Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Okay, good evening. I'm going to call to order the November 14th, 2025 regular meeting of the H County Board of Commissioners and we'll start out with our pledge of allegiance and after that I'm going to have our sheriff Bill Wilkkey to come forward for our invocation. Bill would please stand if you can. To the flag of the United States of America and to the fors indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Please have a seat. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 16 is comprised of only three words and it is this always be joyful uh be joyful and as Paul writes this to the church at Thessalon Thessalonica he indicates that this is a choice for us that we actually have a choice to be joyful. Abraham Lincoln himself once said, "Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be." My hope and my prayer today is as as we approach the holiday season and we look forward to spending Thanksgiving and Christmas with our families is that we choose to be joyful. There's a lot of things in the world that we see across social media and in the news that can very very quickly and easily bring us down. But we have a choice. We could turn that off and we can choose to spend time on the relationships and the things that matter. And my prayer is that we get to do that this holiday season. I would invite you to join me in prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for the opportunity to gather and do the people's business in an open forum. And I would pray that you would keep our hearts joyful. Lead us and direct us away from all the negative influences that seem so prevalent and want to pull our our thoughts, our

minds, and our lives in different directions, Lord. but remind us that we have a choice and today may we choose to be joyful in Jesus name I pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you Sheriff. Appreciate that. Okay. Our normal order is public hearing and we don't have one tonight and the next will be our public comment session. I do have one person signed up to speak. If you would just limit your comments to three minutes and [snorts] u Mr. Howard Nefer. Welcome.

I'll definitely keep you three minutes after last time. So, I'm gonna be less than three minutes. I just wanted to come down here to tell you first of all, I want to thank you all again for uh your service as commissioners. I'm running for one of the three seats of Miss Best uh Mr. Ramy and Mr. Long. And uh and I'm glad I came down because this is what I wanted to mention, misinformation. Um, I already uh I was coming down really to mention that somebody had called me and said that you you tripled your salaries to 30 to $35,000 a year. And after my little due diligence, it's not true. You didn't do that. And I just wanted to say that, you know, in a campaign, things can get misconstrued very quickly. I don't want you that you've got my phone number written there. If you hear anything that I've said about any one of you, uh, I want you to call me directly because newspapers can misconstrue things. I don't intend on ever being malicious in this campaign. Uh I'm just may have a different of opinion in certain areas, but if you hear anything, please don't hesitate to call me so I can set it straight. I have a business in the community and I want to keep good with all of you. But doesn't mean I'm not going to I'm going to agree with every opinion. I have my own opinions, but that's different from somebody saying that I've said something about any one of all five of you. Actually, I would never do that. I appreciate all five of your service. And if you hear anything, please call me. Okay? as we go forward with this campaign. Okay, that's all I have to say about it. Okay, thank you very much. Okay, thank you. Okay, next order of business will be constituent concerns. And I wanted to say most Haywood County offices will be closed on Thursday and Friday, November 27th and 28th in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. And our normal business hours will resume on Monday, December 1st. Our [snorts] solid waste facilities, including convenience centers, the materials

recovery center and the White Oak Landfill are closed on Thanksgiving Day and will reopen Friday, November 28th. And also, I do want to mention that our uh Haywood County employees will be receiving holiday bonuses this week. So, we appreciate everyone that works for the county. Does anybody else have any uh comments on constituent concerns?

Yes, Mr. Chairman. I touched base with the county manager on a couple items earlier in the week. And did you follow up about that debris removal that I that issue about the under the bridge on 276?

I I did. And uh that um I guess that big stump, it's the size of the bridge. It was actually uh denied by FEMA for pickup and uh debris tech who who makes that request on behalf of the county and the state now uh has asked for an appeal to see if we can get that picked up but it was denied by FEMA according to uh SDR our debris contractor. Well, I'd appreciate if you'd stay on that because that's definitely a threat to that piece of infrastructure and that's uh bridges come with a pretty high high price tag. So ounce of prevention's worth a pound of cure in that case certainly. So thank you for being with that. So I would also like to say thank you for all the county staff and and the folks coming up on Thanksgiving holiday as the chairman mentioned. Enjoy your family, enjoy your friends, and uh cherish the time. There's a lot to be thankful for. I appreciate the sheriff's comments. You can get up in the morning, see the glass glass half empty or you can see it the glass half full. and uh we we have a lot to be thankful for in this country and so I'd like to like to just throw that out there. So, thank you, Sheriff. Anybody [clears throat] else?

Okay. Okay. We don't have any administrative or agency reports or presentations. And on the discussion or adjustment to the agenda, I have one item. We we've had a request to remove item one from the appointments portion of the agenda as Mr. Ball has accepted an opportunity that will frequently take him out of state. And if I could if I can I accept a motion to remove item one of uh appointments. I'll make that motion. Okay. And it would be uh to rem Yeah, what I just said. So, anybody else? I mean, can we have a second? Second. Okay. All those in favor say I.

I. Okay. You want to post? Amy, was that okay? Was that okay? [snorts] Okay, we'll remove that. Okay. Next order of business will be consent agenda. We have six items on the consent agenda. Does anyone have any questions on any of those items? I've got a question on the number four there on the the amount of the the uh uh fixing in vehicles. Sheriff, you want to reiterate that?

