Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

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[Music] At this time, I ask everyone to please stand, join us in the pledge of allegiance. Colonel, would you please lead us in the pledge? 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 for all. And at this point, we will now do a moment of silence. Please join us in a moment of silence. Thank you very much. Once again, I'll remind everyone, please turn off your cell phones if you've not already done so, or at least turn off your ringers, please. Um, first uh item of business this evening is our approval of the agenda. And gentlemen, agenda has been published for the world to see at this time. So at this time I would entertain a motion that we either approve or amend the agenda as desired. So move motion to approve. Is that a motion to approve? Yes, sir. Motion to approve by Commissioner Garrison. Is there a second? Second. Second by Vice Chairman Hensley. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? All right. Tonight's agenda is approved. I will just note for the record, too, that the Commissioner Wyatt is unable to join us tonight. He got called out of town on business. He's currently in Raleigh on a

business trip, and he was unable to join us tonight. So, um, up next, uh, is our consent agenda. Consent agenda tonight uh consists of tax refunds and releases, our health department 2025 2026 fee schedule, our North Carolina Department of Public Safety offender labor contract, Specialized Consulting Services LLC service contract ratification, and the approval of our minutes from the May 13th special meeting, May 13th regular meeting, May 20th special meeting, and May 27th special meeting, which were all sent to you in advance for your review. At this time, I'll entertain a motion that we approve the consent agenda. I move we approve the consent agenda. Motion by Vice Chairman Hley. Is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Garrison. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor. Consent agenda is approved. All right. Our next item on the agenda tonight is our public comment. This is our general public comment for the commissioner's meeting tonight. So by rule and this is a standing rule north that we've had in this county for years. Uh the first 10 people on this list will speak at at in this session. The remaining anybody above and beyond between 10 and 20 will be able to speak at the close of the meeting before we close the meeting out. you'll have your opportunity to speak, but we have to conduct the business of the county. So, we'll let the first 10 go um at the beginning of the meeting. The final 10 uh we'll follow up uh prior to adjournment. So, uh this uh you have what just some rules we'll lay down real quick. When you come up to the podium, please state your name. Let us know what community you live in. And at that point, we'll

start the 3minut clock. uh when 3 minutes are up, we will notify you the 3 minutes are up and we will request that you uh respectfully return to your seat at that time so that the next person has their opportunity to speak. So uh up first on the list is Miss Judy Major. Jim Baker, you're on deck if you want to make your way up towards the front, sir. Well, hi. I thought you said Judy Major. No, Judy Major is first. Please go to the podium. Yes, please podium. Major Sure will. All right. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. My name is Judy Major, and I am going to seed my time to Jim Baker this evening. Okay. It doesn't give him six minutes. I just want you to understand that. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is Jim Baker. I live in the Marshall community and uh I am here as a citizen of Madison County, also as a prior county commissioner and also as a prior member of the board of health. I do want to speak to you about the board of health situation and I do ask you to give it great consideration. I make no hesitation in telling you that I'm profoundly against uh the proposal to do away with the board of health as it currently exists and I make an advisory board with the commissioners having the power of the board of health. There are several reasons both practical and political that I think it is a mistake. The practical reasons I think are fairly obvious. The political reasons are not really as important as a practical reason, but are still something that you all should carefully consider. First of all, as a practical reason, you're going to lose the experienced health advisors that currently make up the current board of health. Uh physician, dentist, veterinarian, nurse, pharmacist, engineer, uh county commissioner, for

citizens make up our board. If you uh do away with our board as it currently exists, then you five members uh will be taking over the authority of the board of health. None of you know it's self attended. Uh having the background in board of health that most of these members do. Uh you will have an advisory board. I know that's required by law. Uh but it's going to be difficult to even find members to serve on an advisory board. uh do you think uh that people who are on the board of health now are going to be willing to be demoted to an advisory board? I would say that most are not and you're going to have tr trouble finding replacements since there are some medical positions in our county that we only have one. If they did not wish to serve, then we're going to have vacancies on an advisory board. Uh a second practical matter is the new duties and the time required by the commissioners. The board of health is required to have at least five monthly meetings and those meetings will last anywhere from an hour and a half to three hours. I don't think that you all have the time with the issues that you have now to take over the duties and responsibilities of the board of health. The board of health is already aware of problems based on their working in the health program. You all again know if that's attended or not. You're going to have to rely on a report from someone, a summary from someone, perhaps the county manager, and I don't mean any insult to the county manager, but you're not going to get the experience that the board of health current has and is able to do when they have decisions. It takes them one and a half to three hours to make decisions. You can imagine how much it's going to take you all. And now the political problems. Uh this is a controversial topic. It's a very controversial topic as you can see from tonight. Could I ask people just to raise their hands if you're here because of the board of health situation? You can tell then how much of a controversy

this is. Next year is an election issue election year. This is going to be a major issue on the election. If three of you who are up for reelection are going to uh run for reelection next year, uh I can guarantee you, and I don't mean this a threat or anything, but I can guarantee you you will have primary opposition and you will also have opposition in the fall. It's absolutely not necessary. Thank you, Judge. What? Time's up, judge. Thank you. All right. Thank you, judge. Thank you very much. Thank you, judge. Up next is Jan Lounsberry and uh Dr. Der, you're up on deck. Good evening, Miss Lber. Thank you. My name is Jan Lbury. I live in the Great Vine community and thank you for our time tonight to speak. I have been informed you're considering changing the local board of health to an advisory board in order to control board actions and the hiring and firing of the health director. The local board of health has responsibility to protect and promote the public health by adopting rules and policies that do so. The power and duty of is defined by the North Carolina general statutes. General Statute 138-35 names the board of health members. As Mr. Baker just said, you have three citizen public citizens, one county commissioner, one physician, one dentist, one RN, one pharmacist, one veterinarian, one engineer, and one optometrist. And all members of the board of health reside in Madison County. Health department programs are dedicated to the purpose of disease, disease prevention and health promotion for all county residents. Some of the

programs examples at the local health department include child health and immunizations, family planning and maternity health, health promotion, wick nutrition program, dental program, childhoodled program, tattoo parlor regulations, public health preparedness, environmental health. The local health director administers these programs plus additional programs as directed by the local board of health by me national and state guidelines. This may involve the inventory investigating of disease outbreaks that may need exercise of quarantine and isolation. The health director disseminates public health information, advises local officials concerning public health matters, enforces immunization requirements, examines and investigates cases of tuberculosis and other communicable disease, examines and controls rabies, abates public health imminent hazard such as disease outbreak or even a chemical spill. The board of health meets every other month to review updates on public health problems to learn how the health director is addressing them and what is needed to respond to an existing challenge. Recently, I asked Mr. Garrison, Mr. Briggs, and Mr. Hinsley why they wanted to make this change. I was told the county commissioners received at least a hundred calls complaining of about one program, the environmental health program, and they were consult concerned about resulting liability issues. As a former board of health member and health director, I must ask if environmental health is the issue of out of the examples I've listed, why not address the program and concerns to see if changes could be made to create a solution? Why change a local board of

health that has worked well for the past 50 years and has the goal every day of keeping Madison County residents healthy and safe? Thank you, Miss. Up next is Dr. Shannon Dowler and uh following that would be Elizabeth uh is it Punzer? Punser. Punzer. I'm sorry, ma'am. You're on deck. All right. I'm Dr. I'm Shannon Galler. I'm a family physician from the big laurel community and a prior member of the Madison County Board of Health. When I'm speaking on behalf of myself this evening, when I heard of the pending vote around the board of health, I asked myself, why do the commissioners want to make this change right now? Are Madison County health outcomes worsening? Are we not hitting target budgets? So, I dug into the data and I'm going to share a few things that I found. Madison County Health Department, which was noted with honors on its most recent accreditation, has hit their budget 10 years in a row, often under budget, and has secured additional funding resources to offset county expenses. Madison's actually seen some of the most significant decreases in the state in opioid overdose deaths. We have a rate that's half of that of the state average in every adjoining western North Carolina county, and it's exclusively funded outside of county dollars. We have some of the lowest cervical cancer rates in the state due to timely HPV vaccination and screening women with papsmears. Our low birth rates and premature births are also the lowest in the state thanks to high quality women's health offered at the health department. Much to my disappointment, as I had hoped to work as an STD clinician in the Madison County Health Department, we have some of the lowest rates of chlamydia, gorrhea, HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis in the entire state. pretty sure it's not because people in Madison County choose not to have sex. I think they have timely access to testing and prevention which are statemandated services. Some years ago, my understanding is that Swain County made

a similar move from a board of health to a county commissioner controlled board of of health. And now, Swain County boasts some of the worst health outcomes of the entire state. From having the highest teen birth rates to the highest poor health days and the lowest life expectancy of any county in North Carolina. So, if we want to look more like Swing County here in Madison County, by all means, we should continue on this path. Moving the board of health to the commissioners actually increases liability for individual commissioners and for the county by not having another entity to shift responsibility to. and it creates a tremendous concept of interest. Imagine being a septic inspector and going to inspect a property that's owned by a commissioner who controls your paycheck or being a nurse practitioner and you're managing the pregnancy of a woman in an abusive relationship and the abuser is related to a sitting commissioner meeting who has access and control over all of your resources. This move creates tremendous vulnerabilities. Separating community health from local politics is critical. I encourage the board to delay a decision and a vote on this deeply controversial topic until you can retain an external, non-political, and unbiased consultant to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the various options for the community and the commissioners to respond to. Thank you very much. Thank you. Dr. Poner. My name is Elizabeth Poner and I own a far small farmstead near Bender Bay in Madison County. I am also a veterinarian currently practicing in Warren Hill after my office in downtown Marshall was destroyed by the flood. When I took my oath as a veterinarian, I swore to use my scientific knowledge and skill for the benefit of society through includes the promotion of public health. As a veterinarian, I have also been

