County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Dear Lord, we want to take a moment before we start this meeting just to say thank you. Thank you for allowing us simply to be here today. Thank you for allowing us to observe MLK day yesterday. And Lord, we ask now as we look ahead that you keep us all safe as we prepare for an oncoming storm. We know what the news is saying about how bad it's going to be this weekend. Lord, we're going to do all that we can to prepare as a community, but we know that we can't do anything without you. So now Lord, as we prepare to start this meeting, grant us all the wisdom that we need to make the best decisions possible for the people who live in this great community. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Amen. Well, when you say we know more about church one, [laughter] thank you tonight for coming again. Welcome to our meeting. Each of [snorts] you be so glad you're here. Uh cons I heard a motion to adopt tonight agenda. So move a second. Second. Motion second to adopt. All time to consider. All in favor with I I oppose. I the same adopt. Are there any concern from A through G by any board member? If not I ask for a motion to approve. So move second. Second. Motion second approved from A to G. All time to consider. All in favor would I? I

oppos. I have it. Thank you. Tax collect. Miss Daffin Deli. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. Good evening. Um, total [snorts] collected for the month of December current year was $3,889,59165 at a 88.21% rate compared to an 85.8% rate last year. Prior years collected was $97,66710 at a 34.60 63% rate compared to a 32.82% [snorts] rate last year. Total collected for the month of December was 3,987,258.75.

Okay. Then I have um some releases for you. Uh I do want to note one correction. Um the first one for a Maris Bank, it it wasn't a DOT change. [snorts] It was a double build. um property. So I have a total of releases and refunds of 13976. Okay. I have a motion for release. Make a motion. Second. Second. All in favor? I oppose. I have it. Thank you.

And then the next thing I have is I sent you a memo um and attached a letter from Dr. J. Parson, senior pastor of Silver Grove Emanuel Baptist Missionary Baptist Church. He's asking the board to consider lowering the tax value on the property of the church he owns. The value for 2026 has been reduced due to condition of the building. Um the the appraiser went out and noted that this building probably should have been reduced last year. However, it is the taxpayers's responsibility to come in and report such things to us. So the tax value for 2025 was $737,120. we will reduce the 26 value to 153,530 because of the condition of the building. So the church is asking for forgiveness of to lower the 2025 [snorts] bill to the same value that we will tax him for for um 2026

which is $153,000 $153,530. And and really the same building today was there then. If it was gone then, if it's gone now, it was gone then. It was. So, it's certain that one thing we need to go ahead and lower that. They going to have to There's no value there that we can charge that kind of money. Mr. Chairman, there are no questions. I'll make a motion [clears throat] that we uh lower the value for uh Silver Grove Emanuel Missionary Church uh from the $735,000 to the $155,000. It is the right thing to do. There second. Second. Second. All in favor by the word I post have it. Thank you Davin. Thank you. They deserve that one.

All right. Hook County Sheriff office, Sheriff Roger Virgin. Good evening, my friend. Evening. How are you guys? Good. Right. Uh Sheriff Virgil couldn't be here tonight. So I am Major Sanchez. I'll keep it short. Uh one of our officers is retiring after 23 years of service. Okay. And we're simply just asking to surplus her firearm and the magazines that go with that firearm. Okay. When's the last day you have a party? Uh I believe we are having a retirement party the uh January 30th. Okay. That's the last day. Yes, sir. Okay. Question from the wish of the group.

Mr. Chairman, my thing that's the um routine that we normally do when uh uh law enforcement officer retires. We do that under um Sheriff Petington's uh administration as well. I make a motion that we uh approve the request for the sheriff department. Second. Okay. Mr. Ed question. So um so that property actually belongs to the county. Yes. Is that what it is? Oh, okay. So, what happens when you hire a new person? You got to buy a new firearm, right? And we do we typically do this as a routine when they retire when they put so many years of law enforcement service in. Yes. What's the number of years? Uh what's the retirement date on this one? I'm not sure. This one is 23 years of service and I believe it's any uh anything after 10 years at the 10th. Okay. Okay.

