City Council - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Burke County Board of Commissioners pre-aggenda meeting for Tuesday, September 2nd, 2025 at 3 p.m. like to make note, madam clerk, all commissioners are present along with county manager, county attorney as well. Remind you to silence all mobile devices. you take care of that. Please remind all speakers to come to the podium and turn the microphone on by pushing the red button this afternoon so we can get a a good uh YouTube recording and we can also hear you better. This brings us to item number item number two, approval of agenda. Gentlemen, you've had the agenda for couple days. I'll entertain a motion to approve.

I'll make a motion to approve the agenda, Mr. Chair. All right. Thank you very much. Those in favor signify bill 150. Madam clerk. All right. Item number three, presentations today. First item comes from the U. NCIPD, National Disability Employment Awareness Month, 2025. This placeholder is going to be presented by Shelley Cash, business relations representative, employment and independence of persons with disabilities. Is Shelly here today? All right, Shel, good to see you. Good to see you. Come on down.

Good afternoon. Thank you for allowing us to come. And we are asking for the proclamation for the 2025 NDEM event and the um the theme this year is celebrating value and talent. So, um we are EIPD, formerly known as vocational rehabilitation, and we appreciate it. Thank you.

All right. Thank you, Shel. Any questions for Shel this afternoon? All right, seeing hearing none, this item will remain on the agenda. Thanks, Shel, for being here. Item number two comes from Cooperative Extension 4 program overview and recognition to 4H state national championship winners. This is a placeholder. Nikki, good to see you this afternoon. Tell us all about it. Hey, so my name is Ziki Carpenter and I'm the Burke County 4 agent and just want to give a brief overview of what 4 is. So 4 is a international program. It stands for head, heart, hands, and health. It is learn by doing. And we have a great Burke County 4 program. So 4 focuses on ages 5 to 18. So it's more of your school age years. five to seven are non-competitive and then eight through um 18 can be a different contest and competitions. So mentioning that the way that we do 4 here in Burke County is we have several delivery modes. We have 4 school enrichment where 4 goes in and trains teachers works in after school programs and different um school activities or things that we can um to take into the classroom. We also have community clubs and spin clubs. And spin clubs stand for special interest. And those are more of a a six visit type thing where it may be six weeks or six classes and they can focus on a certain activity like a garden spin club or a um science spin club. We also have excuse me um community outreach and support where we do our fairs and festivals um and all the different things in the community. So, a few of the programs that we offer here in Burke County are for our competitions are project books, which are books where they compile basically a report of all the work that they've done in the previous year, whether that be

their citizenship, leadership, um, community service, and a special activity. So, if someone really focuses in on science, they can turn in a project book that shows their whole year of science work, lessons, trainings, people they met, um, and so forth. Presentations for public speaking, horse program, livestock program, shooting sports, teen council, volunteer leader association, healthy living, junior beekeeping, sewing programs, career college readiness, 4 entertainment, the electric program, and scholarships. And mentioning just a few of those are what lead us into today's spotlight of some of our state winners. So, we've been very proud of several of our Burke County um winners. And I want me to read the names now. Okay. All right. So, in 2024 and leading into early 2025, um we've had quite a bit of state recognition. And the first group that we wanted to mention was the North Carolina 4H horse bowl team. And we had a team from Burke County go and compete on a district level and win, moving on to a state level and competing in a group of 12 teams. Burke County placed fifth in the state and we have their names. I'm not sure how to say the last names right off. Um Ruby, Ellie, Sadie, Lola, Julian, and their coach Crosby Norris. And these folks put in countless hours of training and drill um participating in this quiz bowl type activity answering questions on horses whether they own a horse or not. We also have a young lady, Addie Fulbright, who was a state winner in our ARY program, which is application, interview, resume, and essay, and she was awarded a national trip. Um, she'll be going to national congress as part of her award for winning in the air program. uh Jacob Hanland, one of our now alumni 4ers, but in 2024 had applied for some 4

scholarships and was awarded three coll collegiate scholarships that have helped him pay for his time now at NC State University. So those are all through 4. The North Carolina State 4 horse show. Um we had several people compete in the different categories and at the horse show you know they have the different western and ranch and speed all the different events and there's also artistic expression and so we had Jessica Carswool Ruby Lola Ellie Hudson and Satie and during the competition like I said they also do the state horse artistic expression we had a young lady Ellie Hudson who placed first in junior photography um and that was on a state level as well and so for project book records there. Again, that's where the books for last year's work were turned in. And we had um quite a bit of state winners this year. I'm very proud. And so we had Ellie Hudson, Aviana Clark, Emma Oakley, Kaylee Hoy, Emily Hall, Joey Morrison, Hazel Cole, Hannah Cole, Ruby, Madison Prior, and Addie Fulbright. And all of those were awarded a district state um award. They don't know their places yet. They'll learn that at achievement night in a couple months. Um, and then last but not least, we also had one of our volunteer leaders to be recognized and um, awarded into the North Carolina 4H Hall of Fame, our volunteer leader, Lisa Hanlin. And so that's a very high honor to to have someone not in my 10 years of being here now have we had anybody um, inducted into that so far. So that's a a big moment. And so that's just a small caption of what 4 has done in 2024 and early 2025 as far as state winners. And I appreciate you guys recognizing 4 and these youth and adults that have put off their time into 4.

All right. Thank you, Nikki. Any questions for Nikki on this matter? Mr. Chairman, what was that last lady's name? Lisa Hanlin. Lisa Hanland. Okay. Thank you. How many young people approximately do you have in the 4 program in Burke County? So, here in Burke County, we have as far as registered club members um that come on a routine basis, we average about 200 um throughout the entire school system before school and after school and those type activities. Um our numbers are usually around 2,000 um that we reach indirectly. So, good numbers. Thank you.