tasked and trained by the state and federal governments in the identification and control of zoologic diseases. These include races, brucyosis, and tuberculosis. We veterinarians work in cooperation with the health department to make sure physicians have the most up-to-date knowledge on the treatment of exposure to rabies. Rabies is 100% fatal disease of mammals. It is done worldwide and bats and raccoons are regional reservoirs. The virus travels rapidly up neurons to the brain. So prophylaxis must begin as soon as possible after exposure. Is transmitted in the saliva of affected animals. So rabid stray kitten may expose children and their friends. In large animals it can resemble choke or difficulty swallowing. Many individuals can be exposed before the disease is suspected and identified by a veterinarian. When we veterinarians suspect babies exposure, we rely on the health department to identify all individuals who have been exposed into direct treatment. Our current health department under the guidance of Tammy Cody and the current board of directors does an exemplary job of keeping our citizens safe and alive after exposure to veterinary, zoologic, and animal communicable diseases. I do not see the need to restructure the governance of the health department for fiscal reasons that could affect the lives of our citizens. 14 positions in our county employment were recently dissolved or left unfilled. I would ask that boss would expand to the persons employed by the board of health that we lose more positions that are vital to the effective operation of the health department in its myriad diseases, its myriad duties and responsibilities for the citizens of Madison County.

Up next is Dr. Jenny Barnard and then on that Sherry Perry. Good evening, commissioners. I hope you all are well. My name is Jenny Barnhart. I've lived in Marshall for 33 years and I'm a family physician and The main thing that I want to underscore is to ask you all not to make our health department a partisan endeavor. And I'm asking you all to keep the board of health intact with it current duties and current possibilities that it has and has had the last 15 years. Thank you. Thank you. Up next is Sherry Perry and then Amy Pearson, you're on deck. Good evening. My name is Sherry Perry. I live in the Great Vine community and I am here on behalf of advocating for some of you who might be in this room 60 and older. Maybe I'm working, but I am I am the delegate from Madison County representing uh 33% of our population in Madison County of the age 16 and older to the North Carolina Senior Tarill Legislature. We meet three times a year in Raleigh and the purpose of that is to advocate for our senior citizens that live here in our beautiful county. Um the month of May was celebrated nationally and has been since 1963, older American months. Uh during that

month, we were able to go to all eight of our senior blooming sites. Um, maybe you're not aware of all of those sites, but I'd like to tell you where they are. Uh, we are at Beach Glenn. We're the center community center. We're in Hot Springs, Mars Hill, Marshall, Shelton, Laurel, Spring Creek, and Upper Laurel. We're a big We're a big county landwise, but there's a lot of traveling that has to happen with these uh eight senior living sites. And I'm happy to say that we were able to go and celebrate that particular older Americans Month in every one of our senior sites. I was gratified because uh our county commissioners chose to join me. We we went together. We visited every senior site. Um, everyone in these sites was prepared uh knowing that our commissioners were coming and so they were armed with a lot of questions and they were greeted enthusiastically and I want to thank the commissioners for joining me. Uh, it was an overwhelming success. Um, and they're hoping that the commissioners will come back on a quarterly basis. And I want to tell you one more thing of how special I think our county is by what we have here. Bunkham County, huge county. Can you imagine how many sites they've got? Zero. What about county, large county, even a larger population of age 60 and older, they have zero. We have eight. We have to continue to support these with um I think education. These are socialization organizations where these people meet. The meals that are provided are no charge to the ones who come. This is all

done under the umbrella of the Department of Health and Human Services. I've got brochures out in the lobby and I encourage you to go visit one. Thank you very much. Thank you. Up next is Amy Pearson and Sydney Davidson, you're on. Good evening. My name is Amy Pearson. I live not far from here, just outside of Marshall. And I would like to have more clarification. I'm here to support the commissioners. They have been fabulous. They make decisions based on information they have. They've been very supportive of this county. Um, I'd like to support them and better understand. I know there's a lot of people that support not changing things. Why a change is necessary is completely unclear. I believe not only to me but to everybody here. Ask that the commissioners have an opportunity to present a thoughtful and I'm sure well thought through um decisions that they've been making before us on our behalf. Thank you. Thank you. Up next is Cindy Davidson. And then on deck is going to be I think Trisha Shapiro. Is it? Yes. All right. My name is Cindy Davidson. I'm from Big Laurel. And my phone is almost dead, so I'm going to have to talk. I appreciate the the conversation that we had out lobby. I did talk to a lot of y'all and I do appreciate that. I feel like as a county that we can unite together and supporting our commissioners. they've got a big job to do. Like Amy said, I feel like they've done a really, really good job. I've come to them several times with personal things and friends of mine also have done the same and uh they give everybody

equal time and I feel like that they really care about the decisions that they make for the county. Now, I know you all are not appointed. Y'all are elected and I feel comfortable you all taking over the health department. You we voted you in and you oversee I've done a little bit of work, investigation work. You all oversee uh everything except um DSS, the health department, the school. Uh well, the school and the sheriff is the is the budget. You all do oversee the budget. I'm not getting this wrong, but that's what I've come up with. And so, um you all already oversee the county and you've done a good job. So, you have my total support. Thank you. Up next is Trisha Shapi Shapiro. And then our final person on deck for the first half here is going to be Dr. Suzanne Sheldon. Uh, good evening. I'm Trisha Shapiro. I'm a county resident and voter. I've lived in Spring Creek for 18 years. Uh, my comment is about your proposal to take over the board of health. Over the past several years, our county's board of health has done a fine job navigating the crises of CO and Helen and meeting other public health needs. You're proposing to fix something that isn't broken. And you're proposing this now when we need local government to be focused on lean recovery, which is a huge cost, but we still have no clear path to to to fully fund it. Your proposal is this makes me sad to say this because Madison County has a long history of people in government doing the right thing for the entire community regardless of partisan affiliation. But your proposal is part of a broader pattern of Republican partisan power grabs which we are seeing in national, state, and local

government. For a nearby example, I'll point you to Yansy and Jackson counties where currently Republican commissioners are forcing takeovers of their local libraries despite opposition from large numbers of their constituents. And despite the reality that these takeovers will cost local taxpayers a lot of money. I don't know if you're proposing to take over a board of health just because you can or to enable you to pursue extremist Republican culture war policies or to create new opportunities for crony enrichment. I do know that you have come up with this scheme behind closed doors without open discussion with your constituents or even with current board of health members. I've come to this meeting fully expecting that, as you've seen in other counties where these partisan power grabs are happening, the vast majority of comments you will get will be against this proposal. I've also come expecting that you will refuse to answer questions and then enact the change you've already decided on regardless of what you hear today. I hope you will prove me wrong about that though. And here's how you can. We should be having a full and public discussion about this proposal that includes you commissioners, us constituents, and board of health members. That public discussion should cover the costs, pros, cons, and future consequences of your proposed takeover. Since the rules you've set up for commissioner meetings don't allow for that kind of public discussion, you should schedule a separate town hall where we can have that discussion with you all. actually answering questions. If you don't believe that your proposed takeover would stand a lighter day and come out of the public discussion like that with the approval of your constituents, then you should withdraw

your proposal. You should do that immediately tonight and now. Thank you. Sheldon, you're up. Hey, John. Where's the camera tonight? It's on you. I know it's on me. Is it right there? Yes. All right. Okay. So, first of all, uh when uh Mr. laws made a statement at the May 13th meeting that the majority of um the counties had made a change to a consolidated or uh commissionerbased board of health. That was incorrect. Only 37 out of our 100 counties have done that. Um, I'm actually just going to throw together some statements because everybody who's spoken tonight has hit the major points. Um the next thing is I have spoken to a lot of um potentially the health department employees, um environmental science employees and school nurses and they're getting their resumes together. They are mad because they don't know why this is happening and they can only speculate. We can only speculate as to why this is going on. So, you know what? We're going to the worst case scenario. You guys have not given us any information on what's what to expect. Um, so anyway,

