Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

[Music] [Music] [Music] Pledge of Allegiance. If everyone will please join us in the pledge. And if

Colonel, if you don't mind, please uh lead us. 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, liberty and justice for all. Thank you everybody. Um next we'll have observe a moment of silence. So if you want to please join me in a moment of silence. All right. Thank you very much. First uh item on the agenda would be the approval of the agenda. And I believe we have one minor modification to the agenda and that would be to add item 7D. uh discussion on the county human resource policy and um I will uh submit that to you guys for consideration. Is there any other um alterations or additions to the agenda needed for tonight's meeting? Hearing none, I will move that we approve the amended agenda to add 7D. Is there a second? Second. Second by Vice Chairman Hensley. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor? All right. Agenda is approved. Uh, next item on the agenda is our consent agenda. And our consent agenda is pretty mild tonight. It consists of our nonprofit funding request and approval of our special meeting minutes of April 4th, our regular meeting minutes of April 8th,

and our special meeting minutes for April 29th. All of which uh we have had the been sent to us prior to tonight's meeting for our review. Um I will entertain a motion for the consent agenda at this time. I move that we have approve the consent agenda as it was presented to us. All right. So we have a motion by Vice Chairman Hensley to approve consent agenda. Is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Wyatt. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? All right. Consent agenda is approved. Our next item uh is going to be our public comment portion of the meeting tonight. We've got several folks signed up for public comment. So I will ask we'll review the rules very quickly. Um you uh what we need you to do when I call your name, please step up to the podium. If you would please uh state your name and just for sake of purposes for us so we know what community you live in. State what what community you live in for us. Um and then at that point uh our clerk will start the time clock. You have 3 minutes to uh express uh anything that you want to. We ask that you do it in a respectful manner. And our first individual this evening on the uh public comment signup sheet is Mr. Jeff Osborne. Jeff, please come on up. Hello, I'm Jeff Osborne and um coming up today to talk about the property down on Gabriel's Creek from the Gabriel Creek community. uh lower Gabriel's Creek to be specific, the Neo compound down there where it's become a dump of all kinds of cars and just bunch of stuff. It's um it's kind of torn our community apart down there. It used to be a beautiful

farm and the folks there, Carl and Addie Thomas, were farmers their whole life and they've left us now. But um they were kind of the heart of our community and helped us all learn how to farm and and uh learn how to be part of a community really. But someone has moved in there. Zack Yansy was a neo burrito and he started out wanting to do a farm to table but it's turned into a dump. And there's a lot of drug addicts down there and a lot of um young people and it's a dangerous place and our community. It used to be a place where we all walked and we rode bikes and children were there, grandchildren and people fished and hung out. But now you got to feel like you need to carry a pistol down there if you're going to go down there. and it's really really tore us apart. And we have a whole group of people here today that that want to talk about it too and the different things that have happened to them personally um that's been involved with it. And um you know I can just just say it's as a general contractor it's a very dangerous place. Um they're stacking up walls and like these big concrete walls that could fall over. They're not engineered at any point. Um but uh and there's, you know, stacking containers on top of each other, putting cars and trucks on top of each other. They're letting you know it's become like an environmental dump. Um they're pouring it into our river there.

Um, it's just I'm sure you're all aware of it and I don't know how many of you have been down there to see it or not, but uh I know it's been on the county's mind and we appreciate you getting involved with it. We appreciate the sheriff's department coming down and starting to patrol the area and made arrests and things like that throughout the years. We've been dealing with this for about 10 years. So, Um, that's what I want to I want to talk about it. Are you guys aware of it? I'm sure you are. But, um, but anyway, um, you know, there's a lot of folks that um that uh want to want to speak here and um, so I see your time is up, but we'll go ahead and let Okay, we can get on to the next one there. Let them speak. Thank you, Mr. Osborne. Uh, next up on the list is Leah Osborne Vines. Um, so I'm one of the Osborne that lives in the Palmer Ford community. Um, I grew up on the farm across the river from the property that's being brought to your attention. Um, has anybody who in the group up front here in front of me has seen pictures or visited the property first, seen pictures? Has anybody seen pictures? So, let's explain again how public comment works. Public comment works. It's not a it's not interaction. Okay. Public comment is allowed for the public to comment. Um, and you're allowed to make any comments that you want to. It's safe to assume that we're aware of the situation, but otherwise, uh, that's that's the most guidance I can give you right now. Is that okay? That's fine. All right. Thank you.

Um, so, uh, Jeff described the area. Um it's a a farm that comes down to a road um that borders a river and um I guess about 25 acres has become uh stacked up with large large blocks as large as this seating area, multiple blocks of that size. Um, all the dirt and the trucks and the oil and the gas are coming out into the road. Um, when I visit my family's property across the river, I no longer feel safe. I stay in a bedroom on the bottom floor that's separate of the regular house. And because of all the things that I know that have occurred on the property, um I know I no longer feel safe being in that home or really with the window open. You know what might happen at night. Um the other thing that's happened is we no longer walk that corridor. Um my family used to leave the house and walk. We can't do that anymore. So our life has dramatically uh deteriorated due to the conditions. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Um, up next on the list is, uh, I believe it's Constantine Forsner. Did I pronounce that correctly? Yes. All right. Very good. Come on up, sir. I just want to add one quick thing. Not much, just purely not focus on the property itself, but on the road, right, the sides of the property. Um it is when I drive by there let's say 10 times I can expect to be blocked about eight times out of 10. uh

the whole one lane is blocked and um it's just uh that alone that needs to be addressed in my my opinion um and uh I just wish that that would be uh have some extra weight on it and be in your consideration. I appreciate it. Great. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Up next on the signup sheet is William Osborne. Mr. Osborne, come on up, sir. Uh, I own the farm across the river from Zach and uh, it borders his property. And I guess I don't know how long he's been there, maybe 10 years ago now. But uh the first uh you know when he just bought the property, you know, I uh I drove up in the driveway and uh I was just going to tell him hello uh you know and welcome to the community and uh he came running down the driveway with a pistol and uh it's been downhill from there and uh because he's afraid we're going you know, I was going to see too much, you know, and uh you know, it's like there are explosions over there in the middle of the night. I'm not talking about something little. I'm talking about dynamite that's going off over there. Something like a 50 caliber machine gun. I mean, it's nothing like a assault rifle or any of that stuff, you know, and uh you know, we're sick of

it and we want something done about it and it's been going all on all this time and nothing's been done about it. And and we we want it to change. and we, you know, we uh we had a beautiful community and uh now we've got a cancer in it and uh we hopefully, you know, can get some help to get something done about it. So, thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. Osborne. Up next on the sheet is Scott Sheeran. Did I pronounce that right, sir? Yes. Thank you. Good deal. Now, the next one I'm not going to get right, I'm afraid, but we'll address that. Praisa. Yeah. Okay. Very good. Yeah. Um, thanks for this opportunity. I'm with Will. What he said, the last thing, you know, uh, over the last 3 years, this thing has really escalated and uh, it's unbelievable what goes on there. And they and they do their thing all through the night because they're high. And uh I I understood a number of years ago the place was busted for dealing math or something like that. I don't know the facts. You have that at your disposal. But these people are working at night doing crazy things with industrial machines and they're they're blocking the road for half a day or all night long. you know, the road is is two-lane and they've got this huge concrete wall and uh the road the flood took half the road out and so this past winter I saw things like school buses coming down lower Gabriel's Creek Road and they like to have big bonfires so they they couldn't even get on their property. It was so full of junk. It's like a industrial hoarders nightmare. And and so they were having these bonfires right

