Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

[clears throat] [snorts] Alrighty. Good evening everyone. Want to call the Cwell County Board of Commissioners meeting to order for this the October 27th, 2025. like to welcome those who are in attendance here with us this evening as well as those who are watching from home through media, YouTube, Facebook, and any other way that we get it up and uh and so people can see it. And we don't have anybody signed up for public comment this evening. And so that leads us to our first item of business, which is our invocation. We have Reverend Manny Ellswick, the pastor of Central Advent Christian Church with us here this evening. And then we'll follow that with our pledge of allegiance and Commissioner Patrick Starns will lead us in that. So, welcome, Pastor.

Thank you, sir. Yeah, my uh family and I moved here about six weeks ago from the great state of Virginia. We have felt welcome and loved already here in Lenor. We enjoy the community. So, thanks for the hospitality and the privilege of praying with you. Let's pray. Holy Father, we are so thankful for a time such as this. We ask that as the meeting progresses, Lord, may the hearts and minds of our leaders be lifted up and lumened before you. We lift up to you all those in this county. We ask for a blessing in their lives. In the name of Christ, we humbly pray. Amen. Amen.

Salute 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. All right. Thank you everyone. Are there any amendments to our agenda this evening? Yes, sir. Mr. Chairman, um just as an item of housekeeping, we need to move number 10 on the consent agenda up to our first thing so that we can swear in our interim and deputy uh clerk to the board.

All right. Hearing that move, anybody have any comment or discussion? And if not, I'll entertain a motion that we adopt this evening's agenda. Mr. Chair, I move that we accept this evening's agenda as the interim county manager has presented. All right. All those in favor signify by saying I. I.

Any opposed? And that motion carries. And that brings us to our first item of business then, and that is the appointment of our deputy clerk, which is Miss Iris Wit. And Iris uh was so kind to be able to help us in this during our transition. our former clerk resigned and took another position uh in another municipality and so uh we have asked Iris to fill in for a time until we can find a new clerk and so she's willing to do that and to continue on even in that role after that so we can have a backup plan going forward. So, uh, with that, uh, I'm just I'll go ahead and make the motion that we appoint Iris Wit as our deputy clerk. And, uh, I'll call the question. All in favor say I.

I. Any opposed? And that carries unanimously. And the first item for Miss Wit is to be sworn in. And our register of deeds, he's going to take one hat off and put his other hat on this evening. And he's going to swear Miss Wit in as our deputy clerk. So, okay, Cyrus, if [clears throat] you'll uh place your left hand on the Bible, raise your right and I'm going to read this to you and if you'll just uh say I do at the end of each paragraph. Do you swift solemnly swear that you will support the Constitution of the United States? So, help me God.

I do. Do you I swift rather solemnly and sincerely swear that you will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the state of North Carolina and to the constitutional powers and authorities which are or may be established for the government thereof. That you will endeavor to support, maintain, and defend the Constitution of said state not inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States to the best of your knowledge and ability. So help you God. I do. Do you our swift further swear that you will well and truly execute the duties of the office as interim and deputy clerk to the board of commissioners according to law. So help you God. I do. Congratulations. All right. [applause]

Thank you, Iris. We look forward to a long relationship. Right. [laughter] All right. And that brings us to our next item on the agenda this evening and that is a presentation by VIA Health and we have Dustin Berles with us here this evening and so Dustin you come and all right well [clears throat] thank you all. Uh good evening to you guys. Uh Dustin Burlson with V health community relations regional director that covers Cwell County among some others. and really just want to start for some [clears throat] of you guys who may not know who VI is. Uh we're a public managed care organization and we really prioritize whole person health. So managing the Medicaid, state funds, uh and local funding to connect the people we serve with health care services and supports. If you think back to what VA used to be, uh we used to really serve those people who were behavioral health, substance use, and ID. And a little over a year ago when Taylor plan launched [clears throat] uh we began if you can see there under VIA total care we began managing the physical health the TBI which is traumatic brain injury uh pharmacy services long-term services and supports for Medicaid beneficiaries. And then we also uh manage the Medicaid direct. So that's somebody that's not in a health plan like a standard plan or tailor plan that has a behavioral health substance use or ID uh diagnosis. And then the the last thing that we do um is we manage the state funds. So all the state dollars that come in funnel in through the LMCO and then we have comprehensive providers in all of our counties that are really charged with seeing anybody that's uninsured that walks in the door.