Commissioner McCullum. It is actually a policy. Okay. Okay. [snorts] Thank you. Okay. There's a um motion made motion [snorts] and second on time consider all in favor with I post. I have it. Thank you. Thank you. You guys have a great evening. Thank you. 250 Iris Flowers chairperson.

Good evening. Good evening. I am here to present the final budget for the America 250 um concert for next year. Um, let's see. While you put that up, Miss Flowers, let ask you a question. Who's uh how many people you have on your committee? So, there's 10 10 on your committee. Yes. Okay. Um, and Dr. Rosa Mallister McCrae is one of them that's here tonight. Okay. And there's probably one or two that's online. Are there two online? Okay. I I would like to get a written copy at a later date. Okay. Okay. Sure. Thank you.

Absolutely. Okay. So, this is just of course a a visual for you. Uh it's not of course the actual theme, but just a visual for everyone to see. What you'll be hearing me say tonight will be just a uh kind of a lineto line of what the county or what we're looking for the county um to do for us. So, you can go ahead.

Okay. So the full budget and logistics plan um is for July 3rd and 4th. The of course is the America 250 um commemoration commemorating 250 um independence um years for America. Um that day one and day two we have the an idea of the attendance which equals to about approximately 20,000 attendees. Um, and then we kind of broke I broke down, you know, how those days will look and what the concert the type the genre genre of music that will be um sung and played. You're going to see the numbers kind of skipped and that's because this is um there's some other information that I withdrew from this um presentation. But um number two, stage sound and lightning. That's going to be provided by whole county incon services. That includes the the main stage, the prof professional sound system, the concert lighting and operations, the LED lights and technical crews and and ringers and as well as the backline equipment which the stage production and subtotal is roughly $18,000. As it relates to the infrastructure that will involve the events, tents, the tables and chairs and power generators, portable restrooms, the golf carts, um utility vehicles, and waste management as well, which will total roughly $50,000. And then we have the safety, security and compliance which involves of course the event security team for approximately three days, the MT medical services, um police and traffic control, fire marshall oversight as well. That's roughly $55,000.

And what you're trying to do is put a value on these items. Yes, sir. Even though some of them might be in kind, you still put a value to them, which is good. Yes. Okay.

Yes, sir. And for the vendor staffing, hospitality and operations that will include the vendor village coordination the because we expected to have some um some food trucks and things like that come in the vendor utilities, volunteer shirts, meals and hydration and that's roughly $12,000. And then this one is for the fireworks. And we're looking to have the support, the inconount support of the county for the fire safety team and permits. And that's $2,000 and a grand total that all equals a grand total of $237,000 of incon services um including the $75,000 um which will total $312,000 is what we're is what we're looking at.

Go ahead. I I got a question u Mr. Chairman like in terms of fees uh consulting fees professional fees do we I didn't see that in the budget did I [clears throat] miss it the consultant that we are using he's actually that's that's more of a favor to me because okay we we that's something that we've worked out together. So there's no fees for the event consultant that we're No, there's no nothing in the budget. Exactly. There's no fee for that because I know him. Yeah. He's doing that for me, for us.

And so your volunteers is lining up pretty good that's going to take this operation and help get it over. Take a lot of people, but I'm sure you got a committee, which I'm on the board. You got folks lining up to be ready to go and some of this. Yes, sir. Everything's lining up well. So, I guess you need a commitment. Maybe not tonight, but soon so that you can start make a commitment to the folks that's coming in. Absolutely. Yes, we we would need a a commitment as soon as possible yesterday. So, you're talking about July the 3rd and July the 4th, correct? Yes. Okay. So, to be clear, they're asking for $75,000 from the county. And most in other work is where we're going to do it for them.

Our in we're going to be at 211 Park, Ed Blue Park, and we going to do a lot of that oursel which is in kind. That's correct. Okay. which won't hurt any of the functions, any of the ideas, so everybody still get to enjoy themselves. That's correct. Okay. The entire community, I have a question. Uh, so if the if the weather does not permit, do you have something else in in mind or you just That's an excellent question. That's something that's on the um agenda for discussion whenever we the committee come together next week on on Monday. We're going to have a virtual meeting. So certainly that's something that we will have in plan. Thank you.

