Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Commissioners meeting. We're happy to have all of you here with us this evening. I'll call our meeting to order and we'll have roll call. Please. Okay. Thank you. If everyone would stand with me. Commissioner Brown is going to do our invocation. Dear heavenly Lord, thank you so much for guiding us through today. Give us wisdom for the decisions ahead. Clarity in our thoughts and peace in our heart. Help us lead with integrity and to serve all of Pitt County wealth. Trust you with everything that we cannot control. In your name we pray. Amen. If you would remain standing, I'm going to invite Mrs. Thomas from Georgia rose up to lead us in the pledge. If you would come up and introduce yourself. Good evening. I'm Mari Thomas, a sophomore at JH Rose High School and currently a class president in the Student Government Association. Thank you for having me this evening. At this time, please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. 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. You may be seated. Thank you. And have a good evening. Thank you. Okay. I'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda. Uh. Miss Mister chairman. Yes, ma'am. I'd like to offer, uh, an amendment. I'd like to add. Okay. Uh, resolution to the, uh, agenda. Uh, this resolution is in opposition of the modification to county property tax. That will be heard this coming Wednesday, uh, by the House Select Committee. So.

Okay, so you want a resolution for the property tax to be added. To the agenda? Okay. Awesome. Um, do I hear a motion with that added in? So moved. Okay. Got a motion here a second. Second. All right. Please vote. Okay. Madam manager, public addresses to the board. Yes. Mr. chairman, you have nine people signed up to speak. Um, if the attorney would read the statement, the first one up will be Erica Turner. If she wants to make her way forward. Pike County welcomes all comments on matters of public concern. Each speaker will be allowed up to three minutes to speak, a total of 30 minutes to set aside for public addresses to the board, please state your name and address prior to speaking. Hi, my name is Erica Turner. My address is 908 Trolling Court in Greenville. Um, I am here on behalf of the school nurses of Pitt County, respectfully asking that you approve the request being brought forward by Pitt County Schools to fund three nursing positions that are currently at risk of termination. To begin, I would like to thank those of you that have taken the time to reach out and learn more about our situation. I would like to share our perspective as a school nurse. Currently, we do have 24 school nurses and one manager serving four school programs across the district. The last time that we had staffing lower than that was in the 2019 and 2020 school year, where we had 21 nurses and a manager. Since then, student enrollment in Pike County schools has increased by 7%. At the same time, the demand for nursing care has risen dramatically. Registered nurse visits have increased by 190%. Health counseling sessions are up 201%, and the number of students requiring medicines at school has grown by 93%, according to the North Carolina

Department of Instruction. The recommended ratio is one school nurse to 750 students. Our current staffing level makes this extremely challenging to meet the standard, while safely supporting the growing and increasingly complex needs of our medical cases. School nursing in Pitt County is a shared effort. Pitt County Schools funds 11 positions. School Nurse Funding Initiative funds five positions with financial matched by Pitt County Schools ECU Health funds eight positions plus our nurse manager. It is. Important to understand that our role as a school nurse goes way beyond minor injuries and illnesses. As a registered nurse, we are responsible for overseeing all of the medical care within our schools. We train teachers, teacher assistants to perform essential medical tasks, including G2, feedings, diabetes care, administration of controlled medicine, seizure response protocols, urinary catheterization, and EpiPen, inhaler use, to name a few. This delegation is necessary because many of us cover more than one school. We must also be prepared to respond to public health concerns such as tuberculosis exposures in our school, while continuing to support daily our school students needs. Additionally, the nurses trained and certified first responders within the school system. This year, we are seeing an increase in staff who are hesitant to continue in these roles due to the growing medical complexity of our students. Even when we are not physically in our buildings, we are on call at all times. This requires us to be familiar with the medical needs of students across multiple schools, and offer to guide through urgent situations. In closing, I

understand the financial decisions are difficult. However, investing in school nurses is both a safety measure and a cost saving ones. Increased nursing presence in schools reduce unnecessary EMS calls. In fact, EMS called more than twice as often when a school nurse is not involved in the medical decisions. We are asking for your support to ensure that our students continue to receive safe, consistent, professional medical care during the school day. This is at the end of the day. This decision is not just about funding positions, it is about whether every child in Pitt County has access to timely, potentially lifesaving care when they need it. Most. Thank you. Thank you for coming out this evening. Beth Miller. My name is Beth Miller, State in Mill Road, Bethel, North Carolina. Am I talking in the right place? Um, and school nurses are important. I had a 40 year career as a nurse, and that was started because the school nurse said, I think you'd be good at this. Come learn. Last commissioners meeting, we saw what appeared to be injustice in action on the Patel solar rezoning request. This rezoning application, at the point that it came to the commissioners, required evidence to deny. When asked for a reason for denial, a sham claim of land neglect was put forth. A landowner may leave their land fallow. That is, not land neglect. A land use plan was presented. Neither the county lawyer nor the chairman of the board assured any evidence of the imagined neglect was presented before

the vote to deny was allowed to go forward. The evidence to deny requirement is written into the process of rezoning to assure denial. Votes are not cast based on a commissioners likes or dislikes, prejudices or bribes paid in the Patel solar request. We will never know which of these things led to the denial of the landowner's right to use her land, as she felt best, having met all the criteria for the conditional zoning change. Thank you. Thank you for coming out this evening. Bethany Smith. Can you guys hear me? Yes, ma'am. Okay. Um, this should be brief. I don't think I'm going to need a full three minutes. My name is Bethany Smith. I'm actually not going to state my address because I'm going to take advantage of a service I'm in. I'm with the address confidentiality program. That is courtesy of the center for Family Violence Prevention. And that is who I am here to speak for, actually. Um, I am alive today because of the center for Family Violence Prevention, and they help me leave an abusive situation that I would have would have killed me. Um, they've done so much for me. I would not be at the position that I am in my life right now. I wouldn't be alive at all if it were not for them. I'm not sure how much you guys are aware of this, but they recently lost most of their funding. Um, they went from having over ten staff members down to one one. They've had to stop most of their services. Um, the majority of their grants were terminated. Nine staff members were laid off. They are no longer offering counseling. So a bunch of people have lost their counseling services. They are no longer offering transitional housing services. At least five women, from my understanding, if not more, or have become homeless because of this, they are no longer offering case management. They went from having like more than three therapists, more than three

advocates to one person. One person. I am still technically my services with them are still technically ongoing. I went into their office several months ago. What used to be full of employees, workers? One. Worker one. That's it. One person is handling everyone in Pitt County who needs domestic violence help and support. The fact that counseling, case management, transitional housing, child services, everything, all of that's gone because they lost so much funding that they are crippling and they are at risk of shutting down. I know I don't have a full understanding of how this works, but I know that most of their funding is local. They rely on donations, they rely on community support, but most of their grants come from the local level. Their grants were terminated because they were not like part of the condition of that was they had to be able to earn enough money on their own from donations to qualify for those grants. But because they were struggling with getting donations, those grants were completely terminated. This can be catastrophic to so many people in Pitt County, so many people who could be hiding at home right now, scared to leave, unable to leave, and they're not going to get the help and support that. This isn't just women, this is men. This is children. And I just would really like to ask that whatever kind of funding can be allocated towards this, I understand education is a priority. I understand there are other priorities, but please, please, please see what you can do to get any funding at all. Back to the center for Family Violence Prevention, because it will not be good if that place closes down completely, and that is a possibility. Thank you. Thank you for coming out this evening, Reverend Anne Harrington. Good evening. I am Reverend Ann Harrington. My address is 412

West fourth Street, Greenville, North Carolina. I've lived here for nearly 40 years, and I'm ashamed to say this is my first time coming to a county commissioner meeting, so take that as a, uh, understanding of how serious that I think the situation we are in right now. We just heard from the nurses. We just heard from domestic violence people. Uh, I know that this is going to fall to you because of all the budget restrictions. And I just thank you for your service. As we know, Jesus said that the way to heaven is through service, right? And hopefully we can partner and work together to make to get through this difficult time until we can re-up, realign ourselves in a in a better position. Um, I'm going to request that you adopt the down home North Carolina Budget Transparency resolution. I think it addresses what we're talking about here already tonight with the federal and state spending cuts. We would like our county commissioners to be fully transparent about what is driving cuts to the county budget. This will allow residents of Pitt County to more effectively lobby the offending legislative body for remedies. So anyway, we're here. We're here to to get active and help you all do your job. Thank you very much for listening. Thank you for coming out. Carlos Alfonso. Hi, guys. Carlos I live in 1931 Tower Court. It's good to see you all again. Um, as you heard from Anne, I'm here today to talk about a, um, essentially a budget resolution. Um, for more transparency, knowing that you guys are county commissioners, you guys don't have complete power over everything. Obviously, Congress and the General Assembly do their own budgets. And at the end of the day, you guys are just at the whim of those budgets. And we're very well aware of that.

Um, we heard from the nurses today. We heard from Bethany talking about domestic violence, and there's a whole variety of other issues hitting our county. And it feels like every day it's something else. Right. Um, the down home budget resolution has six points. Oh, I'm off the mic that I'd like to talk about for y'all to sign off on. Um, for one, it's to have clear explanations on how federal government shutdowns and budget delays are impacting our county services. The second portion of it is discussing regular updates on federal and state funding for programs administered by the county, and if those programs are disappearing, it's not itemized information list showing how these services are going to be facing cuts or disruptions from, you know, independent government entities, uh, plain language summaries, you know, accessible to residents. So folks know what's going on and why it's happening. Uh, giving historical context to these funding trends, um, as well as cumulative impacts of the budget cuts over time, contact information for state and federal officials who have decision making authority for these decisions. And then there is also a portion for a public hearing. Um, obviously, we heard from some of our staff for our school, and we know that they have to cut at least. Last I read was 67 staff members. And that's pretty devastating. Um, we want to invite that the county and the school board have a public hearing to talk about what's going to be happening to our schools to publicize through multiple channels throughout the county, whether it's our website, local media, social media, email list, community organizations on what's happening there and provide interpretation for folks of all backgrounds to be able to understand what's happening. And then collect written and oral testimonies from residents, service providers, educators, health care workers and other community stakeholders and document what's really happening so that we can address these issues. I have a copy for each of you

here that, um, but they just pass it down here. Um, I know additionally, my folks would really just like to hear from y'all what you guys are thinking. I know that this resolution is probably going to be new information to y'all. Um, my contact information is in the back in the form of a business card. I would love to hear from you guys and build out working relationships so we can get this done. Thank you. Thank you for coming out. Melissa Gray. Hello. My name is Melissa Gray. My address is 3432 Westgate Drive here in Greenville. And I am coming tonight asking you to support the down home North Carolina budget transparency resolution. I, as a resident of Pitt County, would love to have the transparency on where the cuts are coming from so I can actively lobby my legislators instead of coming to y'all to get remedies, to get solutions. I'd rather complain to them. The people that are responsible, than to complain to you. So I think it's very important that we as citizens get involved. And I think this is a really good way for you to share information with us that will drive our actions. Thank you for the opportunity to speak, and I hope you have a good evening. Thank you for coming out. Lori Clendenin. Good evening. My name is Lori Clinton and I live at 1369 Fox

Hunt Lane, and I'm here in addition to, um, request that you take a look at the down home budget transparency resolution. I do think that that transparency for the citizens of Pitt County would be very beneficial. It would allow us a chance to see what is happening and why budgets are, um, being impacted negatively. And who's doing that? And it'll give us a chance to do some lobbying and maybe help our county out. Thank you very much. Tiffany. Over cash. Good evening commissioners. My name is Tiffany Overcast. My address is 2033 Myers Way in Greenville, and I am here today as a concerned mother of three public school children, as I guess many are with the Leander case being thrown out recently. We are worried about the budget. We are worried about where our public schools are going to stand on the knowledge that our General Assembly's reluctance to pass an updated state budget to account for the pressing gaps in this funding, and the expansion in the universal eligibility enrollment of the Opportunity Vouchers, which is going to appropriate 675 million for this next school year. And that's coming directly from an already stretched budget for public schools. Private schools have a small fraction of public school enrollment. Why are we redirecting the vital funding from public schools to subsidize the top tier income, family, private educations over the majority of the children in our public schools? The universal eligibility with no income cap is siphoning much needed funding from our schools. The General Assembly is complicit in essentially dismantling our public schools out of pure negligence. And I'm bringing this up because we desperately need strong, proactive intergovernmental advocacy for the public school

children of Pitt County. When teaching positions are cut through attrition, it amounts to larger class sizes and fewer resources for our students. Our teachers are already significantly underpaid compared to the national average. Along with the salary stagnation we're currently facing, these teachers are already stretched. I have three children in public schools, and they each have 20 plus students to their one teacher, so they're already not getting what they could get. How much of an impact will our state's negligence in budgeting have on our schools? In two years, when my youngest will go to kindergarten, I am imploring the board to use your advocacy power to bring these issues to our state legislature. Our elected commissioners. I beg you to please demand that our General Assembly pass a full, updated budget that upholds our state's constitutional right to a sound, basic education for our children. Please reach out to other counties to pass a formal resolution urging immediate action from our state's elected officials to increase the per pupil spending, cap the voucher funding and unfreeze the teacher salaries and bonuses. Our children deserve so much better from the state of North Carolina. Your voices, as our representatives, are essential to advocate for our children's rights in Pitt County. Fayette County cannot wait another year for adults in Raleigh to decide to do their job. I ask you to prioritize public school funding in this year's county budget and lead the charges in demanding accountability to uphold our children's state rights to avoid the devastating impacts to our public schools that are coming. Thank you. Thank you for coming out. Last speaker, Robert Jackson. Hello. My name is Robert Jackson. Uh, 1630 Wimbledon Drive here in Greenville. Uh, my name is Matt Hartman with New York Life, and I live

in Winterville. Six seven, four Harrington Lane. All right. Uh, commissioners, I want to thank you for the job that you do for Pitt County. Um, myself and Matthew, we are financial professionals, uh, with New York Life. And we appreciate you giving us a few minutes to speak to you this evening about what we believe is an impactful benefit for the county. Now, before we get started, I want to assure you that what I'm going to speak about this evening is not going to be adding any new costs to the county. This is a voluntary benefit, which I'll get into, but it does not cost anything to the county. Now, what the benefit is, is a permanent life insurance policy offered by New York Life. If you're not familiar with our company, we've been around over 180 years, and we are very, very heavily involved in the employee benefits phase. We have done this benefit for neighboring municipalities, had great success. I realized that y'all already have a benefits broker that you worked with, and we have had great success implementing this concurrent with benefits that the brokers offer. So what this benefit is, is a permanent portable policy that is eligible not only for your employees to participate in, but their spouses, children and grandchildren as well. It's voluntary, so they get to choose whether or not they enroll. And most importantly, it is guaranteed issue. So on the permanent peace, the premiums will never increase for the rest of the employees life, regardless of what happens to their health. And as and also the premium will never change. When they retired. They're going to they're going to pay the same premium as the day when they enrolled. Now, on the guaranteed issue side, this is where we get really, really passionate because due to the number of employees that Pitt County has, New York Life has approved us to offer this to the employees. Guaranteed issue. What this means is we