on next to the road. And I saw this school bus in this winter on an icy road where half the road was ed away from the flood and hadn't been fixed yet driving within a foot of a big bonfire. And I'm thinking to myself, where am I living? Where am I living? Is this the third world? Where are we? You know, we're we're here in Madison County. It really shouldn't be like that. So, it's unsafe. And I had a great talk with Mr. Garrison about this very issue uh a month ago or I don't know a couple months ago. And I I want to encourage you all to take action on the four fronts that he mentioned. DOT, you know, dealing with the road issue. They it's they did a big cleanup to try to comply with something that you guys set for them and it's filling up again. There's stuff getting dropped there all the time. I've seen IND uh commercial Weaverville, some DSW or some company dumping stuff on the side of the road in front of their compound, right? Like they they've got some kind of business thing going on with that. Um I've seen them pumping. They they've been doing all this digging because they want to do something and they've got these ditches and trenches back up in there and they it's just filling with water because it's coming right out the side of the hill and they're just pumping that into the ivy, right? And the the the fluids from all the machinery, the the derelict machinery and stuff and the batteries lying in the mud and it's seeping across and going into the river. So there's environmental protection, there's DOT, there's the zoning piece, which he's trying to run a junkyard there or something like it, which can't be right in a rural agricultural zoning. And then there's the building inspection issues. And Danny Allen's been a great help over

the years helping me to calm down a little bit about this. So please, nothing good is going to come from this. You've got to stop it somehow. And I realize in America people have a right to do what they want with their property, but there are laws. Thank you, Mr. Shar. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Up next on the list is uh Prima Sharon, go on up. Thank you, ma'am. Everybody's made really great points. Uh I would just like to emphasize the safety issue. Uh I really don't feel safe with the people that are there. Um and yeah, it it it isn't a good feeling to to live in a place where we came to be in a lovely rural community and now we don't feel as though we can walk down the road. Um I'd also like to emphasize the pollution issue. It's just horrendous to see all of that going into the ivy and also the noise. I don't know what the story is with the noise ordinance, but it is really intense to have that noise going all night long and flood lights shining into our home so brightly that even with the cocon, it still lights up our our home. And um it's it just makes living in that community no longer pleasing experience. Thank you, ma'am.

Up next on the list is Connie Mulland. Hello. How are you, Connie? I am very well, thank you for asking. Um, I was here in March and I had just gotten a letter from the downtown Marshall Association sharing the high-level view of Marshall Magic Days when Marshall was going to reopen. And then in April, I came back and I had a little more information and now it's behind us and I'm just sharing that it was magical. It was beautiful. Um, sorry. First of all, after the last meeting, we had our uh Earth week cleanup, which there was an amazing frenzy of volunteers showing up, planters and flowers and and flower pots and benches, and it just it really looked beautiful in downtown Marshall when we got ready for the ribbon cutting. I also want to um say thanks to everyone for getting the courthouse lawn looking good. It really looked beautiful when we had the ribbon cutting. Um, a special thanks to Allan, Commissioner Wyatt, for um, coming out and speaking on behalf of the county. He did a great job. He introduced uh, Sammy from the landfill. It was a really good idea to have Sammy there because Sammy had worked so hard with his team to take all the debris during the aftermath of Helen and um Sammy's born and raised in in Marshall and it was just beautiful. The whole thing was magical from the ribbon cutting on Thursday all the way through Sunday. I know several businesses said that they had their best weekend ever. Flo's been around since 2010 and we had our best weekend ever. Uh, MadCo's been around since I can't remember 20 16 and they had their best three, four days

ever. So, it was really, really good. It felt good. The other thing that happened was on May 1st, several businesses opened up on that day. They had been working, working, working. And I stopped asking businesses if they were going to open because, you know, you feel bad. Oh, I'm not ready. I'm not ready. but they did open that day. So, it made downtown feel very vibrant and alive. We still have a long way to go. We still have uh uh businesses and buildings that are not yet there, but I do know that windows went into pen this week and windows went into or are in the process of going into French Broad Exchange. So, super exciting about that. Um the other thing I want to do is I want to introduce the president of the downtown Marshall Association Board. That is Kate Sinoscus with Star Taco. And next to her is our new director, Lisa Ashero. So, we have a new face with the Downtown Marshall Association. And so, Lisa and Kate, maybe me, I'm like a bad penny. I never leave, right? I'll probably be coming as well, but I wanted to make sure you saw these two ladies as well. So, thank you very much for everything you've done for Marshall and Hot Springs. I was in there last week as well, uh, dedicating a peace pole. It looks good down there, too. So, it's exciting. Thank you, Con. Thank you very much. Nice to meet you, ladies. Um, up next is Marlo Fry. Did I get that right? Yes, sir. All right. Yes, ma'am. I'm Marlo Fry. I live on Gabriel's Creek. I'm new to this region. My husband and I have the privilege of buying some raw acreage. And for the last eight years, we've been putting blood, sweat, and tears into our property. Meanwhile, watching Zack Yansy destroy this property. And it's been nothing but heartache seeing a pristine

piece of property go the way that it has. And um to give you an idea of what it's like to live near him, I'm not even his direct neighbor. I look across the river up the hill and at night time when he is maniacally digging and digging and digging for hours all throughout the night your bed your bed will vibrate all throughout the night just to I'm sorry it's very exciting he's made an impact on this entire area and people who even just use the bridge can see that and all of us are taxpaying citizens and it would just be wonderful to see something happen. None of us can do things in a singular way. It's like the county has to do something to make change and that's why we're here today. So, thank you for hearing me. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. And our last person that has signed up is Chuck. And Chuck, I can't even begin to decipher the last name, so my apologies. Do you want Do you want to try? I know it's a tongue twister. Well, I would I don't I'm not afraid to try, but I'm not sure I can even make it out. Okay. It It looks more intimidating than it is. I'm going to guess uh Berisma. That's very close. Brisma. Um my name's Chuck Brisma and I'm also with this awesome crew. Unfortunately, we banded together because of all the reasons that everybody said and uh I guess I wanted to start by saying thank you guys for giving us the opportunity to voice our opinions and also for everything that you guys do um for the county. So, I really appreciate everybody. Um, I guess, you know, there we got a long list and not everything has really