if we lose our nurses and our health department specialists, including environmental sciences, it's going to be a major hindrance to the tourism industry we're trying to rebuild after Hela. these restaurants, these shops, um the having to get the wells redone, having to get our um restaurants reinspected. I know I'm rambling, but if we don't have people to do that, it's not going to be this fall when we're ready to go. It's going to be a year or more from now. Um, all right. Last thing I'm probably going to have time for is at the end of the May 13th meeting, you guys also mentioned bringing in Department of Social Services and the Sheriff's Office into a potential um seizure or takeover of their boards. that I find to be the big burr that's in my britches is that if we're going to have a change in structure of government, how far is this going to roll? And this is not something that I think that most people are comfortable with is just that it's going to be a board of health issue, but it may roll over into more and more. And this is not not this is not a partisan issue. I spoke I speak to all kinds of folks and there are a lot of folks that are mad and want to have you guys hold off. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. By our rules this time, I'll entertain a motion that we um adjourn the public comment portion until the uh final topic of business has been discussed. So motion by Vice Chairman Hley. Is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Garrison. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? All right. So, just for the record, so that those of you know who can stick stick around if they would if they wish is Katherine Hubard, Tim Barnett, Amy Rubin, Cassie Flegger, uh, Brianna Nelson, John, uh, I think it's Jana Matson, and Adam Bennett. So, folks, we want to hear from you. We'll give you the opportunity to speak. Chairman, since I've forfeited my time without the knowledge that I couldn't give it to someone else, may I add my name? I'll put you back. I'll put you on again. Yes, ma'am. Certainly. That's fair enough. Thank you, Doc. Thank you, Jan Major. All right. So, it um so we will continue on on uh on deck for the rest of our meeting here. Uh first up is going to be uh Colonel Honeyut and uh myself with an employee recognition. So I'm Rod Honeyut, county manager, and I have the honor of working with 277 great individuals. And tonight, I want to recognize one of those individuals who's unaware of Betty Turner, if you'll come up here, please. She thought she was here to take notes, but she's not here to take notes. Come on up, baby. So today lady worked in the tax office and we had a change of personnel in our

transportation department. So I started campus of the county who will be the person to come in and back field give us help Betty Turner said I need your help. She comes in she picks up the phone and you can't make this up day one. Yeah this is Betty of the transportation department. Oh you're back. She knew everybody's name. It was like having an old folks conversation. She stepped right in. And Betty, I want to tell you certification is awarded to Betty Turner in recognition for exemplary service and dedication to Madison County. June 16th, 2025. Betty, we sincerely appreciate your willingness and dedication to Madison County. This Friday, in your payroll check, you will receive a monetary recognition. Thank you. and then you don't have to take any notes. You're welcome to if you would like, but you don't have to. You would like to or you can if you'd like to, but you're no longer required to. Thank you very much. All right. Up next is our bud our public hearing for our budget ordinance and we have an official presentation of the uh county budget by county manager Colonel Rod Honeyut. We've got screen over here for those of you that might not be able to see that one. We've got this one, but unfortunately it's probably a little bit further away for most of you. Chairman, commissioners, glad to have an opportunity to present the 2526 budget. Just going to go over five slides up front and we go deep into any areas you wish to work into as we move forward. Jamie, could you go forward two slides, please?

Gentlemen, this will be the sixth meeting we've had on the budget. has six meetings with commissioners and three meeting with county employees only. Gentlemen, we have one more potential meeting. If you do not adopt the budget tonight, that will be on the 24th of June. Next slide, please. A couple facts and assumptions that the staff used uh to recommend this budget. Our FY2425 budget was $33 million. We elected to stay revenue neutral because of the recent tax reevaluation. Hurricane Helen has cost the county dearly in revenue across every department. Somewhere in the neighborhood of $2.8 million that the county has lost in revenue this last year. Sales tax, you can see what were recommended based off the economy to date 6.8 6.984. Human resources some of the assumptions they made. The budget supported 300 full 302 full-time and part-time employees last year. the current workforce. As we put this together, we had 25 vacancies. This budget reflects the not funding of 14 positions. Correct. 13 positions. One removed full-time that will remove those duties of economic development to those of the county manager's office and 12 positions we will not fund as we hold until we get into the FY27 budget cycle. This budget has no tax increase. It remains a 0036. The recommended budget can go slide one more recommended budget is 33,4842,000 at 0036. Each mill rate would have cost $400,000. Each pay raise would have been $168,000 across the county. Each percentage of pay each percentage

of pay range would cost that. This budget reflects somewhere between 3% and 10% pay raise for every employee. Tammy and the health department came up with a great plan of closing the gap with us having admin hospital coming up. We know that we're going to have to pay our medical person no more. Tammy did the same thing. The sheriff's department did the same thing in this. I pulled county maintenance of all our buildings training and travel to my level. not well I want to control it but I want to have a mechanism in place to make sure we save money. It'll go through the HR department and into um finance to make sure we got the coffers in training and travel. We made the assumption that you would support the one full-time position deletion plus 12 full-time positions not funded. We will pull forward $400,000 as you see in the bottom right hand corner of a fund balance, but we're not able to raise taxes by leveraging this. We're doing this because we know that right now we have a $970,000 check inbound from FEMA that we used out of our county funds to make up that shortfall. J for one more revenue by source and expense by source. Three county departments stayed the same with their expense. 20 declined and 12 increased. You can see the balance between the two expenses and the revenues. Gentlemen, we've had this budget discussion now for a little over nine weeks. We've met we've had an all day session and several short sessions. Um, I want to ask you tonight that you adopt the fee schedule that is in your books. You've already adopted the medical fees. There'll be one more adjustment in the fee schedule and that adjustment is not an increase, but we're requesting that we codify any

home that has been destroyed, we do not charge a permit fee. So, that is in that fee schedule going forward. Home destroyed by Hurricane Heli. Okay? We will not charge a permit fee for that family that comes in. Um, and then inside of your packets, chairman, you have the budget resolution that must be signed. It has the same stipulations as before, puts guard rails on the county manager, dos and don'ts, uh, and tells us how the money is broke down by department. Jim, some of your questions. I'm gonna stop there before we get into further details by department if you have the public. You'll have comments next to the public hearings. Stand by. Anybody have any questions for the current? We've all been through this multiple times already, but any questions? No. The time is left, I guess. All right. I do want to thank um all our department heads. Uh I have asked them multiple times uh sometimes pleasant, sometimes not pleasant. Go back and come back u and cut the budget more. And I can tell you that your department heads in this county have done great work in a time where our join counties are raising taxes and we're not. Uh you can thank your department heads, your county commissioner for that. Also got to thank the finance director uh Carrie Leford for putting up with my shenanigans as we go through these numbers cuz there's a whole lot of numbers we went through over the past uh what's it like 17,000 lines and we've stretched every one of those lines on multiple occasions gentlemen I'll stop there questions questions anybody

good so this time um is this is where we would open up for public comment. However, no one signed up for public comment pertaining specifically to the budget. But pursuant to our rules that we have for uh for special public comment such as this, uh our rules do allow that if there is anyone that is here with us present tonight that would like to uh comment specifically pertaining to the budget. Um they have the ability to do so, if you will signify by raising your hand or move forward to the podium. Sir, come on up. Please state your name and community that you live in. And you've got three minutes just like everybody else. Good evening. I'm Danny W. I live in the stack house community. I have a question. Mr. Honeyut. Did the education portion of the budget go down this year compared to last year? So, this isn't a question and answer session, but I will let the county manager make decision as whether he wants to answer that question or not. So, I will be transparent and answer his question. Last year, somebody from the school board, if you're not here, I'll have turn was $4.6 million. This year, it's 4.7 million. So, there's about a $100,000 increase over last year uh going into the college. A 2.2% increase to the school board. Would you answer another question? Did they ask for more money than that? Sure they did. They asked for 5.4 million. So what are they going to do to get the rest of the money? Sir, I can't speak on school board behalf. I mean had honest conversation with Dr. Hoffman. Talk to him regularly. He knows where the county most of the departments as you can see over there. The change everybody went down. 20 departments went down and we we I think we'll be a good steward of the taxpayer dollars at this

point and I think we've moved away from the point of public comment at this point. So, Mr. Mr. White, you're free to make any additional comments you would like to make. I just want to say that the education system in this county has become excellent. It needs to be supported fully. If they ask for more money, I am disappointed that we weren't able to provide that. And um I just hope that in our next budget, if you adopt this one, that you will consider the needs of the students in this county and the importance of providing the best education possible. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. W. So that we uh don't violate spirit of the rules any further. If there's anyone else that would like to make public comment in regards to the budget. Again, this portion is not a question and answer session, but there is public comment. Yes, sir. You come on up to the podium, please. Please state your name and your community, please. My name is Nathan Cody. I live uh grew up in the chapel community, but I live in Marsh Hill now. And I I went down to pay my taxes, you know, down in Marshall. That lady said, "Uh, you need to cut your hair." And, you know, you never know what to say in that moment. But I was thinking, "You need to cut our taxes" is what I was thinking. And I told her, I was my uh running for office hair and my Sunday school teacher. I'm a Sunday school teacher and uh and I am planning for running for Austin. She said, "You won't get nowhere like that." And I said, "Well, if we voting for people based on their hair, do we got a lot of problems?" And then uh well, what I was wondering was how do our taxes go up so tremendously

and then we're cutting out parts? That didn't the math just didn't add up to me. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Mr. Cody. Anyone else that would like to speak? Public comment pertaining to the budget. Seeing none, at this time, I'll entertain a motion that we close public comment. Motion by Vice Chairman Hensley, second by Commissioner Briggs. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? So, at this point, now is board discussion time. Uh, Colonel, we like we've mentioned previously, we've uh we've all met on this topic multiple times here going forward, but at this time we'd like to uh um there any additional things you would like to address in regards to any comments that we made, Colonel? No, sir. Anybody have any questions for the colonel in regards to tonight's budget um presentation? I will add that copy of these slides along with the budget ordinance are posted on the county web page. You can go pull them down and check your lamp. I will say that I'm proud of the work. I ri the colonel all the time and asked him, I said, "Well, are you hearing and talking with your finance director, our finance director?" And I dropped by the office the other day. Correct me if I'm wrong. He's on his knees at the finance director's desk with a notepad and they're working numbers and feverishly working numbers and passing information back and forth to make sure that we as commissioners are given the