will not ask any health questions to your employees if they want a policy, they're automatically approved. Now, in our work with individuals, we find that about 10% of all people are uninsurable. That means an insurance company won't offer them a policy. New York life declines them. But with this benefit, those individuals can get life insurance. And when we think about your county, which I believe when I did the research has over 1100 employees on average, statistically, about 110 of them will be uninsurable. And we also, when we extend that out to their family, that number can actually double or triple. So along with that, when employees participate, they get a three year extension on guaranteed issue. So they might be healthy today. And life insurance may not be a concern, but that can change over time. When we come back, they can get a new policy again. Guaranteed issue, no health questions. They can increase their coverage. They can add family members regardless of what's happened to their health. Mr. Jackson, I need you to wind down. Yeah. Thank you. I think this deserves a more detailed conversation, and I want to be respectful of the time we were allowed today. But for that reason, I would really like to continue the conversation because I think you, the commissioners, have the ability to make a long lasting impact on the lives of your employees without costing your taxpayers anything. It would be my asset to the county commissioners that we could set up a meeting where we can further explain the benefit and how we can together create a lasting impact for Pitt County employees. Thank you. Thank you for coming out. Any more public addresses, Madam Manager? That concludes public addresses to the board. Right. We will move over to presentations. I'll turn it over to you. Okay. If we could go down front. None of these require

action by the board before we head down. And as we come down. Um. We have several. Presentations this evening. And our first one is for Jeffrey Martingale. Employee of the month. If he would come forward. With some. Fantastic, um. Mr. Chairman, it is my absolute pleasure to recognize Jeffrey Martingale as our April 2026 employee of the month. He is with Environmental Health as an Environmental Health program specialist. Jeffrey was nominated by his peers and his nominator stated, Jeffrey is an exemplary, exemplary staff member. He is always pushing our program to the next level by maintaining and pursuing FDA standardization. Opening his door to provide insight to team members, and playing major roles in developing training and data analysis. Um, he we he is one of three employees who led the planning and execution of an FBI tabletop exercise in January of this year that hosted several counties, regional and state staff, and auxiliary organizations throughout North Carolina. So we are thrilled that each month we get to recognize someone who embodies the values of culture within Pitt County government and serves as a model for coworkers. And so with that, we have a certificate of recognition which reads employee of the month. April 2026 presented to Jeffrey Mason, Environmental Health, in recognition of your dedication and exemplary service to Pitt County government and the citizens that we serve. Along with that also is a $100 check that was deposited into your account. Jeffrey, on behalf of the Board of Commissioners, thank. You for your service. Thank you very much. Thank you. You. Congratulations.

Thank you. Next up is community College Month. Maria Pharr would come forward, president of Pitt Community College. Every April we are thrilled to enter into a proclamation recognizing Pitt Community College Month, April 2026. And this proclamation reads, Whereas Pitt Community College has served as a cornerstone of education, workforce development and opportunity in Pitt County and eastern North Carolina since 1961, and Whereas the college provides high quality, affordable and accessible education that empowers more than 20,000 students each year to pursue meaningful careers and contribute to the vitality of our region. And Whereas Pitt Community College continues to expand opportunities for students and employers through innovative programs and partnerships, including the opening of a new welding technology building and collaborations with local communities to support entrepreneurship and affordable housing. And Whereas the college has earned national recognition for academic excellence, including a top ranked cybersecurity program and designation as a military friendly school, and Whereas, Pitt Community College employees, students, and alumni demonstrate a deep commitment to service and community strengthening Pitt County through education, innovation, and leadership. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Pitt County Board of Commissioners hereby proclaims April 20th 26th as Pitt Community College Month in Pitt County and encourages all residents to recognize and celebrate the college's contributions to the prosperity and future of our community. Adopted this 13th day of April 2026, signed by chairman Mark C Smith, Pitt County Board of Commissioners and attested by Kimberly Hines, clerk to the board. Mr. chairman, if you will present. That for. Thank you for the tremendous job you and your team does. I appreciate. You very much.

Thank you. Appreciate our partnership. Thank you so much. Yes. Thank you. See you tomorrow. Yes. Next we have a proclamation for National Public Safety Telecommunications Week. If we could have a representative from the 911 center and four from the sheriff's office who may be here, we have two sets of telecommunications. Fabulous. Get you all in the. Middle. Sheriff. Come on. Forward! Put you right. In the middle. This proclamation reads National Public safety, Telecommunications Week, April 12th to the 18th, 2026. And it reads. Whereas emergencies can occur anytime that require police, fire or emergency medical services. And whereas when an emergency occurs, the prompt response of police officers, firefighters and paramedics is critical to the protection of life and preservation of property. And Whereas, the safety of our police officers, firefighters and EMS personnel is dependent upon the quality and accuracy of information obtained from citizens who telephone the Pitt County Communications Centers. And Whereas public safety, telecommunications are the single vital link for our emergency service responders by monitoring their activities by radio, providing them information and ensuring their safety. And whereas public safety telecommunications have contributed substantially to the apprehension of criminals, suppression of fire and treatment of patients, and Whereas each telecommunication has exhibited compassion, understanding and professionalism during the performance of their duties, now, therefore, the Pitt County Board of Commissioners do hereby support National Public

Safety. Telecommunications Week, April 12th through 18th, 2026, in Pitt County, in honor of the men and women whose diligence and professionalism keep our community and citizens safe, adopted this the 13th day of April 2026. Signed by chairman Mark C Smith, Pitt County Board of Commissioners and attested by Kimberly Hines, clerk to the board. And we have both in Pitt County, our primary public safety answering point, which is our 911 center, which is led by Jimmie Hodges. And then we also have a communication center within the sheriff's office that handles the law enforcement calls. And so, Mr. Chairman, this year I have two proclamations for you to share, Rebecca. Same. Okay. Awesome. Sheriff, thank you so much for all the good work you all do. Thank you. Thank you, thank you Sir Jimmy. Thank you sir. You all. Do. Go. Oh, well, we follow directions. One, two, three. We'll take one more. One, two three. Thank you, thank you sir. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. And then finally this one we'll read. It was at the request of Duke Energy, Mr. Chairman, who was unable to be with us tonight, but because it impacts so many people in our community. I'd love to read this proclamation recognizing Line Worker Appreciation Day, April 18th, 2026. And this reads. Whereas on April 10th, 2013, a resolution was passed in the United States Senate to recognize April 18th annually as National Lineman Line Worker Appreciation Day. And Whereas, the profession of the electrical line worker is steeped in personal, family and professional tradition, and whereas line workers are often

first responders during storms and other catastrophic events, working to make the scene safe for other public safety officials and to expedite the return of vital electrical power to our communities. And whereas these brave men and women work with thousands of volts of electricity high atop power lines 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, risking and sometimes losing their lives to keep electricity flowing. And whereas line workers are often faced with dangerous conditions far from their families as they work to construct and maintain energy infrastructure throughout the state of North Carolina and the United States. And Whereas line workers must use their technical knowledge, physical strength, and ingenuity to achieve success in challenges they face every day. And whereas Pitt County thanks these skilled and heroic line workers who brave hurricanes, ice storms, snowstorms, floods and other natural disasters to maintain our communities energy grid. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Pitt County Board of Commissioners do hereby proclaim April 18th, 2026 as Line Worker Appreciation Day, adopted the 13th day of April, signed by the chairman and attested by the clerk. A copy of this resolution will be shared with Duke Energy and displayed at an event that they will have at their offices on April 18th. And then we also extend that same appreciation to all other private, public and municipal um utilities that celebrate their line workers on that day. So all that. I have right. About 100 degrees in front of these lights. Thank you, Madam Manager, for those presentations. We will move on

to, um. I'm glad you told me that. Thank you. We'll move on to, uh, number five. Introduction. Recognition of Kimberly Mitchell. I'll ask PJ Andrews to come up. Uh, good. Evening, madam manager Gallagher, chairman. Smith. Commissioners. Uh, it's a pleasure to be here this evening. Uh, there's so much I could say about animal services and the services they provide. I was told to keep it short, so I had to put together some notes so it would be short. Uh, I'm honored to introduce our new animal services director, Kimberly Mitchell. Uh, she joins us with a strong background in animal welfare, public safety, and community engagement. She brings valuable experience as shelter operations, field services, building partnerships that improve the outcome for both the animals and pit county residents. In this role, Kimberly is already leading efforts to enhance our animal care and control services, support responsible pet ownership, strength and rescue, adoption programs, and ensure our policies both show compassion and for public safety. Um, behind behind me here. Uh, if y'all would stand up real quick. Um, I'd also like to take a moment to, uh, um, thank all the animal services staff in attendance today. Um, their daily work often goes unnoticed, and it's behind the scenes. Uh, it makes a real difference in our community. And the dedication. Uh, isn't is essential to this department success. I like to give them a round of applause for what they do every day. So. So please join me in welcoming Kimberly to the Pitt County. We're excited to have her leadership, her collaboration and positive impact that she will bring. Thank you. If you'd like to say anything. Hello. Good evening. Um, I just wrote down a little things I wanted to say. Um, I want to take a moment to express my

sincere gratitude to Pitt County commissioners, Miss Janice, and the county as a whole, for allowing me to opportunity to be part of such an amazing team and for trusting me to serve this incredible community. It truly means the world to me. Special thank you to the county for the constant support and encouragement you have made. This transition not only smooth, but truly meaningful and a PJ. Thank you for being more than just a mentor. Your guidance, patience and friendship mean the world to me. Thank you for always being there, even when I'm calling you all the time. Um, lastly, but not least to my amazing Pitt County Animal Services family. All these guys back here. Um, thank you for your hard work, your dedication, and for welcoming me with open arms into such a wonderful work family. I couldn't ask for a better group of people to stand beside me as we serve the community together. I am truly grateful and excited for all that we will accomplish together. Thank you guys. Thank you. Thank you Kimberly. We're excited about having you on board. Thank you. Okay, we will move on to, uh, public hearings. I will invite Jonas Hill up for the first one. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good evening. Uh, commissioners and county manager. Uh, tonight we do have two rezoning requests, the first of which is a request by Pure Vita Fund, LLC. This request is to rezone 12.56 acres of their property, which is located on the western side of NC 43, south north of its intersection with Toll Road. From rural residential to general commercial conditional district. For the purposes of a horticultural services, miscellaneous retail sales, self-storage and general building contractor, special trade. Looking at the map,

you'll see this site is located just to the east of Greenville along NC 43. Um, as you're headed out of town, the existing land use in the area, there is some heavy residential presence in the area, along with some commercial activities dispersed along the NC 43 corridor. Uh, you'll see just to the north of the site, there's an existing mini storage, as well as some used car sales. Uh, along the corridor, headed back into Greenville and then to the south on your map. You'll see there's a septic contractor as well as an outdoor patio. Uh, business. Looking at the land use plans, we have two in this area. We have the NC 43 land use plan. Uh, which designates this area as, uh, rural residential and agricultural, as well as suburban residential, reflected in our 2045 land use plan. The rural residential, agricultural, uh, consist of working farms with homesteads, public uses, institutional uses, as well as low density single family residential lots. Uh, access to sewer is generally unavailable and relying upon septic system for waste disposal in this area. Uh, lot size base, uh, lot size are varied based on the soils. Uh, for this area. Um, small non scale residential land uses that have frontage along, uh, NC 43 corridor. Maybe, uh, used on a case by case basis. The Envision Pitt County 2045 Comprehensive Land Use Plan designates this area suburban residential. Again, this area is for single family detached homes and

neighborhoods with interconnected streets. Non-residential uses within the character area should be located around, uh, or. Excuse me, along the, uh, highway or secondary road. Non residential development should also be developed in context sensitive manner and on a case by case basis with conditional zoning. Looking at the, uh, Pitt County zoning map, you'll see again those commercial uses along the corridor. We have a mini storage, the use car sale lots that I mentioned earlier. Um, I also wanted to point out, uh, just to the west of this property, uh, along NC 43 is already zoned general commercial. There. The general commercial, uh, conditional district, uh, is primarily intended to accommodate a wide range of retail and service. Office limited, wholesale, moderate density multifamily uses in areas that have access to major thoroughfares and the necessary utilities to support that development. There is a conditional district rezoning, uh, that accompanies this, and it allows for the approval of a specific use, uh, with reasonable conditions to assure compatibility of the proposed use and the enjoyment of the neighboring properties. And in this case, the proposed use is for landscape, horticultural services, miscellaneous retail sales, self storage, as well as contractors or general building and special trade. Looking at the site plan that was submitted. You will see, as I mentioned, the front portion of this property is already zoned commercial. So that is not a

part of this rezoning request. Tonight. However, the rear of the property is where the rezoning is being requested. Zooming into that area, if you look, uh, the rezoning area again, there's proposed storage units, uh, that consist of flex building, uh, mixed commercial office, retail and showroom, uh, areas, uh, the mini storage portion will be located at the four buildings towards the rear of the property. Uh, the mixed use office commercial is, uh, to the north of the site. And then the flex space for the contractors and, um, is to the south towards the front of the property. There's proposed parking and and driveway access, as well as proposed gravel yards and fire access that surrounds the buildings. They've also identified their septic area, as well as the secure, uh, six foot chain link fence around the mini storage and the open areas, uh, where storage will be had. They're also proposing a ten foot, uh, landscape buffer yard associated with that, uh, Pitt County planning staff finds this request is consistent with the NC 43 South Corridor land use plan. And envision Pitt County 2045 Comprehensive Land Use Plan. The area requested for rezoning is those designated as Rural Agriculture Rural residential, agricultural and Suburban residential. On the future land use maps. Additionally, the nine and a half acres of the subject property that fronts NC 43 are is currently zoned General Commercial. The subject property has direct access along NC 43 South and is within close proximity to

non-residential uses along the corridor, including many storage, septic tank contractor, automobile tent installer, uh, tax office, a dumpster rental business, and an outdoor patio business. Planning staff finds that the request is reasonable and in the public's best interest due to the close proximity of these businesses. Um, and additionally, uh, NC 43 South is designated as a commercial corridor in the land use plan. Uh, there's limited development directly adjacent to the site. On March the 18th. Uh, the Pitt County Planning Board voted unanimously to recommend approval to this board, citing that it was consistent with NC 43. Uh, South Corridor land use plan and the vision 2045 Land Use Plan. Uh, your recommended motions. Uh, as far as consistency statements are included in your packet. And our second motion would be to recommend approval of this rezoning request with the following conditions. No zoning compliance permit shall be issued until a site plan is reviewed and approved. A landscaping plan is required. Uh, and the property shall be screened from any residentially zoned and public road right of ways with a ten foot wide landscape buffer. In accordance with our ordinance. Require parking spaces, access drives and loading areas shall be improved with the proper material to support the anticipated traffic. Volumes of soil erosion and sedimentation control plan is required, as well as the stormwater plan. The site must comply with emergency management requirements for fire protection. They must obtain a