Sure. What's your question? Yeah, I I've been asked about that. Uh I got a run into a fer the other day and was asking me about on the the amount of the it cost to to put the accessories and stuff on the uh cars. They seem to think that that some of the stuff wasn't absolutely necessary for to put on the trucks and stuff because on like on the push bumpers when you can't chase somebody in a truck and them a light in the back end, you know, and you try to go at high speed, they they'll spin out from under you and stuff and that seemed to be a concern and they asked me about it and uh I told them I would ask about it and uh the dark [snorts] windows. I was asked about the amount of money it's going to cost to put the tinted windows and push bumpers and stuff on them and uh and the year that we've had to take a huge amount out of the the general fund to balance the budget and stuff. I think we need to save every penny we can in just my opinion and that's uh I understand public safety that's our number one concern but I'm just wondering if there's anything that's we can take out that's not absolutely necessary to to enhance the safety of the county and stuff. We don't want to do anything that would endanger the orffect the safety of our community. But are there some things on there that we could anyway being took off that thing? Cuz that's that's about as much as the vehicles cost, you know, to to outfit them. And that seems to be a concern. That's my concern too about, you know, taking people's tax money. And and paying as much to outfit them about it as it does cost the cost of the vehicles. And are there anything on there that could be streamlined to save any tax money?

Uh, no sir. Um, what I will tell you is that the cost to upfit vehicles due to a number of economic things that are completely out of our control has almost doubled. Um, I'm not willing to advocate for anything less than the best safety equipment for our deputies. Uh, and I will tell you that, uh, you will always hear me advocate for that. In terms of the pit bumpers on trucks, yes, they are pursuit rated. Um, and this is what I will tell you about pit bumpers, and I've said it before, and I want to be very clear about this. If someone runs from us, [snorts] and we have legal authority to pursue them, I will stop that [snorts] pursuit. And I give authority to my deputies to stop that pursuit. And if it cost us a few thousand dollars in vehicle repairs, I can assure you that's minimal to the cost it would cost a family who may have lost a loved one because we choose to let that pursuit go on or to not stop that pursuit before it occurs. I have been involved in my 20 years in law enforcement and I have seen what happens when pursuits are allowed to continue and they're not stopped in due time. Lives are at stake and the few thousand dollars for a pit bumper, I respectfully request that it be put on every vehicle that comes out so that we can save lives. You'll note that most recently we got into a pursuit that took us into Bunkham County. We did not have the opportunity to conduct a pit maneuver at the time because it wasn't safe to do that. The individual appeared to be a proxy for cartels and was carrying on a fentanel to kill 85,000 people. It is never an option to not pursue that individual and I will stand by that and I ask the commissioners and the elected officials and the citizens of this county to support me and our deputies in doing that. Um to to say that it's not a pursuit rated vehicle or it's more

dangerous or that it's not worth the few thousand it costs to put on there to me uh is not a reasonable argument and uh I support how we're doing it. the tinted windows. Let me tell you about the tinted windows. We conduct a lot of business inside of those vehicles as we would in a interrogation or an interview room within our office. Those are not open for the public to see. There are computer systems open with law enforcement sensitive information. Sometimes there are suspects inside. Sometimes there are victims inside, victims of very serious crimes. We don't want that visible to the public while we are required to stay at a crime scene. We don't want anybody to see what we're doing or what's being conducted inside those vehicles. From an officer safety perspective when we arrive on scene, if you can see a deputy in that vehicle, oftent times we roll up to domestics. We go to very rural areas. We respond to places where gunshots have been fired. I've been there. I don't want anyone having a clear shot at the head of one of our deputies because they can see through the windshield. Those tinted windows also prevent cancer long term. And I would remind you that we spend up to 10 hours a day in those vehicles. Sometimes in the hot summer in bullet resistant vests gets very hot. The tinted windows will reduce the temperature inside of those vehicles by up to 30° protecting the equipment and the deputy or the officers that's in them. I have asked for and I have asked for these equipment upgrades for the benefit and the safety of our deputies and our community alike. And I would appreciate your support in that. And whoever is asking you these questions, I would open my office to be glad to explain that to them or in a public form or a private form. My door is open. So, I would share that with you. Did Now, I know that's answered a couple of your questions, but did I c Did I get them all?

How many how many uh pit maneuvers do you feel like we've done in the last say two years? How many pit maneuvers have we the sheriff's department done in the last couple years? I think at this point we're over 13 with zero injuries to our personnel. With what?

Zero injuries to any of our people. If you look at the data done by the Georgia Highway Patrol, who pioneered that project in law enforcement for the nation, you will find that it is among, if not the safest maneuver to stop a pursuit as early as possible. We try stop sticks, but unfortunately stop sticks are dangerous because a lot of times the vehicle that we're pursuing will aim for the deputy or the officer that's throwing the stop sticks out. You also run the risk of the person avoiding the stop sticks or our vehicles hitting those stopsticks which ends the pursuit causes more damage. A pit maneuver most often given the right circumstances is the best right option to prevent death, injury or extensive damage to our vehicles, our deputies or our citizens. That was that was one of the uh things that was brought up when I was eating dinner the other day about stop sticks that we' had an accident with stop sticks and busted a bunch of tires when he was chasing that guy to Bunkham County.