absolute most upto-date best options for running this county while balancing a very difficult budget. A budget that puts us as of last year having the sixth lowest tax rate in the state. A budget where our employees got a raise, but it came at a cost to some other things. And it was imperative when we live in a society. Everybody here knows what eggs and milk and butter and gas cost and they know the expense of health insurance and to be able to maintain all of that to where our our employees have those benefits but it doesn't come in an undue or over overburdensome taxation to the community. That's a really hard balance. And I shared with our finance director the other day that if a budget's easy, it's probably because you're not being good stewards of the money you're given. And I've been through several of these. Colonel, this is the best one we've had so far. Uh you have led us very well through this and you're getting better at what our expectations are and Carrie, you've done a great job of mentoring him in that. Uh so yeah, I'm very proud. uh a 1% budget increase in a time where the anybody can ask how much your expense went up in your house and I'm sure that it would be more than 1%. Uh, I can also say that yeah, my taxes went up last year too and we struggled with it because we realized every time we spend a dime of your money that impacts not just us because it did it impacts

every person that works for us. It impacts the people Sherry that when we go to these community meetings who are living on very very tough uh fixed income fixed incomes I realize that uh and they've heard me say it that we're property rich for those of you who've lived in this county for years. You're property rich and you're pocket poor. that you've got land that's really difficult to keep a hold of because you have to pay for it every year. And we see that, we hear it. And so it makes the it's a difficult balance to provide the services at the level that our community has grown to expect such as having senior citizen meal sites and a health department and the DSS and law enforcement and to be able to have a convenience center where you dispose of your trash in your community. All those things come at an expense and that's a difficult balance. So I I applaud the work that all of our finance department uh all of our county admin department and Mandy for your work and the things you guys have done to make this budget u possible. Thank you. I appreciate you. Anybody else? I want to say I appreciate appreciate the hard work put in this. appreciate all the department heads. If any of you are here, I appreciate you going back and and rethinking and refiguring things because when I say we have nickeled and dime this budget to death, we have nickeled and dime this budget to death and we know where every penny of Yorn's money is going and uh we we we are tasked with being good stewards of taxpayers money and I feel that we have done a really good job and our finance director and colonel and and everybody involved has has really done a good job with this and I I appreciate every one

of them because these guys makes our life easier. They they do a really good job. We can task them with something and and they'll they'll they'll do it and I appreciate it. Mr. Greavves, did you want to say something, sir? Yeah, I I certainly appreciate what you've done. Each each person has part in we've had a rough year. I mean, you you people out there can see this. And when we can keep this budget without raising your taxes, you ought to be clapping for us. You know, Bunkham County, they ra they've raised their taxes, but we've tried to keep the taxes as low as we can because we know how hard it is. And we've met what nine times 10 dozen, whatever to try to do this. And thanks to this staff, they've made this possible. And I I appreciate everything they've done. And I think as you citizens here tonight, I think you you need to think about uh what we've tried to do for you. I mean, we we've spent time and effort and and that's just a small part of it, but we haven't raised your taxes and I'm proud to say that. Thank you. So, the only thing I'll say too, I want to thank staff. I want to thank Colonel. I want to thank Carrie for the work that they put in countless hours, Mandy and other members of the staff, our finance support team, all of our department heads that worked to uh to try to work within the framework that that was given to them. Uh with the challenge knowing that we have what we hope is a oneoff extraordinary kind of year. Um, you know, we uh uh we're we're we're hopeful that we're not going to have another hurricane come through. And we all I think we all pray for that every day uh

that that doesn't that that that doesn't happen because uh you know, not only for the folks that that that sustained wreck damage. It wasn't fun for any of us. Uh our employees had to work extra hours and we tried to make sure that they got taken care of in that process. Um we had uh just the the loss of of physical structures. Um we were affected a lot differently than some of the surrounding counties were. Our our situation in Madison County was unique. Um you know, you've got Yansy County and and other counties like that that lost thousands of homes as a result of the incident. We only lost a little over a hundred homes. Um and that's terrible for those hundred people. That's not to minimize what those hundred families went through. Um, but at the end of the day, we are the only county that lost two sewage treatment plants. We lost two town halls. We lost two police departments. We lost a public library. And we lost the courthouse. Um, and I'm sure there's other things that I'm forgetting. And not to minimize. Oh, I'm sorry. The post office. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, we're not the only kind of lost post office, but but we, you know, we we uh you know, we lost post office. Uh we lost services at at another post office for at least a temporary period of time. Um but the the folks of this county pulled together and we felt like we owed it to the folks of this county to do everything that we possibly could to balance the budget without raising taxes. And we're hopeful that we're going to continue to work with FEMA and work through our state agencies and our federal agencies to recover as much of that money as possible so that come next year we're able to give the departments what they ask for. We're hopefully, you know, we we hope that we're going to be able to accomplish that. And we've tried to make

it very clear to all of them. And we've got there's a lot of financial challenges that are going to be coming down the road as we continue to go forward. We mentioned the proactive approach that the health department has taken with their staff and trying to close the gap on the salaries knowing that Advent Hospital is going to be opening their doors in a little over a year from now. Um we uh we realize that that's going to affect more than just our health department. That's going to affect our county maintenance department. That's going to affect our food service folks. That's going to affect um let's see who else got our our custodian staff. that's going to that's going to affect uh Madison County employees across the board. So, the fact that we were able to still provide uh anywhere from a 3 to a 10% raise to each employee in this county was big for us. Um, and that was that was a focus because we want to try to retain as many of the people that we have and we're very grateful for the staff that we have that works for us in every department in this county and we don't want to jeopardize that relationship with our staff because at the end of the day, if we don't have staff, we can't provide you with the services you're entitled to. So, that being said, I'm very proud of this budget. I'm proud that we were able to balance this budget. I'm proud that we were able to do it without raising your tax rate. Um the fact that your values went up a year ago, that was beyond our that was not that was not within our control, folks. And I think most of you recognize that in this world, property values go up. It's inevitable. Um and and you know, we're required statutoily to do a reassessment. And that's just that's where it happened. We learned from some We learned some things from the reassessment. When the next reassessment happens, we're going to do things better. Um because we learned from certain things in this last reassessment that we had. And so hopefully we will uh

make sure that we don't repeat those same mistakes again. Uh that the appraisers look at it as as a way that's unique to Madison County. And we're going to do our best to continue to balance this budget going forward. By law, we have to balance the budget. We don't have a choice. We're not the federal government. We can't print money. We have to balance the budget with what we have. And we can't do anything. It we can't provide services to this county or to our people without first confiscating that money from the taxpayers. And let's face it, that's really what it is. It's confiscation. And uh we're mindful of that. Nobody likes to pay taxes. Nobody voluntarily pays tax. Well, I guess technically you do voluntarily pay taxes, but at the end of the day, nobody enjoys it. Nobody likes it. We don't either. And what our staff did was they were real unique um or not real unique, I should say, but they were real sneaky, I guess, would be the best way to say it. When we were considering our tax rate, what they did is they they pulled a bunch of sample properties and showed what would happen if we do this or do that or if we go if we add one penny, if we add four pennies, whatever it was. But mixed into those properties, not knowing it, were our own properties. So we knew that they were in there. And so, you know, at the end of the day, it hit home for us just as much as it hits home for you guys when raises when taxes are raised. And nobody wants to do that. Nobody likes to do that. And I'm happy to report that this budget does not do that. Also, contrary to the article in the newspaper, there was no discussion of raising the garbage fee. the garbage fee will remain for this year at $180. There was never even a discussion that the garbage fee this year would go up. So, I encourage you that when you see things in the newspaper, don't always take it as the gospel. And I'm sure Johnny's watching us from somewhere

tonight because that's normally what he does. But I'm going to say in this particular case, that was fake news. Now I will say if you look at his if you look at his article very closely he he referenced 2627 and that is his caveat with that and there is you know at at this point in time we don't know what that budget's going to be cuz we've not started on that budget yet. We're still trying to get through this budget. So um that being said um I appreciate everybody that's given us the time to talk tonight and has given this uh given us your undivided attention. We appreciate it very much. And um I think that's the end of the comment unless anybody else has anything else they would like to add. Well, I do, but I might be about 30 minutes. Not 30 minutes. I'll limit you to three. How's that? That's all right. I'd like to say this is not directly to the budget, but it's about Madison County. We're a poor county and we're a big county. It takes an hour to drive from Mars Hill to Spring Creek. It's about 35 miles. We've got Bunkham on one side, we got Tennessee on the other, three sides, and and Haywood County. That's where people do the business. We had an impromptu uh statistic uh an analization and 80% of our sales tax went to Bunk County and uh their budget is see their budget's 30 32 million 33 33 uh Bunkham County and the city of Nashville is approaching a billion with a B. So that that's what we're up against. And uh we try to do the best we can to represent the people in this county and you know it's not political. I mean I've done different jobs and I never looked at what a person's politics were. you don't

