inside the building because it was it was reaching its set point. Well, um so it really speaks to everything that that you know the engineering team done and the mechanical group came to the table. It's it's a good system.

Thank you for the update. I was Did you have some? I

I was just going to say I I um participate sit on the library board and in any board such as that, you know, budgets are very important and the utility line is something that is um has been really critical to watch because it there is um it's been quite costly to maintain you know the climate in that building. So I'm optimistic that it's going to be improve the quality of the air in the building and also reduce those utility cost and then you know that that can can be spread out to services that I mean if you're in the building you're obviously appreciating that you know climate control but to be able to spread that budget out in other places where um you know the community can use it and appreciate it.

It's a big project. I was just want, you know, natural gas is very warm. It's a great heat and it's really efficient. So, I'm glad that you switched that over, Tim. That was a great great move. I was just curious, was was your construction company good to work with? They met all the design parameters. Um, we've um we we had a few uh issues on the front end, but we've worked through all of those and it's come together really nice. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Good. Okay. Yeah. I had that that's it's actually the same company that's performing the work at the armory and they're they're hitting all the marks at that project. Well,

okay. I just know I I've seen they they bu they're building a lot of buildings. I see see them everywhere and I was just curious how if that was going well. So, Yep. Okay. I'll hand the floor to Kathy if you have no more questions. Thanks, Tim. Welcome, Kathy. I bet you're glad. We are. We're excited to reopen on Monday. Um,

I just wanted to start out too and thank the the commissioners um and thank county administration for funding and supporting this very foundational project. Um, not only is it great for how it feels to the people that work in the building and visit the building, it's so important for our books to have a a moderate temperature, have humidity levels that are moderate and not exceeding what they should be. So, I think it's going to be great moving forward. I have a lot of people to thank. I really want to thank our facilities director, Tim Cisk. He's been great um just checking on the project on a daily basis and keeping me informed and keeping our assistant director, Caroline Roen, informed of the progress. And so, he's he's just been wonderful to work with on this. I'd like to thank our library foundation. Um, in addition to the funding that the county put forth to replace some of the flooring, our foundation put forth about $20,000 additional to replace additional old carpet with that luxury vinyl tile and it looks great. It's clean. Uh, it's easy. It's going to be easy to maintain moving forward. Like to thank the contractors. They were all great. Um, like to thank our library staff. Um, fortunately through this whole project, we were all able to work uh in the building thanks to Superior Mechanical for maintaining one of our air handlers and we had heat the entire time. Um, but the staff were great. They were very flexible and um I'll brag on them in just a little bit uh a little bit more. Uh the IT department has been able to install all new public computers at the Wesville branch and so anyone coming back to the branch next week will

be able to use those computers and we're also looking forward to getting those installed at our other branches. And then I'd really like to thank all of our card holders for their patience and understanding over the past three months. Um, we did fully shut down November 24th, but thanks to uh, Superior Mechanical, they were able to get their old equipment out and new equipment in very quickly. So, in two weeks time, we were able to reopen our circle drive so that people could pick up holds that they that they had and return materials to the Wesville branch. Our staff have been really busy, as I mentioned. Um, they've taken inventory of all our collections. They've scanned every single item and run reports. They've put their hands on every item in the library to check for any kind of damages that we could practically repair. Um cleaning everything. Um as you can imagine for anyone that's lived through a um any kind of upgrade project, you're going to have dust. So we've been able to do a lot of dusting and cleaning. Um, we've been able to hold Wesville programs at other locations off-site and at the Canton branch. And honestly, um, not only did this impact the Wesville branch, it impacted all of our branches. Um, we realized huge upticks in, um, circulation and door counts at all branches, but most notably at the Maggie Valley branch. They had a 164% increase in door counts over the two months um December and January and a 171% increase in circulation. So that's huge for a branch that's only open two days of the week. And as Tim mentioned, uh we will reopen Monday the 23rd at 9:00 am. and we'll

we'll be thrilled to to welcome everybody back and we're excited for you to notice the things that you can see and the things that you can't see. Um, believe me, everything's been done and and it's great. We're excited. Kathy, thank you for that update. Do you have a number that you have visitor-wise at the Wesville branch on a daily basis, like an average? Um, at the Wesville branch, I would say typically in this at this time of year, which would be our typically slowest time of year, uh, in January, would be roughly 7,000 people coming through the doors, um, monthly.

Okay. So, whatever that factors out to on a daily basis, I'm not sure. How how does that compare to the Magi? I know you said there was a 165% or 170% increase. Yeah. How how many folks do they have there? I mean, just so I can relate what that So, just to give you an idea, um, at the Canton branch in January, we had just over 4,000 people. Okay. Uh, door counts, we had, let me put my glasses on. [laughter] At the Fines Creek branch, we had 61 people and at the Maggie Valley branch, we had 175 people. Okay. Yep. Big increase. Yes.