Yeah, that that happened once and you know um I hesitate to put it this way but there's a cost to doing business the way we do it and the question is do we want to pay it? because the alternative to not pay the few thousand dollars or to do things different creates a much greater risk to our public and I'm I am not willing to stand here and take that risk if I have the option to advocate for what I think is best right for the sheriff's office. Well, I don't I don't think there's nobody. They wasn't in the bunch that was talking to me that that wants to jeopardize any kind of public safety because everybody's for public safety and we want to do the best we can. But we also, you know, we've got uh hard gear this year and stuff. Now, everybody, if we can everybody can tighten up, I think it'd help a whole lot in and some of the things. And that's just my opinion on on that because we definitely don't want to jeopardize public safety. But like I say, we've had to take a whole lot out to balance the budget and every little bit helps and that's the reason I'm questioning the amount of

I understand. And I think we need to get by, you know, as light as we can. Sure. I'd also point out that this is just part of our regular budgetary cycle. There's nothing new or unusual about the manner in which we're asking for these vehicles. They're to replace vehicles that have over 120,000 miles on them. uh at this point which are you know an ongoing safety hazard. So that's how many vehicles have we replaced in the last couple years? The through racks and through

So the I would have to defer I really I guess to to the chief to get the exact number, but you can count on about 10 per year that that we have three sitting at the county garage right now that are wrecked of no fault of our own that were hit by other citizens that insurance is paying for their insurance, not ours. And we went through this in the storm in a number of ways. There's a lot of information that floats around out there on social media and I've seen it. I'm I'm not I don't care about it. It's garbage. There are folks that are saying things about our office, our deputies, our wrecks, our tenant windows, um you know, the pit bumpers and people that don't agree with the policies that I've implemented. That's fine. That's fine. I would just caution folks to take that with a grain of salt and know that I'm undeterred in protecting this county. Um, and I will continue with the policies that I believe are best for this county with everything that I have. And I can assure you that if I think at any point in time we need to change that or there's a better way to do it or a more economical way to do it, we will. I'd like to give you a very brief example. I actually interviewed with the mountaineer today. Um, we had the opportunity to save $70,000, close to $70,000 on replacing the firearms that we currently have. That is due very in large part to my senior command staff, Chief Trantham, Captain Shell, who found a way in which the regular So, we replace our handguns every five years. That's an industry standard. We found an upgrade on equipment to make sure that every deputy within our office gets an upgraded what they call a Glock COA. It has a site that makes it faster and more accurate and higher quality for a fraction of the price that we would pay for it in just a year because of what we think tariffs are going to do.

And because of the way the budget fell and other things that had happened, it's not going to really cost the county anything additional in budget. So, while we can talk about vehicles in the regular budget cycle, we are constantly looking at saving money and the Glock Ho is a perfect example of that. We're looking at taking um uh we're getting those July, August is what we're looking for next year and is when we replace them six to eight months from the first of the year. So, we are always and my staff is always looking for ways to save them taxpayers money. Um, and and we're getting a we're getting a much much higher quality and and better tool. Um, it's it's not easy to talk about and I don't like to talk about it. Uh, but sometimes when you need your when you need a pistol, you better have the best. You better not use it. And that's what we're pro providing our deputies with. I pray that we never have to use it. But the reality is that when you do, you you need it. And we're going to put the best in their hands. And we if we hadn't have taken this action now, it would probably cost us I don't know how many more tens of thousands of dollars in the future if we'd have just waited a few months. So, and again, the credit is owed to Captain Shell and and Deputy Chief Trantham for finding that and and working with with Bryant to to make in the uh ongoing budgetary process, the regular budget process to make that work so that it doesn't cost the taxpayers any extra money. So, that would be an example that I'd share with you and how we do that every day. I appreciate you. I just I just concerned about the the the amount of cost. What does that come out to about each vehicle to outfit the vehicles?

I would u [sighs and gasps] $6,700 right now. That's now Now keep in mind that is for light bars, radios, that's everything. Push bumpers. The the push bumpers are very small part of it. They're pit bumpers, sir. A cage. Yes. Guys in the back. I'm sure it's not like a normal car and they're probably throwing up and correct everything else making a mess and

and and to be clear, we'd had a bidding process for that. So, we we put it out to the for the lowest bid with specifics for that equipment to ensure that we had the best equipment. Let me give you a very quick example on that as well. We saved a little bit of money on light bars. The last go round. Those light bars quit working. We had to keep fixing them two and three times and it cost us more money to fix cheap stuff than it would be if we just got better on the front end. And that's what we did this time. We got better light bars on the front end because there's nothing more depressing to go to turn on your lights and stop a vehicle or get involved in something they don't work and suddenly you can't do your job. That vehicle would have to come out of commission. It would have to go to the shop, get fixed. We we had one vehicle that this happened to at least five times and and so we just can't compromise with cheap stuff. Um, and so the light bar, I think, is a little more expensive, but once we did the analysis, the cost of repairing the old stuff far exceeded what buying a better new set of light bars for the vehicles, uh, would entail. So, I mean, it's it's a balance. You can be pennywise and pound foolish. That's for sure.