So madam county manager, um were you involved in the the budgeting process? We met and we talked and those were some of those in kind things. It's some things that they have on there that are things that the county will have to help them with. Right. Um that's where fire marshall permits things like that come in stages things like that comes in that we'll have to help we'll coordinate work together um depending upon what this board does. So do you feel that 75,000 is enough?

I feel like that is what I have in my budget that the board will have to if the board wants to do any more that will be entirely at the um wishes of the board. Um, if you go over that, it will have to be the board um doing more than that. Right. So, do you think it's enough? It's it's all I can do. Okay. Okay. Let me ask a question. There'll be some other trucks. I know you can have trucks for folks to buy food from. Yes. But there'll be some free food. That's correct. We've talked about that and that there will be food provided by the county for Right. Mhm. I want make sure any kid that walk up soever hot dog or hamburger and they'll have the funds to get from the truck.

Yes. They'll be able to get a free hot dog, free drink, water in they probably need plenty of water or drinks and hot dogs and hamburgers. So they'll be able to do that while food's gone on the trucks that be there which compare feed. I'm pretty sure that yes to sell their product and their food and but however some folks may not have they will not be turned down from eating at this great occasion. That is that is a great point. Yes, sir. Everyone who attends will um will eat. Good. [laughter] Yes.

I do have concerns on the location. Uh I saw an estimate of 12,000 people. There's no there's nowhere for parking in Elgen Blue. you know, we have uh uh different sporting events out there and we see where where the parking lots get get full and it's filled with a thousand people, you know. So, I just want to throw that out there. Uh the largest event that we do in Hope County is probably Hulk County graduation that that's even remotely close to that number. And so, I just want to throw it out there for planning purposes. If you're going to have that number of people, it's going to have to be somewhere where people have have the ability to park and get to the venue safely and folks probably in and out. And yes, that's what I was going to say. Probably won't be 12,000 people at one time. That's right.

Folks going to be coming, folks going to be leaving. And that's what's so good about it. Most folks not going to stay all day. They come in say a while, leave in and out probably. Yes. Okay. So, Mr. Chairman, I think that Miss Fl needs a commitment from us today because really next month is February and time is of the essence. Um, so I will make a motion that we uh approve the $75,000 that the county manager has allotted. Could you do that vice? We have approved the 75 lot of county manager if it goes over so many dollars.

I don't have a problem with that. Um, do you have a number? I would like to say if it we commit appropriate and budget the 75 but however if it goes over that the county manager have the authority to go another 25,000. Okay. Y'all can work with that number and throw it out. Yeah, I can work with that. That's I was asking that question to kind of get some clarity from the county. So she's allocated 75. I don't have a problem with making that part of my motion. Mr. Chairman, I make a motion that uh we um provide or approve uh the $75,000 requested by the committee uh but also giving the county manager the discretion to go up to $25,000 extra dollars if need be.

A second motion start in favor with I I have it. Go to work. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

All right, Mr. Manny, it is your time. Um good evening chairman, board of commissioners. Um I think that the board has um watched the news today and I have been working with my emergency management team and we are preparing um for the potential of a storm. So I will bring my emergency management team up. Brian, come on up. Um and um [laughter] and Andrew Jacobs because I just want the board to be prepared. and we've already put um something together for the board [snorts] because I am going to ask my board to possibly recess until Friday morning or afternoon or whatever you're comfortable with. I may need a state of emergency um on Friday.

Emergency call to prepare emergency call meeting um to prepare um my county um for what may come in on Saturday um to prepare us for next week. Um and by then I will have um I will want to be prepared for my employees for Monday and what comes in on Saturday. Um there are some things I'm already preparing staff for. Um, I'll be having some meetings, but I want um us to be prepared for this what comes in on Saturday. Go ahead, Andrew.