driveway permit with NCDOT. Um to access the property, and we're also recommending that a traffic impact analysis be required by NCDOT. They must obtain all building permits, um, from both inspections and the Pitt County Environmental Health for wastewater disposal. And with that, Mr. Chairman, I'll turn it back to you. Thank you. Joan. Before we open the public hearing, I'll turn it over to the county attorney to to read the ground rules. Thank you, Mr. Chair. With this public hearing now open, Pitt County welcomes all comments on the period Fund, LLC rezoning request. Please state your name, address in the name of any organization that you may be representing. Each speaker will be allowed up to three minutes to speak. Okay. We'll open up the public hearing. Madam manager, do we have anyone to speak? Just one person signed up. Brian Fagundes. Okay. Good evening, Mr. Chairman. Madam manager. Commissioners, I'm Brian Fagundes, with art consulting group 925. A conference drive here in Greenville. Uh, here tonight in favor of this request, Mr. Hill went through a lot of information. I'm not going to try to go back through any of that. Uh, the biggest thing that I will point out again, the frontage portion of this parcel is already zoned commercial. And so we wanted to go ahead and establish a known use for the entirety of the site, leaving that back portion as residential to then somehow access it through the commercial. Uh, it didn't seem as compatible as going ahead and defining the use plan in front of you tonight. So that's what we've done, uh, which necessitates the conditional use rezoning request. So with that, we're agreeable to the conditions. Uh, I don't have anything really else to add, but if you guys have questions. Glad to answer. Any questions for Brian. No, not for Brian. Thank you for being here tonight, Brian. But I do have a question for planning staff. Okay. Thank you. Brian. Thank you Janice. Um, so my

question involves the conditions. Obviously there's a site plan. It's kind of a mixed use. Um, deal. And since this is a conditioning zoning district, um, I wanted to maybe unpack and just get some clarity on when we've got a conditional use, um, plan in place, and we've got, I think, what, um, looking at it, we've got some looks like some landscaping, maybe storage buildings, mini storage, things of that nature. Is there a requirement within those conditions that this site plan stick to that mixed use, or is it possible for the property owner to be approved under conditional use and then open up an entire parcel once it's approved of, say, mini storage? Um, or is it or are we are we hemming in and like approving this specific plan? We are pretty much sticking to this plan. There's room for minor adjustments. But if if they wanted to change the use, they'd have to come back. In place. Yeah, that was my question. Okay. All right. Thank you. Okay. Is there anybody else that would like to speak on the public hearing or not? I'm going to close it. Okay. We'll close the public hearing. Mr.. Pleasure to. Board, Mister chair. Yes, Commissioner Donnelly. Um, I'd like to, um. And if it's okay with the board to. I had a conversation with the county manager about this. I would like to, um, um, make sure that when we're making motion practice at the board as it relates to planning. So we don't run into a whole of not having factual basis or reasonableness. If we do have a two pronged approach, as is required. Um, so if we have two motions, um, that would be I think that would be preferential for the board. And I don't know if Matt, if you could expand on maybe the reason why we have a two motion process as it relates to planning approvals. So I think that's acceptable to have both. And you can expand

on, um, the difference between consistency and consistency and reasonableness as well. I think that's the pleasure of the board. Um, you're allowed to do one with consistency and reasonableness, but I understand what Commissioner Nunnally is stating that expanding it would allow the board to define what they believe is consistent and consistent versus what they believe is reasonable or unreasonable. So I do understand that. So that that would be my reason to just have two motions here, and that my motion would be the first to approve, um, and adopt the consistency statement of staff. Um, not to do it for Beetham. Which one of you? I know you had a motion there, too. Are you okay with? Yeah, with one Commissioner. Yes. I'm gonna. Go with that first motion. Yes. Do we have a second on that? I'll second. All right, let's vote on that, please. Okay. Thank you. And I'd like to end then the second motion is that we approve the request subject to the conditions as as recommended by staff. Okay. We have a motion on the floor. I hear a second. Second motion and a second. Please vote. Okay. Thank you very much. Uh, Jonas, we've got another public hearing. Yes, the second public hearing tonight is a request by Bobby Tripp to rezone 83.29 acres. Uh, a property owned by D and J. Baker Holdings LLC. Uh, it's located on the southern side of Ram's Horn Road, west of its intersection with Windsor Cherry Lane. Uh, from rural agricultural to rural agricultural conditional district. In order to operate a sand mine. Looking at your map before you, you can see the site is located to the east of Greenville, uh, located north of 264 near Ram's Horn Road.

Looking at the existing land use in the area, uh, you'll see the site outlined in black. There is another, uh, sand mine located just east of this property that is currently being excavated, as well as a commercial property in red along US 264. Outside of that, there is some residential homes dispersed throughout the area. I wanted to zoom out a little bit from that map. Uh, still looking at the existing land use just to show you the amount of mining mining activity we have in this area. Uh, you'll see the black outline is the site we're talking about tonight. If you look to the south of us, 264, you'll see the gray shaded areas. Those are other mines that are either currently being mined or have been mined in the past. Uh, the one that's outlined in yellow, if you'll remember, about a year ago, this board approved that sand mine, uh, to be, uh, moved forward. Um, and they have not started actively digging on that site, but it is approved. So it's not part of the existing land use plan, but I wanted to show it just to give you context for what the mining activity is out there. Looking at the future land use plan. Uh, this site is, uh, slated for, uh, rural residential. That designation applies to transitional areas that include a mix of low density suburban development and agricultural lands. New development should have relatively large lot for clustered or be clustered away from sensitive areas or working agricultural operations. Uh, the rural areas, um, which are included in this district, um, you'll find existing single

family homes, low density subdivisions and surrounding agricultural lands. The uses included are residential, agricultural, agribusiness, and some isolated non-residential uses along major roads near key intersections. Uh, it's reliant upon septic system and generally, uh, there's 1 to 2 dwelling units per acre looking at the zoning map here, uh, this area is designated as rural agricultural. You'll see, as I mentioned on the existing land use, uh, map, that there is, uh, commercial along US 264 on both the north and south sides. The proposed, uh, zoning tonight is for rural agricultural conditional district that is intended to accommodate a very low density residential use, as well as, uh, associated and, uh, public and institutional uses. Low intensity commercial uses, and agricultural related industrial uses, which are dispersed throughout the area. Um, this district reflects the diverse nature of land uses, predominantly in the rural areas and therefore permits a wide array of land uses. The conditional district allows for the approval of the specific use in this case. Tonight we're considering a salmon. We do have regulations in our zoning ordinance that speaks specifically to sand mines. It requires a minimum 100 foot use, separation from the edge of any pit to the permitted boundary. The hours of operation apply only when blasting is involved. Screening must be met as well as a state issued mining permit

must be obtained. Looking at site plan and forgive me for the upside down text, but I wanted to keep it consistent with the north facing direction. The rezoning area is outlined in red. The excavation area, uh, is shown here in blue, and there's a proposed six foot berm surrounding, uh, the pit area. The proposed haul or road and driveway, uh, leads out from the pit to Ram's Horn Road. And there is an existing cemetery located on this property that the mine, uh, has avoided. Pay county staff finds that the request is consistent with the Envision Pitt County 2045 comprehensive. Comprehensive Land Use Plan, and that the area requested for rezoning designated as rural residential on the future land use map. Um. The Land Use Policy recommends that specific site and operational standards for uses such as sand mines, um, meet the separation requirements from the existing uh development um planning staff finds that it's reasonable and in the public's best interest, um, because there's very limited, uh, residential development directly adjacent to the proposed Sam mine. And there's an active salmon in the area. Additionally, the proposed mine will be screened and buffer from buffered from any residential properties. The planning board, uh, reviewed this request that it's October 15th. Uh, planning board meeting and voted 3 to 4 to recommend denial of this request, citing that it was not consistent with the comprehensive Land Use plan,

and it was not reasonable because the request will have adverse impacts on the surrounding property that does not protect, uh, significant natural features or equality. Ecology. Uh sensitive areas. The public hearing was previously scheduled to come before this board on November 1st or November 15th. Um. However, the applicant requested a public hearing be postponed to address um concerns regarding the groundwater and the impacts to that. So since that time, a study has been done. It was included in your packet tonight and staff has reviewed that and concurs with that study, stating that this mining activity will not have any adverse impacts on the groundwater or people's, uh, wells in the area. Staff recommends the following motion to adopt the, uh consistency statement, stating that it's consistent with the Pitt County 2045 Comprehensive Land Use Plan. The area requested for rezoning is designated as Rural residential, and that the use in the area are predominantly agricultural, with limited residential land uses. Also part of that same motion is this, uh, it's reasonable because there's very limited residential development adjacent to the proposed mine, and because there's an active mine in the area. Additionally, the proposed mine will be screened and buffered. Second motion will be to approve the request by Mr. Trump, uh, to rezone to 83.29 acres with the following conditions. No zoning compliance will be issued

until, uh, the site plan has been reviewed and approved. The screening, uh, shall be provided in accordance with the requirements of the ordinance. However, if a berm is determined to be adequate alternative to that screening, uh, as provided in section ten, the minimum minimum height shall be six feet. A ten foot easement along are shall be provided to allow access for that cemetery that I mentioned on the property. And they're required to submit an erosion control plan to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and Operation. Permit must also be obtained, uh, from the state. 50 foot riparian buffer is required along all streams located on the property unless it's considered exempt by the state or Pitt County. They must obtain a driveway permit from NCDOT. They have proposed the hours of operation be from 7 a.m. to 530 Monday through Friday, and with that mister chair, I'll turn it over to you for the public hearing. Thank you. Jonas. Uh, Matt, can you read your statement before we open the public hearing? Thank you, Mr. Chair. With this public hearing now open, Pike County welcomes all comments on the Bobby Tripp rezoning request. Please state your name. Address in the name of any organization that you may be representing. Each speaker will be allowed up to three minutes to speak. Thank you sir. Madam manager, we'll open up the public hearing. Do we have anyone that would like to speak? We have four people signed up to speak. First is Scott Avery. Good evening. Thank you all for letting me be here. Um, we're relative newbies out there, but the one thing I would like to add is there's a chunk along 264, which is completely dependent on wells. There's no water available from the city of

Greenville, from the Stokes Water District. And I just think it would be very important to make sure that this mine indeed does not affect the water table or people's wells. And my understanding of the whole thing is that the only way that could happen is, first of all, if they pump water out of the mine, to be able to go a little bit deeper. And the second thing is, depending what they put in the mine after they're finished mining it, because that could contaminate the water. And what I really want from us is just a nice clean water system, be it something from, um, one of the systems or a well, that's what we're looking for. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you, Miss Dave. We appreciate you coming out. And really. Good evening. Thank you for your attention. I'm Ann Riley, my husband, Ronnie Brawley, and my son, Mitchell Brawley. We farm right across from the adjacent property. It has been a concern of ours, and we've been reassured that this property would not affect our groundwater with our farming. And we believe in protecting our agricultural land. We are good stewards of the land. We have since learned some other things that we have basically changed our opinion on this particular mine. We've been reassured by Mr. Tripp and within the planning department of some of our concerns. If I may read those concerns to you at this time with my peepers. We do support the mine with the understanding it will be mined with reasonable hours of operation, which would just address. Thank you. And the reclamation will be, as Mr. Tripp stated to us at one of our meetings when we had the landowners, he met with us out there and he was saying what he proposed to do. After this. I

hope that there is some stipulations with this approval, that that goes forward and that contained the mine being turned and reclaimed into being a beautiful asset to that area, with ten acre lots going around that sand mine, I think that would improve the overall quality and suggest if we had to sell in the future, any of us, our agricultural land for residential purposes. Due to the growth of Greenville. I think that would add to that particular area. Because of that. The next thing I'd like to address, I hope you're hearing me, is that we want to make sure that the Ward family and that's been addressed to, has access to their cemetery. That cemetery has been out there a long time, and that family lives in that cluster that was marked on the map that y'all just saw. I want to make sure that family has that access in case any future burials need to occur there, but certainly to be able to attend to the cemetery. That's another concern that I would like to be sure of. And then we want that area to see if it has to grow rather than agricultural. We would like to see it grow in a positive manner. Pitt County is already going to have a soccer field out there, and we would like to see this area coming to Greenville and leaving Greenville to showcase what Pitt County's all about. We don't want unsightly mines. There are a few that are around us and in that area. If you ever want to come around and see that, and we don't want that to become the norm. And we also want to protect our aquifer. We want to make sure that there's no backfilling in any minds to protect that. And I appreciate everything that the planning department has done, and I appreciate the applicant for what he has reassured us with. And so we support it. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Bradley, for

coming out. Bobby Tripp. Good afternoon everyone. I'm Bobby Tripp, the applicant. I'm 1215 Old Snow Hill Road and eight in North Carolina. And I, I do want to, uh, ensure that some of the stuff that has been brought up, we have, um, have addressed, including which has not been brought up, it's been for the works right now, but been agreed upon is an access to 264 highway in lieu of Ram's Horn Road. So we're working with the adjacent property owner, and he has given us an agreement that we're working through, as I say, to make sure that road access does not impact Ram's Horn Road. The proposed here is to create a 35 acre. It's going to be as a mine because we have to pull it as a mining act permit. But in the future, we are proposing ten acre tracts to be sold around this parcel that will create custom built homes around the lake. And doing so at that point in time, we would like to go back and use Ram's Horn Road as access to it and not and and stop the access from going to 264 at that point. So we have a larger plan, if you will, even though we're going through the through as far as a mine takes place, we've got to mine it first to create the lake, to create the homes. So we are we're asking for your help and helping us get this approved. And, uh, in the future, we appreciate everything you do. Thank you. Thank you. Mr.. Ken Elliott. Good evening, Mr. Chairman.

