Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Bye.

Good evening and welcome to the Pitt County Board of Commissioners meeting. I will call our meeting to order. Let's have roll call please. Thank you. If you would, let's stand for the invocation, and then we're going to invite Jenny Graham up to lead us in the pledge. Gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for this day that you've given us. Lord, we just ask that you give us strength, courage, and wisdom, Lord, to make the best decisions for our citizens, and we do that in your name. Amen. Jenny Graham, if you would come up and lead us in the... Pledge, please.

Good evening. I am Jenny Graham, a senior at D.H. Conley High School and currently a candidate for student body president in our Student Government Association. Thank you for having me this evening. At this time, please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. You may be seated. Thank you. Thank you and have a good evening.

Okay. I'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda.

So moved.

Mr. Chair? Yes. I think we need to remove an item.

Yes. I would like to remove item number 16 on the consent agenda, and then I'll move for the approval.

Okay. So we have a motion to approve the agenda with the removal of number 16. We're here second? Second. Okay. Thank you. Please vote. OK, thank you so much. Madam Manager, do we have any public addresses to the board?

Mr. Chairman, you do. It looks like you have about 14 signed up to speak this evening. And I can call them up in order if the attorney would read the statement first.

Thank you. Pitt County welcomes all comments on matters of public concern. Each speaker will be allowed three 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.

First signed up is Hunter Reynolds.

Hello. My name is Hunter Reynolds. I'm a Pitt County resident and a student at East Carolina University. And I'm here to support placing a moratorium on AI data centers. We have all seen reports from across the country about the harms that AI data centers have done to all kinds of different communities. Water has been polluted, electricity prices shoot up, and even worse, in this one town, Lake Tahoe in Nevada, tens of thousands of residents have been cut off from their supply of electricity so that AI data centers can be properly powered. All of this where it is essentially minuscule benefit. These data centers provide very few jobs, especially considering how much space they take up, and all the processing power is used to improve the power of large corporations, Anthropic, Facebook, Amazon, and not to benefit citizens of Pitt County. Not to mention the CEOs and former employees of these companies fully believe that they're building a machine that may end the world. Sam Altman of OpenAI said, to quote, AI will most likely lead to the end of the world. So what do you think? Is it fair for us to allow these companies to use our resources that could go to real people who live in Pitt County to build a world-ending superintelligence? Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Brandon Case.

I feel like this isn't a difficult decision to make, and it shouldn't have to be said, maybe, but the nationwide implementation period for flock surveillance systems has been a complete and total disaster. All over the country, people are coming together against the expansion of flock, and you don't have to look across the country. You can look right here in Greenville. The local government of Greenville did their research, and they backed away from flock. I don't think this is an issue of the left versus the right. We shouldn't have to surrender our privacy simply because technology has made it possible. If the Fourth Amendment means anything in the digital age, it should mean that the government cannot build a searchable record of where innocent people travel without a warrant to do so. The city of Greenville listens to its citizens. I think Pitt County could listen too. Thank you.

Thank you.

Scarlett Edelman.

Hello, I'm Scarlett Edelman. I am living over at 115 Rotary Avenue. I'm also here to speak on the issue of the data center moratorium that's being considered. And I know that there are people here who can speak more eloquently than myself on the social issues and issues of racial injustice tied to data center construction. So I'll keep my remarks limited to a discussion of the bottom line. The first point I'd like to bring up concerns the longevity of data center projects. The timeline of a new data center construction project typically runs from two to five years, and each generation of the servers within the data centers only lasts for around two years before more advanced units render them all but worthless. In the longer term, national legislation will be passed regulating generative AI, which is the main use case for the current generation of data centers that are being proposed. And for these reasons, it's clear that any data center built in Pitt County will be obsolete inside of five years. Next, I'll argue that the taxes drawn from data centers will not be enough to offset their costs to the city as a whole. Centers will increase the cost of utilities, including water and electricity. Additionally, there'll be both economic and social impacts from the noise, light, and water pollution generated by these data centers. And finally, the centers tend to drive away other sources of tax revenue, such as new people who might otherwise want to move into an area. So these key points, revenue and longevity, are just two out of the many reasons why I support this moratorium on the data center construction in Pitt County. Thank you. Thank you.

Julianne Brady.