All right. Uh without other question this matter will remain on the agenda without objection brings us to item number three also coming from cooperative extension proclamation declaring national 4H week Nikki. Okay first time doing this. Um I really don't know what you want me to say. I don't have the paper in front of me. Let me just read it. Any questions on this matter? It'll remain on the agenda for our meeting. All right. Seeing hearing none, you've got a proclamation and we will continue to have that on the agenda. We'll go over more at our regular meeting.

So, it was the proclamation for National 4 week, the first school week in October the 5th through the 11th. Very good. All right. Without objection, this item will remain on the agenda. Thanks, Nikki. Item number four comes from DSS officare presentation. Mr. Manager.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, just continuing to try to emphasize and really make a point of emphasis for uh the need for foster care, specifically licensing and support in our community and and those children that are um most vulnerable. I wanted to point out last week um we had last Tuesday night in this room, uh we hosted a night of prayer, uh continuing to work with outside partners. So, I appreciate the board commissioners and their support uh to all of these innovative strategies to try to uh again, you know, support the children that are experiencing foster care uh but also work upstream to try to reunify families, support folks that are actively working in the foster care world. That includes families and churches and our employees. um for uh September. Um we actually have uh uh and and with board's permission, we'd like to add it on to the uh monthly DSS director report, but we have a a foster care social worker um with us today, Mr. Garrett Smith. Appreciate him so much being here, but um we'll show a very short video and then just allow Mr. Smith to talk about uh what a day in the life of a foster care social worker is and what type of experiences they have uh and really give us a behind the curtain perspective um uh into what they encounter every day. So uh again appreciate every single month the board of commissioners allowing us to make this a a priority um and I appreciate Mr. Smith being here today to to share uh and I would like to defer this presentation to to follow Corey's DSS director report if that's okay.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Manager. Without objection, this item will also remain on the agenda. Item number five also comes from the county manager. End of year report. Mr. Manager.

Thank you, sir. Uh staff are actively working on the board's end of the year report. This would um uh summarize our operations for the fiscal year 2425. As you all know, our fiscal year concluded June 30th, 2025. Uh the end of the year report is is really comprehensive performance report. It summarizes um uh financial performance and highlights uh primarily our two enterprise funds as well as our general fund uh but also points out uh performance metrics from some of our other uh departments uh and and is intended to um uh really recap the entire 12-month operating period in a way of uh that propels us and sets the tone for the current year we're operating in. And we try to do it with a with a really focus on speed to market. Sometimes in some counties, I would I would argue most of the counties around North Carolina, uh the board doesn't really get a full picture of the financial performance of the prior fiscal year until their audits presented, which is sometimes six, seven months down the road. So, we uh we make this a point of emphasis. It gives us again a good tool to um measure success, but also help set the tone um before we get too deep into the current physical year. um um as far as how we're performing. We know that this year is going to be a little bit unusual uh given the fact that we managed through uh uh the hurricane and and we had to largely front much of the uh u recovery cost and and that hasn't yet been reimbursed. But um um um pleased to report that we think it's it was a very strong year, a year of pro of progress and uh uh really a year that we all should be proud of. But we'll deliver be prepared to deliver both the physical report as well as a presentation um at your regular meeting.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Manager. Without objection, this item will remain on the agenda. Um this brings us to item four, scheduled public hearings. We have no public hearings this month. And then item number five comes to the consent agenda. First item on the consent agenda comes from the animal advisory board, approval of updated rules and procedures. And I'll recognize Debbie Hawkins for this report. Chair, afternoon, Debbie. Afternoon.

Um, as you said, my name is Debbie Hawkins. I'm the chair of the animal advisory board and we are requesting approval for our updated rules of procedure. Um, we updated these in order to be in compliance with with our current makeup of the advisory board as well as uh removing one of the responsibilities that we had previously. All right. Thank you very much, gentlemen. You've had these uh rules in your package. Any question on this for Debbie this afternoon? Seeing here none, this will remain on the agenda. Thank you very much, Debbie. Item number two comes from our clerk, appointment to council on aging presented by madam clerk.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. This is a request to remove Maxine Childers's name from the official roster and thank her for her service as well as um appoint Heather Ward to uh seat number four to complete the remainder of a three-year term ending November 30th, 2026 and you have a hand out at your seat.

Any questions on this item? All right, seeing hear none, this item will remain on the consent agenda. Item number three comes from the tax department tax collection report for August 2025. Recognize Mr. Richard. Have I seen John? Yeah, I would just say that uh we won't have our full collection. Uh ML, go ahead.

Uh you have your tax reports at at your seats. I'd be happy to read those um if you want or Okay, gentlemen, we do have those in front of you. Take a moment to look them over and see if you have any questions. Any question on the tax collection report? Seeing hear none. Without objection, this item will remain on the agenda. And then item number four, release refund report. It's right behind it. Any questions on that? All right, seeing hear none without objection, this item will remain on the agenda as well. All right, brings us to item number six, items for decision. First one from the clerk, reappointments to Burke County Board of Adjustment. Madam Clerk,

thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. Um, Gregory Smith occupies seat number four representing the West. Uh, he is willing to serve another term. His term ends at the end of the month. Uh, and you also have an application from Damian Patton.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Any question on this item? Seeing here none, this item will remain on the decision agenda. Item number two, also from the clerk, reappointments to the Burke County Planning Board. Madam Clerk, thank you, Mr. Chairman. The terms of appointment for Shawn Freeman, seat number two east, and Andrew Ladder Mir, seat five at large on the Burke County Planning Board end September 30th. Uh, both members are willing to serve another term and the term is for three years and we have 12 applications on file for your consideration.

All right. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Any questions on this item? See, hear none. This item will remain on the decision agenda. Item number three for also from the clerk appointments to the revaluation task force. Madam clerk.

Thank you Mr. Chairman, members of the board. Um at the July 21st, 2025 meeting the board as you know appointed the uh revaluation task force. Um this group consists of seven members of the public. Um and each seat has a different um requirement. Um this is a request to um appoint someone right now Keith Ferris to seat number three representing the insurance professional. Seat four Evan Cwley representing the agricultural community. Seat six which is at large uh Jerry Norville and seat seven citizen over the age of 55 Johnny Carwell. Um, you do need applications still for seats one, which is the retired or actively employed in in real estate, property appraisal or tax administration, a licensed general contractor with market-based construction costs for seat number two. And seat number five, we still need one more atlarge member. Um, and we have been active actively recruiting. Um, but this is all that we have at this time.

All right. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Any question on this item? I would encourage you to uh reach out to your acquaintances. If you know of anyone who can meet these requirements for this task force, please point them toward the clerk. She will be happy to assist them on an application. Without objection, this item will remain on the agenda. Item number four also from the clerk, appointments reforms to the veteran service board. Madam clerk,

thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. This is a request um to make some appointments or reappoints to the veteran service board. Um this is a board that's comprised of five um veterans with an honorable service record. The terms for David Tberen, seat number three, and Edwin Wear, seat number four, will expire September 30th. Uh both members have expressed a willingness to continue serving. And we also have an we have applications on file from Jim Freddy and Dylan Smith. The term is to uh three years ending September 30th, 2028. All right. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Any questions on this item? Right. Seeing hear none, this item will remain on the agenda. Item number five, CD and ROD centralize the plat review function to county staff and recognize Alan Glind, our planning director. Afternoon, Alan.

Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, commissioners, members of the public, staff. Um, in collaboration with the register of deeds office, community development staff proposed consolidating the plat review process uh inhouse in Burke County. Right now, that's taken care of. at each of the municipalities. And what we would propose to do is uh have the plat review components brought into Burke County and then they would make their way to the register of deeds when those plats were deemed sufficient or complete from for state law. Um the municipal planners would still have a component because they'll have their own zoning rules to manage in any watershed review that would be required and done locally at the municipal level. But um the standard for plat review, we have to meet a a standard uh 4730 foot plat. And for better consistency and improvement of those plats for completeness when they reach the register of deeds um for recordation, we propose doing that here at the office. So that's um what we brought before you in my office. We feel that we can handle this new capacity. It's uh we do about 200 plats a year already uh in our office and so this would probably bring about 50 additional plats on a yearly basis. So we don't expect that to overwhelm our staff but we think the the improvement of recordkeeping and uh recording plat more correctly uh will occur with uh with that consolidation.

All right. Thank you. Stephanie's here to if you need her consult as well. Any questions for Alan on this island? All right, seeing hear none, this item will remain on the agenda. Thank you all.

All right, gentlemen, brings us to uh item number seven, reports of comments. I'll remind you to uh provide any reports you may have to the clerk for inclusion in our regular meeting. Have a number of courtesy reminders. Our regular meeting will be 6:00 p.m. on September the 15th here in this room. Uh, our opioid advisory committee will be meeting September 16th at 3 PM. Also in this room, uh, remind youth groups that might be interested in leading our pledge of allegiance in our regular meeting to please uh, consider that and sign up with the clerk for that. Um, several other items there you can see, gentlemen. U, we'll move on to item number eight for other discussion items. Have none today. And this brings us to uh item number nine, action items that we need to take action on today for various reasons. And u I'll entertain the county manager at this time for the opioid litigation update resolution authorizing execution of opioid settlements. Uh and this comes from Dr. Katie Samuels. Afternoon Katie.

Good afternoon. Um so what we have before you today is an update on the settlement agreements and um an authorization that would approve the county manager to be able to sign onto some of these agreements. So, we're taking the opportunity um to review a little bit of where we are um with the settlements. Uh look at the supplemental agreement for additional funds and the Perdue Sackler settlement and then what we need to do to be able to access some of this funding. So the settlement framework and background in 2021 the initial MOA between McKessan Johnson and Johnson Amerasaurus Bergen and Cardinal Health allowed us to have these initial opioid settlement funds and we signed on to that in November of 2021. In February of 2023, the first supplemental agreement for additional funds um came down to us and that was settlements with Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, Walgreens, tea, and Allergan. Um and then in 2024, the uh SAF 2 added Kroger onto that settlement. So with these three waves of settlement funding, um we have uh acrewed $24 million over the course of 18 years to be able to um use this fund. And all of this is governed by the original MOA which dictates that this funding can only be used for opioid abatement. So the SAF 3 um is an additional settlement that involves and you'll have to forgive me if I mispronounce their names Alma, Amnil, Apptox, Hikma, Indivor, Sun, Biatric, and Zitis. Uh it will go under the original MOA which designates 15% to the state and the 85% coming down directly

to the counties. The funds must be deposited in the special revenue fund which is what we currently do and um it it falls under those original agreements. It takes effect once enough counties have signed on to this agreement and the local action required is for the authorization of the county manager to be able to sign on. So this falls right in line with the other settlement agreements that we've signed on to the Perdue Sackler bankruptcy settlement. We've all been watching this for the past few years um to see what was happening because the Sackler family is is pretty notorious about beginning the opioid crisis and we've been in litigation and they've been in in the court system for quite some time. So, they are finally reaching some settlements. Uh 7.4 billion national settlements. All 55 attorneys general have signed on to this. North Carolina is projected to receive approximately 150 million over 50 15 years. And there are two actions necessary for this one. Vote on the chapter 11 plan um their reorganization plan. Um and then submit the GISA. And the Giza stands for governmental entity and shareholder direct settlement. So it's a direct settlement. Um in addition to the SAF 3 um payments begin early 2026 with 2.4 billion initial distribution followed by installments over three years. And so what where we are now is with the additional PERDO payment which would be around $2.6 million additionally to what is already designated and the SAF 3 payment which is another 400,000. We're currently at 25 a little over 25 million and that will bring us to 28 uh.2 million over the course of 18 years. And so what we need to do uh to take action on this is to approve the resolution that grants the uh county manager

authorization to sign on. And we also have um attorney review. And then the deadlines for voting on the Purdue bankruptcy plan is September 30th, followed by the sign on for the Giza participation form. And then the F the SAF3 is October 8th and that will allow us to access additional opioid settlement funding. All right. Thank you, Dr. Samuels. Any questions for Dr. Samuels on this item? Seeing hear none, I'll entertain a motion.

Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to adopt resolution number 2025-29 is presented authorizing Burke County to enter into the sec secondary opioid manufacturer settlements. Approve the third supplemental agreement for additional funds SAF-3 and approve the bankruptcy plan and settlement agreements with Purdue Pharma LP and the Sackler family and to authorize the county manager to execute all associated documents subject subject to review or to revision by the county attorney.

Thank you, Mr. Stout. All those in favor signify the up hand. It's 5 Z madam cl. Thanks. All right. Also coming from the county manager as consideration of additional citizens academy applicants. Mr. Manager.

Thank you Mr. Chairman. Um as uh as you all are aware at your last meeting uh we were greeted with um uh uh more participation and engagement in the first ever citizens academy than anticipated. We had originally created 10 spots, but due to to overwhelming uh uh really support and and and participation levels, uh the board went chose to um go ahead and appoint the entire uh group of applicants. Since that point, we've had two other folks uh apply uh Mr. Joseph Winkler and uh Meg Petit. And the request from staff would be for the board to uh um appoint those two as well. Uh we have had one person withdraw. So we would have been at 20. Uh now we'll be at 19. Um we still feel like we facilitate that in a very proficient way. We are set to start September the 11th. So we have to do it at pre-aggenda. Uh since your next meeting will be September the 15th.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Manager. Any questions on this item? All right. Seeing none, I'll entertain a motion. Mr. Chairman, I make a motion that we uh approve the addition of Joseph Winkler and Meg Petite to the fall 2025 citizens academy class. Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. All those in favor signify by the up and hand five to zero. Madam clerk. All right, brings us to item number three, DSS monthly operation report. And I'll recognize our DSS director, Cory Fisher Wellman, for that report this afternoon. Afternoon, Corey.

Good afternoon. How are y'all? Um, since I was just here a couple weeks ago during the regular meeting, as uh the manager alluded to, we the majority of my report today is going to be we're going to show a video that sort of captures the experience of foster care kind of from the worker, the the foster parent, the child, kind of all areas. And then we're lucky enough to have social worker Smith here who's going to do most of the talking and talk about kind of a day in the life of what it what a foster care social worker experiences. But before we get to the movie, just a couple things to highlight in the report. I think it's important each month to kind of highlight where we are in terms of personnel. When this report was done, we had 11 openings. Four of them had offers which once all those were done that gives us a vacancy rate of three and a half% which continues to be a really good spot. You know we talk a lot of times anything under five is a really good place for DSS. So we're in a good spot. I think even as of this morning we only have five positions posted. So it's actually lower than when this report was created. So a really good thing. And then again Medicaid and food samp sort of continuing to show the numbers and the number of uh applications research done each month. This sort of shows you month over month. So you can you can see where we are in terms of numbers. And then I just wanted to highlight a couple things our CPS case loads. So this is um a a track CPS report. So if someone calls to make a report, this is our sort of shows month over month. Our highest was January of 2000 or January of this year was 91 reports. We average about 65 reports a month. So reports can either be screen screened out based on a number of criteria. If you most ESS has screen in about 60% of the report. So you can see that every month you know case loads continue to grow because you know new cases are coming in but

then a lot of work's been done on the back end to sort of work through those CPS cases to make sure we get them closed out or sent on to foster care if that's if that's what is needed. And this graph just sort of captures you know where we were in September of 2024. Lots of things happened. We all know around that time and we also had some turnover associated with with a number of things and you can see the the case load spiked in in 20 or in February of this year at a high of 306 and then since that time you can see we've we've been working to work those cases down. So we're in a much better place in terms of where our CPS cases are and which makes the work a lot more manageable which which greatly reduces turnovers. I think all those things that we've sort of pointed out today all go together. there. So, I just wanted to make sure we highlighted those things. But again, Garrett's the star of the show and we're going to we're going to get to his this his 186 kids currently exper experiencing foster care in Burke County. We had six who left care. Uh this would be the month of July or six who entered care, four who exited. So, you know, that's still a net gain of two. So, we would like to see that we'd like to see the other number bigger, but we're we're working towards that. And this is so we're going to watch this film called removed. It's about 10 minutes long. It was released in 2013 and it shown like this this wasn't created in North Carolina. was created at a national level, but it does a really good job, I think, of capturing, like I said, all all the components of sort of associated with foster care. And it's used in a lot of training settings to help social workers, to help um, you know, commissioners, people who who don't work in that field, and also it's used a lot in in recruiting branches because I think it's it's a really accurate portrayal. So, like I said, it's about 10 minutes. It's kind of emotional cuz it's it's I I thought I was worried about you. It is it it's emotional. It'll it'll get to you cuz it I mean it's a real experience that this

young lady's experiencing. But um we'll watch it then we'll let Garrett talk and and you guys are welcome to ask him questions. I don't know if I play it or they play it. Yeah, school's good.

So, just a couple things I'll point out. There's a part two to this movie that we could certainly watch at some point, but but this in part two, this this young lady is able to find permanence and healing. And I think what this captures is those things don't happen in sort of a a linear path. And and this young lady was able to accomplish those things through the work of of her social worker who was consistent and through the work of that foster parent who was kind of willing to ride out storms with her and didn't when she got mad and broke stuff and screamed at her when she gave her the gift didn't, you know, have someone come pick her up. She was willing to to kind of see her through those difficult times. And those are really the gifts that that social workers like Garrett and also Paul experience provide our kids in care is consistency in in a really really difficult time. So I'll let Garrett come up here and he's going to talk a little bit about his experiences and you guys are welcome to ask him any questions you might have. Good afternoon. So first of all, thank you guys. Um all the county commissioners, uh Mr. County Manager and Mr. Fisher Wellman as well. Thank you for considering me to be able to do this. It's a it's an honor. So, I want to start with saying this is not a job for everyone. It can be very difficult. Um, it can be very emotional. It can be very draining. But in the end, it is worth it. So when we come in, I would like to be able to tell you that we can come in and look forward to what some people would consider, you know, just an average day, like something that you can expect to happen every single day. You come in, you know, you just sit at your computer um for eight or nine hours and then you go home. That's not this job.

We do have plenty of work that does consist of that. For example, we come in, it's our job to do things like court reports. We have to keep the judge up to date on where our parents are at, on how our kids are doing. And we also have what are called day sheets. We have to submit those to the county at the end of every month. And we have to keep, you know, that way you guys know exactly what we're doing and what our job consists of. I am an adoptions foster care worker and there are a few less of us than there are what we call reunification foster care workers. So I just want to briefly go into that and then I'll give you an example of something that I've had to deal with um for the last week and a half and I can't go into too many details about it because it's um highly confidential stuff but I'll try to explain it the best I can. So when a child comes into care, we do our very best to try to find placement for them as quick as possible. And most of the time that's very it's usually pretty quickly. We try to ask and see if there are family members that can take them and if so, we do background checks. We do our due diligence and we place those children with the appropriate caretaker at the time. If there is no family member available, then we'll look for a suitable licensed foster parent. Now, some children have to be leveled up. And what that means is we have different levels of care for children that require therapy, uh, enhanced services, things like that. So, you start out having regular family placement, and that may not be kinship. It could be, but it might also just be a regular foster care setting. Then if the child needs to be leveled up a notch because of let's say

they have some behaviors. um we they get moved into level two therapeutic and there's also a subcategory in that that's IF which is basically the child it's the same kind of level but the child is placed in the home with no other children so that those placement providers can focus solely on caring for that child and their needs. It might be because maybe the child doesn't do so well with other children. It may be for other reasons, but that is that if the child needs a more intense level, then we go up to level three, and that's just more intense. And sometimes you hit it where children have to go to what's called a PRTF, which I'm pretty sure is psychiatric residential treatment facility, and that's one of our highest levels of care. And let's say a child goes into that, then they can work on leveling down. They get the proper services that they need and they work on leveling down. So when we go in every day, it's our job to make sure that the kids are getting what they need. Um if there are any disruptions that the children are, you know, are unfortunate enough to be having, we tend to that. Um, we'll try to provide whatever services that we can to assist on top of the services that are already being provided to them in the placement. And there are times where you will go in and there will be something that happened the night before. You may have to deal with something that happened the previous day. But regardless, we do what we can to try to, you know, to try to help them provide the services that we can. Um, so when you're a foster a regular reunification foster care worker, you make sure that your parents

that you're working with have the services that they need. You're going to do a case plan with them. This case plan gets updated every 3 months in a CFT or PPR, a child family team meeting or permanency planning review. And so when these meetings happen, you go over the parents progress. you tell them uh if there's anything that they're still lacking. Um it's also a good time to, you know, even though the parents, they'll they'll let you know when, you know, if they're on top of their case plan, they'll let you know when they need something. Um it's a perfect opportunity to get the entire team together. The children a lot of times, you know, they'll have a guardian at item, which is a courtappointed volunteer. They represent the child in court so that the child doesn't have to be there. Now, if the child's of age and they want to come to court, that's of course, you know, that's their decision. If they want to show up, that's more than perfectly fine. But a lot of times, like I said, you'll have not just us, you'll have the guardian at lightam. There's usually a guardian at lightam supervisor that likes to attend these meetings as well. Um you'll have a liaison through Medicaid which our Medicaid that we go through right now is partners and the foster parents if they or the placement uh provider kinship if it's a kinship if they want to be there they can but basically our job is to make sure that the parents have what they need to succeed. We want them to have everything in place so that if they don't follow through, it's not on us. We have given you everything that we can to help improve your situation. So, let's say the parents do what they're supposed to do and there you never know, you know, each parent is different, each family is different. There might be different things on the case plans.

Well, let's say the parents do uh their case plan and the court grants them. Usually what happens, we move from supervised visitation to unsupervised visitation. You know, we kind of work back up the ladder a little bit. After unsupervised visitation, if they've continued to do what they need to do, we go to trial home placement, which is where the child goes back to the home. We're still involved, but the children are now placed back in the parents' home. And we monitor them for the next 3 months. And we also have to do what's called Ryland's Law visits. So when I did Ryland's Law, when I worked for a previous county, I had to do two visits that were a week apart. And I had to basically just go to the home, observe the children in the home with the parent just to make sure that everything is okay. And if everything is okay, then by the end of that trial home placement, you can rest assured that you know that's that's a happy ending. That the child goes back to their parents and that's a happy ending. Now let's say that doesn't happen. That doesn't mean that the happy ending is not on the horizon. Doesn't mean that at all. So I like I said earlier, I'm an adoptions foster care social worker. So what that means is let's say the parents unfortunately don't correct the situations that bought the children into care. Basically what that means is you're going to go through the termination of parental rights. Now rights can be terminated through an actual TPR through the court system or the parents may choose to relinquish their rights if that's what they want to do. If rights are relinquished or terminated the child is then legally free. So most almost all of my kids, I think actually all of my kids right now are children that are

legally free. If that happens, they do remain in the system for a little while. And basically what we try to do, we want to get them, of course, the best home that we can. So we have to look for them a pre-adoptive family. So that consists of working with child focused recruiters which are a individual that gets appointed to a specific case and they will reach out and see who they can find who is interested in providing permanence for the children. We also work through a program called NC kids where we fill out forms that basically just let them know a little bit about what the kid is like. We send them a picture and it helps the recruiters. It does help the recruitment process and I've seen some good success come out of child focused recruiters and NC kids. So it's it's definitely a worthwhile thing. It's very good. Um and I will go ahead and tell you being an adoptions social worker now this happens with reunification too. When you're a reunification worker you will see not just the kids but you'll see the bop parents at their best and you'll see them at their worst. So me being an adoption social worker, that means all my kids are legally free. So I do not have biological parents in the picture. When these kids come to me, when they come to me, they have a lot of times no one. So they don't have any family that they can contact. They don't have they've got no one. I don't really know like there's no way to sugarcoat that. They got no one. So that's where you come in. There are times where I will have to be dad and I will have to, you know, sometimes you have to answer the calls. Sometimes you have to um, you know, well, this is not something that I have to do, but on some of the ones where it's a

little bit more strenuous. Um, a lot of times on visits I like to take them, you know, to give them that sense of normaly. you know, take them out to Walmart, do, you know, take them to get lunch, just something like that, especially if they've been good. Now, that being said, me being an adoption social worker, I have seen a lot of my kids at their best, and that might be they've done very good in the home, so they get a, you know, a nice little reward for it. It might be that they've gotten an award at school. Um, a little over a year and a half ago, I attended a a school ceremony in Taylor'sville because I had a child in my case load who, to his surprise, was nominated for um an award. I think it was best in class, I think. And that was, you know, and I'm not I'm not up here to try to tell you a um like a sad story or toot my horn or anything like that, but I was the only one that was there for that. And as I was walking out, the school resource officer did a little fist bump with the child and he when a child walked out of view, the school resource officer told me he said, "I'm glad I'm so glad that someone was here to represent that kid." So just it just goes to show you like sometimes a lot of times these kids have nothing. So that's where you come in and you have to be the everything to their nothing. So let me just give you guys one example before I turn it over to you guys for questions. if that's okay. So when I say this job is not easy, there are times where you will want to just throw your hands up in the air and say, "I cannot do this anymore." But you can't do that. You cannot do that. You can't give up when things get tough. You cannot do that. Um, a week and a half ago, this was on the 14th of August. Now, this is what I was telling you guys at the beginning. I cannot give too many details about this.

I have to be as bland with this as I can be because a lot of confidential information here, but just to give you guys an example, a a perfect example of what I've what I'm talking about. So, I had a child who was in a pre-adoptive home. He had been visiting with a pre-adoptive parent for over two years, and this parent lived in another state. Uh, so that means we had to issue what's called an ICPC, which I believe is interstate contract for the placement of children. Don't quote me specifically on that just in case I got one of those wrong, but I'm pretty sure that's what it stands for. Basically, what it is, it's an interstate agreement. It doesn't matter if the child is going to be placed as close as Virginia, Tennessee, or South Carolina, or as far away as California. And we we I mean, we've had that before. We've had relatives in California ask for placement of children. You have to send an ICPC. So basically what that does is it it helps prevent things like human trafficking and it basically goes to our state and it goes to the parents state the prospective parents state and it basically they have to do a home study and they make sure that all is good in the home. It's their job to make sure that all is good in the home so that this kid can move there and be safe and sound in another state. So we had to do the ICPC process. Um, it finally there were some there were a lot of hiccups on this one. Usually an ICPC process takes up to 6 months. I've seen them come back in two weeks because this pre-adoptive parent, not this one in particular, but the one in the twoe example, she stayed on top of it. Like she unboed them at the ICPC office and she got hers back quickly. Normally it takes about 6 months, maybe a little longer in CO. It took up to a year sometimes for an ICPC to come back. But when the ICPC comes back, the child can then move to that home. If it's approved, they can move to