Evening, chairman, committees. I think y'all probably already got tagged in a couple of emails I sent today to everyone and to directors. I know y'all are on that DRO list as well. So, I'm going to keep it uh brief and as factual as possible. I want to put out a disclaimer first. So, none of our official uh weather resources, the National Weather Service or Noah, have put out accumulation models yet. That's kind of in the private sector area right now for meteorology. Uh, nobody's really putting amounts on this. There are two certainties I think we have and there's two uncertainties we have. [snorts] Uh, due to the size of this storm, we will get something more than trace amounts in North Carolina over the weekend. Um, the other thing that I think is certain is there will be significant impacts to life here in Hope County and the rest of North Carolina. Now, I'm going to give some numbers here in a moment and I don't want anybody to jump out. I don't like doomsday in this stuff, but it's a reality. Um, I tell Brian without know bring any good news. Um, but these are some plausible scenarios that are playing out and the word that is being played out over and over again in the weather space is concerned. So, um, a little bit of history for you all. Hope County does not traditionally see double digit uh, accumulations for winter precipitation. The record in Hope County is from 1927, which was 18 in. You're going to see models here in a sec that look like we could probably tie. I'm not saying that's what's going to happen, but I just want to really enerate that disclaimer. So, our timeline, we are set to start receiving some type of winter precipitation on Saturday morning at 10:00. One of those unknown I talked about earlier is the timing. Uh, with this being so far down the road, it could speed up or slow down. Typically, what we see is a slowdown of these types of events. So, this could very easily push over to a Sunday, Monday type event, possibly into Tuesday. The storm is large. It is coming. It is going to go somewhere. Um the timing is what is uncertain right now. Most for uh forecasting models cooperate that their

uh precipitation should stop sometime around 3:00 a.m. on Monday from Saturday to Monday. Yes, sir. 3:00 a.m. Monday morning. That's enough cold. Now, the the forecast is winter winry precipitation that may include freezing rain, snow, and wintry mix. We are what's called we what is in we are in what is called the transitional period. Okay. So we may see uh snow accumulation but it's probably more than likely we're going to get the uh the uh unfavorable [snorts] ice mix.

Now just going through the the math of this right here. The precipitation in the current forecast shows about 5 in of some type of water falling from the atmosphere. When it gets down closer to Earth, that's what determines whether it's going to be uh snow, freezing rain, that winter it mix. Our conversion ratio for snow is 10 to1. I doubt we're getting 50 inches of snow, [laughter] but that's math. I I can't change that. Freezing rain, um five inches of precipitation could translate into a quarter inch um to half inch of of of ice. If y'all remember January 2014, we had a debilitating storm that came through very much like this one here to the southeast. And that was a quarter inch winry precipitation mix, which is what we're most likely to get is a uh a basket of different types of winry mixes, an inch or two or snow, uh a/4 to 3/4 inch of sle, and anywhere from a tenth to half an inch of ice. The ice is obviously our biggest issue. Just going back historically, if you look last couple years, the Lord has blessed us with not having any type of significant weather events over the last two or three years. So, we have what we call standing dead trees that otherwise stand up perfectly during five or 10 mph winds. They grab a couple thousand pounds of ice, 15 mph wind gust. They magically find the closest power line to them or highway and fall in there. Um, I don't want to underell this storm and I don't want to oversell it, but this storm as it's presented now will cover all of Tennessee, twothirds of Virginia, all of North Carolina, all of South Carolina, and threearters of the state of Georgia.

It's not an isolated event. We're going to be impacted. So will all of our neighboring states. um impacts widespread traffic transportation uh impediments due to down trees, slippery surfaces conditions, especially overpasses and bridges. Um I don't know much if anything that's going to grab traction on a half inch of ice in Hope County. 41 will become the Hope County's most dangerous slip and slide, especially as we go towards the eastern part of the county. Uh obviously our bridges and overpasses would ice first. emergency response. Um, there's gonna be stranded motorist. I've been doing this about 15 years and everybody I've ever walked to in a ditch after it snowed. What are y'all doing just looking? [laughter] For some reason, the the view from the front porch wasn't good enough, so they had to hop in a hop in a car. But the reality of that is people will become stranded and uh fire trucks are 40,000 pound uh moving missiles and that kind of stuff. And if it comes to the point, the chiefs of these fire departments are very likely to limit their response to that. The same thing when it comes to our law enforcement. Um, if it's we're all driving the same type of car, some have lights and sirens, right? If it's dangerous for you, it's dangerous for us.