Okay. Thank you for that. There's a a lot of people that use a library. You know, I've said this many times. I I didn't realize as many people did when I became a commissioner. Uh yeah, it's huge. I mean, uh we've seen it especially during COVID. You know, we've talked about that many times. People just pull in the parking lot just to use the internet access uh when they couldn't come in if if you were closed or whatever. But there's a lot of people visit the library. Yes. So far, year to date, and this is July through January, we've had over 72,000 visitors. Oh, wow. Okay. To all four branches. Good.

Anybody else? I just wanted I appreciate your leadership too, Kathy, and you know, there at the at the library and everything. you know, you read about libraries near us that, you know, they're having issues or whatever. And I don't think we I appreciate your leadership there and that, you know, we we seem to do what libraries are supposed to be doing. So, I appreciate that. Thank you. One other thing, too, I forgot to mention is uh I know you bragged on Tim and uh when we know Tim's over a project, we don't worry. I've seen how he uh builds chicken coops and when they are

top of the line, you know, we don't worry about libraries and such, but Tim Tim does do a good job for us. So, we appreciate what all that he does. So, I didn't know you did that, Tim. That's pretty good. Okay. Thank y'all. Okay.

I don't have a discussion or judgment to the agenda. Does anybody else? Okay, next will be a consent agenda. We have many items. A lot nine items on the consent agenda. Does anybody have any questions on any of those or did you want to make any comments, Brian, or anything? Okay. Anybody have any questions or comments on any of those? Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion we approve the consent agenda as presented.

So move. Okay. Any any discussion? Anybody anything pop into your head? Okay. All those in favor say I. I. You want to post? Okay. Unanimous. We'll move to our regular agenda and the number one is to request approval of the annual report on unpaid taxes for the current fiscal year that are leans on real property per North Carolina general statute 105369A and approval to set advertising date of April 15th that's an appropriate date 2026 for the delinquent 2025 real estate taxes and Sebastian welcome.

Good evening commissioners. Thank you for having me. Um, so per general statute 105369A, I have to report the amount of taxes that were delinquent on January 6, which is the date of delinquency. So the original levy for the year was 50,527,363.32. Um, so as of January 6, the remaining balance was 8,718,996.13. And that comes out to a collection rate of 82.75%. [clears throat] [snorts] As of this morning, that balance was down to 4,332,356 for a collection rate of 92.95. So, we we still have some work to do, but we're getting there. Um, [snorts] the second piece of what I have to request approval of is advertising date of April the 15th. Um, this is in line with last year. We pushed it a little bit later because of the flood and I I think that worked out pretty well for us. So, if we do do this on the 15th, that would make the last day to pay online April the 9th and the last day to pay in person April 10th to avoid being in the paper.

Okay. Then on the the taxes that are due, I think you you had said that there were some large bills. Yeah, there's some there's some large ones. I mean, I don't want to say their names out loud, but I know there's one I mean, if it's okay, I don't care. I mean, there's there's three that I can think of right now that would total over 500,000 if we could get them to pay. Okay. Um, so that would be over percent right there,

right? Do you anticipate them paying or are they going to are they appealing? Yeah, I've reached out to reached out to one the town of Canton is using an attorney on another one and then and then we we've discussed it with another tax with the other taxpayers. So, we're in we're we're I think those will come in in the next few weeks hopefully. Okay. Okay. Very good. Okay. So, is it okay to approve both of those items, Amy? Okay. All right. So, let's approve item one of their regular agenda. Is there a move? I'll make that motion. There a second. Second.

Okay. Does anybody have any questions on that? Okay. Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. Okay. That's unanimous. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Sebastian. Okay. The second item of the regular agenda is to request approval for a suggested revisions to the Haywood County Greenway Advisory Council bylaws. And our um recreation and parks director, Ellie Flag, is here tonight to speak to that. Hey, Ellie.

Hi there. How are you guys doing tonight? Um [clears throat] thank you so much for having me and going through this. So, it's just some simple changes to our bylaws. Uh just some stuff that the bylaws were created just a few years back and um a few things were just needed some clarification. Um and we also the biggest change would be our members. So we've had a really hard time getting a quorum for our meetings and being able to pass different things in the meetings and get everyone together. And we really just wanted to condense the group down a little bit and have a few less county at large members and also eliminate those that have not been to the council in the last couple of years. Um, and it's it's about it. If you guys wanted to go through each of them point by point, I'd be happy to.