Sir, you can be pennywise and pound foolish with some of the things that you buy. I think we all understand that. I know I do in my business. you know, sometimes it to get the really the good items that we use, it costs a little bit extra, but it really pays off in the long run. So,

and to your point, Mr. Chairman, it's an investment because what I don't want us to miss, too, is that you're sending a message to our deputies. If if you give them the best stuff, they know that you care about and support them. If we provide them with stuff that's old, that's broken. If you get a deputy that comes out of training, he gets out and he gets the oldest piece of junk, the lights very barely work, and he, you know, he's got a a handgun that's six years old, or as in the case when I took office, we had 75% of our body armor was expired. We had to replace that almost immediately. We We have to send the message by how we support our deputies with the best possible equipment that we have. and and I'm going to always advocate for that with an eye on understanding that we, you know, we can't get everything we have. We are budget constrained, but where it matters, particularly with body armor, handguns, you know, and emergency equipment, I I will always advocate for the best. Um, and that's where we are. And and again, you I've seen the stuff on social media and and it's it it's shameful what some of the folks say about our office and and the things that are happening. When I get to look every day at an administration and staff that goes out and gets the job done that they do, I would remind you and I'll say it again, 85,000 people is what the the the amount of fentanyl on our last seedure would have killed. That's more than the population of Haywood County. I I'm I'm getting that off the streets and I'm going to do everything that I can safely to get that done. Um and you know that's somehow left out of the conversation on social media. you know, the things on social media, and I said it during the flood, it's garbage. Turn it off. If you want to see what's happening, come on out. Come ride with us. We'll show you. But get ready because it's reality. It's It's not social media. And we're going to get the job done. And we're going to do it well. We're going to give it our best. And we're going to do whatever we can to take care of our deputies. I And I I

don't I don't think there's one among us that would argue with that. Again, I don't think there's nobody in the county that's uh wants to lessen the safety in any way, but they're just, like I say, they're concerned about, you know, that's our job to look after this. That's the reason I'm asking questions. I understand. And I'm happy to answer and I want to have answers for these people when they ask me questions.

Commissioner, I'm happy to help you. Send them to my office. Let me know who they are. Um I'm happy to have a conversation with them. And um you know it would disappoint me to learn that maybe those are some of the same names I see on Facebook. Let them come to me. I'm happy to talk about it. And again I will caution folks to be careful about what they read and see. I'm happy to show them the truth. There is nothing about my office that I'm not willing to share that is ethical and legal for me to do. So I have taken that policy with the press. I have taken it with every elected official and anybody that asks. and I'm and I'm I will continue to do that. So, please send them my way. I'm happy to talk to them.

I think I think we've outfit cars all the time every and these these are all budgeted items. So, we all budget for the budget. So, and so the this was in the budget. It's budgeted items. So, right.

I have no doubt and I'm not questioning anybody's support in this room for that. I want to be clear about that. But I have to get the message out and I want folks and this is as much about the folks that may be watching online and we'll we'll replay this during re-election period to see exactly what I said and I want to be very clear about it. I'm not hiding a thing. You know, come talk to me. Let's have a conversation. Let's have a public conversation. I'm happy to do that. Um very proud of my my staff, my deputies, and the things that have been accomplished. We've come a long way in three years, and we're going to keep going. And I I'm I feel very positive about that. That's that's one of the answers I gave them was it was in the budget and they said just because something was in the budget you don't have to spend every penny of it. But I mean that was their answer but I I'm make sure they know what you know that I told them it was a budgeted item. It wasn't something extra.

Okay. I I think I've noticed there's not much Go ahead. I'm sorry. I I've just noticed that you know we get calls about you know drug activity and things like that and I just hadn't noticed that as much as I have in the past. Uh, and I I believe you've pretty held a pretty hard line on that and basically told them if they're going to do drug. I mean,

it is. And I' I'd like to share some some very quick statistics with you. I was saving this until January so I could have 2025 to also put to it, but we're over 40% reduction in reports of lararseny. I want you to think about that for a minute. So the the three years prior to my arrival versus the the two in my administration 23 and 24 versus 20 22 and 23 there's over a 40% reduction in lararseny reports 40%. I talk to citizens all the time that like man I see your guys out all the time folks that previously complained to me in my first year in office that's huge. Our response time to calls has been reduced by 17% across the board. So that means if you you know what would take us normally five minutes to get there, we're getting there in four minutes and five seconds. And it's because well, we keep the roads hot. Um but we're out and about. We have assigned areas of the county that we respond to. We have very specific, you know, um me um policies and procedures for how we respond and getting there. And and I think we have sent a very strong message that if you come to Hwood County, and I've said this before, and you intend on committing a crime, we're going to hold you accountable. And I think you're seeing the results of that after the last three years. And that's what we're, you know, we're going to keep doing. I'm going to maintain that philosophy because I'm seeing folks that talk to me all the time that aren't on Facebook. Hey Sheriff, I've seen these things happening out there. I haven't had the batteries stolen out of my tractor in the last couple of years. I haven't. Little things like that that mean a lot. You know, I mean, if you think about what a farmer goes through and you know, and the tiny profit margin they have, a battery, a tractor battery or tires out of the barn or anything that just walks off cost them money. We we again over 40% reduction. Now, we still got work to do. I'm not declaring victory by any stretch, but we're going to keep going and we're going to keep