Critical infrastructure. Um, we're going to lose power. Don't talk like that.

You're talking about [laughter] we're going to lose power. I don't have a crystal ball to tell you how much power we're going to lose. Duration will be um We are cognizant that here located we're right at North Carolina the vast majority of us heat with electric. There's a couple of us that still maintain wood burning the fuel fuelpowered homes. Um but this is a realization starting tomorrow morning. Our office along with some other offices here in the county are going to start a heavy campaign for uh preparedness and how imminent this is going to be for the elderly, for the young, for all those folks that need to develop a plan to have that neighbor that has that generator to be able to make the preparations now because Saturday morning at 10:00 will be too late and definitely by the time we come into uh Sunday, we'll start to see the worst of it. Um Mr. Is there any way you can get this?

My name got generated. I might I discussed much of this. Um much of this before. Um I I I've uh I really want to hit on this regional aspect of stuff. I was in contact today with all of our partners, uh Lumby River, Duke school system, DSS, the health department. Everybody stands prepared and ready to go. We got to be understanding that um power is going to be out in Hope County and it's going to be out in Moore, Robinson, Richmond, Hansen, Wake, Mapleberg, all the all the above. To give you a grand perspective on what it's like, the only place on the radar that has some degree of uncertainty is Brunswick and Hanover counties and even they are slated to get about three inches of of winter mix. How about coming? You did mention them. They're clipped too.

They're clipped. We're all in together.

I trying to find some heat. [clears throat] There's a reason why the official models have not came out yet because we're still very far away from this. You all have uh all seasoned with how we come to you and bring these presentations. Um you know, typically with hurricanes, we don't come with you to the final overall until about a day or two out from what we're expecting landfall. This winter weather is no different. This is one of the models that was ran earlier today. This is slated to be um this is the end result of what we could potentially be looking at Monday, excuse me, Monday morning at 3:00 a.m. I'm not betting my paycheck on this. I'm just telling you what the internet told me. [laughter] This is hovering above uh Hook County is right here. That's a 14 there beside it. I don't know how that 14 is going to translate. Remember, we have different types of precipitation going to be here. Um, it would be great if we had to get 14 inches. It might all be snow, but unfortunately we are, uh, we're going to look at ice, too. These numbers are going to change. Uh, the manager has already set our meeting schedule. Um, so we're on a regular rotation of that. This is one model that says 14. If you look at this other model, so uh, you know, it's kind of like different sports picks. Everybody's got who they anticipate gonna win the Super Bowl and some of them makes the playoffs. But um this model right here, the uh the euro is showing us um 10 in here in in Rafford. Again, don't know of what type, but uh I think it's pretty conservative to say that at least five inches are coming. It's going to be a storm of record here for Hope County. Um another weather source here just kind of show you guys the timeline. again starting at 10:00 a.m. Um, this is something that we discussed this morning with be with the manager. One of our biggest problems once we absorb the brunt of this storm is going to be our

temperatures. There is no more than a 4h hour period until February the 4th and that is slated to be above freezing. Now, we know in the middle of July when it rains, even if the sun doesn't come out, mud puddles won't stick around forever. But we are going to have a considerable amount of days where we have the traditional refereeze. It's going to get up to 34, 35 during the day. At 4:00, it's going to start sinking down into the 20s and it's going to bake into the mid to high teens overnight. It is going to be cold for some foreseeable time. I pushed it out as far as the forecast would take me and I think the first break we see with more than four hours above freezing is on February the 4th. Good God.