Uh and I think I mentioned we got 32 counties but if [clears throat] not just to let you know that. So one of the things just wanted to mention today uh is the department in North Carolina is preparing for the rural health transformation program. Uh the goal is the federal funding to increase access to care and improve health outcomes for North Carolinians 3 plus million rural residents. And so you can see the background is part of the big beautiful bill, federal legislation that looks like it's projected [clears throat] to reduce North Carolina funding by right at 50 billion uh over 10 years. This RHTP funding is 50 billion over five years. That's going to be temporary and nonreoccurring. So the first 25 billion is going to be split evenly across the states. You can kind of see what North Carolina is projected to get. And then the second 25 billion distributed by CMS. Um I know the department is planning on doing that application. I think we'll talk about that a little bit in the other slides, but just so you guys know, uh I think North Carolina is the second most rural county or state in the United States with 71 of our 100 counties being considered rural. There are five strategic goals that come out of this uh one make rural America healthy again and so that's supporting the rural health innovations and new access points to promote preventative care uh and address root causes of disease. The other sustainable access to care really helping rural providers be able to have long-term access points by improving efficiency and sustainability. The workforce development we know is a challenge in some of our rural areas. Um this attracts and retains highly skilled healthcare workforce strengthening recruitment and retention uh in these rural communities. and then

innovative care and then technical innovations which really promoting the efficient care uh delivery data security all those things that's needed. So North Carolina's application is going to outline plans to improve access to rural hospitals and providers strengthen rural health care workforce foster provider partnerships and improve outcomes for rural residents. You can see the timeline here. Uh the file of 2025 the department was collecting uh provider and community feedback through input sessions. I'm pretty sure that just recently ended. And then at the end of the year, the target for CMS application approval and then with the hopes of public notification and the funding application process for providers and hospitals in early 2026. All right. The uh next piece of just some value updates we want to share is as you all I'm sure are aware especially the speaker uh is that the general assembly is uh still working on passing a budget. I think there's been several or at least a few mini budgets that's uh been passed. But either way, uh DHB and the general assembly of physical research both projected Medicaid shortfalls, although there might be a disagreement between the amount. Uh both the governor and secretary has sent joint communication outlines uh proposed the changes to fiscal year 26 Medicaid budget and related provider rate cuts reductions based on the mini budget funding. And so the departments implemented rate reductions on October 1st with Medicaid services being cut by 3% and targeted services cut by either 8 to 10. So VI is going to wait until November 1st uh to implement these reductions. So, we're still operating on the prior rates um with the hopes that the final budget will eventually get

passed and we'll mitigate these reductions. Uh another piece just to mention the single stream funding. This is where we talked about the state funding for init care that runs through has been reduced about approximately six million based on the mini budget. And so that's the funding that we get to really, you know, create services uh in these counties that for people that don't have insurance when it comes to these things. Um, and then the big news I think that you guys have probably heard for several years is the department uh announced that Blue Cross Blue Shield will be doing the family uh child and family specialy plan and that's going to go live December 1st. So we're working on warm handoffs uh with Blue Cross and things like that. So, I think there's a webinar coming up Wednesday if if uh counties have a little more information on that. All right. Uh a couple more things and then I'll be done. So, hope for NC grant. Uh something that we're just sharing that's impacting a lot of our Helen recovery counties. I think uh there's a high number of VA counties that was impacted by the hurricane. there is a helpline uh for these uh community members if they want to call and this just kind of shows some of the things that they get. And then this is just a map that shows the impacted counties in western North Carolina with 22 of the 25 uh being served by the hope for NC grant. Uh real quick, I did want to mention CIT training. I did leave some brochures about CIT uh up on the desk here and it's it's really something that VIA trains in all of our 32 counties. Uh I know Cwell law enforcement, we got first responders, really good training if you want to participate. Uh but we also want to make sure that people are aware that

there are CIT trainers out there. Uh and then there's crisis phone numbers, stuff like that on here as well. And then lastly, just want to give an update. I know we've talked about maybe not here, but I know Mr. Potter uh has been a part of the uh Codwell office that VA has on 825 Wilsburg Boulevard that we're doing to renovate uh to add some more substitute services in the county and [clears throat] it's been a long process. Uh but it is something that continues to move forward. We've identified a provider coming into that um to provide a lot of substance use services to go along with your drug treatment court that we hope can really fulfill some of that. Um, we are in the process. I think the goal of December 1st to take some uh some bids on that project. We've really got two options. That's one is to renovate uh the current office and do an addition versus doing a a completely separate building on the property. And so, as that information comes, you know, continues to move forward, I will certainly let you all know about that. And that's what I got. You guys got any questions?