been stated, but I think the major things for me, I guess, is that everybody can feel safe in their neighborhood, that people can drive through, that it's not a environmental catastrophe. Um, I guess the other stuff is kind of personal, but it's yeah, just maniacal action happening happening all hours of the night and like three or four vehicles with flashing lights blocking the lane of traffic and just seeing that through here closed shades, it just doesn't feel safe. and posting, you know, um his pile of hundreds of tires just washed down the street. Some of them still blocking some culverts. His vehicle, his like quantity police car that had flashes on it, ended up on our little bank area on our property. And then a different neighbor said, "Yeah, you can get your vehicle out of there." But he chose to come in the middle of the night onto our property. and slowly drag it out. Bits and pieces everywhere. And that didn't really make me feel safe. So, I called the cops. We tried to get things worked out. He was not there, but he left the machine there. Whatever. It just it just feels like he's untouchable. And it seems just kind of ridiculous. And anyways, um you guys probably all heard enough about this guy for tonight, but thank you all for hearing us all. Really do appreciate it. And if anybody wants to reach out to any of us, um, you got a lot of our names on there, happy to talk privately, and we're here to help deliver solutions. So, whatever we can do, I'm sure we'd all be into. And I know you guys kind of don't know how to find the right angle because it's a

slippery predicament as far as things that he's actually doing illegally potentially or where the jurisdictions go. But um I don't really appreciate you guys hearing me and I'll keep it under that little three minute. No problem at all. Thank you. Thank you all for hearing us on all this. All right. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. And thank you to all everyone that spoke from the community. Um we uh we understand what's going on out there and um just want to let you know we do hear you and hopefully uh hopefully you'll see some progress soon. So and I'll leave it at that because I'm violating the terms of my own spirit here by not not interacting as we're supposed to. But anyway, um, up next on our agenda this evening, well, first for and foremost, I need a motion that public comment be closed. So move. Motion by Commissioner Wyatt. Is there a second? Second. Second by Vice Chairman Hensley. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? All right, public comment is now officially closed. Up next on our agenda tonight is a district ranger for the US Forest Service, Miss Jen Barnard. Jen's no stranger. uh she is uh here to give us a a um update tonight on the Appalachin Ranger District. Am I correct? Yes. All right. Good. Yeah. Thank you so much for having me back again. I think it was a little bit before Helen hit that I came with my last update. So definitely sad you're here to have to talk about uh recovery, but I have all good news thankfully for Madison County in terms of um recovery on the Visa National Forest. So that's good news. But yeah, either way, we're here and we're going to give you a little update. So, if folks are not familiar enough with uh the US Forest Service um in your area, right, you guys have Pisa National Forest in Madison County. Um but the the

National Forest is made up of three districts. So, Appalacher District has six counties. So, it's Haywood County goes through Madison County, Bunkham, Yansy, Mitchell, and Avery. And then there's two other districts which is the Pisca Ranger District in the main office is close to Bvard North Carolina and then the grandfather ranger district is out by um Nebo and the Marian area. So the two districts that had catastrophic impacts were the Appalachin and the Grandfather. So if you look at our stats um we have nearlyund and 190,000 acres impacted. about 20% of our forested areas with a lot of vegetation loss. So when with Madison Haywood luckily um the vegetation loss is not that great in terms of that in comparison to the other portions of the of the district for instance over in Mitchell and Yansy. So that that is good. Um and then we've had about 900 miles of our forest service roads damaged and 822 miles of trails damaged. But again, for Madison County, um good news in terms of those impacts and and the areas that we have been impacted in Madison County, um I'll go over some of the good things that have happened to get um recovery happening. It's a little small to hear and read it, but um some of our stats. So obviously when Helen hit we would had um going out and doing some response immediately trying to figure out uh public safety getting access to folks that have uh access through the forest service lands their private property but a lot of our stuff we've been prepared from storms from the past in terms of what do you do to go out and look at assessments. So roads are most important for us um because of access, emergency access, private land owner access um and then looking at infrastructure from our recreation administrative facilities, all our trails, all that kind of stuff. So um thankfully um for us on the app

district, we have 227 miles of our trails completely cleared. So, Madison County, um the Appalachin Trail would have been a big one that got cleared real quick, thankfully, because of the Carolina Mountain Club and a lot of volunteers that have come out, um to do that work. And we ended up having 240 miles of our roads. Also, we've done all the assessments and cleared all those roads quickly. Um we also will have a road rehab contract coming through and hitting all our roads and all that blotch and ranger district. So, that's going to be awesome um to keep working on our roads and most vital um particularly for Madison County that we were focused on is your local economy um and community sport knowing that Hot Springs and Marshall had such large hits. Um we know that the French Broad is very important to your guys' economy. So, Stack House um we're going to check out some photos um here in a little bit, but yeah, that's been open. That's a big um put in for all the outfitters on the French Broad. And then Murray branch cooking area. We've gotten that cleaned up and that's been reopened as well. So, we'll check out some photos there. But one thing I did want to note is um we are looking at our wildfire strategy in terms of all the fuel loading with all the change conditions down on the forest. Um, and regardless if Madison County didn't have as much vegetation loss, um, we're looking at a whole strategy for all the PISA National Forest, including fuel brakes and how can we practically put those in and areas. We were doing that prior to Helen, but this is definitely heightened. We have a huge planning workshop next week that will be focused on trying to practice that, especially where there's wildlands, urban interface, and um, large assets and concerns. Um, we yeah, we don't want that type of disaster on top of um what we've all um experienced ourselves already. So that's a good thing to do

that we're have going on. Um Tanyard Gap, we had DOT um reach out to us a while back and we had gotten that cleared so that that could be a place for um debris to go to. I had recently talked to um Madison County and Water at a meeting and let them know yes, that's still available. DOT has not touched it. that we reached back out to DOT to let them know. It sounded like they were coordinating with the county in some way, but um I'll continue to iterate. I've went past there recently and it still hasn't been utilized. So, if it's some another area that the county needs to have debris go to because you run out of space, that's right off 2570 Tany Gap is near um Rich Mountain Fire Tower. That helps give you an idea, but it's a large opening area. So, just want to put that out there. Um we're here to work with folks as that continues to come underway with the waterway debris and projectizes private property removal. Um so we got that going on and then we continue to work with y'all. The waterways debris removal. We have a contact that's in touch with the um contractors. We have folks go assess and then give out some mitigations before the contractors go in to do the waterway removal um because of some of the species that live amongst the French Broad River. Um, and also just making sure we're still going to have some flood resiliency with there are some crucial pieces of woody debris. Um, that does help with flood in the future. So, we're balancing both of those and it's been good to work with the contractor so far is what I what I've been hearing from our point of contact on the forest. So, that's been good news. All right. Yep. As I've already said, all roads, trails, recreation areas of Madison County on the forest are all open. And so here's some good pictures of just showing um Marine Ranch picnic area. Folks had not wandered down there. Um obviously River Road had a lot of impacts getting um to that site, but we had could have been worse. Um the

pavilions were good to go, but we had a lot of debris and sand and all kinds of stuff. Um luckily we got resources from off the forest to come. We had folks from the Midwest off of some national forest like the Hayawa National Forest come with the whole crew and with their equipment and cleaned it all up. So, it's ready to go. I saw lots of people picnicking and fishing and all that kind of stuff since we've opened it. So, we we did that all in house. We didn't have a contractor coming in and do that. We um did it with Forest Service staff thankfully outside resources helping us. And for some reason, I'm not sure why that picture didn't pick up there um when it transferred to y'all, but that's the the boat launch. So we started that in January trying to track it knowing like March would be a key month for the outfitters um to be getting on the river in terms of their economics. And so if folks are not aware like that top picture where you see some debris and tires that's 4 ft of um sand that was the one in that area that our all my fire staff were available before the wildfire started hitting. They were in there with our equipment and they cleaned up all like all all the sand got down the dirt level. We repacked it with all the gravel um and worked with uh outfitters to figure out dates and Mount TR was helping too with some um some assistance in this this site as well. We still have on that far left you can see that retaining wall. Um that's where our bathroom is. We've had portaotties out there just so we could get everything operational, but we have a contractor come anytime soon. they have to fix that remainder piece. That's the area that part is just partially closed over there, but other than that, it's accessible for outfitters and private voters um that have come there and park. So, we were happy to get that back in the hands um from the economy from the county and those that live here. So, our last slide here is just to give you an overall arching. It's going to be like a you know 10 plus years of recovery on the national forest. I call it Humpty