Ellie, what are you going You're at 15 now. Is that right? You're going want wanting to go to 13? Uh we're wanting to go so we had five county at large positions and we're wanting to move down to three county at large positions at a max and a minimum of one uh just to make sure that we have some committed folks there. Mhm. The folks that you that have been appointed that don't show up, are they appointed and didn't want to be appointed or something maybe? So, it's just not important to them or do you think there's a reason or um I think it's tough for me to make a call on someone's personal opinion.

That's okay. But all I know is that they were not responding to communications and as a group it's just important for us to decide when to to not include a organization or folks.

That's okay. Well, I know you know the greenways are important for the community because a lot of people use those and I know u you've probably had with the uh I know one greenway and you know you've got the construction going on the bypass there at Lake General and that's probably hampered that area. So, it' probably be good to have more heads together to be able to Well, maybe not more heads, but just people there to uh make those decisions that'll, you know, maybe help that. Yeah. Some more dedicated folks. Yeah, there you go. Okay. Okay. Does anybody have any questions for Ellie? I don't think you need to read them all. We've had time to look at them.

Yeah. Awesome. Thanks so much. Okay. All right. Is there Can I have a motion to approve item two? I'll make that motion. Okay. Is there a second? Second. Okay. Okay. All any discussion at all? Okay. All in favor say I. I. Okay. You want to post? Okay. That's unanimous. Okay. Next is uh to request number three is to request approval of a budget amendment public safety $3,500 to appropriate fund balance for drug forfeite funds collected in previous fiscal year to be used for departmental services. Okay. Did you want Did you want to say anything? No. Oh, that was Christian. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, [laughter] Christian.

Go ahead. I'm sorry. Go ahead, Brian. If you had something [laughter] Yeah, this is just um normal course of business. We'll roll those drug forfeite funds uh forward when the office is ready to spend them for the sheriff's office. Okay. Okay. Okay. Anybody got any qu anything about that? It's always good to to uh have uh take something from people doing bad things, drug dealers. Okay. So, can I have a motion to approve item three? I'll make that motion. Second. Okay. Anybody got anything? Okay. All in favor say I. I. Okay. That's unanimous. Thank you.

Thank you, Christie. Sorry about that. [laughter] Okay. The next order business is appointments. And the first is to request approval of the appointment of Daniel Griffin to the Smoky Mountain Event Center board fulfilling an unexpired term through January 1st, 2027. And so, uh, we the fairground board had interviewed Mr. Griffin and we had u he seems to be he's he's already helping the the fair the fairgrounds on some issues. So, [snorts] I would entertain a motion we approve item one of the appointments. I'll make that motion. Is there a second? Second. Okay. All those in favor say I.

I. Okay. That's the point. That's approved. [snorts] Okay. Two is to request approval of one appointment to by vote to fill one vacancy designated for an individual represent accommodations of 20 units or more to the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority Board. And so I think Do we have to vote that? Okay. Okay. Y'all have selected Terry Spalding to be the TDA S seat for 20 units.

Okay. Thank you, A. Okay. The next order of business, I mean, I'm sorry, the next item under appointments is to request approval of appointment of five regular and one alternate positions by vote to the Hwood County Board of Equalization Review and appointment by motion and chair for chair and vice chair of the board. I think you just decide on it. Yeah.

All right. So, we have four total that have gotten the same amount of votes. So, they will be the four primary and then two have three votes. So they are the secondary and they have one has to be a primary and one has to be the alternate. So the four that have been appointed are Jonathan Sears, Billy Casease, Margaret Ruff, and Stephanie Parkkins. And we have a tie for both a position and an alternate between Michael Fischer and Heather Carver. Um so we're going to do a runoff between the two. So, if you think that Michael Fischer should be the primary, if you will raise your hand, and then we're going to do the same with Heather Carver to determine who's going to be the alternate and who's going to be serving on the board. So, Michael Fiser, show of hands, who wants him to be on the board as the last final member of the board, not the alternate, if that makes sense. Okay. And then Heather Carver. Okay. So, Heather Carver will be serving on the BOER and Michael Fischer will be our alternate.

Okay. The next next order of business will be close session. We don't have one. And then we actually have to do the chair and vice chair. Oh, I'm sorry. for that board. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Go ahead. You did you have a Go ahead. You go ahead. Yeah. I'll nominate I'll nominate uh Nathan Spears. Jonathan or Jonathan Spears or chair? Yes. Okay. I'll second that. Okay. All those in favor say I. I. I. Okay. Then vice chair. Somebody got a nomination. I'll nominate Stephanie Parkkins. Okay. Uh although is there a second? Second. Second. Okay. All those in favor say I. I.

Okay. That's that's un. Okay. Okay. Is that that all? Okay. Sorry. Okay. The next order of business should be close session, but we don't have one. And then after that, does anybody have anything else that we need to bring before the board? I'll entertain a motion. We adjourn. So moved. Okay. Thanks. Okay. All in favor say I. I. I. Okay. We're