Members of the board. My name is Ken Elliott of 1621 Edge Grocery Road in Bear Grass area of Williamston. I'm with Elliott Consulting and I'm a retired state inspector with the Department of Agriculture, where I ran a statewide mobile laboratory program. I've been working for the last 15 years as an environmental consultant for land developers and mine operators in northeastern North Carolina, acting as a liaison between developers and state, county and federal agencies. Tonight, I'm here representing Mr. Bobby Tripp of Trips Mining LLC, of Aiden. Regarding the proposed Ram's Horn Road mine, the Ram's Horn Road Mine is a proposed 25.40 acre excavation located on land between US 264 East and State Road 1537, Ram's Horn County. I have reviewed the excavation area of this proposed sand mining operation, with the purpose of determining the impact of this activity on adjoining or abutting lands. Specifically, I've been asked to provide my professional opinion on whether the excavation area of the proposed mining operation will impact groundwater levels or endanger the public health and safety of adjoining or abutting properties, and whether the location, the character of the use, if developed according to the plan submitted and approved, will be in harmony with the area in which it will be located. We have identified by physical survey that there are. There are 11 residences within a 1500 foot radius of the proposed mine. Excavation. According to information provided by uh, provided by Greenville Utilities Commission and the county Utilities Department. And to the best of

our knowledge, the 11 residences have their potable drinking water provided as follows. Five of the residences are connected to the Greenville Utilities Commission County Water System, two residences have county water system availability but are not connected. There are no groundwater wells at these locations registered with the county. Two residences do not have county water system availability, but do have active groundwater wells registered with the county, and two of the residents do not have county water system availability, but there are no groundwater wells at these locations registered with the county. The operator of the proposed Ramsey Road Mine, Trips Mining LLC, will not do water. The proposed excavation nor discharge water from the mine permit area. The mine operator will construct a minimum six foot tall foliated berm around the perimeter of the active area of the mine, allowing positive internal drainage of all stormwater into the excavated pond. There will be no stormwater discharge from the mining permit area. Initially, the operator will excavate the pond into two sections with a 50 foot wide berm separator. During the excavation process, the operator will transfer water from one section of the excavation to the other, but no discharge of water outside of the excavation area will occur. This will effectively lower the water level down a few feet without completely dewatering the excavation, and will not and will allow the operator to safely excavate the mine to its full permitted depth. Once the operator has performed final excavation, the separator berm will be removed, forming 120

5.4 acre pond. There is an existing 35 acre sand mine operation known as the Madi Mine. At Lindell. Mr. Elliott, your three minutes is up. These are details about the permits or if it's all right. Please. Uh, the matter of mine is approximately 600ft east of the proposed, uh, Ramsden Road mine and is dewatering the excavation and discharging water from the mine water level in the Madi mine was measured on March 20th 23rd of this year at 15ft below normal ground level. There have been no known impacts to the groundwater supply of residents. Residences adjacent to this mine. According to groundwater monitoring surveys and hydrogeological surveys performed at other excavations that are dewatering, groundwater levels usually drop approximately 1 to 2ft below normal groundwater level at approximately 300 to 500ft radius. From the excavation. At 500ft out, the groundwater levels remain stable compared to non deep water excavations. The two closest residences to the proposed Ram's Horn Road mine are both closer in distance to the Madi mine than the proposed Ram's Horn Road mine. Both residences have probable groundwater wells with no known impacts to their water supply from the adjacent deep water Madi mine. Other residences with groundwater wells inside the 1500 foot radius of the proposed Ramsar Road mine are not expected to have any impact on groundwater levels or supply at their locations due to their distances from the mine site, and so, based on the analysis of the market overall and the subject property of ramps, one

road in particular and upon review and analysis of competitive areas in Pitt County with existing properties adjacent to mining operations similar to the subject mining operation, it is my professional opinion that the proposed use of the Ram's Horn Road mine will not impact groundwater levels or endanger the public health or safety of adjoining or abutting properties, and is in harmony with the area in which it is located. Thank you for your time. This concludes my presentation and I'm available if you have any questions. Thank you, Mr. Elliot. We have any any other public speakers? No one else signed up to speak. Okay. I will close the public hearing. Excuse me. Yes, ma'am. I didn't give you time enough to actually sign up. But I do have something that I want to say. It's okay. Come up to the podium. Yes, ma'am. And give us your name and your address. Please. Good evening. My name is Lisa Adams Lucas, 106 Trent Circle. Um, I'm here to represent my family. The Ward family, my mother. Have land down there on Ramp Horn Road. And it's two things that kind of bother me by listening to, um, the other representatives speak. First of all, they had a meeting that, um, no one was invited, but a few people. I got a problem with that. If you're going to have a meeting, everybody needs to be present. That's my first issue. The second issue is, um, I'm looking at the health wise. Yes, it's a sand mine, but you got a lot of chemicals and all other stuff that is going to actually be not helpful when it comes to the residents that are there. And the third thing is,

if they're going to rezone that means county taxes plus city taxes. See the story? What I'm hearing and I'm very familiar with the planning department used to do that, done that. But that's neither here or there at this point. My my concern is y'all are not given all the facts, and it's not fair to my family to actually hear part of the story, but not invited to go to these meetings. This is the first time that I'm hearing of it. My mother got land down there. Nobody sent us any documentation stating that it was going to be a meeting. As far as, um, the concern of that land down there. So I have an issue with that. And me personally, and I think my family will agree. I don't think it needs to be a sand mine if they want to go somewhere else, take it somewhere. Don't take it where people are. Being that that's been their livelihood all their lives. They stayed there for years. Their their parents, grandparents, they was raised down there. Now, what I'm hearing is that all that's going to be taken from them, and then they don't know what the outcome is going to be. Once they do that, because it's a hidden agenda. That's what I'm reading into this, and that's all I gotta say. Thank you. Thank you for coming out. We'll close the public hearing. Uh, what's the pleasure of the board. Mr. Chair? Mr. chairman. I wonder if I could ask Jonas one question and. Then Mr.. Tripp. One question? Sure. Your. Um. Evaluation of it. Was it the same as the other gentlemen about it would not affect the wells in the area. Yes. And we also consulted with our environmental health department and had them review it as well.

And as far as the, uh, wells that he spoke of that were not on on record with the environmental health, uh, those well, rules came into effect, I believe, if I'm not mistaken, uh, 2007. So anything permitted prior to that, they did not have record of anything after that date. They did have record that was referred to in that report. Thank you. Uh, Mr. Tripp. Good. Good evening. I spoke with them several people that said you were a man of your word. Um. I appreciate that, too. And I hope to keep that. And, um, my my concern. My only question about this is, is for the Ward family as far as the cemetery. Yes. Well, they have access to that cemetery. Any and any, any and every time they need it while you're mining. They will. And and two, its, uh, the state requires in that permitting process that we have an off a setback away from that cemetery X amount of feet. And by law we have to get any landowner has to give access. Correct. So we're we're proposing that in our final plan as well, once we sell for homes to be built, that is a part of that final plan, to have a road running there to the Senate, to that cemetery where they'll never be cut off from it. Thank you. Okay. Commissioner Brown. Yes, thank you so much. And thank you for your presentations tonight. Um, two questions. The first one is I believe the impact area is up to 500ft. That's what the, um, the results were. Is that correct? Here's your impact. Studies key. Up to 500ft. Okay. And there is a home within 350ft. Is that correct? Okay. We are not. Within remainder of

the explanation. So just to help know, discharge off site. No off site discharge of water okay. So no water will leave the site. So instead of taking from the water it will remain on site. Okay okay. Thank you. Any other commissioner questions, Mr. McLellan? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, I'd like to ask you, um, Mr.. Uh, the Ward family said they were not notified. How how did you notify the citizens of this? So. Generally speaking. So we, the planning department notifies all individual property owners within 500ft of the parcel, uh, in question that is being rezoned. So we notified them. I believe. What, uh, miss, I forget her last name, but the the. Okay. Um, I think what she was referring to was a meeting that Bobby had with some adjacent property owners who had voiced some concern to us. Uh, the planning department. So they met out, uh, on site, uh, with a few of the people in the area who had requested a meeting with Bobby. Um, prior to the planning board meeting. But the planning department has notified all individuals that own property within 500ft. Of that mine.. And the Ward family was notified, according to the planning department. That's what you're saying. If they own property within 500ft, I don't I don't know for sure that we send it to the wards. But if they own property on record, according to the tax office, we sent notifications. The property owners notified are on page 42 of your packet. Says it again. It's on page 42 of your packet. Are all the property owners within 500ft who were provided notice? I now say the Ward family was was was name was up there.

Sure. Could I can I speak to the the lady that represented the Ward family again when she according to this information, uh, it says that the Ward family was notified. And you're saying you were not nobody. They got it on paper, but we didn't get anything. Um. Because if I got something, I would have got it with you. And my mother had laid down there, too, and she wasn't notified. Okay. Jones, is this a mailed notice? Yes. Sir. Have you got it from the property? Um. Uh, office. Then they should have had everybody address that. Actually, on the property down. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Any other commissioner questions, Commissioner. Man. Well, I just had one comment because I was concerned about that, too. I was out there today and up and down the road, and I did not see the normal signs that you usually have out there advertising the fact that there was a rezoning request pending for that area. And that's the reason I talked to Jonas about that before the meeting. And, uh, he I think he satisfied that all of especially those there's like five residences in that northwest corner of the property where. And I think you're satisfied that all those people are aware of what's going on. Correct. We we have notified both before the planning board and before this meeting. Okay. Um. Because there certainly is ample, uh, evidence here that that, Mr. Tripp is does the right thing in other locations. So and I appreciate that because my concern is always for the adjoining residential properties and how it affects them, because it's more than just water. It's noise, and it's dust and things like that that can impact those, those

neighbors. And as he's taking the steps to minimize that, then I'm satisfied. Thank you, Commissioner Nunley. Uh, thank you, thank you, thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, my questions are for Jonas, and this is relating to the record a little bit, that in the record that the planning board meeting where they voted to denial the request. And we'll get to that in a moment. But it was October 15th, 2025. Right. Um, and the report from Elliott Consulting, um, was recently before this meeting was rendered toward the end of March 2026. Is that correct? Correct. Okay. So, um, and, you know, just the sidebar, this is why it's so important that we have detailed record about the reasons, um, for denial when they are denied. Um, the denial, um, that it was not consistent with the vision comprehensive youth plan. I don't see any narrative record about the reason for it, but you did, and staff did outline that, um, that the policy Lou Dash for in the plan recommended recommend specific site under operational standards for use such as sand mines. Could you go into that a little bit as to why you feel as staff that it does, in fact conform with the comprehensive land use plan? Yes. So so it as I mentioned in my presentation, there are other mining activities in the general vicinity. Uh, the that particular policy requires, per the ordinance, that it meets the separation requirements from residential areas. Also, it provides the screening and buffering, uh, to the adjacent property owners. So as long as they meet those conditions, we find that it is in compliance with that land use plan. And that would be the reason that you've clearly stated in

the year. And it would seem as well that while the planning board found that it was not reasonable because the request would potentially have adverse effects on the public's health, um, and environmental concerns, the applicant, good on them, went out and got a report to determine whether or not a factual basis report whether or not this would, in fact, negatively impact. And the results of that report were that it would not impact the, the well water. Um, and that because it would not be the water and it would not have adverse effects on the residences and around. Is that your correct assessment of that report? Absolutely. Okay. Yes. That's those are my questions. Any other commissioner questions. Okay. What's the pleasure to board. I move that um I'll move one that the request is consistent with the land use plan. Okay. We have a motion and we have a second. Please vote on that. Okay, Commissioner Nunley, got a second? Yes. And I move that. It was reasonable. Um, and it was reasonable in that the applicant has shown through, um, the admission into, um, into the public hearing of a consulting report. Elliott Consulting, um, that outlined that the, um, plan, in fact, did not negatively impact the surrounding, um, residences or negatively impact the, the ground well water. Okay. We've got a motion on the floor. Do I hear a second? Okay. Got a motion and a second. Please vote. Okay. Thank you so much. Appreciate everybody's patience and working through that. And I think we need the. Approval and the and the and the last motion would be to approve the request as recommended by staff.

Okay. With the conditions. With the condition. Conditions. Okay. I had a motion and a second. Please vote on that one. Okay. Thank you so much. Appreciate everybody's patience. So I'm working through that. Uh, we will move to items for report. Madam manager. I'll turn it over to you. I know we have a number of reports and several guests here. We do. First, I'd like to invite Mark Holtzman. There he is, the front row to come forward to talk to the board about a special project of the Boys and Girls Club. Uh, thank you, Madam Manager. Uh, Mr. Chairman and members of. The commissioners. on the board. I appreciate. The opportunity to come. My name is Mark Holtzman, and I'm representing the Boys and Girls Club of the Coastal Plain. Uh, I'm going to walk through just, uh, my driving area. I'm on drive. There we go. All right. Uh, brief history on our club where we're going. Talk about a great outcome that we're seeing, an expansion that we're we're here to talk about today. I'm joined also today with Ed Bland. Ed bland is the director of the Greenville Housing Authority. Here with me today. So what what started about 50 years ago right here in Pitt County was our Pitt County Boys and Girls Club. Back then it was a boys club and that since grew. We now have five locations, soon to be six here just in Pitt County and surrounding organizations. Look to the strength and organization of the coastal plain of the Pitt County Club, which then became the coastal Plain. So we're now expanded into eight different counties. This summer will be nine, and we're serving 20 different locations and about 3000 children. Uh, our we like to think, you know, why do we need a boys and girls club? We believe that tomorrow's leaders are born right in the club. We believe our clubs provide safe and and supportive places for kids to go, and they also support working parents and and caregivers. Gives them a place to to make sure their child's

got a safe place to go after school. They're with us. They're with us during the summer. And our, our leaders really pour into them. We know that, uh, at least one and two kids in the country do not have access to an after school program, and they would like one of our core impact areas are now for our first three, our, our, our pillars that we had for a very long time. Academic success is one I'll touch on in just a second. And the very last one, life and Workforce Readiness, is one that we're really embracing all across the Boys and Girls Clubs all across the state of North Carolina and in the country. Uh, bringing it back home here in Pitt County, we're serving about 900 kids, uh, here in our community at the five locations that we currently have. And we're seeing several hundred, probably between 5 and 600 of those every single day are coming into the club. Just depends on what activities are going on at school. Most of our parents are working parents, as I mentioned, and we have a significant that are low, low income. Uh, we have a great program called youth of the year. We celebrate that in February. Now here at the Greenville Convention Center. It's a fantastic, uh, outcome. And our kids there, they give speeches and it really prepares them to be to do this right here, to come here and do public speaking, advocacy work. Our outcomes. Uh, what do we do? How do we prove it? We prove it with kids like Jaden. Uh, we have a very unique program in the Boys and Girls Club of the Coastal Plain called Club Academy. And so we knew that several years ago, kids, we were noticing about 10 or 11 years ago, the kids that focused on that third grade reading and math level is really what the program is. So we hired additional staff there. There. Some of them are actually licensed teachers, and they'll actually partner with the schools like here in Pitt County. And so they'll during the daytime they they work full time. So during the daytime they go to the school and partner with the teachers and, and tutor our kids actually at the school push into the classroom and then they follow the child to the back to the

club. After school, Jaden came to us, uh, in, in fourth grade, and he had a second grade math level is where he tested by the end of that year. We called him up not to third grade, but to fourth grade, and we caught him up two academic years in one year. That's the intense focus. Probably about 15% of our kids coming through the door need that program, and we offer that to them. All right, let's get even more focused tonight. So the last thing is our expansion. That's what we're here to talk about tonight. Uh, we're excited to bring a project, an opportunity to partner with the Pitt County commissioners. And in the Marywood, Marywood, as we know, is just down the street from where we are. Uh, it's a great community. Uh, Ed Bland, as I mentioned, he is the Housing Authority director. He came to me a little over a year ago and we started talking. He's a big believer in Boys and Girls Club. He can give a pitch better than me at this point. On what it takes. He's holding community meetings every single week now in his neighborhood. I get in the neighborhood excited, answering questions. I've been over there myself, so our goal is to open up a summer camp there this summer. And of course, it takes dollars to make that happen. So our largest financial partner is going to be the Greenville Housing Authority. As you can see on the budget there, I was able to pull together a few other private grants and some private donations to make up the difference. And we're here today to ask for that $25,000. We believe the, the, the, the center will support 75 kids, probably about 150. There are more way more than that in the neighborhood there. But I think we're going to get a really good core. They're seeing very low numbers right now at the center. Uh, because there's not a structured program there. And that's what Ed wanted to bring in the structure of the of a boys and girls club to this. Our staff have been over. We've met with the community. We're excited to bring this program there. We're scheduled to start this summer. We are hiring. So I'll finish with this. If you know somebody that would like to come work with us, be part of us, volunteer or work, uh, please reach out to us. Uh, so