All right. Any any questions or anything you want to add to any of that, Donnie? No, I just um you know, I just I serve on the um board of directors for VA Health and it's um it's been a big learning experience and understanding exactly what they do and how much they're involved in the day-to-day health care of people in the catchment area, which is the 32 counties. So, I appreciate everything VA does. They do a really good job. If you look across the state um at the other organizations such as Vaia um we we're usually above what you know where they are as far as the audits and things that we do. So they do a really good job of managing what's there. Very well. So we appreciate you coming. Absolutely.

Thank you all. Thank you. Yes sir. Our next item is a presentation by our DSS director, Miss Kim Arnett. Looks like Chris is coming. Couple more. Reinforcements. Okay.

Um, thank you for h having me tonight. I'm just going to take a little bit of time to talk with you guys about a couple things. I've got um Chris Hley, our financial officer, and Brandy Thompson, our program administrator with economic services. In case there are any programmatic questions that I don't know the answers to, Brandy is our expert in that area. And of course, if they're budgetary questions that we need more specifics on, then um we're going to rely on Mr. Connley for that. So, first, um I want to say that I'm going to talk about two different things. One thing that's on the agenda, which is the HR1, the one big beautiful bill updates on SNAP and Medicaid. Then I'm going to touch on the federal shutdown and what that's looking like for the county because I know that you all and probably everyone watching is interested in that. So I'll touch on that a little bit at the end if that's okay with you.

Yes, ma'am.

Okay. So we'll start with um the one big [clears throat] beautiful bill which is also referred to as HR1. We're going to talk about the Medicaid and the SNAP implications of that bill for our county. So we'll start with SNAP. Um, as you know, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is is really important to our county as well as lots of other counties in the state as a whole. We have about 14% of our county residents on SNAP, which is about 11,141. Um, some of the statistics under that are more statewide. So, four and five families participating in SNAP uh have either a child, a senior or an adult with a disability in the home. Also, retailers get a lot of their sales from SNAP benefits around 11 to 18%. Um, of course, with bigger impacts in counties like ours, they estimate that for $1 in SNAP benefits, about $180 in local economic activity is generated. So when we talk about elig eligibility programs like food and nutrition or Medicaid programs, there really two major parts of those programs. There's the administrative piece which is where you know it's the staff who are doing the work, who are taking the applications, who are making those eligibility determinations, and then there's the c the benefits that the public participants receive. So the the money that they [clears throat] get from the program. So we're going to first talk about the benefit cost share that is included in HR1. So the benefit cost share starts October the tw October 2027 where states are going to be required to pay a portion of the benefits for participants. Now this has historically

been something that is fully federally funded and so states and counties haven't had to pay for that benefit cost to participants. But starting in October 2027, states will have to pay a portion. This portion of what the states are going to have to pay is based on what's called a payment error rate. So you can see it up there. They've they've um simplified that as the per and you'll hear people refer to it as that. And this cost share increases as that payment error rate increases for states. And so it is a state as a whole and not individual counties. So you can see on that chart there that if the error rate is less than 6% then there's a 0% cost share and it can go up to as high as 15% if the error rate is over 10%. [snorts] And so we'll start having to take this into consideration in our 26 27 budget. So, when we talk about what the payment error rate is, that's really where benefit payments are made incorrectly. There's either too high or they're too low. Um, and so any overp payments are already required to be recouped and sent to the federal repaid to the federal government. So you can see on our third bullet there, the North Carolina cost share as a whole based on the 24 payment error rate of 10.21%. Um that's going to be around a 15% cost share. And so for North Carolina as a whole, that's 420 million per year. For Caldwell County as a whole, that would be 3.6 million. So if the error rate were to drop as a

state between 6 and 10% the county cost share would be 2.4 million. And so here is how it breaks down as a state. There are the number of counties that are in those categories. So you can see there's 58 counties with a less than 6% error rate and then five between six and eight, five between eight and 10, and 25 greater than 10. Seven of them aren't in the sample, but we are in the percentage or in the group where our error rate falls under the 6%. [clears throat] [laughter] So that's good for us except it is a statewide error rate that they they have to go by. So, so Kim, in other words, even though we're lower, other counties could be higher, which could cause the state to be higher.

Correct. Okay. Correct. And that impacts us, right? Because that's higher, right? Correct.

Right. So, if all the counties were under 6% then North Carolina would have a 0% benefit cost share. Unfortunately, that's not the case right now. and the state, they are working on ways to reduce the payment error rate, but that's going to take time. Hopefully, some technological changes that they can make within our state system that will catch those errors quickly um and more accurately. So it's not because errors can be because of an eligibility worker making a mistake which can happen or it can be because a family inadvertently didn't report something accurately or because they purposefully didn't report something accurately. So there are different reasons why those errors occur. um typically they occur again in just how those how that eligibility is determined or the benefit amounts are calculated. So what the state is looking at or the sorry the federal government is looking at for the states is they're only taking into account payment errors that are plus or minus $57. So anything under $57 does not count toward that payment error rate.

So they do have a small threshold there. Is that by week, by month, by year? They take the error rate by month and then they it's they look at it every month. And so they're looking at $87 is a monthly fee. Okay. Yeah. Pretty tight margins. Yes. Very correct. [laughter]

So North Carolina has two options. One option is to pay the increased benefit [clears throat] cost share. Um, no. And that is based on error rates from three years prior also. So they're looking at three years prior for that initial benefit cost share and then as we move forward they'll be taking more current payment error rates to look at. So we can't get it cleaned up right now and it benefit us. Correct. Not immediately.

Yeah. And then the option two is if we do not or cannot pay for the increased state benefit cost share, then North Carolina will have to stop offering the SNAP program completely. Um, you know, which could be pretty impactful to a lot of our citizens. As you can see, 14% are currently receiving benefits. Um, so that is for the benefit cost share. And I will say this too, we at this point do not know what the state will do as far as helping with the the county's cost. So we don't have any information about that right now. So my purpose in being here tonight is just to give you this information so you know it's coming. We just don't have exact we don't have any kind of um policy that the state has given us as to say how much they're going to be helping to pay these additional expenses. Um so the next one is the administrative cost share with SNAP and so again this is where you know this is the staff who are answering the phones and taking the applications and determining eligibility how how they get paid. So what happens now is the [clears throat] county pays 50% and the govern federal government pays 50%. So that is going to be reduced and the counties will be responsible or the state responsible for 75% of that administrative cost and the federal government will reduce theirs to 25%. And so this will start October 2026. And what that will look like for Caldwell County based on our current staffing is an increase by 560,000 a year. And so again, we do not know uh what that's going to look like as far as any help from the state at this point.

How many people is that for that amount of money? How many people work in food nutrition? How many people work in No, he's saying how much is that? 560,000. How many people does that equate out to roughly? Right. How many employees we have in food and nutrition? We also have trainers, supervisors. So we have we have 14 people who take the applications, do the reertifications. Then we have two trainers. We also have supervisors who fall into that. Then we also have admin oh I'm sorry administrators who fall under that. Chris wants to say something.

Yeah. And that cost is not simply staff. It takes into account all of our operational expenses that cost allocate to all the programs. So that's not just salary and benefits. That that is again an estimate based on those cost allocated expenses such as postage. Chris, could you step up to the microphone?

Post postage for an example. That $5,000 a month expense is going to cost allocate to all the different programs we have in the agency. FNS is about 10%. So FNS would pick up 10% of that $5,000 expense. So again, I just want to highlight that is not simply staff salary and benefits. Yeah. It's so cost of doing the program across the board. Cost of doing business.

Yeah. To administer it. Yeah. That cost is really only probably about 60% of that is salary and benefits. The rest of that is all of our cost allocated expenses that distribute to all the programs. It's at some point in time. I think it would be good for all of us sitting up here to have that breakdown between what all where all them money is going to what area. Okay. Yeah, we can put something together for you. Okay. Thank you. Mhm.

Yeah. I had asked him to um we've been talking about this quite a bit and I had asked him to put this together because I didn't want the commissioners to be blindsided at any point in time. I wanted you to know that this all this may not happen, right? But all of it could happen. We don't know where we are, right? So, I just wanted you to be to be transparent so you wouldn't be shocked when it if anything changes down the road. So, that's why I asked her to come do this this evening,

right? And we've had meetings, I know Wayne and I and Tony and Chris have had meetings about this and so we wanted to go ahead and bring it to everyone's attention that you know it's going to it something is going to happen. We don't know the extent of it yet but this you know counties being responsible for this additional cost is worst case scenario. Again don't know what the state will be helping with. So we'll and that's the key that we don't know what the state's going to be willing to do but and to the state's benefit. I don't think they know what's coming from the federal level. Um if I'm correct. So yeah, I think it's a there's a lot of unknown out there at this point. Correct.

So we'll move on to [laughter] we will move on to the Medicaid changes. serious. So, [laughter]

so there are some eligibility and enrollment changes that are coming with Medicaid as well as a as a result of HR1. Um, so the ones that I'm going to hit on tonight are the work and community engagement requirements. And so what this is is additional eligibility requirements where individuals are going to have to be work or be enrolled in some sort of community engagement for up to 80 hours per month. And so that can look like employment, job training, community service, volunteering for one to three months prior to the application and then at least one month within every sixmonth period. And so, and this work requirement is going to be for a specific population of Medicaid, and that is the Medicaid expansion that I'm sure you guys remember hearing about that um was just passed recently. So, that will come into effect um January 2027.

By the way, I'll say right there that Medicaid expansion was not supposed to cost us anything, right? So, you are I mean, that's what we were told that. Correct. And so I'll I'll touch on that just for a minute because one of the I think one of the quandies and one of the difficulties for the state right now is there is a trigger law that if any state money goes into expansion into paying for the expansion population then expansion will go away. And so I think there's there's, you know, trying to figure out how do we help counties pay for some of this additional work that's going to be involved in these eligibility requirements and additional something else I'm getting ready to talk about additional reertifications

without the state having to put in that money. So there are

there are things that they're having to figure out right now so that the expansion does not go away and the state's not paying for it. Um so um we'll talk the next one is the reertifications I just mentioned. Currently we have 36,471 reertifications that our staff do with the new uh requirements in HR1. They're going to be having to reertify this particular group. It's going to have to Medicaid expansion. It's going to have to be reertifying every six months instead of every year. So that's going to give that's going to create an additional six around 6,500 reertifications that are going to have to happen every year. Can you say that number again?

Yeah. 36,471 reertifications every year. 88,000 people in Cwell County. We have 36,000 reertifications that occur. And Brandy can talk more about what that means if you would like her to. I think they want to hear that. Yeah. [laughter] So for Medicaid, we get a reert families get a reertification every year. So those are the number of individuals that are currently receiving benefits under various programs of Medicaid. And some of the talk about family planning just how

so family planning is a program that is very limited service. Um anyone of any age can be eligible for family planning. So, if you apply for Medicaid and you're not eligible for any of the other programs, you would be put on family planning. And it's only only covers birth control, any kind of contraceptives to that nature. And so, that is a very um basic very basic um program for Medicaid, but it does require reertification every year. Um and understand, we don't set those rules and regulations and eligibility. That's set by the federal government, not us. Correct. qualifies kick denial. Right. I'm just I'm just amazed. I know. I mean, I'm

And so with Medicare, I know a lot of people and I know a lot of people that ain't on Medicaid.

Yeah. Yeah. Um so with the work requirements, there is some expectation that folks will drop off of the Medicaid expansion program. And so we're looking at right now we have 12,864 Medicaid expansion participants. And so we're looking at a 15 to 25% reduction of that if their estimate is correct. And so there will be some some reducing the reertifications, but we can't tell at this point exactly how many that would be. So um and this is just a brief timeline of what that all of these changes look like. Um, the SNAP work requirements are extended to adults ages 65 and and it was previously younger than that. And so that happened October 25. The federal government reduces administrative reimbursement. So that's our administrative cost share we talked about. That happens October 26. January 27 is the Medicaid work requirements. And then October 27 is the benefit cost share for states. So that is that is the timeline and I know that's um of course I can answer any questions for you that I'm able to and if I don't have the answer I will try to get that for you.

How many we need to hire to make sure we meet the timeline. Well that's something that because that's all new for everything.

Correct. And you know, we we look at I think that's our concern for our staff is one, you know, the payment error rate for for food and nutrition. We're doing great right now, but we know that anytime there's a policy change, that's when your error rates go up. And so there's going to be policy change in FNS. And so we certainly want to look at our staffing and make sure that we have adequate staff to cover that and to make sure we don't go above that 6% because while it is a statewide error rate, we certainly don't want to contribute to a higher percentage in Cowell County. So we want to make sure that that's being done correctly. And then of course with Medicaid, there will be additional work. And so we want to we're going to have to look at what that is as we get further into this and as we learn what the state's going to do.