believe that anymore. And uh well, I'm trying to talk now. I appreciate what you said, too. But I just wanted to throw out that as as a statistic as to what what Madison County is worth as far as uh moneywise and our joining Dunker County uh and their budget. So, thank you for listening to this. That's true. [Applause] And I will say one thing and I think Commissioner Hensley um had mentioned this at one of our budget meetings recently. Um the Bunkham County cut their school budget how much? 4.1 maybe. 4.1 million. Cut. Don't quote me on that. They cut their cut their budget somewhere in the ballpark of $4.1 million and and still raise property taxes underneath. So, um, we would all like to be able to give the schools some more money and if and as things continue to progress and as we continue to work with our legislature, uh, and, you know, we're we're going to try and continue to explore proper uh, proper opportunities to be able to help provide them with what they need. But at the end of the day, we've got a balanced budget and uh, we've done that. the school has made some sacrifices and we appreciate them as well for doing that and we're committed to work with them uh to try and make sure that that uh that we meet their needs uh the best way we possibly can while maintaining the balance budget. So that being said, at this time I'll entertain a motion that we approve the budget as presented. So move. Motion by Commissioner Garrison. Is there a second? Second. Second by Vice Chairman Hensley. Any discussion hearing? None. All in favor? Budget balanced budget is approved. No

tax rate increase and no trash fee increase for the record. Thank you. All right. Up next is Thank you everybody. Up next is our um finance officer Carrie Leford with budget amendment number 12. Good evening, gentlemen. Good evening. Before you, thank you, by the way, passing the budget. I know me um county are very pleased with that budget right there. So, before you budget a movement number 12 for FY25 with this amendment, please note the recording of additional revenue from vehicle taxes. This amount helps to offset the replacement of originally budgeted amount back into the parks and recreation budget in amount of $75,000. See the recording of increases to numerous health department grants as well as some salary line adjustments in the sheriff's office. Here too, find a recording of additional revenue generated by the quarter sales tax in the amount of $47,3257. And all these amendments are pending your approval. Everybody, we've had this uh budget amendment before us for several days now. Everybody's had the opportunity to review it. Any questions for the finance officer? Hearing? None. I will entertain a motion that we approve budget amendment number 12. Motion by Vice Chairman Hansley. Is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Garrison. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? Bud bud budget amendment easy for me to say. Budget amendment number 12 is approved. Thank you gentlemen. Next item B is

May's financial report. You'll see that we're at 92% of the way through FY25 budget and we for our general fund have received 89% of our revenues and we have expensed 82%. And again what they should be very and and again thank you to our department heads and our employees for helping to make that happen under uh strainous circumstances and we appreciate them very much for for helping us do that playing a major role in making it happen quite frankly. Yes sir. All right. Any questions for Madam Finance officer? N All right. Thank you ma'am. Thank you. All right. Up next on the agenda, county manager Rod Colonel Rod Honeyut and with the county manager's update. Hi, J. Good evening. I'd like to start with quick FEMA update and where we're at with mitigation and recovery. Uh Sprinkle Shelton building SRM completed everything they can do without getting into construction in a safe environment. Um, we are close to a decision point on the vesture or what's next for that building. I have a meeting next week with FEMA on the use of courthouse and street shuttle funds in anticipation for a new courthouse and funding. Uh, so we'll see where that goes after that meeting. Burn Park. That uh packet is now with CRC for decision for a decision in funding. The temporary courthouse as you can see the grounds outside. Uh they have finished the pad of the 15 monitoring units will begin arriving on Monday. It'll take us four to 6 weeks. Snap everything together. I had the opportunity today to talk to uh Chief Justice and September 4th. That will

probably be the date that we'll be able to transition out of this building into the courtroom next door. Say that again. Now September 4th is probably the date we're looking at right now depending any weather complications or manufacturer. To see the trailer, the module unit showing up next week is huge. Waterway debris removal IB is complete. Fridge broad is underway. emergency management officer has been out this week on several locations out of the 270 piles on the French Broad River. Spring Creek will be next in the queue for cleanup. Uh we have transitioned where it's no longer county funded. It is state funded. We just provide priority and oversight to the contractor and the state lead. We still have 125 homes that have signed up for personal property re removal and that is also now under contract in the state. the covered arena. The contract is signed and you will see a sign delivered uh a big sign showing what your covered arena is going to look like square foot uh in time for the 4th of July. But we've made the decision right now to hold off on bringing in the equipment in because we're only 3 weeks away from the 4th of July. They'll start immediately follow that weekend after the 4th of July fair. Say again. Will they have still have that that pause for the fair? Yes, sir. We'll go from September the 6 through two weeks before the fair and we'll break and hopefully we'll be done. Uh if everything lines up right, we'll have it complete with phase one. The cover ring will be complete. Pretty good. I give some of your questions that you may have for update on FE tonight. Just a note that North Carolina Chief Supreme Court Justice Paul Newbie was at uh this facility today. So we appreciate his support. Any comments in regards to county manager update?

With no questions, we'll transition to item 7B, North Carolina Department of Commerce building reuse grant agreement. Yes, sir. Jim, this is a contract or an agreement between the Department of Commerce uh and the county as we have been successful in having a bio gas ABS company come to Hot Springs and establish a new work site creating 16 jobs initially moving to 20 jobs about $48,000 a year for each one of those jobs. uh they will receive uh funds towards building reuse. Uh that's from the state commerce. It does have a county match with it and they do have reporting mechanisms in place. Uh it's at 172 Andrews South Avenue Hot Springs, a 95,000 ft building uh that the team will move into. Uh and once we sign this, it is based on receipts they will start being refunded. Gentlemen, you have that packet. That's the highlights uh that you've been able to review. And chairman, this does take your signature with board approval on page three. And for the record, uh that that is the old uh Madison manufacturing or the peerless blowers plant that is going to be um uh going to uh be uh undertaken now or taken over by the advanced bio gas folks and project. Yes. is Advanced Bio gas is a company that pulls methane out of landfills across the United States. It's a pretty big deal to get that company to come in and create economic drivers. And just for the record, they don't they're not they're not using that to process gas in

Madison County. What they're doing is they're manufacturing the equipment that that extracts the gas. So, it's a it's some very nice well-paying manufacturing jobs for the town of Hot Springs, and we're very, very grateful to have that opportunity. So, this time, I will entertain a motion that we approve the building reuse grant agreement from North Carolina Department of Commerce. So, move motion by Commissioner Garrison, second by Vice Chairman Hensley. Any discussion? Well, what's that? Appreciate the plant manager Steve Alman. They were originally based out of Asheville and they made the decision to move to Madison County because they love our county. They have a low impact on the environment and they're actually pro environment. So, it's a really good blend. Helen impacted their facility there. So, the they had to expedite me. In the process of all that, it provided some much needed relief for the town of Hot Springs who had recently lost a manufacturing plant. So, it was a a huge big gift for for our county, my community. And I'm very thankful for April Riddle to uh have help coordinate with the state to get these dollars coming in for the building grant reuse program. So, thank her as well. Mr. Attorney, is there anything you need to add to our discussion before we I think I I just spoke with uh with the colonel. There is an additional provision in that grant for you to make a determination as to whether or not you want to have the applicant uh secure the grant with a lean on their property there in Hot Springs. Uh that would be on the first page of the document. Uh the Department of Commerce does

recommend that you do that, but it is your choice. Uh in past grants, um this was not a provision. This is fairly new provision that they have recommended in these grants. Note that this is not a grant that is directed from the Department of Commerce to this company. This is a grant that is made to you and then you will be passing it through to this company. In the event that they do not meet their job requirements, then you will be obligated to pay the the grant back to the Department of Commerce. You do have a separate agreement that you will enter into with the applicant which will require them to then reimburse you for that grant. The security agreement is in the form of a deed of trust just like you would borrow money from a bank on a loan so that their obligation to repay you would be secured by their property. you would probably need to have a conversation with the applicant, but uh that that is an election that you do need to make in the application process. Donnie, why why is it that we don't hold that expenditure of grant money until they satisfied the obligation for that particular benchmark? That that's just the way the is that they give the money to the company so that they will have the money to to do it. Then they hire the employees and start work. So it's much like an incentive agreement where we give those directly to companies in an economic incentive agreement. And that's what the agreement is. We will give you money.