any questions? Any questions? Okay. Thank you sir. That was my funding slide. I talked right through my funding slide. Somebody said about transparency for budgets. There it is. There's there's your there's your funding slide. Uh, and then we'll just end it on the kids. Okay. Great. Thank you so much. Appreciate you coming out. Thank you. And for members of the board this will be presented during your budget workshops for consideration. When you adopt your budget. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. What's next? Madam manager. Your next item is the report from Michael Overton, vice chair of the Greenville Airport Authority. He has two items to speak on tonight. One is actually seeking action this evening on a letter of support for a legislative matter. And the other is just a foreshadow of a budget request. Like you've just heard from Boys and Girls Club. Michael. Thank you for allowing me to be here. My name is Michael Overton. I am vice chair of the Greenville Airport Authority, also joined by John Hanna, operations manager for the airport, as well. Um, not really a speech per se, but to give you a little background, uh, pre-COVID, we love talking about Covid and all the changes that happened during those times. But the airport had five daily flights. A lot of you may remember that, uh, during Covid, that was reduced down to three flights, of which we currently have now. And in doing so has put us into a budget deficit that is tied fairly close to those reductions in flights. So where we are losing between 80 and $100,000 per month, um, we are taking steps, many steps, uh, to go through budgeting as well as bringing in fractional CFOs to help us understand what we need to do, to grow the numbers. We're also, um, have hired consultants to help fill,

uh, available hangar spaces. Um, as well as, uh, they're basically you got multiple points of revenue at the airport. We have fuel cells, we have parking. Um, you have general aviation that flies in. So there's not one thing we're looking to do. There's multiple things we're working on, and that's where we need your help and your support, uh, to grow that. Um, the strategy we have is to try to bring in another commercial airline. That is something we're working on. Now, I'm not here to ask for anything specific to that, but I did want to make sure you're aware, because I may be back in a few months to talk about that more. Um, however, there are two things that we do need right now, and it does have a direct effect on revenues. Right now, we have five airplanes that make up 77% of the tax revenue at the airport. So it's important for us to put ourselves in a position where we can recruit additional based aircraft. Usually there are several million dollars, and that is direct personal property taxes to the city and to the county, but it's also fuel sales and hangar revenue for the airport. So there's a lot of things that we need to do to raise our revenue, but we need your support to do it. So Janice made the point of, um, some of the regulation changes, statute changes that I don't think we had the final language on that, but that would allow us to support, um, incentives as well as expanded air service and then also assistance with funding, uh, operations and maintenance. Uh, in case you don't know, just a really quick number. Um, a study done by the, uh, NC state for the North Carolina Department, um, of aviation through the dot, uh, Greenville airport impacts over $234 million in activity each year and 275 jobs. If we could just add two additional flights, that would potentially add another 263 jobs and another $38 million in local

impact. So getting that here is really important, and that is going to be a top priority. But the statute change goes into that because we need that support. Uh, that could help on the commercial side, but definitely helps us on the private side. Uh, as well. Uh, and then lastly, we were we're asking you to consider a $250,000, um, appropriation in order to help offset some of the losses as we work to go through the plans that we're doing now, uh, to improve conditions at the airport. Any questions? Any questions. For Mr. Overton? No questions. Okay. Uh. Madam Manager, do. We need to move on on. Any of that right. Now? On the budget request, you'll hear a further detailed presentation on May 7th during your budget workshops. Relative to that, ask. So no action on that this evening. Um, just for your information, if the board would um, so consider though I would recommend that this board authorize me or the chair to sign a letter of support in support of legislation that expands flexibility to be able to support the operations and maintenance of the airport, utilizing ad valorem tax dollars, and to include in that flexibility to require a public hearing for acquisition of land if necessary, to satisfy all members of our delegation. Okay. We have a motion for that. Second. Okay. We've got a motion and a second, uh, please vote on that. Okay, great. And we'll discuss the 250 during our budget meetings. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Mr. Overton. Appreciate you coming out. Thanks, John. Your next report, Mr. Chairman. We'll call up Brian Floyd. He can introduce anyone else from his team that may also be presenting to provide a report from HQ health. Welcome. Thank you. And thank you for

having me here today. Uh, we reached out and requested some time, just in the spirit of recognizing the foundational role we play in Pitt County in Greenville and the importance of what ECU health is doing. And we thought continued communication and transparency is really important to the process. And so we thought you'd give we give a little update on the status of, uh, things going on at ECU health. And sorry, let me see if I can. Just for reminder, we tend to think of it in this market. We think about Pitt County and Pitt County Memorial Hospital, now SC Health Medical Center. But a quick reminder that ECU health is broader than that and serves a massive regional role for health care, education, and, uh, economic stimulus. We now have eight hospitals, one of which is the large academic medical center. Here we have about 1200 physicians practicing around more than 200 locations in eastern North Carolina. Our system now has just over 1700 beds. We'll be adding some more, and I'll talk about that in a moment. Just to put it in context, we're seeing over nearly half a million people a year. Individual patients, not more than 2 million visits, totally in our ECU health facilities. And of course, as you know, we recently completed a merger between Brody School of Medicine, ECU and then Vidant Health System to become what is now at ECU health. A quick reminder, beyond the health care that we provide to our to the community, we represent about a $4 billion a year stimulus to the economy of eastern North Carolina. Really important part of the way in which we're trying to fulfill our mission to improve the health and well-being of the East is partly the economic stimulus that we are to raise the socioeconomic conditions of what is a very challenging tier one rural community across eastern North Carolina's 29 counties, um, to set in and

beyond the the health care itself, the economic stimulus, it's important to look at the foundational aspects of our financial well-being. And I'll just remind us that looking back in time, Covid is the time that, uh, we just talked about going back to Covid discussions. It obviously had a profound impact on not only our community, but our organization as well, with about $200 million economic loss during the period of that pandemic to ECU health. It was for that reason that we became the strongest advocates for Medicaid expansion at the state, uh, which was accomplished. And really to support rural health care systems like ours. And included within that is the directed payment program that supports hospitals, the hospital Access Stabilization program, which are federal dollars that come in and help support particularly rural and underserved health systems such as ours, built on the back of the Medicaid expansion. That alone, to put in context, is a little more than $6 billion to hospitals here in North Carolina that is directly connected to the Medicaid expansion bill. Uh, that has helped us. It's been a lifeline for us to convert us from red ink on the balance sheet to black ink through these programs and some financial turnaround efforts we've been in. So with that since 2022 to 2025, those House funds have been, uh, largely responsible for our ability to invest nearly $300 million into our people, our process, our technologies. And that leads to retention and improvement in the health system itself. Um, in addition to those directed payment programs, we've experienced about $100 million financial improvement through the work of ECU health beyond those directed payment programs and all that sounds great. And as we're sitting close to a 4% margin as a system, we need to recognize that it's time limited. Uh, H.R. one has significant impacts to the

Medicaid programs and will have an impact on directed payment programs that support health systems just like ours. Um, at a minimum, over the six years to come, we're expecting as much as nearly $150 million. Uh, hit from the change to H.R. one. And over a ten year period, that will total up to to close to $300 million of payments that are at risk to ECU health over the ten years. It's about a 10% reduction. It's a complex formula I won't get into here, but it's built on the back of the provider taxes and the cap that we that has been introduced that comes down 10% each year and results in about a $300 million change. So when we look at that, we're talking about moving from 4% operating margin numbers to close to break even by the end of that ten year period. Should there be no other adjustment or change, um, to the health system? Of course, the largest thing we invest in are people. And from the pandemic period when we were operating with loss, we needed to stabilize. In the first year of our stabilizing efforts financially, once we moved to to black ink on the balance sheet, we then made investments in our people that is aimed at recruiting and retention of people here in eastern North Carolina. This graph here shows from fiscal year 21 to current state and fiscal year 26, the line represents our team member turnover. Remember, there's nearly 18,000 of us working here at ECU health. So that much of a turnover improvement represents a tremendous number of people who are staying in the work at ISU health relative to where we were at the height of the pandemic. Nationally speaking, there was about a 30% turnover of health care workforce at the national level, we look similar to those trends. We now are doing so much better than those national average trends here at ECU health in fiscal year 25. Those efforts also are coupled with the ability to recruit people

here in eastern North Carolina to provide for greater access to health care. Just last year alone, we added nearly 200 providers through recruitment. Nearly 1500 nursing team members, 600 allied health team members. All total 4800 plus people joined ECU health just last year here, which adds tremendously to our capabilities to serve the public's interest. And that turnover moving from 14.5% down to 13 is a sizable turnover. When you consider the size of the organization. And I just want to call out that within nursing, which we often get questions about since it is such a profoundly large part of our workforce, we are really beating the national trend strongly at about a 10.5% turnover, which fluctuates up to 10 to 11 or so versus the national average of about 15%. In addition to those investments directly in our people, we are working with colleges and universities to enhance pipelines that bring health care workers into eastern North Carolina. We can't depend on just recruiting and trying to beat all the other health systems, pulling people from the market or from the national story to eastern North Carolina. We know we want to grow our own. And so we have numerous partnerships and enhancements that help lead to more students getting into our college sector and our support for that work to then increase our retention efforts and building people from eastern North Carolina for eastern North Carolina, beyond people, we're making investments in technology and infrastructure. And I want to call out a few of these. We often talk about the health system, and people wonder sometimes how much is going to pay County. And so let's talk about where we are in our in our access that we're creating through facility enhancements. I mentioned that we first stabilized with Medicaid expansion in hasp, followed by a financial turnaround effort to improve $100 million. We then made

investments in our technology and our people first, which led to retention and recruitment advantages, furthering our financial success. Now we're talking about also now making investments. Since the organization has stabilized into these facility enhancements that that increase our access to care, starting with the surgery center, we're breaking ground on an expansion to the surgery center, which will increase our operating room capacity there and plan for the future. That's a partnership with our physicians as a joint venture together in providing surgical service on the outpatient side, we are we you may know, we just opened up a behavioral health hospital that's in the process of going online. We are also constructing a new outpatient behavioral health facility for health physicians who practice here to see patients from all across the region. We are breaking ground on a new medical examiner facility. This is forensic pathology based. We serve most all of the 29 county municipalities for when autopsies are required or forensic pathology. It comes to our hospital today, and we've negotiated a state support to build a new, state of the art forensic pathology environment, to move it from the hospital into an environment that was actually created for that volume. And we're doubling the size of our fellowship training for the state's pathology programs. We also broke ground in our end of the construction phases of an expansion to Brody School of Medicine's education facilities that you can see right out the window here. This includes both garages for parking and in addition to the facility itself, to expand our capacity at Brody School of Medicine, as we add students to our School of Medicine. And then finally, we often hear and talk about emergency room department flow and the and how full the facility is. When we look at those issues, the fact of the matter is, our hospital is in fact one of the nation's largest facilities. Uh, I was just checking a few moments ago, and as of right now,

there's about 20 to 25 hospitals in the country that are larger than 1100 beds. And this is one of them here in Greenville, North Carolina, despite the fact it's not in a metropolis environment. So it is an incredibly anomalous. It's a big anomaly to have such a large facility in a community of this size. And yet we feel the need to add more beds. And so when we built the Eddie Allison Smith Cancer Tower or that facility, we added two floors back when we constructed that to that project that had been a shell for the future in which we might shell that in to add more capacity, or at least replace old beds with new environments that will hold about 100 beds. And we're in the process now of planning to make the investment to add 100 beds to the hospital here. That will help alleviate the congestion in environments like the emergency department, which are not overwhelmed by the volume alone in the Ed, but rather the relative percentage of the patients in that emergency department that require inpatient admission and then are boarded while they're waiting to get into a bed, is congested. That environment, more than the volume itself is, it's the complexity that we're dealing with that needs inpatient capacity. So this is why this is an important investment. And then operating rooms and procedural areas that need to be expanded. And of course, just general infrastructure. These are investments in motion. Now here in Pitt County and in Greenville in particular, this is about a half $1 billion of capital investments in infrastructure here. Beyond Greenville. You've heard a lot about our work with the General Assembly. Uh, and at the federal level, to support rural health care reinvigoration where it's needed. Uh, a great example of that is Martin County, where, as you know, a hospital closed there a few years ago and has led to not only the closure of that hospital, but the loss of all physician services to the entire county. And today they only have an intermittent urgent care center and no

primary care access for the entire county. That's enormous and is in juxtaposition to another county where a hospital is in a decline and nearing closure, as well as previously were Belhaven hospital closed years ago. So this is the story in America when they talk about all these hospitals, nearly 400 hospitals at risk of closure in rural America, since H.R. one is projected. Well, we have those here. And ECU health is one of the largest health systems completely in a rural environment, uh, carrying hospitals that are in these underserved, poor regions that are spread around such a large landmass. So we think Martin County is a significant crisis issue. A health care desert that needs a solution. We have been working with the General Assembly to appropriate funds to build the state's first rural emergency hospital there. That hospital would provide essentially an emergency department and wraparound services to bring physicians back into that environment, to see patients on the outpatient side, ECU health would operate that with our teams. But we need a place now. If we rebuild an emergency department that will see 40 or 50 patients a day just based on what it was doing when Martin General was in operation, that is going to bring patients to that environment in need who, just like here in Greenville, need an inpatient bed, the rural emergency hospitals can't have inpatient beds. And therefore we have proposed an expansion to the Beaufort Campus Hospital in Washington, which would allow us to reopen half of the beds that are currently out of commission due to the status of the aged facility. That's there. So all total. We have proposed a $220 million proposal to bring a rural system of care in place, which is to alleviate the problem of anything happening in Martin County that just simply extends the line to the Greenville

Hospital further and more urgently than it already is today. Since that hospital closed on the moment it closed the very next day, there is a spike across all of our rural hospital emergency departments where all those patients now were sent to another environment. It is distressing not only those environments, it is also distressing Martin County's ability to transport patients who have gone from $400 million of cost of transportation through EMS, a volunteer EMS system. I'll add up to 2 million plus in just the cost of the transportation by distances that now. And so this is why this is something you've heard a lot about. And I'll remind that anything we do in a county in the market like this is also helping Pitt County and Greenville alleviate what has become quite an overwhelming volume of care. We are proud of the work that is going on. Uh, we believe that the General Assembly is hearing us, and we really have both at a national and state level, a platform that we are a model of rural health care that's gaining a lot of attention and steam. There are plenty of headwinds politically to pay attention to. There's budget uncertainties. Of course, there are ongoing infrastructure investments that are needed for of the hospitals operated at ECU health are all in a similar category as Washington or Martin's hospitals in that they were built with rural health dollars back more than 50 years ago, and are still the facilities in operation. Issues like Medicaid rebates, the property tax reforms, Irina's law, Rural Health Transformation program, the big issues like the wage index, reclassification issues and H.R. one for the reconciliation bill are certainly sizable issues that we are paying attention to. I often get asked about the rural Health Transformation Fund recall. That's a federal fund of $50 billion for rural health systems in rural environments