working those numbers down. And um that's where we're at. So, that's a sneak preview of what I had planned to to bring you all in January for some of the statistics and that may change a little bit when we include the 2025 numbers, but that's where that comes from. And the policies that we advocate for and the things that we get done with your blessing and the money that you provide us is is the direct result or is the is having the direct effect that we have the opportunity um to to get out and and and do our work. And this you're seeing it in the statistics. So, I I'd like to say something. We certainly should never give any department a blank check. Absolutely. I would

I believe that we've worked very hard um the staff has to make sure that we're very competitively pricing vehicles that we purchase. And I'm sure in your particular case, we've got to outfit them a certain way like we would with animal services or anybody else. But we need to be real careful in the climate that we're in. Even even whispering, even floating the idea that we're not backing our law enforcement. Our neighbors to the east defunded the police several years back. I have friends that are on on APD and and it's horrible to hear their horror stories. And we we are the party of law and order. And I think that we've got to back our law enforcement. And in a big hole budget like what we have close to $100,000 $und00 million um this certainly is not a drop in the bucket and I don't want to imply that but I I think we have to be really careful hyperfocusing on the small amounts and look at what we can to make um big aggressive changes toward but we need to be we need to be in support of our law enforcement our AMS. I mean, I've said this over and over and over again. Not it's not we're in we're in a we're in a volatile time of elections and so I want to be clear that I'm not making any political statements. But you guys and girls are the ones that stand between us and the bad guys. I know where I live and we've lived there 12 years. When I first moved over there, it was constant foot traffic with people with a black backpack on their back and they were robbing my neighbors, um, taking batteries out of vehicles, taking cattle off our property, dumping trash that was illegal, and we have not seen that in the last few years. And I appreciate the efforts of whoever the I I don't want to call them road deputies, but whoever the deputies are that take care of that that their presence is

there. And I see the deputies in Clyde, I see them all throughout the county. And I appreciate the presence that they have. It's it's a scary world out there. And I'm of the belief that as your business has changed that the business of the bad guys has changed, too. And we all have to remain competitive in whatever the business is, whether it's tires or um surveys or property management, whatever it is, we all have to stay competitive. And I just think we need to be really careful even floating the hint that we are not standing behind law enforcement.

Yes, ma'am. And I appreciate that very much. And and to put things in a little perspective, what you were observing in your area of the neighborhood was actually tied to a much um more broad situation that was handled as well. So, it wasn't just in your neighborhood. It was it affected a number of things. And while we're talking about that and we're talking about supporting law enforcement, there's a reason that we only have three vacancies on our roster on our operational roster right now of 74 positions. I'm talking about just the operational roster, not the the jail or anything like that. That's under 5%. It's right around 20 across the country, and it's a whole lot more to the left of us if you're facing south. Um, I'm referring to Bunkham County. So, um, it makes a difference.

You said the East, but I meant Bunkham County. So, maybe maybe I was directionally challenged. I don't I don't I don't want to speak negatively of any anyone or any place or any policy um or or other office. Um but we do have significantly different policies here. And you see a very significant difference in those two and that's why we have deputies come. That's why we have a a a new generation of deputies and young folks who've come through BL who work and want to stay and and are there and and we have a great mix of of seasoned folks who are there. I could I could go right down the list and tell you. And so we've got some some longtime seasoned folks who are training the younger deputies coming up and this new generation. And without getting into storytelling, I always used to get frustrated. I'm an old army guy. You don't ask why. The commander says move that pile of rocks. You move that pile of rocks. And the younger generation is always why? Why? Why? Well, you know, I I really don't have a problem answering why because you get by in. And they're like, oh, okay, that makes sense. I'm doing something important or I'm doing something that's better than myself. And that's how you get buy in. And I've watched this and I've watched a change in leadership philosophy that's gone from old school to working with some of these young folks and they're going out and getting it done. And they're doing things you don't have to ask them to do. And they're coming up with ways to solve problems. And you know, I could go into computers and electronics and all that. And that's a good thing. That's a really good thing for us. Um, and so we're we're we're doing better um than most. And and I think it has a lot to do with not just our policies, but the support that you all have lended uh through the budget and through other things and things that I'm able to, you know, to share with them about your support, which, you know, I do regularly, and I'm very grateful for it. I'll say this and then I'll be quiet. I talk to a lot of sheriffs. I'm sure many of you talked to a lot of commissioners from other counties. It ain't like this across the state. We have a very unique

relationship where we work together, where we can disagree, but we're civil. We work through our our our questions and our issues and we handle them reasonably and we still get the job done. It's disappointing that that's the exception, not the rule. But I talk with sheriffs all the time across the state who have challenges with commissioners and budgets and and all these things. We don't we don't have that here largely. And I want to preserve it. And I appreciate that. And I appreciate working with Mr. Morehead in ways that address budget issues. I'd love to have a billion dollars. I'd like to go twist his arm and ask for more money, but I know he he's going to give us everything that he can in support of of what you've asked him to do with a balance of knowing what we need. That doesn't exist everywhere. And I'm proud of it and I'm proud of what we have in Haywood County. And I want to keep it and I intend to keep it that way as far as I'm sitting in this seat. So, but that's

I don't think there's anybody in the county that don't think we support the EMS and the sheriff's department and everybody. I I've never heard nobody say that, but I just in answered your question there or your statement. I think anybody can watch meetings and know that we really support our employees and our EMS and sheriff's department and everything. I think they get mostly what they need. I also want to say I I appreciate your staff and really our the whole staff of the county uh in how they go after grants and uh and you all pay attention to that. I know um you just all the departments do a great job looking for grants because I don't know how many budget amendments somebody was saying well they just rubber stamp everything. Well, it's usually no-brainers because we get a grant to be a to buy something we need that we've gone after. And so, the reason is because we have a it's it's just a smooth transition from from grants and it saves taxpayers money to be able to get these grants and and to be able to uh you know, institute the things we need. Just like, you know, with weapons, for crying out loud, you know, if you can get grants for that, that's that goes a long ways because, you know, you wear them out by training, uh, is why the guns get worn out. I guess 5 years is about all that that they can handle, if you will. You know, most of the guns that I've got, I don't think I've shot one in probably, well, maybe a year even because I just had time actually. But you guys have to do that and you wear your guns out shooting time after time after time. So it's u you know it makes sense that you have to replace them after a while if you use it.

Well they get abused getting out of cars banging on door frames. You know they they do they get beat up and when you need it you need it to work. So it's really important that Yeah. I just keep mine in the closet or or wherever I keep it in the gun safe. I should say gunnake, not closet. But anyway, I think this ratio of cost to outfitting has I don't think the ratio has changed a whole lot, has it? I think the I mean, maybe how we outfit them. So, I can answer that. It It has went up a little bit. All right.

So, there are a couple of reasons as to why that's went up. One, we were outfitting sedans. We can no longer get sedans. So there's more aluminum and steel in the uh petitions, the center consoles and all that for upfit of the cars, which is going to cost you more. Plus, it's going to cost us more in tariffs. Uh we had one vendor uh that called and asked multiple questions, sent multiple uh emails uh that was going to bid on this and ultimately I think they decided not to bid because of how fluctuating the tariffs are right now. Uh they were afraid of that moving target. So there everything is going up but part of that cost increase is we're it's cost we've got more material inside the the SUVs and the trucks.

Okay. And that was my next question. So we've gone from the I guess they're Chargers or whatever they are to a Durango. So we're getting Explorers and F-150s. Okay.

And and that goes back to what I said. Our staff has worked very hard to rate those vehicles out so that we can keep um I know as long as I've been on the board and I've talked to Brian about this a lot and I have said sometimes in our budget meetings that'll be the first place we all want to start whittling away is the cost of vehicles across the county, not just with the sheriff's office because I feel like that's something that we all can get our mind around. It's a it's a tangible number. We've all bought a car or multiple cars and we can get our mind around the expenses related to those. But as long as I've been on the board, 10 has been about the average of the vehicles that we have to replace for, you know, either we just wear them out or we do have some sort of accident happen with them. So um again, I'm I wasn't I'm not really arguing with Commissioner Ramy. I appreciate his um you know his question about our is the money being spent mindfully but we definitely just want to my opinion is we want to always um no blank checks gentlemen but we always want to be mindful of how we're standing behind our law enforcement EMS everybody knows how I feel about all that but you guys really guys and girls really stand stand in the gap between us and have a job to do and so I again not necessarily arguing just saying that we've got to be we've got to outqu out outfit you correctly with the proper equipment.

Yes ma'am. Thank you. And just to give you a short snippet, Commissioner Ramy, we are very budget conscious uh as being good stewards of the county's money. uh working with deputy uh county manager Boyd prior to July, we reached out to our vendor said, "Hey, this is how many vehicles ballpark we think we're going to purchase." And I think they went ahead and pre-ordered ballpark wise. They order lump sum vehicles in over there. Uh, but us giving them a ballpark as to how many we thought they were going to buy, I think we wound up saving 7 to $9,000, giving them ahead ahead of time an idea of what we were going to buy. The other thing I will say is, uh, whoever is asking you about pit bumpers, I would also tell them that it's not those pit bumpers are not just for pit. We work out in the county and if you hit a coyote, uh that's going to be about5 to7,000 to repair that vehicle. Uh we've had three or four that we've hit an animal uh with literally hardly any damage to the front of the vehicles. If the pit bumper hadn't been there, it would have cost us $4 to $6,000 to repair. So, it's not just for pitting vehicles. Uh, it saves the front of these vehicles being out in Rush Fork and Fines Creek in the middle of the night. So, that's all I've got.

You know, this has been a very interesting discussion. Uh, I was wondering why we hadn't heard from you. Pardon me. I was wondering why we hadn't heard from you. [laughter] I can tell you were soaking it in.

Well, you know, uh, the county attorney and I, we usually have to carry the water to these meetings. every everybody everybody's had some input and it's very been very productive input. You know, the devil's in the details they say and the sheriff and the chief deputies given everybody on video some very pertinent information. Uh you know I ask these questions in private. It's good to put it out in public. Work with the former sheriff, Sheriff Christopher and his chief deputy and Mr. Hannes and you you guys uh you guys have tough job and whether you're outfitting a little league baseball team or a football team or whether you're an industrial worker, your equipment makes a difference and you got to have the best equipment to have the best performance and Haywood County is going to be the best. And uh I've always stood behind public safety. I'll continue to stand behind public safety. I appreciate the job you guys do. And I appreciate you pouring over the budget and being good stewards of the taxpayers's money. And I we we hired the county manager here to come be the overseer and by golly he's he's tight as a he's tight as a drum. So

yes sir. So I I appreciate y'all working together and uh you know you get a little bit out of line I think Bryant can kind of whip you back in shape or he tries to but he comes through the building at night and make sure all the lights are off. the [laughter] last one out just so that you know that's

so you know when I when I pay my taxes I can rest easy knowing that you guys are good stewards of it when I pay my taxes I know I'm paying for public safety I'm paying for education I'm paying for a multitude of things that serve the people in our county and and so I I know that uh I know those funds are going to people who've taken care of it and uh if you don't I know Brian he'll get he'll he'll get his hickory switch out but you tell your guys that we're we back him 100%. And uh I've got a record of that and appreciate the job you do. Thank you. Anything else? Anybody got?

Yeah. [laughter] Okay. Okay. So, can I have I think she's got a pretty tight thumb on everybody too, right Christian? Yeah. She even keeps Brian alive. He has to turn in all this paperwork from the feds so they can tell us no on stuff they tell us to do. Then they don't reimburse us. So that's that's that's that's why she's like she is probably. So okay. Can we have a motion to Does anybody have any question on the library budget? We're actually getting a donation on that. I do I do have a comment about that. And I do appreciate the library folks donating that money and we gladly accept that to uh

further your cause. I see Kathy sitting back there. So tell those folks we said thank you. Yeah, that kind of goes back to that tight budget thing because we have budgeted a small amount of money for improvements and it's nice to see that will be added to it. County manager is looking at me with a grin on his face. Um, it'll be added to it to really improve the continue to improve the Haywood County Library. Yeah. Okay. So, is there a motion to approve the consent agenda as present? I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda, Mr. Chairman. Is there a second? Second. Okay. Any other discussion? All those in favor say I. I.

Okay. Anyone opposed? Okay. That's unanimous. Okay. Then moving on to the regular agenda. Uh speaking of uh you know the emergency services and and law enforcement, we have a request approval of budget amendment in emergency management for $92,721 to appropriate fund balance for PILT or payment in le of taxes assoc allocation received in June 2025. And these allocations will be based will be paid out based on a calendar year 2024 call responses. And Christian, you might just explain that. I think we're the only county maybe in the state or at least in our area that actually takes to payment in LA taxes, which is monies this federal government gives me us for the federal lands, which they have a lot in Haywood County. about almost 40% of our county's federal lands, probably 30 between 35 and 40%. And they give us, I guess, 300 or $400,000. And then we give a part of that back to our uh fire departments for rescuing people in the U or doing whatever they need to do, fires on the national parks and service. Yes, we give a percentage of our PILT funds to the fire departments and the search and rescue teams based on the number of calls that they respond to on those federal lands. So, we collect the data from each um fire department. We verify that through um 911 dispatch logs and then they each get uh compensated for those calls on federal land. So,

okay. you

just I'm proud that, you know, proud of our county and that we do that. That's something that when I was first elected that I fought for, you know, Kevin and I both uh fought to have a percentage of those taxes sent to our emergency services. You know, it could be search and rescue, could be fire department, could be uh anybody that responds to those areas. And something I'm proud of and I I'm glad that we're continuing to do that. And I know that talking with these fire departments and the fire chiefs, they're very much appreciative of the money that they get because it allows them to get the equipment. A lot of what we were just talking about, it allows them to buy that that they normally wouldn't be able to buy, you know, to help them with these these uh search and rescues and stuff. So, and it could be an accident or wreck or anything. So, again, I'm proud I'm proud to be part of that and uh glad that we're continuing to do it. You know, that's an interesting discussion. I see our TDA director sitting out there and I serve on the board of directors for the state uh North Carolina Association County Commissioners and you know, these rescues and all these funds that we're we're dealing out for PIL money. You know, a lot of times they're tourists. They come in, they get lost up on Shining Rock, and we got to get six or eight guys to them out of there on a gurnie and sometimes a helicopter. It's very expensive. And uh you know I I really fought hard to try to get some just a very small appropriation of our TDA funds to much to your chagrin I guess uh to help rescue these folks instead of putting the burden on the back of the taxpayer H the property owner in Hwood County. I mean it's nothing but fair but that got shot down pretty quick. I found out the word of the language is in Raleigh that I have no control over. Uh there are lawmakers in Raleigh have kind of protected those funds. So, uh, but you know, a lot of times our tourists do they use our emergency services. I mean, let's face it. I mean, they they do. So,