You will go in and open your business. you will will then hire these folks and and the department of commerce will require us to monitor this company and and note any agreement. We have to do reports I believe on the January the 15th and June the 15th of each year. So we will have to make sure through our HR department that we have somebody in the county who is monitoring this. So ch that box check is on page two after 7 right. do we need to um so essentially the deed that by by exercising the deed of trust that just gives us a little bit extra leverage in the event that they don't meet their party sure it gives you it gives you property that is security for the payback now I don't know whether the department of commerce has had a conversation with the company as to whether that is going to be a condition. Um but but what you're signing right now is your agreement with the state. Um so um in the advice of the attorney then do we should we um postpone the actual vote on the grant acceptance to work out the deed of trust issue with the with the company first or can we do both at the same time tonight? What would be your recommendation? Do we know if a conversation has been

had with the company? Are they aware of? We've had the conversation, but I do not know the answer. We've had two video teleconferences over the amount of employee salary timeline, but I do not recall specific discussion over the I think you can approve it because it would not be funded until the company signs off on it. Okay. So, if you approve it and then and then the company signs off on it, you're fine. If the company doesn't sign off on it, then you don't have a grant. If the company then decides that it doesn't want to grant the collateral and they give you the reason for that, then you can come back and consider modifying the application to remove that condition. D, you've worked with this attorney, so I mean, you met with him personally. Is this a conversation rather than just film me through our county management office? Maybe you should be involved in that as well. I mean, I I don't mind calling um when we first dealt with it. I I've had some communication with this company before on some transactions and and they're they're very competent and and they they return calls back. So, uh, I certainly don't mind, uh, working with the colonel and making that comment. All right. So, we have a motion on the floor to approve the uh, grant agreement. We have a second for that motion. Is there any additional discussion? Is it still um the maker of the motion's uh desire to move forward with her motion? Sure. Okay. Very good. I just want to

make sure you didn't may not like it. I don't have to like all of it. Understood. All right. So, we have a motion to second. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor of approving the building review screen. All right. Um and then at this point I guess bet the next question would be do we want to uh you would need a decision from us that we want to seek out that deed of trust. Correct. Whether you want to check that box on the application to require the collateral. I think it's prudent to do so. my personal opinion. I agree. So, do we need a motion for that? You do. Okay. So at this point then we I would entertain a motion that we um proceed with having the discussion with uh Advanced Bio Gas in regards to securing a deed of trust in the amount of $100,000 for the uh for the backing of the uh of the grand green. Motion by Vice Chairman Hensley. Is there a second? I'll second. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor. All right. Colonel uh county own surplus property. Coming up this topic 7 C is a surplus property. The county had originally put this out for bid have received a bid. Uh the individuals have paid the sum of money and we have contacted them by certified check and they have not uh closed or registered uh that property and we are asking that this particular

property be put back on surplus uh since they have taken no action. And maybe what was you know the dates? Um I do not think the date that was sold was last year. It was over a year ago. And so we we've done the due diligence of reaching out to the individuals with no return address and no way to contact them. So they actually paid for the property in full, but didn't No, they just made a deposit, correct? Okay. And so that's what I want needed clarification on. So they made the deposit, but they've not fulfilled the terms of the agreement and and have not forwarded the remainder of the funds due. Yes, sir. All right. Do somebody return their deposit or will we keep it? You could take up the position that they're in default and we'll inform them if we're going to be keeping their deposit. It was a very small purchase price and a very small deposit. Madam clerk, do you recall what the numbers were? I'm sorry. I didn't I think the the deposit I believe was less than $100. Well, in that case, makes the decision a little easier. Yeah. So, um, at this point, uh, I would entertain a MO. We have a motion. We made a motion to return it to surplus property and readvertise it. Correct. So, that is a motion by Commissioner Garrison. Did you say you second it? So, Vice Chairman Hy seconded that motion. Is there discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? All right. We'll return that to the surplus property ranks and let somebody else bid on it. The last item for county manager park tonight is 7D that channel board appointments and vacancies. We got seven vacancies to discuss tonight and I'll turn it over to you train on this one. That's all right. Let me get it in front of me here. First one's the easy one. I think a tech

board of trustees want to use micro garrison for four years. I got it. AB Tech recommended the same one. Can't hear you. So, we have uh one first board vacancy uh this evening is the AB Tech board of trustees. That seat um is uh currently up for reappoint for Commissioner Michael Garrison. At this time, I'll entertain a motion that we reappoint Michael Garrison. I'll move that we reappoint Michael Garrison to the taxes. Motion by Vice Chairman Hensley. Is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Briggs. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? All right. Up next is open seat for citizen on board of health. This time I entertain a motion that we fill that position. I want to nominate Sanders for this position. So we have a motion from Commissioner Briggs. Is there a second? Second by Vice Chairman Hensley. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? All right. Up next is position on the economic development board for three-year term. Any nominations for that board? confirm our applicants because we've had some updates for that. Let me ask a question. Um, is Forest going to be able to remain on that board with his new position that he just accepted? He has not formally made that announcement, but I anticipate he will at our next meeting um that he will not remain.

That's the chair of that board. Yes sir. In the by board internal select the next chairman. So I would um I would suggest that we uh make table that position until we have that situation resolved. Agreed. Uh, next is a position on the housing authority board reappointment of Dennis McMahon. So move motion by vice chairman or excuse me by commissioner Garrison second by commissioner Briggs. Any discussion hearing? None. All in favor? Another s another seat on the housing authority board. Uh motion to reappoint Chris Watson. I'll make it in formal motion. Is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Garrison. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? um jury seat on the jury commission which we is currently is uh reappoint but we don't have actually we don't have an application for that position so I may I will move that we table that position at this time well I moved there second by vice chairman Hensley any discussion hearing none all in favor Up next is um open position on the DSS board. This time I entertain motion.

We've got one that's turned out. So um I move I make a motion for Cindy Davidson to serve. We have a motion by Commissioner Garrison for Cindy Davidson to serve on DSS board. Is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Briggs. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? We have another position on DSS that has turned out. You can ask Donnie if you would like, Bill. Yeah, it does. I don't believe it has to be. You have to put a commission on. You do not. You don't necessarily. You can't. You do not have to. Okay. I know it has been that way. I didn't know. I'll move that we Sherry Perry. It's a motion by Vice Chairman Hensley uh to and he nominates Sher Perry on the DSS board. Is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Briggs. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? And we had um there these additional carryover ones that we need that that you guys u compelled to uh fill this evening. Commissioner Hley, did you know you had Yeah. So there's actually a uh in the May board of health meeting Joey Chandler resigned. So I'm going to move that we appoint Robin Smith in his position to board of health citizen position. So we have a motion by Commissioner Hensley for Robin Smith on board of health. Is there a second?

Second. Second by Commissioner Briggs. Any discussion hearing? None. All in favor? Any additional nominations? We also have a registered nurse whose term expired in February. I move for Melissa Slugger who's a registered nurse to send that position. Got a motion by Commissioner Garrison for Melissa Slutter as RN on board of health. Is there a second? Second by Commissioner or by Vice Chairman Hensley. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? All right. Any additional comments? just have a question on that transportation advisory board. We just don't have an applicant for that or that is correct. That is for a that's for a private uh transportation provider is that position is is limited to that and the only other one that we had in the county has stopped doing business in the county at this time. So there their statutory requirement for that is a position that provides private transportation. No, no. Uh, no provisions for defaulting if there's not one that we can appoint someone outside the county. We'll have to explore that opportunity. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. Uh, I would assume they would allow that, but I'm not positive. We'll have to research that. Nothing further on this aspect uh or on the board uh board vacancies. There's nothing additional to address for the

evening. So, uh, we will move on from that at this time and we will return back to our public comment and I miscounted earlier. So, we actually have there's a second page to the public comment list. Um, we still had even with adding Judy Major back on to the end, we had spot for one more that would be Mary Sauls Kelly if she's still here. She will be our final uh uh person to speak uh for public comment. But first up is going to be uh Katherine Huard. Miss Huard, come on up. Same rules apply. Three minutes. Uh please state your name and your community. Uh my name is Katherine Hubard. I live in the Little Laurel community, Shelton Laurel, right on to O8. I've been here for 20 years. Uh, I feel like you guys are surprised by this opposition. So, I feel like if the rumor that we've heard is that you would like to dissolve the board of health and you would replace it with yourselves, then that probably means that you've done a lot of homework and you're up and ready to go. I assume that you would have attended a lot of board of health meetings before now. any board of health meetings. So, you get kind of the flow of who they are and what they're doing, how long those meetings are. You earlier said it wasn't a time for question and answers, and I, like Mr. Baker, would love to hear what you really are proposing to do, uh, what kind of changes. We know nothing. So, if you had a town hall, that would really help us decide where to put our support. If I was going

to ask you questions, I was going to ask you if you knew how many cases of rabies we see in this county. Do you have any idea how many animals go through the animal shelter every year? Do you know how many animals get put down in our shelter every year? Do you know who does that? Do you know the person who does that? Do you know how close product wasting is the closest county to us as it's coming in from Eastern North Carolina? That's a public health issue. Do you know how many pregnant women, children, and infants that the health department sees every year? Do you know how many wells are treated every year? You know, who do you go to to get your well treated? You know, you can get your soil tested right here in this building. They'll send it off for you. But this isn't where you do water. It's in a different place. Do you know if radon is an issue in our county? You know, I would have thought you would have been really ready to answer all kinds of questions because if you don't know, what I do know is it's okay right now. You don't have to know. You know why? Because all of us are protected by the trusted professionals dedicated to the health and welfare of the people of this county, the animals of this county, and the water of this county. Those people are most importantly the people on that board of health, the people that work in the agencies within the department of health. They know this county better than probably anybody else

other than our sheriff's department. Thank you, Mer. What I say is you should have that much knowledge. Up next is Is it Tim or Tom Arnett? Tim. Tim, come on up. Tim, Mr. Arnett, floor is yours, sir. Hi, I'm Arnette in Hot Springs. Um, just want to say the 11 years that my wife and I have been here and we business owners, we have dealt a lot with the health department, specifically the health inspectors, um, environmental with buying buying a home here. Um, and now working with everyone trying to get reopened after Colleen. Can't say enough about what the health inspectors have have tried to do to help everybody get back open. What all the inspectors are doing is get back open. Um, and and I'm kind of in that spot of if it ain't broke, don't fix it. So, I don't necessarily understand why um we're we're thinking about dissolving the board of health um and making changes, but I don't know everything going on. So, I would just ask if if if these are good decisions, and I'm assuming you think they are, or you wouldn't be contemplating them, um to to make something accessible to all of us so we can feel comfortable about these changes. Um because at the moment the rumor mill is exploding and heard that the health inspectors are just going to disappear and they're going to be brought in from Raleigh or somewhere out and so the the cost to have health inspectors is going to skyrocket and it's going to affect prices to renew permits and I've heard that you know the environmental is is just terrible and we got to get rid of them and but then who's going to do it?