To use to help overcome the challenge of H.R. one and the reconciliation bill's negative impact to rural environments. I'll only remind that the 50 billion is a lot of money spread across all 50 states. Not a lot of money. And it far is outweighed by the loss from H.R. one financially. So while it is a help, we don't yet know much about how that's going to come to eastern North Carolina. We have applied through an affiliate entity called Access East to be a root hub, which is what they call the designated six regions in North Carolina. That would essentially determine the use of those funds. But they will be spread through those six regions into counties across eastern North Carolina, could represent as much as $200 million a year to us, but again, spread across lots of environments that we still are waiting through, understanding exactly how that's going to be used. But we do plan to participate as Access East. You know, all all of that said, the organization is improving, improving financially, improving in our ability to serve the public's interest, improving in the quality and patient safety across all indicators that we measure from team member experience, physician experience, patient experience, and the quality and patient safety results that we measure for every patient. Every time. The organization is an imperfect aggregation of a lot of complex technology and people, and we are working every day to become better than we were the day before. For the patients that we serve. But the results do show a climb in our indicators across the board. Um, there's so much that we're involved in, so much to get into here. Uh, but in the interest of the ten minutes I have, I'll just close by saying, uh, we are celebrating

a milestone that you all care deeply about 75 years ago, uh, Pitt County Memorial Hospital was essentially born and would come to the organization that we now call ICU health people just like you sitting in these chairs came together to serve the needs of eastern North Carolina and Pitt County in particular. And that hospital grew well beyond anyone's imagination of a small county hospital, a rural hospital as a regional hub. Uh, I'll remind you, the average hospital in this country is about 135 beds. Only 15% of hospitals in the United States have more than 250 beds. And this is an 1100 bed facility in Greenville, North Carolina. It is a major part of the fabric of all of the East, and you should be proud of the work that has happened over the years between starting that hospital, rebuilding that hospital, relocating that hospital, partnering with Brody School of Medicine to build the state's most successful primary care training school, uh, five, 60% of the graduates of Brody School of Medicine will be practicing in a rural community of North Carolina, five years after graduation. Those were astoundingly good results for what the mission of the organization was put together to do. And we continue forward. We have much to do. There's plenty of headwinds ahead that I've mentioned, but we just wanted to give you a debrief on some of the major projects, especially since a lot of these are going to be happening in Greenville and Pitt County over the next couple of years. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Floyd. Any commissioner have any anything they'd like to ask? I do. Okay. Commissioner McLaughlin okay. Uh, first of all, Brian, I wanted to thank you for that thorough report. Very good report. I've had several people lately have called me and very concerned about being seen at

the hospital. Some had waited as much as six hours to be seen. One lady called me about two days ago, had a broken ankle or something. She waited in an emergency room for about six hours, was not seen at all. And I have several other people call me on the incident that they're leaving. Here, going to places like Raleigh and surrounding hospital. Now, at one time you had this pre emergency room just prior to the director entering. I thought that was I utilized that that service before. I thought it was one of the best service that you ever had. But you were closed down. You shut it down. And um, my understanding is that because of that, you didn't have wouldn't get enough patients or something. But it proved to me from and from several other people that I talked with to be very beneficial. I'll be I'll be happy to address that for you. Are you considering maybe reestablishing that open something like that again? That helped a lot of my my understanding. I've been a patient there myself several times. I have been a patient myself in that med direct center several times. It's amazing. And we have amazing good people there. Uh, the facts of that issue are the following. Uh, number one, um, Med Direct. We closed that particular outpatient facility during the pandemic. At that time, low risk emergency patients were not coming to the hospital. There was a tremendous drop in the volume of low risk patients for which that facility was built. It was a not an urgent care center. It was a minor emergency department that we extended out there years earlier while we were constructing expansion to the main emergency department. We kept it open, kept a provider there for years. But what you don't know is a lot of times patients would come there with serious issues to a minor emergency department, and then we're moving them into an ambulance and putting them back up into the emergency department and allow them to get in there and going ahead of the patients waiting in the

emergency department in that venue. So it wasn't just that they were seeing there. There was also a lot of complication from the proximity of it not being on the campus, not having access to MRI and CT scanning and all the other needs for which emergency patients would come. So it had a suboptimal component to it as well. We didn't close it. We closed it during the pandemic and during that phase, we opened what we call a fast track, which is a similar concept on the second floor of the emergency department in the hospital, where it would be getting closer proximity to the diagnostic needs and the diagnostic equipment. It is staffed with both practitioners and a physician who see those same minor patients when they come to the emergency department. And so I put those patients into a bucket of there are those in crisis. A helicopter is bringing them. They've had a car accident. Something has happened, a heart attack. They always go to the front of the line and there's no wait. When that is the case, when there's a critical need, that's what is what determines our first priority. And we see those immediately. But that also means people waiting are now in a queue of two other categories. One of those may be I have the flu, or I feel that I'm sick and it might be minor. Instead of having them wait 12 hours for a minor issue. If we think that's what that is, we send them to that fast track where they can be seen in the average. Wait, there's about 2.5 hours to be seen and released from that environment, and we see well over hundreds of patients in that environment. Uh, upstairs. The rest are falling in the bigger category of not in urgent crisis or emergency that exceeds the emergencies of the other patients. At that moment. And those that are too sick to be easily treated and released until we can do diagnostics, when patients come in, they are triaged immediately by a physician and clinician who are looking at the immediacy of the patient and determining, are they safe to wait or not, relative to what's going on

with all the patients in the Ed at the time, and what's causing that? Wait while they're waiting? Typically, we're doing lab work right away in the triage environment, waiting for those results to come back and inviting those patients to wait in that lobby. While we're waiting for that to come back, to then see a physician and see what the next step is. Um, and this is a story beyond Pitt County. This is a national story of crisis and emergency care because of the same issues that we're dealing with here. But we went from as many as 15% of those patients coming through the emergency department needing an inpatient bed to upwards of 25 and 30%, needing an inpatient bed. And we see well over 300 to 400 patients in the Ed just at this hospital a day, most of which come between the hours of 11 a.m. through 9:00 in the evening. And so this is a very large number comes in. And because so many need beds, it's consuming beds that could be otherwise used until we can get them in an inpatient capacity. Our physicians monitor the patient population. And we have people that are every 15 minutes to check to see that patients are okay. We check vital signs and see them. But if you're the patient, you came for the physician to see you and tell you what's going on and that's what you're waiting for. And really, the rest doesn't feel appropriate. We don't like it either. That is the reason, though, that we have put systems in place to make sure it is safe. We don't discourage any patients from coming from that to that environment, because we never know for sure if the headache is truly just a headache or something more serious that we need to deal with. So we invite patients to come. We are prohibited from sending them away regardless of criticality, until they have been fully examined and diagnosed by the physician group. And so I will say that our our, our needs are beyond the emergency department in primary care where patients, many patients need to be. And

so we have added a thousand panels a week to primary care visits. We are moving into virtual care primary care locations. The story of even the Martin County expansion is essential to alleviating the volume here in Greenville. And then adding these 100 beds will make all those current bed waiting numbers, which is as much as 50 to 60 borders a day. Have an inpatient bed immediately, which would essentially double the number of spaces we have to move patients through emergency department. But that's really what's happening and why it's happening. And as I mentioned, as soon as we were financially able, that's where we've made our investments increasing providers. There's more happening than people can see about what's happening. And I get that, um, and we will do all we can to continue to try to improve the speed with which we can see patients based on criticality. And criticality is not what you think. It's what we see happening among all the patients that are coming in.. Any other questions for Mr.. Floyd? Are you thinking, Mr. Miller? I'm. Good evening. I'm Mr. Floyd. Question. How many nurses are you sure invited right over here. Are you.? So on any given day, we are recruiting anywhere between 700, 800 nurses. Now that's our number. We are trying to recruit. It's not the number. We are short at any moment in time. One of the reasons that the pandemic era was so financially hard for us is we did not limit the capacity of beds due to nursing shortages. We pay the exorbitant fees to make sure we had nurses. A lot of travel industry costs. We ended up creating our own travel company and inviting people to come into that to cut away middleman expenses that were going on nationally. And now many of those nurses, the prices have come down in travel agencies. We have been retaining our own people at the highest levels that we ever

have had. And that's leading to less urgency for outside staffing costs. But the natural turnover of even 10% when you have nearly 4000 nurses, that's still 400 nurses a year that are going to go into retirement or turnover, even if you're at the top ten, 25% nationally on turnover. So our training schools will train 200 at ECU, 200 at Pitt, for instance, and we have five other colleges we work with. Um, but it takes quite a minimum 4 to 500 nurses a year just to fill what's going to naturally turn over. So as we grow, that number goes up even more. And as I talked about an expansion of 100 beds, which may take us two years to accomplish in this phase, we will need a lot more nurses and we will be recruiting a lot more. One more question, Mr. Chairman. The hospital you want to open up in Martin County and Beaufort? I look at Chowan, Berti. Those hospitals, their numbers are actually declining in the counties that they live. Well, the county's. population is declining. Yes, sir. Are those people coming more over to Pitt? I call it Pitt. So we're just or Pitt? Where they staying? Because I would love to know what the number of E.R. before they closed. Um, because I have a friend who had a wife over there, said I think they had three deliveries that Martin County in a month before they shut it down. Babies. And that was it. I'd love to know what what the E.R. visits are in Beaufort. Joanne. Um, and those areas around to see if they're coming here. Well, I don't have all those exact numbers with me right now from all the hospitals. I'll tell you this, Martin County is a good example that you referenced. I happen to know that number because we were over there today with legislators looking at the facility again. And the moment that hospital closed, there were 32 patients in the Ed being seen, and that's after it

had wound down. In anticipation of that closure. So you can imagine there's far more than that in that one facility alone that we're in the emergency department. They didn't stop having emergency issues, so they came to Pitt and to some of our other facilities. Bertie is a close facility. Bertie is a six bed critical access hospital that's full every day. So going there is just pushing that one beyond its limits. Beaufort. Fortunately, years ago we built new emergency services at Beaufort County Hospital. They're now, uh, the campus of the medical center. So it had some expansion capability. And sometimes that's why we we actually there are a lot of patients that come from Greenville to Beaufort. It's the same physicians that care for us here, rotating there. Um, but specifically Roanoke, Chowan Hospital. I don't have the number here right before me. But I'll tell you this, um, the volume in those hospitals is not declining. The county population statistics are. But let's keep something in mind. Urbanization is usually what we talk about when we say there's a county population statistic decline. Correct. Urbanization happens in young people. What that means is it leaves behind the older than 65 population. Statistically. So the percentage of people in the community may go down a percentage, too, as younger people urbanize. But the population with the greatest need for medical services, like hospitals, are the older than 65 populations. And they're not urbanizing. They're not leaving those markets. So we have to keep in mind who we're serving and what creates stress on health systems. People are living longer with more advanced diseases as as these facilities are more successful, we will have more patient demand. And eastern North Carolina is over 65. Population percentages are as high as they are in any health system in the country. Thank you. Thank you, Mr.

Chairman. Any other questions? Okay. Mr. Floyd, thank. You for your I want to thank you. When I joined here, it was CMH. People care more here. We're proud of the 75 year that we've been. And I'll tell you this, they still do appreciate you having me today. Thank you for coming out. Appreciate it. Mr. chairman. Your next report is your quarterly report from West Gray on public health. All right. Good evening, Mr. Chairman. Commissioners and county manager. Um, I have a report, a brief report for you this evening. Um. Pull. It up right here. Okay. All right. And I will start out by recognizing that we just wrapped up, uh, National Public Health Week. That was April 6th through 12th, and that celebrates, uh, how public health has improved our daily lives, safeguarded our families, expanded our lifespans and strengthen our communities. Uh, one of the neat stories about this that we learned this year was that Public Health Week started here in North Carolina. It was a group called the citizens for Public Health. They started in 1972, and they started doing a starting a week to celebrate, uh, Public Health Week. Uh, and then that grew into the national, um, uh, observance of that in 1995. So we were proud of that, starting here in North Carolina, as you can see from the Pitt County has the most, uh, citizens involved in that group, uh, where the fourth largest, uh, uh, contributed to that total, um, right after wake, County, Orange and Durham. Uh, one thing I want to update everybody on, since I was in the news in the last quarter, was the surveillance for measles. We did have a measles outbreak, large, relatively, but, um, by historical standards here in Pitt County, we had 20. No, I'm sorry, in North Carolina, 24 cases in the outbreak we had starting in December. In North Carolina. That has a lot of cases. But as a real big success story for public health is that it was not more than that. The closest it got here to Pitt County was in Johnson

County and Nash. We had one case in each of those counties. We have not had a case in the last seven reporting periods. We haven't had a case since the end of February of measles in North Carolina. Contrast that with our neighbor to the South in South Carolina, almost a thousand cases, 997 cases. And that outbreak that started in October. The good news on that is that has been gone down so far. We haven't had a case in several weeks. And if they don't have a case before April 26th, that can be considered closed and nobody's under observation. But again, you can see in some of these numbers, the vast majority of those cases were in unvaccinated individuals and individuals from birth to age 17 were the vast majority of those cases. Uh, some of the public information we did in partnership with ICU health, uh, Doctor Dalzell and Brittany Kinder, our communicable disease specialist, um, supervisor, uh, talking about measles to the media and giving updates on our Facebook page and throughout the county to let people know and physicians know how to recognize those cases and how to report them immediately to public health. Don't send patients into the lobby and walk right up to the front, because all of these people are exposed. And that's where the majority of these exposures happen, is people just show up in the emergency room, and then that affects everybody to send that emergency room and in that hospital, because measles is one of our most contagious diseases, we have, uh, some of the clinic highlights for this month. We're averaging about 949 visits per month. We always see a little bit of a lull. If you look at historical trends, December to March. But we are up about 65 on average, uh, patients per month from last year. I mentioned that our communicable disease staff and our public and our school nurses in Pitt County, um, have wrapped up the second round of TB testing at Connolly and Farmville Middle with no new active cases found in that. So we're really appreciative of the public health nurses that helped in that response. I mentioned last Friday we had ECU, the Research and Creative Achievement Awards, and they recognized our clinic with the anchored in Partnerships