Dumpty. How do you put Humpty Bumpy back together? not that easily when it's a forest. But our um huge recovery areas that we're focused on across the forest and it's our number one um priority across national forest North Carolina. Our forest supervisor James Malonus, he manages the Nanahill, the Pisca, the Aori, and the Croan. And regardless, number one thing is Colleen. Doesn't matter if you're on the Nanill, the Aori, or the Croan because they didn't have impact so much. They all know that all our staff that our supervisor's officers support us to get everything we want to work for the recovery. So the big things for us for recovery means clean water, safety hazards and risk reduction, access and infrastructure, community economy, habitat, ecosystem health, recreation and cultural resources. So that's our main driving um areas there. And one last good thing is that we did receive funding through the American Relief Act for us to do our recovery work um from Helen on the national forest all of the PISO national forest which is it's is just amazing. So that's um that's the the really really good news. We're going to be able to keep doing stuff not just you know sometimes filling kits and then it fades away and folks forget but we have you know longlasting funds for us to be able to keep doing that work. Um, and then last thing, yeah, we're here to help. So, if there's anything in the county that y'all need support in recovery, um, I know we try to try in with Hot Springs, but obviously Marshall, if there's anything, let us know. Um, and yeah, anything you got meetings coming up and you think of us, we're your neighbors. Um, obviously the property, um, lots of private land owners, intermittent next to National Forest in Madison County. And yeah, I just want to make sure folks realize we're here to help. Um, and if there's something that comes up, don't hesitate to reach out. Awesome. Thank you, Jen. Anybody have any questions for Jen before we let her escape back to her

seat? I guess at this point it's too early to tell exactly what the plan's going to be for cleaning up the the down trees and all that kind of stuff that you guys have. So, I I'm assuming that's what you're something that's going to address. Um, yeah, for down trees. Yeah. If it's not in the area, if we have a large swath of down trees, um, our way to do that is through timber sales. So, timber salvage sales, that means there's still value in in a sense that a contractor would bid and and get a lot of those that put wood out. We don't have large swaps to the point in Madison County where our salvage sale or access um that makes sense. So, we have all our salad sales sold over um there's like one in Mansy, but there's a lot in Mitchell County, we have one in Bunkome, but y'all just don't have that large mass of mega blowdowns like top to bottom. But yeah, obviously there's still loss of some vegetation in Madison County. So, um that's where that fuel loading. We look at um changes in our tree vegetation, looking at aerial photography, but yeah, then we also can look at the fuel brakes and that's literally where you're putting in um like a large corridor line on the forest that breaks it out. So if you had a fire in that area and you didn't want it to get to the next ridge and the next ridge where it's an area that's not we're not able to get enemy defend very easily or have additional attack that's where we strategize and that's where that'll be that next step. It's impossible to get all the down trees on the forest, unfortunately. Um, and some of it it can be good or if you have openings in some areas, there's early successional habitat. So, if you're a hunter, um, that that can be something that's good there, but yeah, we'll we'll continue to strategize on our reforestation and efforts there um, as we get more into past our infrastructure and public safety phase that we've been really

focused on. Cool. Thank you. Thanks, Jen. Yep. Thank you. All right. Our next item on the agenda is uh finance officer Carrie Leford. Good evening, gentlemen. Hello. So before you tonight, find budget amendment number 11. With this amendment, you will see donations to your library for from the friends of the library in the amount of $2,5558 as well as additional revenue in the amount of $10,000 to your animal shelter from the ASPCA to be used for vet care services. See the recording of insurance payments for both the Sprinkle Shelton building and for courthouse. And with the increase of interest, we're adding additional funds for capital expenses to the park parks and recreation, to animal control, to maintenance, and to the tax office. Here too, find the recording of additional revenue generated by the course and sales tax in amount of $44,895.95. And all these amendments are pending your approval. Sales tax money is off this time, huh? back down. Yeah, last month was an anomaly, I guess. Anybody have any questions? Carrie. There are no questions. I'll entertain a motion that we approve budget amendment number 11. I move. Motion by Commissioner White. Is there a second? I'll second. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor of budget amendment number 11. Thank you, gentlemen. Yes, ma'am. Next is item B, which is April's financial reports. You'll see that we're at [Music] 83.66 way through FY25. On the next page, you'll see that

in our general fund, we've received 83.46 of our revenue and expenses are at 63.23%. So, all of our really I mean, I think The main thing keeping us afloat right now is the fact that that all if most if not all of our department heads have done really good jobs on their budgets and also the finance office and trying to control expenses as much as possible since the hurricane hit. So um you know there are tons of expenses that were um forced upon us because of the hurricane. Yes, sir. Um and uh the money to get reimbured for that has been slow to roll in, but good news is some of that is starting to roll in a little bit. So that's correct. Um as well as the insurance payments. Yeah, that'll help too. Of course, that all went right back out to the contractors that did the mitigation work. So, um we didn't get to hold on to that for long, did we? Um anyway, any anybody have any questions for Carrie? All right. I think you're off the hook. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. All right. Up next is topic number six, general discussion um entitled consideration for Madison County Board of Commissioners assuming responsibility and duty of Madison County uh Board of Health pursuant to North Carolina General Statute 153A-77. And Colonel, are you leading this or is Donnie? Donnie will take the lead on this. All right, Donnie, the floor is yours, sir. Do do each of you have a package of materials that was prepared earlier had an opportunity to review? Yes, sir. So, what I'm going to address is the

legal process that a board of county commissioners can uh utilize u regarding its relationship with. In this instance, I'm going to limit it to the Madison County Board of Health. So you have a statute in your package that is entitled by 153A-77 which states authority of boards of commissioners over commissions, boards, agencies etc. So of course you are the board of commissioners and this statute addresses your authority over what is generically referenced commissions boards and agencies. So within boards, commissions and agencies is your local board of health. Presently you you're adopt you you're proceeding under what has been in effect probably the last 50 years which is a separate board of health uh made up of I believe 11 different members and the statute states how those members are appointed to the board. uh those members have to be engaged in certain activities, employment within the community. I think you're required to have a physician, you're required to have maybe a veterinarian, different folks from different fields of service. I know in the past there has been some difficulty finding folks within the community who are willing to serve in those

capacities. Believe you probably even have some vacancies in board members right now. So what this statute does is actually allows this board to abolish the existing board of health and just assume direct control over the board of health. You can do that. There's a process that you do that you you will consider a resolution doing just what I said to abolish the board is assumed direct control. However, you can only do that if you give notice, public notice that that is your intent. that notice has to be published in a newspaper of local circulation 30 days before you can take action to adopt the resolution. Um, and at that meeting where you're going to consider adopting that resolution requires you to hold a public hearing and give people in the community the opportunity to express their wishes, their desires either for the consolid or not. And then after you hold the public hearing, only then can you actually adopt the resolution formally abolishing the board. If you do abolish the board, a statute requires that you appoint an advisory committee. The advisory committee would essentially be

made up of the same people, not not the exact same but the same in the same categories requirements of the existing board that you have right now. Um, if you do adopt the resolution, then you actually at at a portion of your meetings like you're having right now, you would break it down into county commissioner business. And if you have any business that you have to exercise regarding the board of health, you would put that on your agenda and address that. I think Jeremy, you're the existing board of health member now. So when you go to those meet and and Matt, you were the former member, correct? Yes, sir. So you know what type of business the board of health has done in the past. You would simply exercise that those duties as part of your county commissioner's meeting. Um you would um the the main authority that you would have in the the board's biggest authority is so that who your director is. Okay. And and and control over the director. The board of health exercises a lot of rule making authority on the local level. There's not a lot of that. I mean in your past service you can probably count on one hand the times that you all have had to take action regarding rule making. Uh a lot of it is just the director will run things by you. A lot of times that the director does not have to do but they want to get a good feel from the board as to where

you all are with that more in an advisory capacity. Um, you do not have sitting as as a board, you do not have any direct control over any employees, nor do you have any direct control over the budget for the board of health. You do exercise power over the budget in sitting in your position as a county commissioner because you have to approve their budget. Um, employees of the board of health are are unlike your regular county employees because their employment, their discipline, their termination is all governed by the state personnel act and the director will control all of that. They will appoint employees. They will discipline employees. They will terminate employees. The board of health has no appeal. um authority there. You do not sit in judgment of of any type of employee. Um uh your the health director, whoever that is, when it comes time for you here in business, if you so elect to take over, will probably sit in Mr. Honey's place and and we'll we'll we'll direct that portion of the agenda. Uh you will have to have a clerk to the board of hail uh who when you you have that portion of the meetings will have to take minutes not of the county commissioners but of the board of health. Uh that would be someone that you would appoint uh in your capacity as the board of

directors. So, it's a relatively simple process that you go through to assume those duties. Um, it's on the calendar tonight to determine whether or not you want to commence that process and I'll try to answer any questions that you may have if you so elect to do that. So essentially um right now the board of health is a governing board and we would become the governing board and they would become the advisory committee. That's exact the the Yeah. You would take over the actual decision making. You would govern and that would essentially be in the field of selecting discipline all of the employment of the health director and then tangentially to that you would be making rule making decisions with the with the board of health. The advisory board would just simply be there. If you have any questions of them or ask their opinion, you could ask for advice. You do not have to comply with that advice, but you do have to have the board and essentially so we would be just taking the legal liability off the current board. Yeah. Yeah. you would be assuming direct control, taking that under your umbrella. This is a statute that was passed, I think in 2012, that gave counties the authority to do that.

And and I believe in my research it showed that you you can take direct control. You can also be you can do a consolidated health board which is more expansion. you can take it over and instead of taking direct control, you actually appoint a broad board that would oversee all of your DSS, your health. It it's called a consolidated board. That's much more expansive. You have the authority to do that. So, you have two processes you can do if you want to take that away from the board of health. The majority of counties in North Carolina have assumed either direct control or formed a consolidated health court in some capacity. I think that's what my research show came out. Say that one more time. I think the majority of the counties in North Carolina have taken over the commissioners have taken over some form of control whether that's over the board of health whether it's over the department of social services whether it's over both or whether or not they have formed a consolidated health board to take over that control. So there there's been most counties have that have active boards of health and have have assumed more of a role of a direct control role. Okay. So, does the health director answer to the commissioners or would he she could answer to the county

manager? She she answers directly to if you take it over, she answers directly to you. cuz she wasn't falling under. She does not. Okay. And you said on this you said Mandy would be the clerk, but we don't have, you know, and you could appoint, you know, if you want to have two folks here, one being the clerk to the board of commissioners and one being the clerk to the to the board of health, you certainly have that ability. and confusion. I'm just telling you what you can do, telling you what you ought to do. And it abolishes the current board of health. Can we keep the same board if we choose or do we have to abolish it and start over? You can appoint you want to if assuming they're willing. So take all of them and take part of them and take none of them. So currently the way it's set up now if somebody decides to sue the health department the liability falls on the board of health right now board of health has no money if anybody sues you it's going to come out of the county's butts right I understand that but they would be involved in would they be involved in negotiation ations or right now? Yes. Currently, certainly. Yes. We we just um in three or four years ago, we had an environmental health issue where someone thought that they were wronged and they sued the Madison County Board of Health as well as the county.

Um and um I mean that was resolved favorably, very favorably to to Madison County. But if if that same thing happened, you would you you still have a health department. Okay. So you could have a lawsuit filed against the health department and and they sued the health department. So um if if a lawsuit comes up, it's not going to it's probably going to be the same thing. Um it it's just going to give I mean your health director basically governs the health department right now. You sitting as a board does not you all don't have any there's nothing you can do about it. I mean, people can say to you all whatever they want to say about the board of hail, but you have no control in any form or fashion. You have no responsibility for it except that if there is any liability, the county pays for it. If you if you do assume responsibility, it gives you more of a s. I mean, it it really does. So, you know, if if you want to be a board that what I think is does not delegate to other people, but want to assume more of

a direct control, then that's what this statute allows you to do. So what you just said there, it it not only gives us more of a say, but it gives the citizens of Madison County more of a say because they will have elected officials. Yeah. They can pick up the telephone and call you and say, "I want you to do something about this." So it would put more accountability on the health department. Well, obviously it would. Yes. I mean because you know your your health director would be answering to you instead of to help. So when all these people call us instead of saying hey you need to call Tammy we they we could we going to field the calls. Yeah that's right. I mean you know still we're going to put that under vice chairman's duties. you know, as a board, you know, you all set policy and you do do those things. And in small counties, it it's very difficult because your constituents know you, you know, and they like to pick up the phone and they like to call you. But when they call an individual member, they're not speaking to the board. They're only speaking to that individual member. and that individual member cannot speak on behalf of the board. And a lot of times it puts you even though you're an elected official in a very compromised position because people call you and you know I live in Yansy, you live in in Madison. You know, most of the people who calling you, you don't want to really say, "Sorry, I can't help you." you know, if you do that, you're probably not going to get elected again. So, you try to be responsive. So, you want your you want to listen to your

constituents. You can't tell them a lot of times exactly what you want to hear. But what you can do is you can say, "I understand." You know, just like these people from Gabriel's Creek are showing up here. You want to be responsive to what they say. You don't want to say, "Hey, sorry I can't do anything about this." So when you get those calls, you know, you want to say, "Hey, county manager down there, you know, want you to talk to him, express those things." And then, you know, you may check up with your county manager the next day and say, "I got this phone call. You know, these people are concerned. You know, you need to address those needs." And even if you want your county manager then to report back to you what they found, you can do that. Now, right now, somebody calls you about a board of health problem. What can you do? You can say, "Call Tammy. Call the health director. Call health director or call somebody down there." You don't have any control over that. It's not like you can call up the health director the next day and say well you know did so and so call you you know you can't do that. So yes in that in that way it does give you a more direct link to be responsible. Now on the other hand you're creating a whole lot more responsibility and duties upon yourself. Okay right now you don't have to do that. you've got an excuse to say okay sorry you know I wasn't elected to do that but if you do step in and take over that role you are taking on additional responsibility so when those people call you you can't say can't do it you know you got to exercise your you

know governmental duties and responsibilities and I will say for the record when people do call um in in certain instances where I have in in an attempt to try to um assist can call Tammy or Dr. Adams in the P. I've been able to call Dr. Adams in the past as well and and talk to him about certain issues too. So, um not to say that there there was there there is no communication in its current form, but at the end of the day, we can't really do anything other than just solicit assistance. This statute gives you the ability to be more directly involved in what goes on except employees. Except employees. Yeah. You you you don't you you you can't do that. No. You know, you it's limited, which is probably a good thing. Well, that's sort of the practice that you have with the county. I mean, you you know, your your county manager hires and fires, but you still sit in the role of being an appeal board in the event somebody disagrees with that decision. You don't even have that authority with the board of health because they're state personnel employees source for service. Right. Exactly. and and to some degree the sheriff's office as well. So, yeah. Anybody have any questions for Don?

I'm mulling it over. My head's hurting. I sensed that you did. So, that's why I was trying to give you mistakes here. So, we have to notice this. How many I wrote down? 30 days. Is that correct? That's right. Stat. 30 days in advance of a public hearing. And you have to have a public hearing preferably at your a regular meeting. Okay. So what do you need to know? I I you you would need to to say that it is you want to run the notice of a proposed resolution to a to to abolish assume control and appoint an advisory committee and that you're directing the clerk to publish the notice setting the hearing and whatever ever date you want to provided that you can get 30 days notice ahead and then I will prepare a resolution to have ready at that meeting and then in order to vote on that resolution. Now, it, you know, it may be up or down after you've had your public hearing, but you have to do the notice before you can even get to the point of voting on the resolution. If if we notice it for those 30 days, um,

turn, may we have discussions with public and help department? You sure can. I mean that is just a prerequisite to being able to vote on the resolution even though you notice it. We we can have discussions with other professionals and you certainly can. And just for the record is 30 days based on the newspaper advertising cycle. Yeah. So in theory, based on the way that the publish the way the paper's published, it would probably go beyond our next regular schedule. Probably next Wednesday if you're going to publish it in the local paper. It's going to be your first publication day. And and I guess my question would be, does that have to be in the local paper? Can it be by has to be in a in a newspaper that's circulated within Madison County. So it has to It does have to be a citizen or the uh what is it the sentinel? Mhm. What counties in our general area you you said you done some research? I don't know. I just saw the way. It just stated the number of I don't know if I kept the I don't think they did not specify which counties have Google. Yeah, it it was a survey that was

done with government and I just remember reading it when I did my research, but the majority of them that have well I'm not going to say okay commissioner I just I just don't so that was from North Carolina school government it was Any other questions? Jeremy, any additional questions? I think it's an an intriguing uh thing to look into, but uh I also want to say I don't want um our current health department and current health director to think this is a passion session. I think Tammy's uh she and I have agreed to disagree on a few things, but overall she's done a great good job and um I but I do think it's something worth looking investigate. If Donnie says the majority of the counties in the state are doing this and uh I I'd like to look into that a little bit more. So, I guess my question is now that you've had the opportunity to discuss it with the county attorney, uh, is it the will of this board to, uh, table it and take it into further consideration, or is it the will of this board to move forward and,

uh, advertise the 30-day period for in order to achieve a public hearing? Well, personally, I'd like to see it move forward and see what the go to public hearing to see what people think about it. Yeah. How do we know if we do that? Because as a citizen, if the if I have trouble with a department, I would want to call an elected official instead of a board member that is not elected. And we get those phone calls anyway, but we're just passing the buck. And that don't make me feel good about it. And I know it don't make the citizen feel good about it to to call their commissioner and get passed off on somebody else. And I think Donnie had a good point with with smaller counties uh like we've got like like we have you know seven of those board members are professionals. You know they four are citizens. So you go from a pool of thousands for a citizen position, but you go to a pool of two or three for one of those professional positions. So how and I know they still be on the advisory board. Uh but I don't I don't want them making legal decisions something that's going to affect the county. You know, I think we as a commissioner board, I think we need to have the legal liability that

what affects our counties. That's just my opinion. At this time, I'll entertain a motion that we do one or the other. I move that we uh go ahead and start the process and run the notes. So, we have a motion by Vice Chairman Hensley. Is there a second? Bill second. Are you seconding? Bill's deferring, I guess. I think Bill was going to do it, but you okay? Yeah, I'm good. All right. Second by Commissioner Wyatt. Um that would be appropriate time for any additional discussion if there is any hearing. None. We'll move to a vote. All in favor of moving forward with advertising for a public hearing um in order to uh to advance the uh potential idea of of the board assuming the duties of the health department board. Um signify by raising your right hand. All righty, motion passes and we will begin that process. Let's back to my agenda. The next item on the agenda is county manager portion of the program and that's Colonel Rod Honeyut. And Colonel Honeyut, you have uh county manager update first and foremost. under in front of you, you have bubble gum chart and I'm going to use it kind of put a framework around and discuss tonight around FEMA actions and other other

actions going on the west side of the county. Starting with number one up on the top left, Hot Springs Library. The Hot Springs Library is waiting on county action right now, specifically the selective vendor to do the repairs and architect to make the recommendations of the foundation of what need to be repaired. Potentially, this project worksheet will be removed. Uh right now, it is not going to exceed the amount of insurance money received, which is $183,37. We think that the between the donations to the library and in the terms of material and money along with what the county has received from the insurance, we will not make that threshold. I'll make that determination, give you a recommendation in the next week as we finish the quote selection from the vendors. Item number two, the hotring library contents. uh that has been obligated from FEMA in the amount of $64,420. We should see that check arrive uh to the county coffers sometime later June is what we're predicting since it has been obligated. The Sprinkle Shelton building, you can see the cost uh to repair versus build. Uh the county must make a decision to devest, repair, or rebuild. We're not to that point yet. Tomorrow at 8:30, a team of FEMA inspectors will come in and do one final look. And at that point, it will go to the FEMA leadership to make a determination to provide the county $1.6 million or $3 million to use for the rebuild or repair of that facility. Item number four, the sprinkle sh contents. We had to withdraw that claim. Uh the insurance money covered that claim with FEMA, so we had to pull that back. The Madison County courthouse is in the same