So I I think most of us are just scared and and there being no transparency makes us more scared. Um so I would just ask if if there is something that can be put together for lay people to review so we know what's happening. So if these are good decisions, which I'm assuming you think they are, that we can quell our fears and and feel more confident about these decisions. That's really my only thing. Thank you, Mr. Thank you. Amy Rubin is up next and then Cassie Flegger is on deck. Hey, Miss Ruben. Hi. Nice to meet you guys. I'm Amy Rupen. I live in Hot Springs. My husband and I own Big Pillow Brewing in Hot Springs. Um, we've been in business for almost 5 years and uh, happy to say we're back in business full-time again after the flood. So, thank God for that. Um, but regarding the board of health issues, I am in agreement with many others here, including a lot of what Tim just said, who stated that we need a lot more clarification and a whole lot more explanation about uh this whole idea. Um, from where I currently stand in my understanding, I'm strongly against doing away with the current board of health. And I also just want to say from our experience that we have had nothing but a very positive and professional experience with our health inspectors. So that's that's all I want to say tonight. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Cassie Fleger is up next. And then Brianna Nelson, you are on deck. And um there's another one here that had been

scratched out, I assume. that originally it looks like it said Greta Hill. Greta, did you you choose Have you chosen not to to do yours? Because if so, I need to add another person. I don't think Greta is even here. So, maybe that's why she's scratched off. Okay. So, um that'll that will actually add that one one more person to the list so that we can uh fulfill the 20 that were promised. So, um Miss Leer, the floor is yours. Okay. Um and just to correct that, it's Flagger. Flagger, I apologize. It's all right. Um, just for the record. Um, and it's Robinson. Many of y'all knew me before as Robinson. Um, I am coming from the Marcel community. Um, and I too am concerned, as many of us have stated. Um, but I will put it out there that as an independent voter, um, nonpartisan Christian, um, and not person, um, I am quite concerned about the impact that this could have on the least of these, if we want to go biblically. Um for those of us who have family, neighbors um who are in poverty and in poor health, the children like my son here, the elders um and the decision to remove informed persons from professional positions um with professional training. And my concern is the impact that that will have on the people who don't have power and don't have voices and don't vote um or have representation. Um I will say that a few years ago while renovating my great-grandparents old house on Bailey Street um we had a bat and I got exposed. Um, we had two bats dead after they the next day after they swarmed my basement during the renovation and um,

flew over on top of me after I had a poison ivy outbreak. And um, knowing the little bit that I knew about rabies, that was a terrifying thing um, as a young person, but also just as a person in general. Um, I'm grateful that I had the health insurance to get those paid for. But what I was super grateful for was the nurse that I spoke to. It wasn't a political decision. She was informed. Um she was very helpful. She had the bats picked up um and sent off for testing and in the meantime told me the procedures that I needed to go to so that I did not um inadvertently die of the 100% chance of rabies. And as I stand here now, um, you know, representing my son, my parents, my aunts and uncles who are elders in this community, the people in my church, and the people that he goes to school with, um, public health is there to serve them. And it's not a political thing. It's not a retro or a a reaction to who who voted what for CO or how CO was retaliated against or liked upon. And I know that that must be an underlying issue just because when we were after the last county commissioner election, I looked through everybody's Facebook posts and I looked what people had to say about COVID in the public health components. Um, and I'm concerned about the representation of the people making those decisions or these least of these. Um, so, you know, I was very blessed in that situation. I want for everyone else to have good access to a um, trained professional that didn't have a political agenda. Thank you, ma'am. Your time's up. Thank you. Thank you very much.

All right. Brienne Nelson, correct? Okay. I just want to make pardon me. Yes. Okay. All right. Good deal. I just want to make sure I didn't get out of line there. Get out of order. I mean, and uh uh is it Jana Matson? I think you're up next. Thank you. You're on deck. All right. Go ahead, Miss Nelson. Thank you. Right. I want to thank you guys. I know a lot of you guys, you might recognize me as well. Um I work with the Spring Creek Community Center board and I want to be clear that I am not here for this the board tonight. Um, but having worked with you guys, I do want to thank you for all of the energy and hard work that you guys put in. And especially after such a horrific year that we have had with the hurricane and the related budget shortfalls and expenses that came out of that, I know that you guys have been working really, really hard to rebuild our county um, and on not a lot of money. And I will tell you that I am a stubborn person in my own life who likes to try and save money. And so I try to do a lot of my own car repairs because YouTube will call me out and I had to bring it into the mechanic last week and I had all my day planned out with the different errands that I was going to run and he confiscated my car and I had to call and figure out a ride from Wesville and not complete my errands because I am not a mechanic and I don't know what I'm doing and I don't know what to look for when my car becomes dangerous and is not okay to drive. And he literally told me, I said, "Can I at least get it back to Spring Creek so that I can drive it in when you have the parts and you can fix it? Can I make one last trip?" And he told me, "Absolutely not. You are liable to have the wheel pop off and you are going to go over the mountain or you are going to take somebody out with you. Um, I am not a mechanic. I have no business fixing my car." I trust the people that we have on this health department board. They are professionals who have had

between 4 and 12 years of education. They are licensed individuals who have a license that they have to live up to and be accountable to that has nothing to do with the political swings of the time. And I think that that's why we saw 50 years ago that it was fit to have appointed board of health individuals in these different professional opinions or professional professional places so that we have the knowledge because I really respect what you guys do. I mean that from the bottom of my heart. You guys have a really big job and it is a thankless job often times. I know that and I know that it can be very hard to show up for work and see a room full of people who are angry and confused and not understanding what's going on. That is not an easy day to go into work. But I do think that having a board of health that is appointed with the people who have that knowledge and background and experience and who know that that's sound in the car is something that is really dangerous and something that needs to be paid attention to. That is why we have a governing board of health instead of giving it to our county commissioners because when you were elected however many years ago that each of you are in your terms, we elected you for the position that you have right now and not for the position that also includes health. So I second, third, fourth and fifth of people who have said I really would ask for a town hall meeting. I think very informative. Miss Matthew, is it Jan or Jenna? It's actually Jana. Jana. Oh, I apologize. My mistake. I went in. Well, I was as close with I did. Oh, that's okay. Very good. Thank you, Miss M. yours. Um, my name is

Jana Madson and I am a voter and homerer and an artist in the town of Marshall. And I absolutely love this community and I would love an opportunity to listen to the distinguished gentlemen here who were elected to represent us and to understand the justification for this effort um underway with the board of health. Um, I think I want to speak personally and plainly. I'm not a qualified medical um professional, but I feel that our democracy is being whittleled away at every level right now. And I know I'm not alone. Um I think Americans, independent thinkers, women, anyone essentially who doesn't fit the white male Christian model is seen under threat at this point. And that lays the groundwork for the fear and the anger that you're sensing from this community. Um the inexplicable move and it is inexplicable because you have not explained yourself um to take control of our public health has snuck up on us um without a formal public announcement, without a forum for discussion with your constituents. And I would like that forum. I would very much like to hear what you have to say on this. I feel that if you push this through as as as outlined so far, such as it is, um that you're going to witness outrage and you will we will ride that outrage to the next elections and I very much look forward to getting to know more about each of you in that process and keeping an open and fair mind and I hope for an opportunity for dialogue at every level. Um, as they say, no kings and this is not what democracy looks like. Thank you very much for listening. Thank you, Miss Master.

Up next is Adam Bennett and then Judy Major, you're on deck. Hello. Uh, my name is Dr. Adam Bennett. I'm a mobile vet in Spring Creek and I also own property in Antioch. I live in Spring Creek uh with my family and it's really important to me that things kind of I'm with the guy who said if it isn't broke don't fix it. And I don't think that we have enough evidence of something being broken uh to feel like this huge overhaul needs to take place. I agree that I would like, you know, a forum where we can talk and learn exactly what's broken before we go about trying to figure out exactly how to fix it. And it seems really rushed and fast. And I don't think it needs to be rushed and fast. Um, just as a veterinarian, uh, I have had the dubious, um, I don't know, opportunity to call the board of health on a Saturday when I've gotten bitten by a kitten that's shaking and, you know, foaming at the mouth and unexplicably inexplicably aggressive, aka a potential rabies suspect. And should I have washed my hands better? Of course. But I really wanted to see if it had something stuck in his mouth, so I just put my hands in there. And then I was like, "Wow, that was really stupid." Uh, and it was and so I called our board of health and they have an after hours line which is great and I actually got a call back really quickly. Um, and they were like, you know, can you quarantine the kitten? Yes, the kitten was quarantined. Kitten was not rabbit. Obviously, I'm okay. Uh, kitten is also okay and no longer angry and upset. He was upset. Didn't feel good. Um, but it was it was a a situation that I was able to contact them. They contacted me very fast and made sure that I knew exactly what I needed to do. And honestly, they had they gave me, you know, what I would actually have to do as far as the steps. I I wasn't 100% trusting because I'm not uh and so I went to the emergency room anyway and they actually did the exact