My name is Julian Brady. I am a Pitt County resident. I live in Greenville. I've been here for 13 years, and I would like to continue to live here for the foreseeable future. I don't think data centers are a good way forward. I should have mentioned earlier I also run a business in town. I pay my taxes. I contribute to the Pitt County tax base. Data centers will not contribute. I have family that live in Northern Virginia. Around my uncle's house are a ton of data centers. They do not produce any measurable income after they're built. The total number of people who work at every single data center around his house is zero. If there's a problem, they send somebody in from off-site, a single person, and that's it. They would make no new jobs outside of a couple, relatively a couple, when they're first built. And yeah, there would be taxes on the property and the equipment, but there's no sales tax. There's no driving people into the county to spend their money here, making them want to come here or making people want to live here. It would also be pretty awful for the people who have to live near them. If you've ever been near a computer with a loud fan for extended periods of time, imagine that is every hour of the day when you're trying to sleep or when you have a newborn child who cannot sleep because that thing is just screaming outside all night. I also work in the tech industry and everything. I don't... They're a bad idea. The output from AI is awful. It's just... destroying creativity and the joys that people have in life. And I just don't think that we want to have that in Pitt County for the people who live here and appreciate the county we have.

Thank you.

Alexis McDonald.

Hello. My name is Alexis McDonald.

I will be speaking on behalf of my coworker, Allison McGraw, who cannot make it.

Lifelong resident of Greenville and soon hear it. East Carolina University in art major. First to start off, Pitt County is a marshland. There are marshes and wetlands around the area, especially where we sit on the Tar River. The water consumption itself is also detrimental to our area. The average J.D. Center uses roughly 5 million gallons of water every day, and that compared to the usage of a town of 10,000 to 50,000 people. There are about 1,890,000 people in Pitt County. Sorry, 18,236 people here in Pitt County. Sorry. Stretching from Greenville to Farmville to Belvoir to Aiden and all the spaces in between. With these numbers, that's adding extra amounts of water, money in the system to pump the facilities. Compared to the residents, it might seem a little, but if these centers use blue sources such as our marshland and rivers and creeks, all the groundwater that feeds into these sources will dry up in a matter of months. Sooner if it needs to take more. If they use gray sources of water, like most residents from facilities and piping, they will be drinking up all our dividends of water. Water billing may end up higher from the southern change of a need of water. I will be speaking from a student, an artist, a daughter, and a young person's standpoint. The use of artificial intelligence has been toyed around with as a concept for a long time and it's been true and existing for a while now. AI has been an issue in the art world for a while now that the technology keeps improving on itself. I've seen my fair share of AI art while consuming media. There was a lawsuit a few years ago when AI was in the beginning of using prompts and created scrapbooks and images of real art into whatever the person was writing. prompted them to see. Though it is still rampant today, especially in the amount of videos you see on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and more, you will see people like myself and other artists try to put stop to AI. At ECU, AI has become less of a frown point in the art community and more of a tool. We use it to rely on research and inspiration of other art. We have become lazy in the sense of creativity. making easy ideas that end up with holes done in the artificial intelligence make something up if they can't pull sources stretching from the internet from real people's time and effort. All in both, AI data centers and AI itself have been wrong from the start, lazing us, misguiding us. This center is not good for the well-being of the nature of our community and our citizens. We must not have it built. Thank you for allowing me to speak.

Thank you.

Melanie Goff Bradley.

Hello, I'm Melanie Goff Bradley. I'm a former resident of Greenville. I own property here. I reside at 875 Powell Road in Edgecombe County. I am a member of Edgecombe Neighbors for decades. Data Center Accountability. This is a grassroots organization that formed last year when our county commission floated the idea of rezoning the industrial park to include the opportunity for data center and cryptocurrency mining. The residents joined together, and even though Edgecombe County habitually rates 99th out of 100, and we desperately need economic development, we do not want a data center, and neither should Pitt County. We had a primary county commissioner candidate who unseated this spring, a 16-year incumbent, and the main solitary difference in the platform was the stand on data centers. He is running unopposed in November. Two months ago, the Edgecombe County Commission enacted a two-year moratorium on data centers. Edgecombe is a leader in this area, and we have worked with Nash County Commission when Rocky Mount sought to change the zoning for a piece of property to include data centers. They have, last month, Nash County enacted a one-year moratorium. These two moratoriums will be used to give the commissions time to investigate the needs of the community, investigate the qualities of data centers, and what kind of regulations and restrictions will be necessary to have in place at the end of the moratorium when they decide to entertain a new proposal. Halifax County has just announced they will be holding a moratorium public hearing, despite having just closed on a property sale to a data center. Because they had assigned a NDA, non-disclosure agreement, that blindsided the residents. That was a great outcry. And now they are looking to make sure that there are no other future surprise data centers in Halifax County. Counties and towns across the state are hearing our voices and responding. The jobs these companies promise are temporary construction that vanish in a year. Skilled tech workers are brought in or are remote. It is an extractive energy industry. So ask yourself one question. When the proposal says that they will cost you no rise in electricity, no noise, light, or air pollution, no massive water drain, if they can build that unicorn data center, why haven't they already?