that home in another state. So basically, this child was visiting with this prospective adoptive parent for a little over two years. And we thought like, wow, this is, you know, this kid was like and and this is a therapeutic child, so he's not always the easiest one to take care of. Well, they had been visiting. In May of this year, the ICPC finally went through and he was able to move into the home. So, he had been there for almost 3 months actually living there for the purpose of adoption. And just about a week and a half, almost two weeks, it'll be two weeks this Thursday on August I think maybe a little more. I'm sorry. It was August 14th is when I got the call. I was sitting in my office and I get a call from the police department in this county and he tells me that this child has been removed from the home by that county's DSS and that he can't go back there. There's been something that's happened. There was a basically it was um there was a child that was previously placed there that had made some allegations and it was serious enough to where the police got involved and you can just kind of take it from there. So this child had to be removed. This child was maybe a month or two away from adoption and was removed from what we thought was going to be a pre-adoptive home. and that crushed this child that he had to come back and that's something else that I there's and that's the thing. There's so much with this job to talk about and I try to fit everything in. So, I'm probably going to leave some stuff out and I apologize for that. But, if a child needs placement and we don't have one or if an emergency removal like this happens, there's a lot of times the kid will come to the office and we have

to be their parents while they're at the office and we have to take turns sitting with them. This child came to the office that night. I sat with him till about 8:00. The next people came in and take and took over. The very next day, um I was fixing to go to Walmart because you ought to remember this child. Um he was removed from the home. This was his hopeful forever home. So he came back to DSS. He had to leave this home where everything was, including his motor scooter, four-wheeler, dog, all that. had to leave this home, come to DSS with a backpack and a carry bag. You know, I couldn't imagine some of these kids that wake up from day to day not knowing what's going to happen. I couldn't imagine. I don't know how they do it, but they're resilient and I I give these kids a lot of credit for that because I don't know that I can do it. And I'm 31 years old going on 32. I don't know if I can do that. And they do it somehow. But the very next day, this child had a severe panic attack because I think reality had set in finally. And don't get me wrong, there was some there was a little bit of crying the night before, but I think what happened I think reality had finally set in. And this child had a severe panic attack, big breakdown, and we were there for that. Um, he had to go to the hospital for that. And then we found placement. Um about a week ago I was able to take him to placement. And you know the thing is I don't know I would be lying if I came up here and told you that I knew where this was going to go from here because I don't I really don't. He doesn't know. He definitely doesn't know where this is going from here. And I cannot imagine how scary that would be. And I don't know where this is going to

go from here. But I know it's in God's hands and I have to put trust in that and I have, you know, no child is unadoptable. I have to believe that there's someone out there for everyone. So that's an example of when I say there's a lot of times you come into this job, you don't know what you're going to be dealing with. I had absolutely no clue when I woke up on August 14th that that was going to happen. I thought this case was a month, two months away from adoption. I had absolutely no clue that that was what what was going to happen and yet it happened. So the job can be very strenuous, but it can also be very rewarding. And I'll give you a very brief example of that. I had a child that was placed in Fort Bragg and he had a single parent. She was a Marine. actually she was a Marine and she lives in Charlotte and she we u we met somehow we met through a child focused recruiter and I was at their first visit we met at a pizza place in Rockingham and I was there the child focused recruiter who helped recruit her was there and of course she was there the child was there they got to know each other they wanted to continue visitation and of course just like any with any family they had their ups and downs but it worked out and 1 month before his 18th birthday last year, he was adopted. So there's always, you know, it may not be right around the corner. It might not be just upfront, but I've learned that almost always there's a happy ending. And you can be a part of that if you're in this role. And I'm very happy that I'm in this role because even though there are days where I wake up and I'm like, "Oh my gosh, I really can't understand how I can keep doing this, I remind myself at the end of the day that I'm where I need to be.

I'm where I've been put for a reason." And that's that. So, just really quickly, one other thing that I do want to touch on is typical adoption dayto-day. If we have a child that is in, let's say you've got a child that's in a family, they're ready and willing to adopt, we have a few packets that we have to do. Um, basically, you start out, you review adoption assistance paperwork. That's where you determine whether or not the child's going to be eligible for adoption assistance after they're adopted. If they're anywhere between the ages of newborn to 15, they get adoption assistance, the kid, the parents get adoption assistance monthly for the child until they're 18. if their age is 16 to 18, they get it till they're 21. So they they try to ensure that the kids are very well taken care of financially and that the parents are taken care of financially, too, that they're going to be able to continue providing for them. So there are certain criteria that kids have to meet for adoption assistance eligibility. Um basically you review that paperwork with them and they sign it. When all that's done, we hold uh adoption committee meeting, which is basically it's a I'm not going to say it's an informal meeting because with nothing with this is informal. You want to be as formal as possible, but you we we hold a meeting. It's a lot of times 5 to 10 minutes long. Uh, it's just a, you know, the social worker presents the issues that bought the child into care, how good they're doing in the home, why you think they're an appropriate fit, whether or not they're eligible for adoption assistance, just things like that. And then at the end, it's like an all-in favor say I kind of thing. And so if the placement is approved, and you know, most of the time it is, then we can move on. And so we fill out a first packet of paperwork for our clerk so that the petition can be filed. Once that petition is filed, the parents will

meet with the attorney that they've requested. Once that happens, uh the petition is filed, then we complete a second slightly smaller packet of paperwork. And once that is submitted, we're just waiting on that final petition. So once that final petition is issued, we get to call the family. A lot of time like our super my supervisor has a board that we can present. It's like I can't remember exactly what it says. It's basically after such and such days of being in foster care so and so has finally found their permanent home or something to that effect. It's just, you know, so this job, even though it can be very stressful, it can be very, very, very rewarding. And it gives me pleasure that I get to be part of, you know, helping people through and helping children through their worst, cuz like I said, you'll see them at their best, but you'll also see them at their worst. Well, it gives me pleasure knowing that I get to be the one to help them through their worst, but also being there at the end when that reward finally gets here. And that's just kind of the best way that I can put how it is to be a foster care or adoptions foster care social worker. So, if there are any questions, I'll be happy to answer to the best that I can.

All right. Thank you, Garrett. Thank you for what you're doing. Thank you for being here and sharing this this afternoon with us. Any questions for Garrett about his experience? I got just a couple quick questions. So are is there a common thread that you see with with the placement they you know having to take children? Is it is it alcohol and drugs? Is it poverty? What is there a common thread?

It varies. I've seen a lot of what I've seen is um domestic violence, um physical abuse, um other kinds of abuse, just all kind. It really doesn't discriminate. There's all kinds of things. But now, I will say this. I because I'm not a reunification worker right now, I might not be the most accurate one to speak exactly on what we're seeing the most of right now since most of the kids that come to me are already legally free, but in my experience, that's what I see a lot of.

So, so the root cause, I mean, I guess you guys think about that a lot. What What's the root cause? And I I don't expect you to have an answer today. You're fine. It's uh you know, domestic violence is a big one. Substance abuse, that's that's a really big one. Substance abuse is a very big one. Drug use in particular. Um just things like that. Do you do you see more instances when summer's when school's out, summer's here, or is that have an impact? You know, I reporting is definitely down in summer. I mean, school schools are our biggest reporter. CPS reports go down for sure in the summer. And now we're in a time when kids are just getting back to school. So reports go up.

That doesn't mean that things don't occur in the summer. Just the reporting is more frequent.

And correct me if I'm wrong, but also on holidays like over Christmas and over extended breaks like that, we also tend to get a lot of reports too. I mean, in a county where roughly 63% of our kids are qualify for free and reduced lunch, and I have walked the halls of schools, I'm sure many others have, and I've saw teachers sneaking food into backpacks of kids before they go home on the weekend. So, it just seems like the problem is so much bigger than than your best effort. And I don't I don't know how you do what you do every day. I I don't know. I mean, I've sat here and fought back tears for the last 20 minutes, but uh God bless you. That's all I can say.

Thank you. We we try. We really do. We We really try. Other questions, comments?

Mr. Chairman, I would like to say I I would like to see uh some program like this given to the Burke County Public Schools cuz I spent 30 years there and I wish I would have had something like this 38 years ago when I started and I had a problem kid in there and I might know better about where they're coming from having been around Garrett for a while now that he's worked in that I I don't get any details of anything but I I know we got a lot of problems out there and I think it would be very beneficial special for you and Dr. Swan and the county manager to see if we could put together a program for those teachers and educators, principles.

We we certainly we meet with lots of different like we meet with the counseling group, we meet with the administrators. We we don't do as much with the teachers and maybe that that is a missed opportunity to try to to get in front of more teachers than than I know there's a million things going on in a school. So just because we tell administrator something doesn't mean it gets all the way down. So I don't I don't think that's a terrible idea. I think trying to be creative and how we can get in front of more teachers would be good. All right, seeing none again. Garrett, thank you for being here. Cory, anything? Thank you. Think further? I do not. Thank you guys. All right. Thank you. Thank you.

All right, gentlemen. This brings us to item number four and action items. General services courthouse roof project bid award. I'll recognize uh our wish. Uh yes, thank you, Mr. Manager. I do need a motion to accept this report as presented. Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to accept the report as presented. Thank you. That is the DSS report. Mr. Burns has stepped away. All those in favor signify by the uplifted hand. Four to zero. All right. All right. Now, I recognize our general services director, Mr. Delhott. Thank you, Mark.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. Uh, as you're probably aware, the courthouse renovation project is uh well underway and actually scheduled to be completed by the end of this calendar year. Uh, the main area of the courthouse that includes that construction in recent years has suffered from uh roof leaks and numerous repairs have been made. However, it it is time now and to the point that uh roof replacement is needed. For that reason, we recently advertised for bids and nine bids were received. Uh the lowest of the nine bids came from a company in McDow County called Johnson Roofing Incorporated. Uh we've used them in the past, Johnson Roofing, and had nothing but great results out of them. They're very responsive. Uh therefore, I would like to ask the board to award this project to Johnson Roofing Incorporated, who was the low bidder. And additionally, just uh by way of information, I have asked this to be included with the action item for this pre-aggenda meeting so that work could be ready to go during the first two weeks of October when there currently isn't any court scheduled due to a uh software upgrade that they'll be uh having going on during that period. And I believe there's a uh judges retreat as well.

All right. Thanks, Mark. Any questions for Mark on this? If uh really quick, this next slide shows a portion of roof that'll be re-roofed uh there in the lower part over register of deeds where it says 203. That part was done in uh 20 uh 23, early part of two, so it's new as well. We haven't had any problems out of that middle section. But uh so uh just to update you on the whole roof at the courthouse, that's the current status there. So, this roof should put us in good shape for the foreseeable future. All right. Thank you, Mark. I'll entertain a motion.

Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to award the bid to Johnson Roofing Concepts Incorporated not to exceed the amount of $89,871 for the partial replacement of the roofing at the Burke County Courthouse and authorize the county manager to execute the contract on behalf of the board subject to review andor revision by the county attorney. Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair, all those in favor signify up with the hand. 5 Z. Madam clerk, thank you. All right. Thank you, Mark. This brings us to item number 10, close session. We do not need the close session today. And with that, I'll entertain a motion for German. Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion to adjourn the meeting.

Thank you, Mr. Trout. All those in favor signify by the hand. 5 Z. That's all. Thank you very much everyone for being here today. Appreciate your attendance.