category as a sprinkle Shelton building as a county will have to make a decision to devest, repair or rebuild. That has been moved forward to the CRC. Correction that is pending more work from the county staff providing to FEMA to make that decision. Ultimately, it'll be a decision of 1.8 8 million to repair or 5.1 million uh to build a new facility in another location. We did have to send a relocation letter to FEMA for both those facilities and it's to relocate the functions of that building relocating the functions of that building to potentially a new public service complex. We had to submit that letter this week and that letter is complete. Mass County contents uh for the courthouse um is the same status Barnard Park. Uh we have received a quote and we have provided that to the county attorney and he gave us guidance. Uh every angle is the vendor right now has been selected as long as they can meet the FEMA requirements and insurance requirements to move forward with it. the duck at top tower. Um, we had to readjust and take off portions of the tower because we do not own the tower itself. We only own the equipment on the tower. So, we had to readjust that price. And you can see that that price of $524,974 will move forward. That has been pending uh interest peer review at FEMA for 6 days. uh suspect that that one will move forward out the insurance review into the next phase. We'll see movement on that this week. on the ducket top road. Uh as you know the Army National Guard completed the repairs on that that has been waiting for 35 days at a FEMA Q pending mitigation and they're going to put in some water speed reducers there in the amount of $12,000

to help the county and that has been moving forward slowly. Personal property debris removal. Um I'll direct your attention to the bottom of the chart right now. See personal property debris removal. We've had 125 applicants. 14 have been approved at the county and emergency management officer Kate has three more to look at in that first batch we received. We have not been build from the pre-take at this point. Uh but we will see uh that come forward. The state has stood up a new program called the smart program that is removing the responsibility to finance u any debris and personal property debris removal. We get our inbriefing on Thursday whether or not we want to elect to move into the smart program. There's benefits in having them take over uh the financial part of it, but we will lose some of the administration money associated with that. But more to follow. Uh the next one is waterway debris removal. 514 sites across the county have been nominated. 89 to date have been approved. 561 500 uh mile uh linear feet have been completed or the way that um that's what's been approved and 78,000 feet have been removed. Cubic yards uh the way they explain it, it's 69,000 wash machines stacked on top of each other. You hear about a cubic yards way to think about that how much being removed. Uh this week we found out that any of the US Forest Service property along the French Broad we are not eligible to nominate the Forest Service will have to do that. So as we take care of that US Forest Service knows the US Forest Service can either clean it themselves or hire a contractor. Right now I can't tell you where they're at in that uh point. Uh but based off of Solen Waters guidance, contractor's guidance

and our emergency management officers guidance, we have uh started the process of putting seven signs up that say enter the river with a caution knowing that debris removal has happened and we passed that to the county attorney to review and approve that sign is a prudent thing to do knowing that that's going on. Next with the 10 F 10 facilities discussion on item number 12. The first trailer uh will pull out of Florida on Monday and arrive here at the fairgrounds next week. Uh the contract for the site work and the utilities closed today, but of course we only got one bid and it will go back out tomorrow for rebidding. And in the end of that seven days, we'll be able to select the one bidder or make a decision on who's the least and most responsive bidder uh to move forward. Uh with that being said, you can see the timeline. Least cost and most responsive. Right. I said it wrong way. No, no. Just making sure. Least cost, most responsive. We don't want the least responsibility. But as you can see down there, um, right now what I'm projecting for the temporary courthouse, they'll begin staging here relatively short. Um, next advertisement will close on 21 May. Between 22 and 23 May, we'll do negotiations on the contract forecast work site here to begin on the 27th of May and last through the 13th of June. That's the 18 tractor trailers together. with the modular configurations. It could start on the 19th, but right now I'm not estimating that we will be able to have court until sometime around the 28th of July or the 1st of August would be the best case scenario. And if all the stars line up so we would maintain this facility as the court until that facility is able to come online. Correct. Yes, sir. which plays into the

um I'm going take a break for the covered arena right now to the right of that uh because right now we've uh gentle agreement with the fairground that we will be off of the top shelf to make sure that we have the rodeo by the 4th of July but it's also the parking area for the tractor and trailers they come in contractors know that and we're all working together to try to sequence it to make sure we're off the top shelf in time that happen the 4th of July um that contract for the covered arena. The county attorney finished his review on it today. I will tomorrow send it to my endorsement uh to the um firm who is doing the work and we should see work commence here uh probably next week. See them up. Uh the main goal is to pour footers between now and July 4th and then begin phase two of the next to get the covered arena up. progress on it. Not as fast as we wanted, but it's moving um in that direction. All right, back to the temp facility. Uh its contents, $278,000 of contents, judges, desk, jury, uh all the accutrants to go with 25 office spaces. You can see that all will be FEMA reimbured. I had to add one new one on here and that's because on March the 24th, the rules changed. It's now 9010 reimbursement. It was 100% reimbursement from FEMA. It's transparent to us. We won't see it, but in FEMA's mind, anything done after March 24th requires a new project worksheet. So, this list will grow for work that happened after March 24th. Uh, gentlemen, I'll pause there. Uh, subject. Well, one last thing. We're talking FEMA in the hazard mitigation grant program. We still have 17 homes or addresses listed in that program. um pending uh FEMA's approval and state approval to ask us if we want to assume

those positions, those addresses. Uh one of the ones that the emergency management officer brought up is, and we brought this up to the governor this week, we want to put an access ramp below the dam and above the dam. Uh and we could do that with the property that's coming on board. We can do that with a gravel boat ramp right now, but I think we need to try to stretch that in to put something more fixed facility up. Uh if we're willing to keep it there and not just have gravel there and make it nice, we'll submit that um through the appropriate channel up to the governor. If you see receptive vote this week, uh we'll see where it goes from there. All right, gentlemen. So, your questions, that's everything I've got off the FEMA update and county projects. That saved you all a bunch of time for leadership table. Any questions for the car? I give a transition item 7B county on surplus property. Right now we received a bid of $2,000 for 26 acre. It's a $74,000 property uh 74875. Right now your decision tonight is to accept, reject, and provide a counter offer. So this is a quarter acre of land. Yes, sir. Pin number 986186574. So at this point, um, this was a bid we had previously approved, advertised for upset bid. No upset bids came in. So now, uh, it's on us to make a final determination as to whether we want to accept the $2,000 and put the property back on the tax roles, whether we want to reject it, or I think we still have the option to counter offer. Is that correct? Does this bidder own property that joins this?