Now, I don't think we're going to have ice sticking around to February the 4th unless the Lord sends some more this way. But that's kind of what we're looking at. this timeline here from what you can see to kind of break it down. This is not the gospel. This is just what we're starting to see from sources here. We start out with light snow showers around 10:00 on um on Saturday morning at 10:00. We transition into snow and this is where the winter mix starts to get us also around the time that we're going to start getting below freezing. You can see it's 28 degrees um at this time. This is all of Saturday. This is a little bit harder to see right here, but if you can uh squint a little bit better than I can, uh the lows uh at midnight or uh 12

uh and and we go 12, 13, 14. Um even at noon on uh on Sunday, we got a high of 24 and a low of 14. Um so it it's going to be here. And we see over here on this page, this is Saturday, obviously. We go from snow showers, snow, wintry mix. We start looking at around 8:00 on um Sunday morning, we transition into freezing rain. These accumulate, sorry, this isn't um these accumulations over here. Um we see at 6:00 we're at a 20th of an inch. Again, it depends on what kind of product we get as to how much how much inches that is. That's that's atmospheric um precipitation as it's falling. All right, we go into um Monday morning, 3:00. We're still having snow flurries um with a high of 25 and a low of 18 and the sun comes out, good Lord willing, 8:00 to a bris 24 to 16 degrees uh here in Hope County. The uh other thing I'd call your attention to uh snowtorm is going to bring a little bit of wind with it. So we have sustained wind uh forecast of about 14. That might show us to have gust in the low 20s. Um definitely enough to start pushing trees over and other debris. So what we've did is your emergency services office here at the county spoke a little bit about the community partners we've engaged with. Uh also spoke about community outreach. We're going to start heavy with that. I'll be getting up with Deacon Hollinssworth to get on on the radio. We'll start a social media campaign. We'll work with uh Mr. Stewart and 911 to do some reverse communication. Uh that way we've already established our regular briefings with the county manager to make sure uh all stakeholders are prized of that. We have a control group meeting that's already scheduled and coordination efforts are are well underway. Um we also have our public safety meeting scheduled with our fire

departments and law enforcement partners uh and EMS. Um, and just being transparent, y'all know hurricanes, we typically stand a pretty good chance of being able to reclaim some federal dollars through public assistance. Um, snowstorms are not very favorable in the federal government. Um, even on as large scale as this are, but in the event that they are, we will have all pre-event documentation ready to go and uh and track every last scent of this uh this incident. So, we are anticipating we are we are not anticipating any type of reimbursement. So in a nutshell, this is uh Hope County tax dollars up up front. Right. Right. Up front.

So I'm assuming the county manager has already started about talking thinking about an emergency shelter. We have those planned out what we would do. Okay. And the locations and as we get closer to it, we would go public and on our website and and identify that. So do you all recommend that we reschedule for Friday morning or Friday afternoon? Would you would afternoon give you more time to give us more information or Friday morning? Doesn't matter at that time. We need to start action in that morning. Yeah, we need to start action that morning. Gotcha. So, it's preferable what the board decides what time you want to meet. Okay. Works. Well, folks, go to the grocery store. Do do what you got to do.

Thank [clears throat] get my bread milk. Get it tonight. Think I'm going to get it. You know, if you have to go to the grocery store, I encourage you, those at home listening, go to the grocery store tonight, get your bread and get your stuff. Be gone tomorrow. Get it. Now getting a whole lot of food to spoil. Ain't no place to keep you cold. Might not have a lot. Yeah. If they let you have it, right? [laughter] Thank you, J. Thank you. That's it. Thank you, J. Thank you, Ryan. All right. Need a recess so I don't have to. And I motion to recess. I need a motion to recess this meeting to what time? 10:11. 10 o'clock. Good with me. 10:00 a.m. Friday morning. Do I hear that?

A motion. We recess this meeting to 10:00 a.m. Friday morning. Same right here. A second. First, a second. Our time cons. Oppos. I have it. All right. Thank you. Recess. Wait. He's still on there. Yeah, he's still on. Oh my god.