Community Partner Award. And that was last week with, uh, Chancellor Rogers. And then that's a student ECU um, second from the left, Raleigh Trueblood that nominated our STI Rapid Clinic for that award. Um, another highlight is one of our midwives that health department doctor, Renee Spain. She's on the faculty at the College of Nursing. She's got a partnership with a university in Cameroon that, um, that teaches midwifery and improves the maternal care system. And that's been a real big success story over the last 25 years, Cameroon has seen a decrease of 55% in maternal mortality. So that's a real big success story. Between that country and ECU health in our system. So we're proud of Doctor Spain for contributing to that. Some of the environmental health numbers that we have, we don't have the complete numbers for March. But so far this fiscal year, um, over 1000 site visits, we've been able to do sites evaluated, 369 construction authorizations for new permits for 95 construction authorizations, repairs and replacements, 38 and then 104 operation permits issued. Again, um, we did pull some of the numbers, um, preliminary numbers for March and um, being fully staffed now, we were able to um, have 40 operational permits issued in March, 136 site visits in 15 new construction authorizations and then wells over the fiscal year, 30 sites evaluated and 28 new permits. And for the month of March, three new well construction permits were issued for food and lodging. Total inspections for the fiscal year 1324 692 restaurants, 144 food stands, and I'll mention other highlights, including 45 pools and 55 tattoo artists. And we are really ramping up the number of pools right now, getting ready for pool season. So in the month of March, 11 pools were inspected, uh, 55 restaurants, 32 food stands and 19 child daycare centers. Uh, and Jeffrey was recognized earlier as employee of the month for April. And Kathy mentioned the FBI exercise as

foodborne illness. And that was with our partners throughout the county, throughout the region, USDA AG Department, a lot of people came together to host this. SEIU health was there. Um, not so easy. Um, um, Student services and cafeteria was our guinea pig for this exercise. And they participated and we did a full exercise on how, um, the health department would respond to any foodborne illness outbreak. So thank you. Jeffrey and Jordan and the team for putting that together. And, uh, nutrition and work. I'll mention that our February numbers were 4780 people on our caseload. Uh, we have had a big increase over the fiscal year, so much so that they've updated our new baseline target to not 4936. So that means we're at about 97% of that baseline. And that resulted in about a $64,000 increase in funding to spend for the next fiscal year, uh, in Wick. So we're really proud of that. Uh, mentioned the diabetes support group and highlight that that's a full schedule for the year. If anybody's interested. We meet every month, uh, second Wednesday, uh, from 10 a.m. to 1130 at the health department. We recently had, uh, Chief Capehart talked about motivation and resilience on the journey with diabetes. And Ericka Rodriguez with a nutrition and healthy recipe. And so each class has a special event. And we're, um, we've got those scheduled throughout the month of December. Uh, slight HR update to get some of the highlights. I want to mention everybody, since the last report, we've had a new, um, director of nursing, that's Kayla manning. She was promoted from within the health department. Uh, Kimberly Smith is joining us as our new academic health department coordinator. That's a contract position. That's 50% from working at the health department and 50% at the ECU Department of Public Health to improve the workforce pipeline coming in to public health and to train internships for the future. And then I want to mention Bonnie Roberts retired from our Wick office. So we're going to miss Bonnie. We also have several vacancies and several accepted offers that are starting later this month. Some of the health education

highlights. We did our results based accountability training at eastern Ahrq. Uh, last month, our wellness highlights I mentioned this morning into March that concluded for the last year, uh, we had 686 employees earned all of their six points. So they got the full discount on their insurance. Um, and the next cycle has started today. So we started health screenings. Those conclude May 31st and then, uh, to get the first two points on that level, you do the health screening or you and do a risk assessment, or you can go to your primary care physician and bring back those lab work and then meet with the, um, with the staff here and get those first two points. And then you only have to get four more, and then you get that full discount on your insurance. Uh, I mentioned Steve Eaton with our triple positive parenting program participated in Read Across America Day back in March. Again, Deborah Savage was our other employee in the quarter that got the employee of the month for February. And then I'll mention finally, a maternal health and fatherhood program called dads Here. That's, uh, partnership with ECU Safe Kids, triple P, Martin Pitt Partnership for children and the Health Department. And that's later on this spring starting. But the QR code is there. If anybody would like to sign up. And with that, I'll wrap up my report and answer any questions you might have. Thank you Wes, any questions for Wes? Thank you so much. Appreciate your report. Next up, Mr. Chairman, is your quarterly report from Social Services, Sharon Rochelle. I guess I'm a little shorter than West. Okay. You all have said here a very long time, so we're really just going to do our highlights tonight. And I

just wanted to show you some of the things that we're doing out in the community. But good evening. Um, chairman Smith, vice chair and members of the board and County manager Gallagher. So my name is Sharon Rochelle. I'm the director of Pitt County Department of Social Services. I've invited my leadership team here to provide you with their areas and their quarterly report. And I thought, this is really the first time I've done a quarterly report. I really want to highlight not only my leadership team, but also the wonderful work that they do. So, um, the first person I'm going to bring up is Sonja Scott, and Sonja is the program administrator for Family Support Services. Yeah. I know you. Can just click. Okay. So, um, as she said, my name is Sonja Scott. I am the program administrator for family Support Services. Um. Family support services include the programs that you have here on your screen. The primary purpose of the Family Support Services Division is to provide support to families by to help prevent, prevent or alleviate economic and emotional hardships while promoting self-support and self-sufficiency through programs outlined in this presentation. In addition, we make referrals to other programs within the agency as well as to a wide range of community resources that provide necessary support and services. During the first and second quarters. The unit has served over 17,000 households in Pitt County. Each program area has successfully passed state and federal mandated audits, with scores of 96% or better, demonstrating a strong commitment to compliance and quality service delivery. Most program areas, with the exception of child care and crisis, are reimbursed at 50% through federal funding. The

Child Support Program is reimbursed at a rate of 66% and also receives incentive funding based on performance, which helps offset operational costs. These reimbursements cover salaries, benefits, and other day to day operating expenses. While the Family Support Services unit consists of 58 staff members. We may be small in number, but we are big on success and we remain committed to providing quality assistance and support to the citizens of Pitt County. Any questions for Sonja? Any commissioner? Questions? Okay. Thomas. Night. This is Thomas Knight. He is our program administrator for economic support services. Good evening. Um, Thomas knight. Um, I'm the program administrator for, um, economic services, and our programs are highlighted on the screen. The food and nutrition services, family and children's Medicaid. Um, we have a customer care unit. That's our unit that sees the clients have as they visit the agency. And we also have adult Medicaid. Um, I did a quarterly average of each area, um, as it relates to the major programs, um, for food and nutrition services, that's now that's also known as food stamps. Um, we average an active amount of cases of 12,583 cases in the first quarter. The second quarter, we had an average of 14,179 active cases. And these are our clients that are actively, actively receiving benefits. Um, that equates to first quarter 29,701 participants. So within those household, that's that's how many people actually receive of those services during that first quarter.

Second quarter, we had 29,031 participants in those households. Um, as it relates to family and children's Medicaid, we in the first quarter, we had an average of 50,421 participants. And the second quarter, we had 50,379 participants. And these are families that have children in their household. Um, as it relates to our traffic in the lobby, the first quarter, we average about 3000 clients. Um, per month. And that amounted to 9246 um, clients that were seen in the agency. And this not include programs outside of economic services. Um, second quarter, um, there were 7440 um clients that were seen in the lobby. Um, and as I stated, this does not include clients that we're seen for other services outside of economic services. Um, now, as it relates to adult Medicaid and these are your age, blind and disabled, um, clients or households. In the first quarter, we had 12,583 participants. Second quarter we had 12,528 participants. And that's kind of the makeup of our major programs. Um, as it relates to economic services. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions for Thomas? Any questions? As you can see, he's a very busy man. Uh, next, I'd like to have, uh, Colleen Anderson come forward. She's our program administrator for child welfare. Good evening. So you can see on the slide we have a broken down into the different functions of child welfare. So intake, that's where they take the reports of abuse, neglect or

dependency. In the first quarter, we took 445 reports and we screened in 302 of those reports. In the second quarter, we took in 487 and screened in 279. So we take about an average of 150 reports a month and screened in about 100 a month. Those reports that are screened in are then needed to have an assessment. So they go to Child Protective Services. In the first quarter, we serviced 351 families, and the second quarter 387 families. And a family is, you know, just what you think. It's a mom. It could be a mom and one kid. It could be a mom and six kids. It could be, you know, it's everything looks a little bit different. So, um, we just always want to keep that in mind. Then of those cases, 52, we had an average of 52 families sent to in-home services. So they were found to have a safety issue that needed ongoing work in the first quarter. And then 49 in the second quarter. So those social workers meet with those families twice a month to weekly, depending on the risk level and to address whatever the safety needs are. And then for the children that we can't maintain safely in their home. Those are our foster children. And you can see that in the first quarter, we had 176 on average. In the second quarter, 180 on average. And then you can see our 18 to 21 when our foster children turn 18 and age out of care, they have the option to choose to remain in care. And we have some of the largest numbers of 18 to 21 in the state, which speaks very highly of our program that children choose to remain in care with us. We also do about 400 courtesies in a year. Thanks in large part to that wonderful hospital. So when someone other county's child is airlifted to our hospital,

we're the ones who go out and respond to that. So we do about 400 courtesies for other counties to see children that happen to be at our hospital, at the village, at other services that we have here in our county. Any questions? Okay. And finally, Candace Franklin Rouse, she's our program manager for adult services. Good evening. Like Miss Michelle said, my name is Candace Franklin Rouse. I'm the program manager for adult services. And also on my slide, we have, um, the program areas of adult services broken down for you. Um, the main program area and adult services that a lot of people hear and kind of know about is APS or Adult Protective Services. Um, and so for our quarter one, we have received 213 um reports quarter two, 221 reports. Um, in home services, in-home services is actually comprised of about four different programs. Um, you would hear um, cap or community alternatives program, um, in-home aide. And then our special assistance program and then also our daycare. All of those programs are under our in-home services, and they are programs that are geared towards making sure that our seniors can remain in their home safely. And in an age in place. Um, and so for so far for our quarter, we have been able to serve 320, um, individuals across those program areas for guardianship. Currently, right now, Pitt County Department of Social Services serves as the guardian, whether it's general guardian, guardians of the estate or guardian person, we serve 207 individuals. Um, and so our guardianship unit, um, manages those cases. Um, some of our clients are placed as

far as Mocksville, North Carolina, um, out west and sometimes in Virginia. Um, and so our workers are having to go out and see those individuals, make sure that they're receiving the care that they need while in facilities, um, or whether they're with family members. But we do manage 207 of those individuals right now. Um, some of the community outreach programs that we have been able to participate in, um, so far, or have I been our Elder abuse and wellness walk. And so Elder Abuse Awareness Month is in June. And so that is coming up. And we do a awareness walk that starts here at the agency. And we go down Fifth Street. Um, as some of you may know, there are about 3 or 4 facilities, adult care homes along Fifth Street. And so we kind of take our walk that way. They, um, enjoy being able to come out to the edge of the road. Um, some of them are sitting out in the parking lot cheering us on as we're walking through. They make signs for us, um, and support us as we support them. Um, and so we are really excited about Elder Abuse Awareness Month coming up. Um, during the government shutdown, we did experience a time period where a lot of our citizens were not able to receive food stamps, and so we partnered with several churches and other agencies here in Pitt County to provide food and do food giveaways. We also have a food pantry for when we get those phone calls here. Um, that someone doesn't have food to make it through, um, the week or the weekend. We can use that food pantry to kind of support individuals through through those crises. We also have our adult foster holiday program that we hold every year at Christmas, and it's mainly for our individuals. Those 207 adults that we serve as their guardian. And all the individuals who are in our adult care homes or assisted living facilities in Pitt County, a lot of them are Medicaid recipients. And so

each month they only get about $90 for personal spending. Um, and so this adult foster holiday program allows people like you and I to just adopt a citizen each year, um, they provide a wish list. Some of those things on the wish list is like socks or toiletries or, um, diabetic candy. A built, um, a radio for their room. And so, um, we allow those individuals to be adopted. They have their wish lists, and we are really excited because this past Christmas, we were able to, um, by way of donations from Pitt County citizens. We were able to purchase larger items this year, like TVs and dorm size refrigerators for people to have in their facilities, in their in their rooms. And so that's the first time that we've ever been able to purchase big items like that and put smiles on people's face in that way. Um, so we're really excited. Like Miss Sonia Scott said, you know, we're small in number, but I am extremely proud of the adult services division. Even with our vacancies, we still have remain committed to serving and protecting the citizens of Pitt County. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions? Okay. Well, as you just heard from all my folks, um, we might be small, but we're pretty mighty and we do a lot of work and a lot of great work. One of the things that I've talked about in the past is wanting to change the face of the Department of Social Services, I think, um, you know, I think people think they know what we do, but I want to be able to be out in the community more to to be forward facing, um, to build relationships and to kind of change people's perspective, our perception of what it is that we do. So we've done some things, um, and we're going to continue our efforts to be able to do that. Um, last year at this time, we did, um, a child

abuse awareness month. That's the actually this month right now. And as you can see, that is the Greeneville Police Department standing with our mascot, Fuzzy Wuzzy. Um, and so we've been taking fuzzy out to schools, um, giving away little bears, but, you know, talking about what it is that we do as an agency, um, we invited high school students to come for an economic services day. And what we're hoping is that young people who are in high school realize that, you know, if they did not want to go on to college or pursue a career, um, and go to go to a university or a two year school, that they could actually get a job at Pitt County Department of Social Services and the income maintenance and what it is that they would we would require and possibly maybe do some internships with them. Uh, we did, um, a Christmas party at Pitt Academy. Um, we originally set this up for the middle school and the younger, younger students. And of course, we had Santa's come. What we found out when we went there that day is that there was nothing being done for the high school students. So we brought Santa around, and you'd be very surprised the number of students that wanted their picture taken with Santa, the high school students. And we came back the next day and provided gifts for all of those. And it really wasn't anything fancy. Hats. Um, personal hygiene items. But you would think that we gave those kids $1 million. They were so pleased to think that we thought of them and went out of our way to make them feel special around the holiday. Okay. Um. One of the things we've been doing is, um, when we knew that the snap recipients and we're pretty sure that they were not

going to get their food stamps, we didn't know for how long. I reached out to the interfaith clergy, and we were able to get donations from them to be able to go and provide food. And if you look at the next picture of the food distribution, um, we it wasn't supposed to start until 9:00 that morning, but people started lining up at 815. And as the county manager will tell you, I backed up traffic for quite a ways as people were waiting for their food boxes. But we this this is all the staff that came and volunteered that day. We were able to give out 800 boxes of food in that one day alone. Um, we did a trunk or treat at Marywood, um, at Halloween time, and we had the best time with those kids. Um, I'm not sure what had happened previous years, but they weren't going to have a trunk or treat. And this was, um, put together at the last minute. So we were able to watch all the kids come by in their costumes and meet parents. And it was it was a wonderful opportunity. Um, the next slide shows Thomas at the Aiden Elementary Career fair. So we've been trying to get out to schools, um, and have a table, um, to talk a little bit about what Pitt County does and maybe some of the options that would be available to students to be able to, you know, come. To work for us.. And we've got a lot more things planned over this next few months. Um, we're going to try to get out to community events set up. Um, and, and we actually have a team of people now that really just want to be able to volunteer their time to come out, to spread the word. So we're really anxious for that. All right. Any questions? Thank you. Thank you for your attention. You've had a long night. Thank you. We appreciate you and your team coming out. Thank you. Next up, Mr. Chairman, is your monthly financial report.

Michael Hardie. Good evening. Uh, as looking at the monthly financial report, you'll see we're at 75% of the year. We have three months left. So you can see, looking down the line, solid waste funds. You can see it's right at 91.9 1.4% year to date, as far as exceeding as far as the expenditure is 69.2%. And then also the EMS fund is at 75%, uh, for revenues and then 74.5% for expenditures, all exceeding right at that 75%. What I really want you to highlight or take a look at, as you can see, comparing the general fund and this is important for the upcoming year for the actual budget process, is looking at the revenues versus the expenditures of the current year to the last year. So you can see not a lot of change there going from last year to current year. So this is kind of a precursor to what, uh, the upcoming year will look like as far as what capacity we have in the budget process. So it's one thing to be taken in mind when looking at this. Any questions with this report? Any questions for Michael? Thank you. Thank you sir. Need a motion. To approve. Need a motion to approve the report. I'll make a motion. I'll second a motion and a second. Please vote. Okay. Next up, Russell Hill, for your March 2026 tax collection report. Good evening. Chairman Smith, commissioners. Manager Gallagher. This evening I present. To you the March tax collection report. The fiscal. Year combined tax collection rate through March 31st for real and personal property was 98.55%. The combined rate one year ago. For real and personal property was 98.28%. Pick

County Tax Administration continues to pursue all outstanding taxes, um, using the necessary remedies available through the North Carolina General Statutes. If there are any questions, I'm happy to answer them. If not, it's my recommendation to approve the tax collection report as presented. Thank you. Russell, we've got a motion for that. We've got a motion and a second. Please vote. Thank you Russell I appreciate that report. All right then I'll finish out your reports with the manager's report this evening. Mr. chairman, if I may. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Starting off with your next meeting dates May 4th at 6 p.m.. In this room will be the presentation of your proposed budget. Um, so another meeting that may take a little bit longer than your normal May 5th through the seventh. That's Tuesday through, um, Thursday, we'll have budget workshops, um, here in this same room beginning at 830 in the morning. And then on May 18th, your second meeting in May. Um, back on regular schedule with two meetings per month. Reminder, tomorrow morning we have service awards, um, at 8 a.m. in this room. And those recipients receiving awards are listed in your agenda packet and will be recognized in person over breakfast tomorrow morning. Everyone is welcome to attend. Item C is Legislators and Schools Week. You've received an invitation from Pitt County Board of Education that this Wednesday, April 15th from 830 to 1145, they are hosting legislators in their schools um, meeting at Lake Forest Elementary School at 830 in the morning and then, um, traveling to Aidan Griffin High School and Shepherd school for tours at those facilities. It ends with lunch and conversation from 1130 to 12. If you would like to attend that, let the clerk know by tomorrow morning if you have not already, so you can get your RSVP into the schools. Excuse me. Item D I want to make you aware of a new event, emergency Management and Cultural Arts and Recreation are hosting a Spring Discovery Fair on April 28th from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Office Park,

Pitt County Office Park. Cultural Arts and Recreation Center on Government Circle. This is an expansion of the Holiday Safety Fair that's held at Alice Quinn District Park for residents. Um uh, third through fifth grade, attending Pike County Schools in the North Pitt School District. It's a free event that will promote wellness activities and seasonal safety with a variety of fun activities and food vendors. So we're excited to have that extension of our already successful Holiday Safety fair, which is typically around Christmas time. Item E is an update on your fire feasibility workshop, just to know that is on track. Given the complexity of that topic. We'll hold a special workshop at 4 p.m. on May 19th to review the details of that report with the consultants. Item F is to let you know that we have a new medical director, effective April 1st. Doctor Kitch has stepped aside from that position, and we have the return of Doctor Bobby Portela, who will serve as Pitt County's EMS medical director. Item G is an update on the Courthouse Security Committee. I wanted to make sure the full board was aware of progress. Um, there. You may recall some time ago, um, the Superior Court and District Court judge, in conjunction with the sheriff's office, um, sought a study from the Sheriff's Association to review um, security at the courthouse. And they prepared a lengthy report that has multiple recommendations in it with regard to physical security changes at the courthouse and policy and procedure changes that will enhance security at the courthouse. So in order to sort of manage that process, because the the improvements through that report would be funded by the county, it's our responsibility to fund the courthouse. I asked Chris Barnes, our Pitt County risk manager, to put together, in conjunction with the stakeholders, a courthouse security committee so that we would remain aware of what's going on throughout the process

and that there would be transparency and communication between the group of courthouse stakeholders and the county itself. So that committee is made up of Jeff Foster, senior resident, Superior Court Judge Galen Brady, chief District Court Judge Ferris Dickson, District Attorney Sarah Beth Rhodes, Clerk of Superior Court Robert Kemp, public defender Paula Dance, Pitt County sheriff. Les Robinson, a Pitt County bar representative Jason Collins, head bailiff. Robin Abbott from the sheriff's office Terry Mills, from Pitt County, miss Ken Bran, from Pitt County, engineering Lori Strayer as a recorder, Lisa Fawns as an alternate recorder. Tom Burns from Allied Universal, our security company at the courthouse, and Chris Barnes, they had their very first meeting on Thursday, March 26th. Um, to pore through that report. And the intent is that they, as the group of stakeholders, will prioritize those requests with transparency as to available funding and then make recommendations back to the board of Commissioners to implement them over the next several years to accomplish their objectives, to make sure that our courthouse is secure. Wanted to make sure you knew that was happening. And the very first of your requests is contained within your consent agenda this evening. There are some improvements that need to be made to the card swipe system at the courthouse. Um, that system is not currently functioning. So whether they recommended it or not, we needed to fix it. Um, but those are the types of projects that will be prioritized and brought to you as funding is available to work through those issues. Um, this is so important that, um, Judge Foster has asked to make a very brief presentation during your budget workshops so that the board is fully informed us to the potential scope over the next several years of costs associated with that. So you'll hear it about again in budget workshops, but wanted you to know that was happening. Um, a compliance update on item H. Um, wcaG or some people just call WAG

compliance. Um, as you may know, back in 2024, there was a ruling called Web Content Accessibility Guidelines that assures Ada, um, disability access to all of our digital assets and sites, which include our website, our social media, anything that's digital. So the Department of Justice mandated this in 2024 to make digital content usable for all people with disabilities. Um, our deadline for compliance was April 24th, 2026, and we began our journey toward compliance in August of 2024 with a system redesign of our broadcast and live stream services to pit TV and YouTube, a website refresh, and changes to our processes related to social media. As of April 10th, our compliance scores we are 98.72% compliant on our website, 100% compliant on pit TV, 99% compliant on YouTube, 100% compliant on Facebook, and those that are not yet 100% will be by April 24th. As we continue to work with our website platform, Civic Plus, to address some accessibility issues that are on their back end. So I want to give a big congratulations to the Public Information Office. They're all in the back, and our department heads, our website and social media liaisons. This was a very, very heavy lift to become compliant. And we are now compliant. And what that really means in a practical sense is that when you see anything digital on Pit County's website, the pictures will have descriptions with them. Any TV will have closed captioning associated with it. We're no longer using PDFs unless they're remediated to be able to be described for those with disabilities. And so we are pleased that we have reached those benchmarks. We are a ahead of our peers, and we are not at risk for fines or penalties for violations of that law. Um, item I April is

National County Government Month. It's a big month for us in county government and we have several things going on. Um, we celebrate this every year. We are, um, recognizing our employees dedication and service service this month by doing giveaways every Friday. We're giving away 15 pit master seasoning collection kits that the board might have seen before. Um, to five winners every Friday, Human Resources is launching a new employee engagement activities called spring into learning. So we're really focusing on professional development, and we're offering pop up learning sessions throughout the month. Cultural Arts and Recreation is offering free wellness and recreation programs at our community centers. Waived fitness studio membership fees, and an employee active hour during lunch, and Solid Waste and recycling is promoting water stewardship. When we celebrate Earth Day with five employee rain barrels, five employees will win rain barrels as a giveaway. Employees will have to take a quick quiz to test their water conservation knowledge, and then they'll be entered into a chance to win one of those rain barrels. Um, that is created or made by SBC. So we're thrilled to have all of those activities happening. Um, for National County Government Month. In addition, um, in 20, we have the 2026 Spring litter sweep. On April 25th. It's a Saturday. Um, Saturday, April 11th to Saturday, April 25th is the spring litter sweep, which is also, um, associated with um, birthday. And then finally, um, want to let you know, um, you know, the nation has been celebrating America's 250th and in Pitt County, our human Relations Council is holding an essay contest, um, for America's chief 50 um, through the grant that we were awarded to celebrate this event. And submissions are due on

Wednesday, April 15th. If you are participating in the America 250 North Carolina Essay contest. Um, and that is my report. Other than to share, I had one final note, um, that on March 29th we did issue a burn ban in the county. Um, so let you know that in concurrence with the state. And that is my report. Thank you, Madam Manager. We'll move on to items for consent. We have a motion to approve. Yes. Resolution for. Items for decision. It's coming up. Move to approve the items for consent. Second. Okay. Got a motion and a second. Please vote. Thank you. And we'll move to, uh, items for decision. Madam manager. I'll turn it back over to you. Yes. The, um, if we want to do the first one that you've added on. Um, Commissioner, um, Huggins has requested, um, a that the board consider a resolution by the Pitt County Board of Commissioners opposing modifications to county property tax authority. Um, several commissioners um, attended a webinar by the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners last Thursday, wherein it was requested that each county adopt a resolution that was provided by the Association. That resolution is printed and at each person's seat, um, for consideration by the board. Okay. Well, it's a pleasure to board. A motion to. Approve a motion to approve the resolution. And a second, please vote. Okay. Thank you. Your next item, Mister Chairman, if Don Jones will come around, um, from the back to provide a brief presentation and request on a county rebrand, aligning with our

strategic plan. So, as you know, the board considered our strategic plan earlier this year in February. Um, you'll get a final plan coming back to you in a bound book. And, um, our public information officer, John Jones, um, is recommending that we do additional research to align a county rebrand at the same time. Don. Good evening. Um, as you see, the logo on the screen was adopted in August 2008, and we are seeking board approval for an organizational rebrand that aligns with the strategic plan that you recently adopted. The proposal would, as you see, would include a rationale. Um, research findings, brand elements. Um, this would just be for the everyday logo. We would not touch the seal. Um, we would look at colors and fonts for a clearer county. Our identity with an implementation strategy and budget considerations. If approved, Pio would manage this in-house and report on the findings and um present modern concepts that reflect the priority areas of the board. Okay. Make a motion to approve. Thank you. Don, we have a motion and a second to approve. Thank you very. Much. Mr. chairman, next you have Kelly Andrews, um, seeking approval of an award and contract with Thomas and Hunton for the select site in Farmville. Good evening, Chairman Smith and commissioners. In January. Uh. Pitt County Economic Development issued a request for qualifications for our selects for select site readiness services for our designated select site, which is Farmville Corporate Park and the larger Pitt and Green Industrial campus, which includes land in Greene County. There were seven responses to this RFQ received by the

February 13th deadline. Uh ESP associates McDavid associates. Stewart, The East Group, Thomas and Hutton, Timmons Group, and Wooten Company responded to the RFQ. Um. The selection team met and recommends Thomas and Hutton on the basis of demonstrated competence and qualifications for this project. Um, with this approval, the next step is negotiation of a contract for specified services at a fair and reasonable fee. Um, we received a grant from the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina for $416,000 for these services. Um, the difference in the amount we're requesting of a not to exceed 375 is for services that have already been done. And so they would be reimbursed. So those are some utility studies that have already been done that would go to Pitt and Green. EMC. Any questions? Mr. Kelly? Motion to approve the request. Second got a motion on a second. Please vote. Okay. Thank you Kelly. Thank you very much. Your third item, your fourth item for decision, Mr. Chairman, is nomination to the Greenville Utilities Commission. It is being recommended that Marvin Edmonds be appointed to the Greenville be nominated to the Greenville Utilities Commission. Moved to a. Motion to. Approve. We've got a motion and several seconds cast your vote. Okay. Any more items, Madam Manager? Um, just your commissioners comments and then closed session. All righty. We will move to my left. Commissioner Madden. Uh. just to. Congratulate or praise the county manager. She was talking about that WCA. She brought something up during that conference call with the whole. State. And she. I think she's the only one that knew what she was talking about. So it just shows how. Sharp she is. Sharp. Uh, county manager we

have. She's right on top of stuff. Thank you very much, Miss Gabby. Commissioner Nunley. Wanted to, uh, we had a lot of animal services in house tonight, but wanted to give a particular shout out to, uh, their handling of a particular difficult case recently that might have been in the news media. Um, but the the staff just was, uh, went above and beyond an extraordinary effort to partner with, um, adoption and rehoming agencies to really, really big success. So just kudos across the board to that department for going above and beyond the call. Okay. Commissioner Floyd. Huggins. I just want to say we heard requests tonight for funds from the Boys and Girls Club, uh, from the airport. Uh, and, uh, you know, we get, um, and that's along with all the other requests that we get. So I just want to remind us of of, uh, the, um, property tax, um, and, uh, that's coming before the House Select Committee on Wednesday where they will be looking at, uh, how counties, um, are able to, um, spend and use, um, property tax. So, uh, with all the requests that that we get and, and all that, we that is something that we need to keep our own, uh, because that is where we get, uh, majority of our resources, um, in order to take care of the services that we provide to citizens of, of county. Thank you. Commissioner. Commissioner McClellan. No comment. Commissioner Wheeler. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank the employees of Pitt County. Um, y'all do an outstanding job, and I know, especially Miss County manager, um, she has

done an outstanding job. But also, I want to thank the, um, people that come and spoke tonight at the public hearing about issues that are true to their heart. And that's what we need is people to stand up for what they truly believe in and come and tell us that. And I want to thank you all for that. Appreciate, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Commissioner. We, Commissioner Brown. Um, I just also we heard a lot of wealth of information tonight, so I just would like to say thank you to everyone that came out and that, um, again, provided their feedback and their presentations. It was just wonderful. Thank you again to the to our wonderful staff for everything you do. It was just so forward facing tonight. So other than that, I think I'm good. Thank you. Commissioner Coleman. Okay. I also just want to thank everybody, especially our fellow commissioners, the long meeting, a lot of information. Uh, we knew it was going to be long going into it with just one meeting this month. Thank you for your patience. And thank you for everybody who came out tonight. I'll have a motion to, um, move into closed session. And if I could read the statement. Yes. Mr. Chair, it's been suggested this body go on a closed session under the following grounds. One to establish or instruct the public body staff concerning the position to be taken in negotiating the price or other material terms for the acquisition of property under General Statute 143 through 18 11, eight five and two, to prevent the disclosure of information that is not considered a public record under North Carolina General statute 143 three 1810. I have a motion to go on a closed session, second motion and a second. Please vote.

Thank you all.

Right.

Okay. Welcome back. Um, do we have a motion to approve some minutes. Make a motion to approve. March 2nd. Closed session minutes. Thank you. We've got a motion to approve. March minutes. We have a second. Please vote on that. And then, unless anybody wants to stay any longer, I'll entertain a motion to. Motion to adjourn. Adjourn that a motion to adjourn. And a second. Please

vote. Thank you. All. In.