I believe I recall that. Six acres keep I move that we accept the bid and put it back on taxes. So we have a motion by Vice Chairman Hensley to accept the bid. Second second by Commissioner White. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? So we transition to item 7 C boards and appointments. Tonight we have six vacancies to discuss chair. I'll turn it over again. We get to those last three. All right. I'll take those. Very good. Uh so first uh I think we can do the these two uh they're both of them are library board of trustees. Um library board has recommended that uh Annie Gout and Beth Honeyut uh be reappointed. They have submitted the appropriate paperwork by recommendation of the library. One is Beth Honeyuts Marcel and Yianus Hot Springs. Um, this time I'll entertain a motion uh on the two on Annie and Beth Honeyup to be reappointed to the library board of trustees for three-year term. Motion by Vice Chairman Hensley. Is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Wyatt. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? All right. Uh now uh the next one is a vacancy um on planning board that was uh I think this is Lee

Wilds. So unfortunate um this this one's come up uh because of the unfortunate passing of Mr. Wild. And um this is for to finish out his term which will expire in December of 2026. And at this let's see uh in regards to the plane board we've got uh a list of applicants uh below us and at this time I'll entertain a nominee. Uh, Chairman Wick, um, I'd like to place that nominee and I'd also like to say Lee Wild was a friend of mine, very close friend of mine and um, I appreciate him and his family and the time that he put into this county and the volunteer hours that he put into it, he he loved this county and it's it's been a tough loss. Um, and I have picked up the phone to call him two or three times since his death just by habit. And u I miss him, but uh continue to pray for his young children and his wife who is continuing to heal. But at this time, I'd like to make a recommendation that we put uh uh Jeff Riddle on the planning board. So, I have a motion by Commissioner Wyatt to appoint Jeff Riddle to finish out the existing term. Is there a second? Second. Second by Vice Chairman Hensley. Any discussion? I would just like to echo what Allan said. Th this is going to be uh some big shoes to fill for this position. Lee was a great asset. He was knowledgeable, skillful, and on that plan board and and uh he he will truly be missed in the county and on that plan board. Cannot disagree one bit. Appreciate uh Lee's commitment to the

county and he was always one of the first ones to step up whenever anybody in the county needed help and um he will be will be tremendously missed in the community and countywide. Um, any additional discussion? Hearing none, we'll move to a vote. All in favor? All right. Jeff Riddle's been appointed to that unexpired term. Gentlemen, for the last three, the public safety board, the town leadership uh have provided the following names. For the town of Hot Springs and Dan Meyers, for the town of Marshall, Kenny Brown, and for the town of Mars Hill, Waldo Nathan, Candy Brown for Marshall. You said yes. [Music] Those are two-year terms and two of the gentlemen fill in those seats. Now, Chief Brown came in with unfortunate passive. Correct. All right. So, um, and so Chief Brown and Chief Waldup are already serving. So, those would be reappoints. Yes. And then Dan Iris is a new appointment for you serving, too. Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. My mistake. All right. So, we're reappointing all three individuals that currently represent the towns on that board. And that's with the towns um that's with the town's blessing, each of the individual towns blessings. At this time, I'll entertain that as a slate to uh reappoint those three gentlemen. So move motion by Vice Chairman Hensley. Is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner White. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? All right. And finally, item 7D. Hey, I'm going to ask the uh HR director Brandy come forward on this one. Uh help me this discussion. Uh it won't this won't take long. As you're coming up,

Randy gentlemen, I want to point your attention to the bottom right hand side of this chart where there's a little bit of uh I want to make sure that the citizens know and you know to date we've received $5.2 million uh that's $2 million from insurance, $1.6 million from FEMA, and a $1.6 million loan uh that the state has provided. We have spent 2.5 million and we have 2.7 million uh that will go towards FEMA related uh expenses. But we do have quite a few large bills coming up with the arrival of the courthouse, the temporary courthouse and facilities. While it looks like we have 2.7 million, that 2.7 million is pretty much obligated very quickly. Um, good news with the temporary courthouse. Now that we've hit 1.6 million, uh, we can send a letter request in the remaining portion of that temporary courthouse and it don't go through FEMA. It goes to the state. So that money will turn around much sooner. But the finance director can tell you that operating capital is very critical right now as we negotiate these new bills. General questions, we'll move on to 7D. Any questions? I I just don't feel good saying that we've received $1.6 million from the state when it's actually a loan. That's true. It is a loan. It is a bridge mitigation law. That's a true statement. Second round is open. Well, we can. Yeah, I know. I'll keep my fingers crossed. And uh traditionally, traditionally, just for the sake of everybody listening, traditionally those loans are forgiven. Uh it's not a guarantee that they will be, but traditionally they have been in

the past. And the second round of the state loans is opening up uh by June 6th for us to submit other applications. I'll provide that in the recommendation of the board to consider that. to the last topic um is a portion of our human resource policy. Right now there is a stipulation in there uh that pertains to nepotism that restricts the county's ability to hire some of our workforce as we have young men and women uh moving into the workforce and this small county. I'm requesting that the board read the language on page two and allow the county manager, the director, and a human resources director make a decision on whether or not it's appropriate to hire an individual based off of family or relative working in the same department. But in no case would a family member be in charge of that person of that relationship that they may have. I'll turn it over to you for anything that I may pass up there. I think that's pretty much sums it up there. On page two, it's um proposed verbiage um to potentially replace the current section in the personnel policy that's attached um to your pack. There I've highlighted the definition um that's mentioned um in section 5.06 106. Um, that's currently in the personnel policy. Nothing of course has been altered or changed in the current. Um, this is just recommended verbiage. Um, subject to your guidance. How's it going to the county attorney real quick? There's no requirement for us to have an epidm policy. I think it's good to keep the backbone the way we introduced it here. Not any guidance for the board to consider as we go into this? No. No.

There's not a legal requirement that you have to have an anti nepatism policy. A lot of large counties do have those. It creates a burden on small counties because you have a limited number of employees that are available to work in the county. A lot of those folks gravitate toward if you're in the same family, gravitate toward the same kind of employment. And so you really tie in your hands by making a mandatory requirement that you cannot do that. It's much much better to do it on a discretionary basis. And uh I I mean I I have drafted similar policies that allows for discretion for my other governmental clients and they do not have a mandatory you can't do it's good. So the disc the the discretionary test will be a three-prong uh process with the county manager that department head and human resources all three having and for lack of a better term an equal vote in the process. Yeah. and they can just decide whether or not circumstances in this instance they should hire that particular and car policy says if those three can't come to United decision we bring it to the board for your consideration. So if you if the three can't it's not a majority if the three have to be unanimous if the three are not unanimous and it comes to the board of commissioners for a final decision. I need that uh to make that change. That

your formal motion vote for the board. I'll make that formal motion. We adopt that. Do we have a motion by Vice Chairman Hensley? Is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner White. At this point, I'm going to ask that we have a quick pause here just so I can read it over one more time. And we'll give everybody else opportunity to do so. So, we're not changing the policy. We're just adding that registration pretty much. Yeah, we're we're addend it's an addendum to the policy, I guess, would be the best way to say it. We're actually adding another layer to to the existing policy um to allow the discretion of the county manager, the human resources director, and that individual department head that would be responsible for the supervision of that employee. So, um, having read it again, I I don't have any additional questions. Anybody else? Any additional discussion or questions for the current? No. All right. Hearing none. Move to a vote then. All in favor? All right. Gentlemen, so any questions or guys, that completes my portion uh for tonight and all items on the agenda. All right. Anybody have any questions for the colonel at this time? This time I'll entertain a motion we adjourn. So move. Motion by Commissioner White. Is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Hensley. All in favor? Vice Chairman Hensley. I'm sorry. All right. We stand ajourned.