And that error rate also applies for somebody that is underpaid. Correct. Or not paid at all. So for the for the naysayer out here that says, "Well, just cut everybody off." Right. You can't do that either. No. because the state's going to come back and penalize you for that aspect of it, too. And the state and the county, they have no say in who does or does not get benefits with these programs. It is a federal government program. So, there I mean, we all know, [clears throat]

how do I say this? We all know that there's and I have a personal story I can tell y'all offline that there's people who over the last 12 months who have been put on medicaid that didn't qualify shouldn't have been on there right I think over the last several months they are beginning to um be weeded out and I think over time you'll see I can't speak for our county specifically is I think we've done a much better job than some other counties of making sure that if somebody's not supposed to be on it, they're taken off of it. Because if you go out to the to the marketplace, let's just say you're let's just say you're married, you've got a couple of kids, and and or and the the wife goes out and applies on open market and goes into the C system, puts all the information in there, puts your name and everything in there. There's a possibility that you could automatically qualify. That happened to my son and he's not eligible,

but it took him o almost nine months for them to get him off of it. He's off of it now. But there's a lot of errors in the in the system, right? In the the system as it is the the na the national system, right? Especially in marketplace. That's a mess. Lot of problems in there. Yes, I do I do feel that I think from a you know I think we're on the right path. It's just going to take us some time to weed through it all to to to wash and flush out all the all the stuff that should be flushed out. And we're probably looking, you know, a couple years before we really know the true feeling of it, I think.

But in the meantime, we could be on Inime 25 or 50% of Absolutely. what we don't. Absolutely. So, I mean, it could be it could be a significant hit to our budget depending on how things play out. Yeah. Correct. Two or$3 million is a big hit. It is. It is. It is a number. We don't have that just lying around, right? Like a lot of people think. Yeah. And so that's why, you know, Donnie and I were talking and we just wanted to bring this to you as soon as we could so that that's, you know, so that we can be on be on the lookout for what planning for it. Yeah. Yeah. [clears throat]

Any questions about that before I talk briefly about the shutdown? And I got lots of questions, but [laughter] I'm not going to ask them now. That's fine. That's fine. I think you depressed us enough. I hope

I know. I feel like I really haven't brought you any good news. I'm sorry. Um, so with our shutdown continuing, the USDA has suspended SNAP benefits for the month of November, starting November 1st. So we put out a notice last week that this was a possibility. And now we got word today that if it continues, it the November 1st or November benefits will be paused. And that's the word that's the word that they're using is paused. Um so we are also putting out more information probably tomorrow. I started working on it this afternoon um on our social media on you Facebook on our county website uh county Facebook page. We have given the information to our staff so when people call in that they know what to say and they're all communicating the same message. Um, and we've put resource lists on our Facebook page. Uh, we've put a re we have resource lists in our lobbies. Um, and all our staff have access to those resource list for local food pantries. Um, so we'll be putting that out again tomorrow. As far as taking applications and doing reertifications, that's still going as normal. That those operations are continuing. Um so that's I do know that the USDA has put out um has indicated that individuals may receive retro ben retroactive benefits for November. So that is a possibility as well. So there is some some good news there that if they had to have their benefits paused in November, they may receive those retroactively once the shutdown um is is over. Kim, when when do those benefits hit during the month? At the first of the month or [clears throat]

So, there is a long span during the month that those v benefits hit. Um, and it can be from the beginning of the month to close to the end of the month, like the 24th 25th social security number. It's based off the last four of the social security number. And so, people get them all throughout [clears throat] the month. Yeah. And so, we know that that's going to impact a lot of families. obviously a lot of families, a lot of individuals here in the county and so um we've tried to arm them with information as much as we possibly can. We've sent the information to the health department um to our community agencies have the information about the local food pantries. Um

Kim, what's the um what's the possibility of sending letters to these recipients? Uh I know that the state is actually text messaging all the recipients and so they the state is putting out notifications through text messaging their websites, social media, things like that. So they they will be the reason I say that a lot of senior citizens and people with disabilities may not have access to social media and things of that nature. So yeah, so they'll be getting text messaging for that. What magnitude of cost are you talking about to feed these families if they don't get the money? Can you repeat that? I'm sorry I didn't.

At what cost dollar-wise, if they don't give the people the money to feed their yourself, have you got a dollar number on that? I can tell you that benefit amount for Caldwell County is around I'm going to check with Chris. 2 million a month. Almost two million a month for this calendar year. Each month, um it's about two per month. Repeat it. Per month. Wow. Is that Is that what you were asking? Yes. That's what he's asking. Exactly. That's exactly what I [laughter] was asking. And states states cannot um well, I don't say they cannot. Let me let me rephrase that. The federal government will not reimburse states for paying that for to recipients right now during the shutdown.

So that's a non reimburseable and you may not get it back if you just stepped up to the plate and did it. That's the reason I was asking you. Yes, sir. Right. Yeah. unfortunately. Um, and that's affecting 14,000. 11,000. 11,000. Okay.

Yeah. 11,000. Um, for us staffing wise at this point, the only concern that we know of is a delayed reimbursement for our staffing. Uh so we haven't heard of any other concern yet as far as funding goes for staffing in the administrative part of the programs uh other than delayed reimbursement. Now that doesn't mean something may come up later, but as of now that's that's um what our concern would be there. Uh we also have an emergency assistance program. I'm going to let Brandy just speak about it for just a second about what the shutdown look what that might um look like with the shutdown. And Kim, those positions that you were just speaking of, we pay the county does pay a portion of that and so it's like a 50 well whatever

50% right now it's 50. So if they if we don't get the 50% then potentially we could be on the hook for that other piece. Um well and I can let Chris talk about that talking about the employee staffing and the reimbursement and yeah at this time we just think there may be a delay in reimbursements. Uh so yeah, the county may be on the hook for it for a month or possibly two, but prior to the end of the fiscal year, we would get that money. It would be reimbursed is our understanding at this time. At this point, we have we don't have the concern that it will not be reimbursed. Okay.

We have the concern it will be delayed, but we haven't gotten any information to say it will not it will not get reimbursed. I want to go back a step on the two million people. $2 million. $2 million of 11,000 people. That's $181 a person. Is that one meal or three meals? Two meals. That's a monthly allocation. They get a monthly allocation based on their income and how many people are in the household and qualify for the program.

Now, is the 100 if Okay. The monthly allocation, does that come to them one time a month or or every week? It comes to them one time a month and they get that on an EBT card and that's based on their qualifying criteria. Okay. So, one family could get $50, another one get 200. Correct. Yeah. Correct. I think Brandy Brandy's going to talk about emergency assistance really quick. [clears throat]

So, a little bit about the emergency assistance program. Um it is a program that we operate um that provides assistance to family in crisis situations. Normally it's heating and cooling services. So our peak season is the month of December through March and we normally run that program until the funds are exhausted. We are anticipating that this year we're not going to receive as much funds as we have in the past due to the shutdown. We have got notification that we will receive automatic [clears throat] LEAP payments and that is lowincome energy assistance program payments. We will be um able to receive those payments as well. Currently we have 637 citizens that are on that list to receive a automatic LEAP payment and that will be for their primary heating source. Um, those automatic lea households are determined based off of if they have someone aged 60 or older in the home, someone who's disabled, their income or resource limit met the criteria last fiscal year or depending on the other services they receive within the county. Um, in 2025, just to give you a little bit of a rundown, in 2025, our department issued approximately 2,000 emergency assistant payments to families. Just to show you how much of an impact that's going to be this upcoming year.

I do know there's other programs out here and the power company's got one. Yes. That Blue Ridge that will help out, you know, because you you step up to the next dollar on your power bill. That's what that's for. And I don't know if y'all talk to them or they talk to y'all or how that works. We do. We have meetings with them and we do advise clients or households whenever they come in to apply if we don't have those funds. We refer them to different places and sometimes it is their their power company. And Duke has the same program. We use Yoke Fellow a lot as well. They get funding.

There's a few churches that uh if let's just say light bills $400 [clears throat] and DSS can pay 200. A lot of times the church will pay the other. Yes. So yeah, they work really closely with those folks. Any other questions? It was not the I think there's a whole lot of questions. I just don't know there's going to be any answers. I know. I feel wasn't um a very positive presentation, but I hope it was informative. And it's positive in that it allows us to know what's coming and potentially coming, right? And there's going to have to be some hard decisions made if if things don't follow through like normal, right?

Which is going to impact a lot of folks evidently. Yeah. So, correct. Well, if you do have questions, feel free to reach out and I will answer them if I can or find out the answer. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thanks, Kim. Good job as always. Thank you. [snorts]

All right. And that brings us to our fourth item on the agenda this evening, and that is a discussion of our county manager. And I'll lead that off by saying we uh know that we've been [clears throat] in search of a new county manager uh within our county. And we think that we have found we know that we have found uh the uh person and the applicant. Uh we done some an interview with this gentleman and uh so he's here tonight with his wife and so I'll open that up if anybody else has a discussion around that before we entertain a motion. I'd like to say a couple things, Randy. I just want to say uh I'm pr basically as I'm proud to say that tonight we are bringing a county a Cowwell County native home. Someone who has gained financial experience and knowledge as a local government auditor, who has gained experience working with partners and collaborating with others at the high country cog, and someone who has managed experienced as the county manager in Alexander and town manager in Bowling Rock. I think this hire will be a major piece of our legacy as a board. I'm going to go ahead and I'll make another statement. Uh I think this is a piece of the puzzle that's been left out of this county for some time. And for those reasons, I would move that the board approve the county manager employment contract for Billy Shane Fox as county manager of Cwell County.

All right. Is there any other discussion around the motion? With that, I'll call the question then. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? And that carries unanimously. So, Mr. Fox will be assuming that role December the 1st at our first Monday in December. We just happen to be having a meeting that night and we'll be doing his swearing in and all the things that accompany that. But he and his wife Jennifer are here tonight. And uh well I will certainly give you an opportunity to say something Shane if you would like to. I kind of seen you raring you like a racehorse there in that seat ready to to bounce up. So

absolutely. Yeah. Good evening and thank you. Um wow. Thank you. And I appreciate you guys extending your confidence in me to be the next county manager here in Cwell County. Um you mentioned coming home. You know driving down here it was familiar. Um walking in it felt like home. It felt like this is where we need to be. I appreciate my family. Jennifer being here tonight. We have three children, one that lives here and two more that'll be coming very soon. Um looking forward to working with everyone getting um the ground hitting the ground running December 1st with the staff and looking forward to what we can accomplish together as a group. Thank you for extending your confidence and allowing me to be the next county manager here. Well, we appreciate you. Thank you. Appreciate you willing to come. Right, sir.

Absolutely. to to expand on um Patrick's comment about you coming home. Tell the people that are watching at home on television a little bit about just a brief scenario about why he made the comment about you coming home. [laughter] Yes. So my wife Jennifer and I are we're both from Cwell County. Um I go back I think a little bit further than her. My family goes back before Cwell County was Cwell County. So u I'm a fox. I'm also a bum garner, a Chandler, a pennel, a lot of different things that have names that recognize recognizable names within this county. So u it is truly coming home here. So, not only was I able to be uh reared in the Dudley Shelvis community in Granite Falls and Granite Falls Elementary and South Cowell High School, Cowell Community College, Dr. Porch here, and then Appalachin State. So, um this is truly coming home for us and we're appreciative of the opportunity to be here.

We're excited to have you. Absolutely. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. [applause]

Congratulations. All right. So, can't say how pleased we are and just appreciate the process and getting to this moment in our time in history. So, thank you again. And that brings us then to our consent agenda and our interim county manager whose job is ending up in a little while, but Mr. Wayne Rash.

Yes, sir. Mr. Chairman, thank you so much. Um uh first item on our consent agenda tonight is uh number four, communication center recorder. This budget revision allows for the purchase of a new recorder system for the 911 center paid for with 911 fund dollars. And so that's on our agenda. The next is number five, a budget revision for a 911 fund repayment. Uh, every year, of course, there's an audit done of those 911 funds and the expenditure and we have to return about I think it's 14 thou yeah a little bit over 14,000 14124 uh for that. Uh, number six is a designation of an agent uh form for hazard mitigation grants for the water department. um appoints the interim county manager and the deputy manager as those agents uh and that needs board approval tonight. Uh number seven is a budget revision for water fund uh ticket system. We allow the water fund to purchase a new ticket system to keep track of um work orders and those sorts of things. Uh comes out of the water fund. So does not require a general fund appropriation. And then the next is uh number eight, a budget revision for forklift for the warehouse uh that the countyy's working on purchasing. Uh we received a grant for emergency management in the prior year for $50,000. This would allow us to move that grant money over to this year to spend those grant funds for that purpose. Uh the next item is uh jury commission appointment. Our clerk to uh clerk of court has requested certificate of appointment from Mr. Monty Woods to serve as a jury commissioner for the next two years and that does require board approval as well. And then number 11 is uh Calwell County Housing Appeals Board appointments. you have four folks uh in front of you, applications for four

individuals to serve in those four positions on that housing appeals board, which would uh be be for anytime there's an appeal of an action done under a minimum housing ordinance. Uh the fifth appointment to that board is the sheriff and so uh he doesn't get a say in that. So [laughter] unfortunately, but for the other four appointments, those are in front of you. Uh number 12 is uh EMS peer review committee appointments and you have those appointments uh those names in front of you as well. The one name we would add is it does require commissioner appointment and commissioner labro has agreed to serve on that peerreview committee uh for EMS and that's uh a committee that's required under um our general statutes and North Carolina code administrative code as well. Uh and then finally item 13 is approval of the minutes from the September 22nd uh meeting of the board. So

all right. So hearing the consent agenda presented. So I hear a motion that we adopt the consent agenda this evening. Mr. Chair, I move that we move that we uh approve the consent agenda as the Ingram County manager has presented. All right. Any other discussion or comment? All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? That carries unanimously. And with that, I'll entertain a motion that we adjourn this. Salute. All in favor say I. I. We are a Thank you again for being here. Hope you have a good evening.