uh, but we we welcome visitors here. And, uh, we we would we would like to see some of them have to pay a little bit on the on the emergency services side. You start paying helicopter bill and fuel and time and, uh, but, you know, that might come that might come on down the road. So, anyway, thank you, Christian. Christian, just a question on that. I know that we're into November. Seems like before we've been getting the payment a little out a little sooner. Yes. The reason we're I know we wait on the fire chiefs or whoever to send in the reports and I assume that

that's what it was there. There was a a couple of them that I had to reach out about four or five times to get that information. And finally, I said, "Hey, our records say you have x number of calls. do you agree or disagree? And they were like, agree, you know, move on. So, yeah, this year I had a harder time than I usually have in getting that information. Usually they're, you know, knocking on my door, hey, when are we going to get our pill money? This year was a little different. I didn't not get one single request of, hey, where's our pill money?

Yeah, I hadn't either. You know, it's kind of ironic, I guess, but in the past years, I've got the calls as well. You know, can you check to see where our money's at? and I ain't got any this year. So,

and not not a single single comment, email, phone call, anything. So, um just for record, uh we will probably get these checks out the 1st of December. Um the last week of November is a holiday for us. So, we will probably not run checks that week because of of timing uh and banks being closed, too. So, we will get these checks out to those departments um 1st of December. you know, those calls that you didn't get probably that's indication of uh the good job you're doing. They trust you and they know that uh they know that you're going to come forward with with a dough. Yeah. Yeah.

Any other questions on that or comments? Okay. If not, I'll entertain a motion we approve the regular agenda. This is the only item on the regular agenda. So move. Okay. Is there a second? Second. Okay. All in favor say I. I. Okay. It's unanimous. Okay. Okay, we'll move down to appointments. Uh, so we're going to strike number one and we'll go to number two, which is the request approval of my Cuber, Scott Blair, Jeff Hillis to the term to the Haywood County, I'm sorry, to the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority for a second full three-year term. Okay, chairman, we uh

Oh, that's right. Yeah, we uh the board these folks were presented all agreed have been there before all agreed that they would be willing to serve again and it was presented before the board and so the board's in favor of they've all been great contributing members to um bring something special to the table and like to have him back for another term. Three years is quite a commitment and I we appreciate them doing it for sure. Yeah, because y'all meet what once a month at least. Yes. Okay. And then we have an executive committee that meets a second meeting. So yeah. Okay. So you want to make that motion? Yeah, I'll make that motion that we approve those three folks for the Hab County Tourism Development Authority. Second.

Okay. All in favor say I. I. Anyone opposed? Okay. Unanimous. Okay. Next, we have a close session. So, I'm going to call for a close session under the privileged information statute. So, I'll entertain a motion that we go into close session per North Carolina General Statute 143-31811A1 to protect confidential or privileged information with the information being kept confidential according to North Carolina General Statute 105-259. So, can we have a motion?

I'll make that motion. Okay. Second. Okay. All in favor say I. I. Okay. We'll be in close session when we enter the chambers in the back. So,

Ready? Okay. We've returned from close session during which time the commissioners considered an occupancy tax penalty waiver request presented by TDA director Karina Rufiier. Yay. At this time, I will accept a motion the occupancy tax penalty waiver request to either approve or deny the occupancy tax penalty waiver request. So, is there a motion to approve the request?

Tommy, he made it, didn't he? Tommy, he made it in close session. Uh just a clarification this uh just for public digestion purposes [clears throat] here. This this this group has been very uh very good at paying their occupancy tax over the years. They have no history of of uh any anomalies and they missed a payment by one day. And it's merely the late penalty fee that we are waving. It's not we're not waving the occupancy tax. at their request. So just a little point of clarification, Mr. Chairman, and I will make that motion that we do give them mercy and grace in this situation and we wave back.

And who who was the second was it? I'll second. I said he can't he can't the meeting. Okay. All in favor say I. I. Okay. Unanimous. Okay. Does anybody have anything else tonight? I'd like to say one thing about that. I forgot to the other day when the guy from the veteran service was up here the other day, I had a couple people uh come up to me after the meeting and say that uh he has assisted I guess it is that Debbie Cowwell Mhm.

said that she really goes out and uh does her job. I mean, she does everything out there and say she really keeps that place going stuff and they wanted to know if we could recognize her as well cuz she she does real good job and I talked to some other people that work out there around her and they said she really does a good job. She does. Yes. I I think you're doing a good job recognizing Miss Cwell.

Thank you. Okay. Any any other Yeah, Debbie does a great job. She really does. Yeah, they really helped my family. I say that for sure. Okay, I'll let's see. So, entertain a motion to adjourn. I make the motion. Will you adjourn? Is there a second? Okay. All in favor say I. I. Okay. We're adjourned.