opposite thing of what should have happened. But I thought it was awesome that I got really great information from a board of health. And I know that there's a lot of diversity of the people that are on there. They have a lot of knowledge. You know, I went to school for eight years to be become a veterinarian and then I've been practicing since 2013. And it's just I feel better when I know that people that have a medical background are on medical boards and have the have the ability to make those medical decisions. It's not anything against you. It's just that's what they're there for. Thank you, Dr. Bennett. Major, you're up next. And then Mary Sals Kelly, you're on deck. And do we have chairman WTO a full 20 now or do we still have an extra empty position of the 20? There will be one more after Miss Kelly and that's an empty that'll be full 20. And that's an empty spot. I understand whether there's there's another person that would be cut if you choose to speak. Is that what you're asking? Who's the next person? Larry Bura. So I have Mary to speak. Larry Mr. Bura didn't sign up unfortunately. I did. He did sign up in in the earlier session. Okay. Well, somebody scratched out your name and wrote in Trisha Shapiro. Okay. I just want if if you've already got the 20 people, then I would like to allow Larry Bird to speak. Are we good when you when you conduct Mr. converted. You You've not been recognized. Hang on a second. The rules state they have to be signed up. Correct. What if it's marked out? If it's marked if you signed up and somebody marked him out whether who marked you out, Mr. Burd. I don't know. Yeah. If he didn't, you didn't mark

yourself out, Mr. Burd. Sir, you didn't mark yourself out, sir. No. Okay. In that case, then from with the advice of the attorney, I believe it is okay for you to speak. So, Judy, are you yielding your spot to Mr. Burner? I guess I need to. Well, you don't have to. You're going to bump Mary Saul's. You'll you'll bump Rob Kelly, I think, is who you fine. Okay. All right. So, that's fine. Mr. Burton, the floor is yours. Please go to the P. Well, I'm sorry, Judy. You're already up. Go ahead. All right. All right, Judy, do you still desire to follow Mr. Bur? Okay, very good. Mr. Bur, the floor is yours, sir. Three minutes. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. My name is Larry Ba. I live in Mars Hill. I'm one of these Jared Clemens used to say I'm one of these away from here people. I lived here 54 53 years and so I kind of feel like I'm from here but I wish my background was such I was a human resources director in Honeywell Collins radio Collins Rockwell now and for till my career ended when I retired and I owned an art store building supply in Marsville my wife and I did for 16 years now my background is such that I served on the St. Joseph's hospital board for six years. I was chair of the human resources committee and on the finance committee and when I was transferred out west I served on another hospital out west on their board in Denver. I came back here and I was asked to serve on the board of the hotsprings health program and I served on that board for 30ome

years and I finally retired last October and so I feel have some and when in Honeywell and Collins I was uh the medical department always reported to physicians and the nurses so I've had some background ground and with that I just ask commissioners because I know most of you I don't know what your background is but to take over medical program is very questionable I admire you for wanting to do it is a real challenge just as is the challenge to be in the position you're in now so I'm adverse to you all taking leave unless there's something you're not telling ing us to justify it. It just doesn't make sense. There's too many skills in that program that are required to be certified and there's some great people in there and they've served us well. That's all I have to say. Thank you, Mr. B. You finally made it, Judy. All right. So, Judy's Judy's uh up next and then Mary Sals Kelly, you're on deck. My name is Judy Major and I'm from Mars Hill. and I thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak because it looked like maybe I wasn't going to get to um I I'm going to try to be as brief as I can. And what I would like to say first of all, as I've been learning about this situation, which I've of course launched myself into as soon as I heard about the

proposed resolution, what I learned, what I've been learning is that yes, the commissioners are getting a lot of complaints from the public about the health department. Are you hearing me, Mr. W? Yes, ma'am. Okay, good. Well, I feel I feel like I'm not being listened to, but anyway. Uh um so they're getting you're getting a lot of complaints and what I'm hearing without question is those complaints almost universally are what about one division of the health department, environmental health. Is that I'm not going to ask a question, but that's what I'm hearing. And I've heard though that actually from Commissioner when I had a long chat with him. Otherwise, our health department has a stellar reputation in this state, in this region. They have recently passed a I think it was a six-year accreditation visit that they had with honors, which is notable. I'm not hearing complaints about any other aspect of the health department. Then why why would we consider getting rid of our board of health to address the fact that there's one part department that's struggling and we know that they're struggling because across the state there are not enough people trained to do that job of health inspector. So it's not just our county that has a problem finding ade enough health inspectors and also of course we have the proverbial problem of not being able to pay the kind of salaries to attract the sort of employees that we

need in the department. So that's one point. The second point I would like to make is that what I'm hearing is that once the health department staff got over the shock of learning that the health board might be abolished, the reaction was demoralization. They have worked so hard through CO and then through the hurricane dedicating themselves to the health of this county and all of a sudden they are hearing that the board of commissioners does not believe that their board of health can be trusted to govern them or should be governing them. And I will tell you that from what I'm hearing, a lot of those employees if this happens will leave the health department. That's your time is Thank you, Miss May. Mary Sals Kelly, you're up. All right. I'm Dr. Mary Sals Kelly. My husband and I have lived up in the Shelton Mall community for 38 years. I'm not a medical doctor, but I am an ecologist. And I just want to point out to everyone that we're all connected. We're all connected by the air we breathe, by the water we drink, by the places we go to shop, by the places we go to worship. We're all connected. And and we should all be concerned about everybody's health and well-being. One of the reasons Madison County is such a great place to live is our great health delivery systems. the Hot Springs Health Program and the well centered nonpartisan Madison County Health Department. It makes a great place where we all live together in a pop in a it makes medicine a great place to live.

Why do why would you want to mess with that? Why would a business owner want to move to a place where their health or their kids or their employees are at the mercy of a politically motivated health system? I know when we moved to Madison County, we heard from some of our old neighbors that this county had a bad reputation of having a political machine that determined who got a job and who didn't. And I think we've moved past that in the past 20 years. Why would we want to move back to that? And why should we pick on individuals who are harmless but may be different? Shame on anyone using religion or values to divide our populace and ruin our economic future. Why take us back to a time when our politics are harmful and punitive to any of our taxpaying citizens and public servants? Please don't vote to take over the board of health. My husband and I rely on the good services of the county board of health and the county health department employees. I'm sure that their hard work and perhaps unpopular decisions during the COVID pandemic nevertheless saved many lives of people that ended up voting for you. Uh why worry and and I appreciate your your time this evening to sit straight about some of the things we've read about in the paper. Not everybody gets the paper. We have an old friend my husband talked to today. He's one of the smartest men up at Shout Laurel, a leader in our community. Everybody respects him. Registered Republican. He didn't know anything about this proposal. He would like to hear more about it. He was concerned about it. You know, in the paper it said you were worried about lawsuits. I don't know if that's true or not. Why worry about hypothetical lawsuits when you should be

worrying about real kids in our community that could catch the next measel epidemic and be damaged for life? Why worry about you need to worry about our old people that may catch the next disease going to Engle? We just need a board that is professional, which educated, and that will stand up for everybody's health and wellbeing. Thank you, Miss Thank you, Miss We need We need [Music] Is Bobby Somerville still in the room? Bobby, I'll give you the opportunity. You're actually should be number 21, but I I I don't Yeah, I kind of feel bad you being the only one we we we cut. So, I wanted to give you the opportunity, sir. I'm going to make an executive decision to do that. Somerville. Bobby Summer Somerville. Is that correct? That's right. All right. You're our final speaker, Mr. Somerville. Well, thank you very much. I'm Bobby Somerville. I live in Mars Hill. Um I'll not take my entire three minutes. Um I think that uh when uh please the I like to be with the smartest people in the room when they make decisions. And if someone's going to be making decisions about the health and well-being of the people in the community, um Dr. Sheldon came to my house and helped and helped our cat leave the world last week. I have the great pleasure of

knowing what she's about and she's one of the smarter people in the room when it comes to taking care of pets. And I know the health director, she's pretty knowledgeable and smart. when you have the proper professional people who are uh who are concerned about doing their job and I just don't think that replacing that expertise with that of your own how much it makes a lot of sense. I don't know really why um but when I when someone said, "Gosh, let's have a let's have a town hall. Let's have a public meeting." I'd love to hear the real reason why we're going to do this. I appreciate your time. I stopped thinking about what I was going to have to say when I got my head. [Music] Thank you all very much. It's not as easy as it looks, isn't it, sir? This time I'll entertain a motion to public comment be closed. Motion by Commissioner Garrison, second by Vice Chairman Hinsley. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? All right. Thank you everybody that took the time to speak tonight. We appreciate that sincerely. Um and um at that point at this point in time that concludes all the business we have before us on our regular meeting schedule and I will entertain a motion that we adjourn. Then we have uh some additional personnel that we've got to go back into for our previous meeting um that uh some p uh personnel issues we've got to talk about there that um that will be a continuation of our meeting that started

at 5:30. So at this time I entertain a motion that we close this meeting that we adjourn this meeting. Motion by Vice Chairman Hensley. Is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Garrison. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor?