Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to the November 3rd meeting. Hopefully the 2nd shortest meeting of the year. Um, we will now have roll call. and invocation by Commissioner Huggins. blessings and your guidance. We ask that you give us time and thoughtful minds and hearts. that we open our hearts to what we must do and for the best. ball as citizens here in Great Olympia County As for your guidance thank you for your day today Thank you for letting us see today, get up this morning. These best you may ask you Jes us name the same thing with the and I will have the pledge by Miss Clara Evans. Good evening. I am Clara Evans, a senior adjuture's high school. I am a I am the secretary of my senior class and captain of the Six A state championship. volleyball team 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 and invisible with liberty and justice for all. You may be seated. Thank you for having me. Thank you, ma'am. Mary. OK Just, just stay. Yes, ma'am. I'd like to make a motion to. Go you , please. Yeah Hold on one sec All right Mr. Chairman, I'd like to make a

motion to approve the agenda with one additional item for open discussion relating to out of county radio communications during a mutual response. All right, we have a motion and we're gonna put that after. Put it after, uh, the, the discussion just before the Commissioner Comm. OK, that's fine. And we're doing that because, uh, the president of the fire association has another meeting and he's got to get here so we might give him a little time. Um, we have a motion. 2. 2nd, please vote. All right. Public addresses to the board. Saying I'm not voted Yeah, look, you got to hit the greener. Yeah. There you go. I did It's all right All right. Now, public addresses to the board. and we have one person, we have one person signed up, Mr. Chairman, Carlos Alfonso. Mr. Attorney, thank you, Mr. Chair. Pitt County welcomes all matters , all comments all matters of public concern. Each speaker will be allowed up to 3 minutes to speak, a total of 30 minutes is set aside for public addresses to the board. Please state your name and address prior to speaking. Hi, Commissioners, uh, I'm Carlos Alfonso. I'm live in 1931 Tara Court here in Greenville. Um, it's great to see you all again. Um, as you may recall, the last time I came up here to speak was kind of regarding kind of a sadness of uh losing out on federal dollars that could have been used for our local farmers market. Now, unfortunately, uh, the situation's changed pretty dramatically. This last Friday, as many of you may know, um, SNAP benefits are kind of up in the air. Um, this was a decision made in Congress, very far away from home here, and it's gonna affect a lot of our people Now I'm not coming here expecting y'all to do anything financially regarding it. It's

not really y'all's responsibility to do that. Um, also, you know, very frankly , Pitt County probably doesn't have the money to cover what we're gonna be seeing, um, in terms of losses to our people. But we do recognize that our folks are still gonna be affected. and that these problems aren't going to go away overnight. uh, even before these cuts, we saw that about 20% of our people in this county were receiving their payments late and they weren't getting the money that was due to buy groceries and food and feed their family and kids. So what I'm actually asking of you all today is to represent us . and ensure that you bring your voices and the voices of our constituents up the chain. Our general assembly has a lot to say regarding this and so does Congress, you know, whether it's Greg Murphy in town or our two senators, uh, Ted Bud or Tom Tillis. We can end these cuts tomorrow just by pressuring them, and we can make sure that our people are taken care of and that you don't have to deal with the drastic effects of not being able to buy groceries and feed themselves. Thank you. Thank you sir That's it. That's all. All right , now I'm moving on to presentations. If we can have a motion to support resolution. Motion Second, please vote Mr. Chairman, if we could go down front and if Channing Ford and Toy Bellamy would come forward and anyone else with them associated with our Veteran services programs. We'll put you right on the black dot. There stick some. They told me to come back Fantastic. Mr. Chairman, we're thrilled to be, um, joined this evening with Channing Ford, our Director of Pitt County Veteran Services, Toby Bellamy, our newest Veteran Treatment Court coordinator and our highly esteemed elected District attorney Ferris Dixon, um, for me to read and present,

for you to present a proclamation recognizing Operation Greenlight for Veterans, November 4th to the 11th, 2025, and it reads, whereas the residents of Pitt County have great respect, admiration, and the ut mo s t gratitude for all of the men and women who have selflessly served our country in this community in the armed forces, and whereas the contributions and sacrifices of the men and women who served in the armed forces have been vital in maintaining the freedoms and way of life enjoyed by our citizens. And whereas Pitt County seeks to honor these individuals who have paid the high price for freedom by placing themselves in harm's way for the good of all, and whereas veterans continue to serve our community in the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, religious groups, civil service, and by functioning as County County Veteran Service Officerss in the 29 states to help fellow former service members access more than $52 billion in federal health, disability, and compensation benefits every year. And whereas approximately 200,000 service members transition to civilian communities annually, and whereas an estimated 20% increase of service members will transition to civilian life in the near future. And whereas studies indicate that 44 to 72% of service members experience high levels of stress during transition from military to civilian life. and whereas active military service members transitioning from military service are at a high risk for suicide during their first year after military service. And whereas the National Association of Counties encourages all counties, parishes, and boroughs to recognize Operation Greenlight for Veterans. And whereas the Pitt County Board of Commissioners appreciates the sacrifices of our United States military personnel and believes specific recognition should be granted. And now therefore be it resolved that the Pitt County Board of Commissioners hereby supports Operation Greenlight by lighting

certain county buildings green during the period from November 4th to November 11, 2025, the week of Veterans Day, a time to salute and honor the service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform transitioning from active service. and be it further resolved that in observance of Operation Green light, the Pitt County Board of Commissioners encourages its citizens in patriotic tradition to recognize the importance of honoring all those who made immeasurable sacrifices to preserve freedom by displaying a green light in a window of their place of business or residence during the week of Veterans Day, November 4th through 11th and be it further resolved that this resolution be sent to all municipalities in Pitt County, so that almost made it so that they may consider participating in Operation Greenlight to celebrate our veterans. Adopted this third day of November 2025 signed by Beijie Holloman, Chairman attested by Kimberly Hines Clerk to the Board. You'll present that to Channing. Thank Wonderful. And if we can squeeze over for a picture. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. It's great. Thank you very much on to the public here, Mr. Demmary. Thank you, Chairman, Members of the board County Manager back in December 2000, Pitt County Board of Commissioners approved a franchise agreement for CND landfill to build and operate to construct and build and operate a construction and demolition, debris landfill,

which is located off of 264 near P Patois. Um, in order for the sandy landfill to operate the state requires the county of which is, which the landfills in to uh go to have a franchise agreement with that landfill. The, uh, this franchise agreement has been uh renewed a number of times throughout the years. In the current franchise has expired. The state permits this facility and the county continues to contract with this facility, and that's where we take our C&D waste. Franchise agreement requires CD landfill to pay $1 per ton to the county for waste, uh, that is disposed in their landfill. Upon a thirty-day notice which was properly provided, a public hearing, which is what we're asking to do this evening, uh, is, is required to renew the franchise. Following the public hearing, pursuant to North Carolina general statutes, 153A-46. The franchise ordinance must be passed at 2 regular meetings of the Board of Commissioners. Uh, tonight after the public hearing and then again I'll be back here November 17th. It is recommended after the public hearing that the franchise be renewed for an additional 5-year term further renewal to be considered in 2030. The proposed franchise renewal amendment number 5 is attached as along with the, um, notice that was in the paper, uh 30 days ago. So with that, if we could open the public hearing, right, I'll declare the public hearing open. Mr. Chairman, there's no one signed up to speak. All right, I won't know how to clear the public public hearing closed. Pleasure the board

Motion to approved. Motion to approve in a second, please vote . Thank you, sir Madam Manager Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a few items on your Man's report this evening. Um, first, your next meeting dates, November 17th and December 1st in this room at 6 p.m. Reminder that tomorrow is election day for municipal elections, and we encourage everyone to get out and vote. I've been very proud of our elections, um, staff and how they've handled this and we'll continue to handle it throughout the election period. Item C you've just heard about in the proclamation that we just read from November 4th to 11th, 2025, um, we'll be Operation Greenlight. Um, we're excited this year that we are part of the Emerald Loop lighting project, and so you'll be able to see the cuulla of the courthouse lit up green for Operation Greenlight this year, and years past, we had to put green spotlight bulbs down at the base and shine them up. And so I think it will look really nice this year. I'm excited to continue that tradition supporting the North Carolina and National Association of Counties in that recognition. Um, similarly, I'll jump to the next one because it's related item E is we're celebrating our county employee veterans on November 6th at 3 o'clock in the afternoon at the Pitt County Office Park North, um, Community Center. Last year was the first time we did that. We invited all of our employees who were veterans, and we have a good number of them, particularly in law enforcement, but spread throughout all of our departments who will come, receive a certificate of recognition, um, here some presentations and then receive a special gift and we'll have a very light reception, um, for our Veterans. November 6th at 3 o'clock, it will be um at the Community Center, all commissioners and members of the public are welcome to attend. Um, going back up one, your strategic plan input session for the Border County Commissioners is this Wednesday, November 5th

Same place Pitt County Office Park, and we're asking for almost a half day of your time from 9 to 1. This is a critical session where you'll be able to hear feedback from our strategic plan consultants, feedback from their stakeholder meetings, their individual meetings, their community input sessions, the surveys online and their social pinpoint website. They'll have all of that consolidated and then work you through different exercises so that we get closer to distilling what rises to the top in our strategic plan recommendation, which you'll hear again about in January. So, um, Wednesday is the time for County commissioners, department heads will have a similar meeting on Thursday, and then they'll get into the actual writing of the plan. So we're excited to see how that will turn out and appreciate your attendance if you can come. Lunch will be served the last hour of our time there, so if anyone has to scoot out a little bit early, that's OK. But if you can stay, we'll have lunch provided for you. And then finally, item F will not really finally, finally on your agenda item F is a reminder that we'll be closed on Tuesday, November 11th, in observance of Veterans Day. Um, I did not have on your preprinted Manager's report, but if the Cha will allow, I would like to just make a brief update, um, on continuing the conversation about Snap and WIC benefits here in Pitt County. And then on November 17th, Sharon Rochelle and her team, um, if the board desires, will come and provide a more comprehensive report of where we are. But since your last meeting , um, there continues to be a good amount of unknowns and unanswered questions, but I'll start with the better news as it relates to WICC, which is the women, Infant, and children's program. at the health department, I received an email forwarding information from West Grayer Di director this morning, advising, um, from DHH from North Carolina

Department of Public Health NCDPH Advising that they were pleased to inform that funding has been secured to support the continued operation of the WIC program through November 30th, 2025. The state of North Carolina has agreed to fill in any gaps in funding through the end of the month. So program operations will continue as usual, and the State Department of Public Health will continue to provide timely updates should there be any changes. Um, and then we continue to follow any changes on um their website NCDHHS.gov/ federal government shutdown. And so that was positive news on the public health side. On the social services side, um, the community, um, and Sharon Rochelle have been busy collaborating and working together. Um, the most recent word is that half of the SNAP benefit will post on in November this week for SNAP recipients. That's a result of litigation, um, that has directed the um savings or the the er reserve money for SNAP benefits at the federal level to be utilized for this purpose. My understanding is that there's $6 billion in that reserve account, it would cost about $9 billion to fund it for the month. So it is likely that there will be a partial SNAP benefit in the month of November, um, for SNAP recipients, um, subject to further confirmation, um, from the judicial system this week. The second thing, uh, second thing I wanted to share is that the interfaith clergy has been working closely with community partners, um, to receive, um, donations of food and purchase food, gift cards, and food boxes as we roll into the month of Thanksgiving so that any of these SNAP recipients should be

able to have sufficient food for at least a Thanksgiving meal, um , through the holidays and for the month. So that work is continuing, led by the interfaith clergy. um, and any funds that anyone wishes to donate is all being funneled through the United Way, feed the families's fund. They have raised a significant amount of dollars, um, since they've started, um, and anybody who is interested in supporting funds that will contribute towards the cost of these food gift cards or food boxes can donate to the United Way. All outside funds for this purpose, uh, will go through the United Way and not through interfaith clergy and not through Pitt County Department of Social Services, but all directed to the United Way feed the Families Fund. Um, and they have, um, as of my last, um, update, there will be um uh supplies received at the boys and girls clubs, and then 7 district 7 different distribution points at local churches throughout Pitt County. Um, that may still be fluid, um, but that's sort of what the model is looking like, um, and we remain grateful for all of our community partners who are helping through this crisis, and I'll keep you updated as I learn more. Um, uh, Manager, uh, when you said one half of the snap would go in onto the card for clarification's sake, are you saying that the recipients will get 1 half of their November uh, receipts. That's, that's what I want to make sure. That is what had been proposed, but it's not final. So if you were to receive $200 for the month of November. You continue to have the money that was on your card when you entered November. That doesn't go anywhere. And then it's proposed that with the available funds you would receive 15, so you would get

$100 if your benefit was $200 added on for November, but that is not yet final. That was just the proposal that arose out of litigation the end of last week, um, and it's still being confirmed today. Just want to make sure they understanding in this community. Thank you. If there are no other no other questions, that's all that I have. Thank you. All right. And moving on to items for consent. Motion in a second, please vote. All right. Moving on to items forci. So John Demmer, you're back up Thank you again. Yes, sir. Um, this is, uh, for our contract to hall CND waste to um, the CND landfill, as you know, a month or two ago I was before you where we negotiated the new CND tipping fee. Um, this one took a little longer. Um, the price was, uh, that they gave me at first was way up there and, uh, we, I kept negotiating and negotiating, got a price from another hauler and, um, we finally settled on these numbers. TRIO Legacy um, has been hauling our CND waste for the past 5 years, and the existing contract is up. The news the new proposed contract is for a 3 for 3 years beginning November 1st, 2025 with an increase in tipping free from 950, that 950 has been, we had it for 5 years. It's going to 1225 per year. The first year, then 1325 the second year and 1425, um, the 3rd year. Any loads that are

less than 16.5 tons will be charged for 16.5 tons of material, um, and, and again, the rate has not changed in the last 5 years. I feel confident this is a pretty good deal that that we got, um, I did negotiate with another company and they were a whole lot higher. So I just need approval, um, authorized as the Chairman to execute the contract, uh, to transport CND waste from Tra station to CND landfill and we'll be glad to answer any questions if there is any. Any questions? And this is budgeted. It was, I anticipated an increase. Yes, sir. Motion to approve. In a second, please. Thank you, sir. Thank you All right Matt a Manager Um, yes, on page 58 of your materials, um, Sarah Beth, Fulford Rhodes, the Clerk of court, is recommending the reappointment of Romeo Garcia to the jury Commission. Do we have a motion? Accepted. Motion in a second, please. Vote. right now Um, item 4, discussion, the Fire Department communication. I believe I saw Chief Moore walk in. did All right. If you would like to, uh, come on up here, please, and kind of give us a little brief or would you like to take this first OK. you can OK David Moore, uh, 394 Barrel Drive, one of. so Randy and Jimmy are here also Chief Miller and Chief Lilly, and we've got some other, uh, fire department members here. As I understand it, the issue at hand is communications with out

of county mutual aid and Amatic aid. Uh, which is an issue for all the departments on the, uh, fringe of the county. But it's honestly an issue for every department because you never know, um when you're gonna need, need more help when we're gonna have to go somewhere. I think there are some uh, there are some discussions that have been going on for probably at least 6 months. Uh, we'd have to look back in a minute to see. I feel like the solution as far as the association is concerned. is allowing these out of county departments access to our system . That does come with a cost, as everything does, um, there are some other options out there, but I don't think any of them are viable. One is the VIPpery. The VIPR's not gonna work for fire. We know that. That's why the county put the 700 system in to begin with. And honestly, the 700 system we got now is a very nice system and it works. Um I've heard discussion of giving folks radios and things like that. That's not feasible economically. It's just no way So I don't know the cost associated with those subscriber IDs for those out of county departments, but as I understand , the departments that have talked to those they're, they're all in favor of reciprocal agreements. They give us theirs, we give them ours. So that's, that's kind of where we're at. Hey, Mr. Moore, um, how are you, sir? The fire departments that I've spoken with like Grifton and Bethel and some of the other ones, they say, um, that they can switch over to Viper, but the problem is, is not all the communication Center and other counties. listened to Viper and that's the

only way that they can talk to that fire department and I'll give an example is I talked to one fire Chief, he said that the command person in command of that structure fire would have needed 3 radios to talk to Pitt County 911. His units and the Lenoir County 911, and there's no guarantee that that Lenoir County is being monitored , um, and also Chief Lilly, I, I spoke with him and when you got members on an interior firefighting and their mutual aid departments. We need some kind of communication where you have one radio that can communicate with if it's North Lenore or if it's Edgecombe County or if it's Martin County, and that was one of the concerns I had, how hard would that be to implement to where one person that incident commander, if he's got a fire department that is mutual aid from out of county is there that he can talk to his officers and their officers at the same time. It'll be detrimental and then all those people can't hear each other. And don't misunderstand me. Viper is a great system. It's just not a great system here where we are. We just don't have the coverage. Um if we turn back time and we put 12 to $14 million into the VIPR system, it would be great too. We put it in the 700 system and we've got a, we've got a good system because of that. Viper just doesn't have the coverage. If, I mean, if you go to the fire station in Winterville, that's, that's why the police department has switched over because they, they can't even come into the station and, and talk on the radio or hear the radio. How, how hard would it be? A again, my question, I don't know how hard would it be to get the other county agencies on our system or our system to be able to compatible to where we talk without having to switch over to Viper because if you're on an interior fire and you've got an attack group inside. I don't think they need to be looking to switch to say I've got to go to

Viper. I've got and they won't be able to, uh, if, if your question is, can we operate on 2 or 3 different radios. That, that's a deal breaker. No, how, how much will it Macque how much will it cost and implement to get to where one radio system talks to all the other fire departments. Uh, you'd have to ask Randy or Jimmy about the cost. I, I know that we've got to have the subscriber IDs if we don't have enough now. Uh, I I mean, we'd have to get a, they'd have to get a quote on that or they may already know. I don't know. It, I mean, it, it's the cheapest option. I think you can answer that question Yes, I can answer that question. And honestly, the questions about the ins and outs and how our radio system works, our resident expert is Randy Gentry in our Emergency Management Syste as they were part and parcel of developing that system and know probably better than anyone how that system works and how it interoperates with everyone else, um, but the cost for it out of county fire department to be added to our system would be the cost of the radio ID. um, and the cost for them to purchase their own radio, which would be their cost, and the cost to program their radio to match our radio ID, which if it's Motorola is probably in the range of about $350. The radio may range depending upon its features between $6000 and $8000. The R radio IDs we purchase in blocks of 500 at about $10,000 per block. And so if we have available radio IDs, then that would cost us no initial immediate money, but when we get to the end of that 500, then it will cost us $10,000 more dollars to buy another block of 500 radio IDs. We currently are sharing 1,114 radio IDs between 12 different agencies who pay $15 a month per radio,

um, uh, subscriber ID, um, for a total of $44,000 quarterly. It reaps us about $177,300 per year . If this board saw fit to um find an out of county responding entity unique such that that would not fall into the existing system we have. So up until now, there's nothing that would have prevented any outside fire agency from joining our system, following our existing process, they would reach out to Emergency Management. We would assign a an ID and they would enter into our standard form agreement and pay $15 a month. I think the concern has been the cost associated with that $15 per month, which truly is negligible in the cost of a million dollars radio system. To operate our 700 megahertz system, um, we pay over $660,000 a year in maintenance cost. We pay over $250,000 a year in tower lease, and we pay about 34,000 for utilities and fiber connection support. And so it's about a million dollars per year of investment, and we are happy to share where there's capacity um within our system with anyone else who wants to be on it. We sort of created this system of a user um fee uh, which is a nominal cost over time and nominal in comparison to the cost of what it takes to operate this system, um, and so if there is um a reason not to charge it to out of County fire departments, it's not gonna make or break your budget, it's just inconsistent with what you've been doing for your other 12 subscribers in 1,114 radios, right? So when I share that, not to sway you one way or the other . I share that to prepare you that somebody else may say if an out of county entity gets it for no money, do I have to continue to pay as an in-county user. And so you have to be prepared um for your reason to

respond for that inconsistency, which I think you could craft if you want to. So that may be more than you wanted to ask, but essentially the cost of putting somebody on our system, um, is just the process of giving them a radio ID and if we have available radio IDs, it wouldn't cost us anything until we had to buy our next batch of 500 at $10,000. I believe, um, if you were to give, for example , 6 radio IDs per department, right? So there are 7 contiguous counties around Pitt County, assuming that there were 2 in each of those counties, arguably that might um come in and provide mutual aid response, then that would be um potentially 14 different agencies, and if you gave them 6 IDs per piece because we don't know whether they want to have 2 radios or 4D radios, right? That would be up to them to request how many they need. We could provide those IDs They could program their radios, they may have radios that are already compatible. My understanding is that 6 of the 7 are already on Viper and so typically your viper radio is compatible to program in, um, our 700 megahertz system, and they could use Motorola or whoever they choose to program their radio at their cost for that programming. Um. so I think, um, to answer your question, the cost would be negligible. It's just a, a policy decision if you want to carve out an exception on that $15 fee. Yes, Commissioner Nunnley Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um and and thank you, Chief, for being here. Um, one, and you mentioned something about re reciprocity. um, understanding that our in-county do have a cost share, and I'll call it a cost share

because that's really what it is , right? I mean, we're, we're providing a service everyone's sharing in that expenditure, um, within County. What's being proposed here, if, if I'm understanding correctly, is that we would um we would provide those IDs at no cost and without, without the hot, without the cysting on the hardware side of it. Correct. That's what I would do. And they would, but, but it would be but it would be a mutual, a mutual exchange in the, in the sense that we would be providing those IDs, but they would also be providing the same benefit to the, uh, to us, whether they have it or not, if, if and when they did have something to provide, they would provide a like kind exchange so that there's a that's how it would work. Yeah. So, so, so, really, are in County distinction would be our in Counties is really a cost share and that what you're proposing is that we really, with our, with our counties and our contiguous counties, we would just say, hey, we'll, we'll offer this, you do the same, and it's kind of an even exchange, is that OK, I would agree with that. OK. You must have man Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, I'm curious it's been a while since I've worked with a radio system. or, or how many actual channels do we utilize for the fire departments in Pitt County. I would say probably 30 altogether somewhere around there rough roughly 30 every department has a a private channel. We've got, um , Ta channels 5 through 12 and then the Dispatch channels. OK, and, and are, are, are how many actual radio frequencies are there in U ? I know this is a this is a trucking system, right? Not 6. So there's 6. Don't, don't think about it like frequencies. Think about it as talk groups. Right. Well, the talk groups, well, the

reason I'm, I'm asking is, is just not familiarity like I say, is, is probably 20 years old now, but that, you know, with a trucking system, if somebody else key in other words , if 3 people key the mic at the same time. Two are gonna get a busy signal. Co The more people you put on the system the more likely you're gonna get a busy signal. And, and I can tell you're familiar with the Viper days, um , we, we really don't get. business signals very much. I mean, what, what we have here is , I mean, it's really a state of the art system and it's, it's designed for the capacity that we have that we use, so I can't quantify that . So, so adding more radios with other counties coming on and everything is not going to hinder a communications on the fireground. Not in my opinion, because those, those people aren't going to be on our talk routes all the time. They're only going to be on there when they come into the county. I, I get the talk groups, but that's the talk group. but there's only 6 frequencies that can be in use at one time, but that's it bounces around control frequencies. Yeah. In other words, it bounces around your conversation may bounce from frequency to frequency to computers telling you. But so you could be actually having 6 conversations up, but you can't have a 7th 1. Is that basically the way OK, yeah, all right. That, that's my concern is that we just don't overload the system. And if you're satisfied that and typically most departments are gonna have 4 to 6 radios per fire truck. and they're gonna send a truck to the call. especially an out of county called. if, if that makes sense And, and the only other question I have is the, the, the, the the Emergency communications for

firefighter inside a building. Is that, does that go out to the , to the system or does that go in a two-way communication back to the people if they're on a systemte channel, it's going to a tower and into the system. So if they're in, well, see, that's when you don't want to get a busy signal. Is, is, is if they're puning a button you don't want to get a no-com suit. like, like you would get on viper. OK. Do, do, do y'all ever use two-way communications on the fire ground. Rarely, um, typically our communication, we want to be through that system because it's recorded, it's monitored all those things. Thank you. uh, yes, ma'am? Yes, um, I'd like to know how many times that there has been a problem in the last 5 years. I don't know that I can answer that right now. Andy, would you like to come up? We seem to. It, it did. Be asking a few questions that you might can handle. I don't have an answer to the question she just asked, uh, so far as, uh, how many times we've had a problem Um. there have been a few instances that have been talked about at the Association meeting and, and the day after an event. um but a lot of times we don't hear about it until sometime afterwards and they tell us, tell us about that example that happened some other time. So there's not a record of any issues. kept up with, but, uh, I am aware there was an incident in, in Bethel where there was a fireman from outside the county came in and did not have our radio, uh. on him when he went inside the structure, uh, and I do know that Hugo and, uh, responds to Grifton a lot, and I won't say they had problems, it's just there's not that ability to talk on our system. Uh, I would just say anecdotally ,

far as I've been to, probably 6 in the last year. uh, and that's just a guesstimate, and that's the departments that came in from Greene County or Lado County. Is it high or low? that estimate. I know you don't, since you don't keep the record, you can't say, but if we don't have a problem you know large mutual aid house fires I've been to that I, that I recall. and outside response outside the county response into De Pitt County is not an every day, every month thing. Uh, we may run across to where we do it one time a month or it may go 2 or 3 months and not have it, or we may have 3 in 1 week. You just never know when that response is going to be. Uh, but I would like to, to go back to, uh, Commissioner Manning and just for awareness yes, as we increase the number of IDs on our system regardless of who they go to as that number increases, capacity will have to be added to the system to handle the traffic. Like today 6 uh Tapas is adequate for what we're doing now, but as the system continues to grow and we add that uh ID numbers to the system, they'll have to be additions made to the system to continue to have the, the wonderful system that we have. If not, we will get busy systems , uh, busy alerts. but we, we have plenty of capacity today. But, but eventually those adding those on would come with a pretty hefty price tag, wouldn't it? There's nothing cheap about the radio system that we have. just like fire trucks Thank you. Yes, sir The most gentry, um, when you, y'all dispatch a Fire out and you call another agency. You send them to a Ta channel now, correct? When they, when they respond to an incident. You put them on one tact channel and you may say Tat Ta 3. Right. That channel is for that fire that incident only at

that time. OK. How many radios can that Ta three channel handle . I, I don't know that there is, is a number that you can assign to that. It's, it's, it depends on who's mashing how many buttons are being matched. And keep in mind. people are listening more than they're talking. But what I'm asking is if y'all can answer, you can't, if you winter will response to Ayden and Grifton responds and then you need mutual aid from Red Oak . That's 4 agencies, and you're all on TA 3. How many of those people? have radios on that channel before it will overload that channel a radio per every seat on the fire truck . OK. So, you could have 75 people on Ta 3 working a fire. If you had that many I'd love to have, I'm just, I'm just saying I, I, I mean the answer is yes, and as long as nobody's trying to talk, everybody's hearing what communications or or the incident commander is saying, and that's why you have an innocentent commander because he needs to be in control of every fireman that's at that scene, the variable is how many people are mashing the button That's when you start having problems But you do need one incident commander that wherever you've seen, yeah. For every scene that has communications with you at 911 and with the firemen that are on the interior of a house or wherever they're doing a vehicle. but they can't, they, that's not possible now with another agency if they come in and they don't have our radio system. They, they wouldn't be on our system. We'd have to we'd have to figure something out Mr. Chairman, I think, and I'll have Randy correct me if I'm wrong. We could switch to Viper, couldn't we? And then our 911 system could select a channel on Viper and then we could talk through that Viper. Chief Moore is, is, is alluded to several times. The viper

system is an outstanding radio system, but it was not designed to do anything more than go from the tower to the center point of the highway. Um, it's a very good system for highway patrolman because they spend 90% of their time or greater. standing out in the, the, the roadway which they protect and do a fantastic job. Our system was, was built. and after several years of, of testing and, and, and feedback from engineers We, we have the five tower system that gives us the penetration inside buildings inside of Pitt County, much better than Viper because Viper was not designed to do that. Our system was and that's why the city of Greenville was very uh adamant and wanting to get on our system because of that building penetration that, that you need once you go inside of a structure and so we, we have an outstanding radio system in Pitt County and, uh, we recognize that, uh, but it. it cost a lot to maintain. There's none. Um thank you. This is a question for Randy and, and, and our manager. Um, we currently have the fire study, and this is, I believe this is maybe one of the um, the mutual aid is something that will be addressed in the fire study. Uh, and would this be something that if, and I understand there's probably a lot of discussion that needs to happen if we're going to work out reciprocal agreements, but do, do we think that and this may be for Randy, you'd think that this is maybe something that we should um have staff work on, see if we can get those types of things, and then maybe bring that back in a in a meeting here, um, because I, when is the when is the study gonna be back? Um, end of this month, early December, or in December. The end of December is the timelines that we're working towards. Um and they've made, uh, a lot of progress in that. So, uh, I mean, and I don't think we need a motion for that,

but, but just to have, you know, staff to be um, maybe, maybe Randy, E and you and the fire, um, Association can work on what, what that would look like, um, what sort of package here that asks tonight, but nuts and bolts of it and kind of embedded it, uh, you know, as, as, as a response item to the study as well. Um, that what do, what do we think of that? Do you think that might be a good way to get move forward here or I, I will follow the direction of the board and the Manager if you tell me to do something today, tonight or tomorrow I'll do that or, or I can, uh, if I had a little time I. bringing back the details of the um the final word from the commissioners. I look at this as a, a, a fee wave request more so than anything else, and that answer is, is truly on the commissioners The commissioners are the ones that implemented the $15 per radio ID uh feed in the beginning. So that's not something I've had , uh, been able, able to wave ever uh, so it's really about implementation and and operational plan on how we bring people on and, and I can work that out in whatever timeline is directed by the Man of the, of the commissioners. So for you, there's acting today or acting a month from now doesn't really matter I think we could come up with a, I don't want to, uh, prolong or delay anything. Right. Because it's a simple solution once the Commissioner says whatever you want us to do. I would like though to have an opportunity to have the details behind the fee wave worked out before just saying waive the fee and then figure it out. Uh, I'd rather operate in a plan structure That, yeah. That, that. Well,

that's, that's what I'm driving. I think, I think getting embedded in the plan and having it a response item would be a responsible way forward, um. just to make sure that we're clear on it Um. OK. What So, Mr. Chairman, the purpose of putting this on for a decision tonight was basically is on, it's on for discussion. OK. But do you, I mean, do, is, is what you're looking for, uh, the , the, the, the mention that if we give a license, they give a license, that kind of 50/50 it is that, is that what you're looking forward to get that, uh, permission from the board to move forward with that kind of plan so you can continue to work on it. Mr. Chairman, if I could clarify as well, and I don't want to oversimplify it, but I think with that direction um, I think it would be an exchange of radio ID to radio ID in lieu of the $15 payment, it would be our same form agreement . It would be with the understanding that each entity purchases their own hardware, their own radios, and performs their own programming, and given what I've heard tonight, I think it's reasonable to say that that would be at this time at a maximum of 6 per 6 licenses per department. If we could use that as sort of our direction, then the way we handle every other user on the system is we bring back to the Board of Commissioners that interlocal agreement or or that contract that sets forth the parameters for use, which wouldn't be any different for these folks as any other user. and the paragraph that would be different would have to do with the exchange of IDs and for example, um you know, when we present these to you, we knew that Aydenli was getting about 52 and ECU Health was getting 4 and Pitt Greenville Airport was getting 3 , I think, and then we leave the addition or subtraction of those

within the discretion of our Emergency Management Director is how our, um, agreements are typically worded, and so I think if you want us to move forward and bring you back agreements for approval, I would recommend that that number be about 6. And then I think that's a reasonable number hearing that that's based on your number of people or seats on your fire truck, and people responding at a scene that would not overburden the system and then then if that number needed to be adjusted, and then if there were other parameters to iron out, um , I'd ask you to leave that within the discretion of the Emergency Management department, um, with input and hearing, what I don't want to do is um have prolonged discussion that makes this issue more than what it really is. Um, I, I like for Chief Lilly to come up and um make his statement about the uh occurrence Good evening My name is Thomas Lily. I reside at 3847 Macquarter Street in Bethel. I think I can kind of touch a little bit on this, a little bit better than, than they can. I mutilate two counties. I mutualate Edgecombe County and Martin County. Uh, Monday or Tuesday, I don't know exactly which. We had a structure fire with Edgecombe County. Uh, come in as a structure firm. So we checked on what I do on my radio, I switch over on my radio . We have Edgecombe County and Martin County frequencies in our radio now. They've already given them to us, and I think the other neighboring departments has them with the counties that they mutilate too, but when I switched over to the Viper channel, I keyed up at least 8 times before I can ever get through Edgecombe County to let them know I had trucks en route and what tru ck s were en route So, I mean, you know, that's

what we run up when we're switching over to the viper side . So, but if they had our frequencies, I feel like that we wouldn't have had that problem right or wrong, Randy. If they could see we could switch over to them. They cannot switch over to us. And like he said last year, I had two Edgecombe County firefighters in a structure, my two guys come out, their two went in and couldn't find out that they did not have a radio that if they would have had a Mayday or anything else, then we would have probably been at the creek. That was the. Well, uh, Mr. Chairman, I, I just, I think I've been hearing about this interoperability issue since I've been on this board. So I want to move forward so that we can solve this problem. and if the motion is, I mean, I'm wanting to make a motion that makes sense, you know, because it's a complicated thing , but basically that we enter into mutual agreements with those, uh, uh, neighboring counties to basically swap the license even as the, the manager explained it so, so eloquently what I want to make a motion to do what she said do. I'll, I'll suck at that motion what the manager said to, you know, I ain't, I ain't saying, you know, I know, I, I knew when we started this thing, I knew we were gonna open up a can of worms, and I knew that, but personally, this is my opinion and I've only got one opinion. I think it needs to be to the outside counties that needs our frequencies and that'll be it. That way it won't be a whole lot of loss. I mean, if you open the door, you're gonna give it to everybody that has it, yeah, the county's gonna lose money. I understand that. But I mean, we're in kind of dire need just for the outside counties to get these numbers down. So you have emotion in a second. Yes, sir. Please vote. But what we voting on now?

You're voting on. As what Mac Manning said what she said me to repeat that. So you know what you're voting on. They understand what it's all about. They do. OK, thank you. We just spoke to approve what she said. All right. She's going to. But she's going to repeat it if you give her a minute. All right. Yeah, so, what you're doing is providing direction, um, for the Emergency Management Director to prepare um recipro reciprocal agreements with those fire departments outside of Pitt County within the seven contiguous counties who desire to have a radio ID from Pitt County, and if they so desire that we would exchange radio IDs . reciprocal, that reciprocal exchange of ideas will result in a waiver of the $15 fee Each entity will be responsible for their own radios and their own programming, and at this time we would not exceed 6 IDs per department. Now, who motion and who set up Motion. Second. She said it so good first time and the second time. Please like motion passes. Thank you. Thank you very much. Now we're moving to Commissioner comments, and we'll start on my right, Mr. Brown. No comment. Thank you, Commissioner Smith. comment No comment Keep it going. Hey, I just want to thank, um Chief Gentry. I'll call him Chief Gentry because he's earned that respect in them for coming forward in the fire Chief's helping us out on this situation . Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Commissioner McLaughn.com. Commissioner Huggins I. Commissioner Nunnley? Mr. Man No comment, sir. All right. Well , now, uh, get ready to go in closed session? I may, Chairman. It has been suggested that this body go into close session under the following grounds, one discussed matters relating to the loca location or expansion of

industries under North College General Statute 143 31811 A4, and 2 to prevent the disclosure of information that is not considered a public record under North College General Statute 14,331,810. Do I have a motion? Got a motion in a second, please vote. You will be

it'll be known when we're in

close session in just a minute.

Uh, yes, Mr. Chairman, I would like to make a motion to approve the minutes for closed session for September 15th. You got a motion and a 2nd, please vote. Hm All right. Mr. Chairman, if I'm in order, I'd like for us to go home. Is that a most to? That is emotional. You got emotion. Give me a second. Oh. right