Thank you.

Elaine Lisey.

My name is Elaine Lacy. I'm a Greenville native, a homeowner, a community advocate, and someone who hopes to build a place that my family wants to raise their family as well. I'm here today to talk about the AI data centers in hopes of a one-year moratorium as well. Our waterways are one of Pitt County's most important assets. They feed our farms, they protect our homes from flooding, and they keep our communities healthy. Once they're damaged, we don't get them back. AI data centers are a new, fast-moving technology, and they're still in the early stages. The same way computers once filled entire rooms before shrinking into something small enough to put on our wrist, Right now, these centers are huge. They use huge amounts of water and electricity, and we don't fully understand how they'll evolve or what their long-term impact will be. And I'm asking for a one-year moratorium so we can learn more and understand how this technology is changing so we can set boundaries around our major waterways so that we don't make the mistake that we can't undo. That's our responsibility, and that's reasonable, and it's how we protect the future of our county. Now the next thing I want to talk about is the flock camera usage. These cameras track everywhere we drive, every road, every turn, every time of day. And all the information is stored and controlled by a private company, not the county, not the public, and not the people being recorded. That's a continuous warrantless search. And under the Fourth Amendment, the government cannot track innocent people without individualized suspicion. And when a private company holds that data, the constitutional problem gets even bigger. We don't control how long they keep it. We don't control who sees it. We don't control how it is shared or sold. That's not voluntary. That's not consent. And that's not constitutional. What needs to happen is simple. We need to stop using the flock cameras that we currently have installed in the county. We need to remove the units that are installed. And we need to place a ban on surveillance by both government and private entities, such as the Lowe's that has private surveillance over all of your citizens. I'm asking that you protect our waterways, our rights. That's your job. That's your responsibility. And that's what the people of Pitt County deserve.

Thank you.

Elle Wilson.

Hi, I'm Elle Wilson. I'm 10 years old and I'm speaking from. Huh? Hi, I'm Elle Wilson. I'm 10 years old, and I'm currently speaking from my point of view. Today I'm here for two reasons. A, to protect my privacy and the privacy of my loved ones for now and the near future by flock cameras getting removed from my community. And B, to protect the water for my community to be able to have water to drink and take showers. This is the place I live, hope to grow up in, and raise a family in in the near future. That's all.

Thank you.

Kyla McClain. I think it's Kyla McClain, or could it be Tayla McClain? OK. Don Cavallini.

So I'm Don Cavallini and co-chair of the Pitt County Coalition Against Racism. I have been living in Pitt County, Greenville for 41 years. Doesn't sound like it, but it's true. And I am truly moved by the younger people who spoke before me and even the older ones. Because I'm 83 right now. So we are passing on the baton, and you're not going to be relieved of hearing from us even as we pass it to the next generation. I didn't make any written notes when I came to address the commissioners. I did bring some literature, which I shared with some of the commissioners before we started. And I have other copies of the other commissioners who didn't get it, wanted it. I was in Edgecombe County with the people who decided that the commissioners needed not to sell their land. It was commissioned land, it belonged to the county. And the developer ended up not developing because the land wasn't there. The site was Kingsborough, where QVC used to be, you know, before it burned down. And I'm here to say simply the anti-data center movement is not an anti-tech movement. It's about democracy. And somehow or another, we have to figure out how to develop restrictions, guidelines. Some people call it guardrails. on this technology that's running amok. You're hearing it on the news every day now. And moratoriums are spreading everywhere. I saw on CNBC on September 9th, Southport, Brunswick County, all over the state now. And there are 97 data centers in this state. But at this point, We don't need one here. And those of you who are on the commission, when we stop Compute North from being 1,000 yards from a elementary school, Belleville Elementary, know that struggle was righteous. And you listened to us. You did not change the zoning to allow for it. We congratulate you for doing that. We recommend that instead of a moratorium, you use the ordinances that the city of Greenville now have in place to make sure that data centers are not a pox on the citizenry. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

Tricia Workow? Or Workow?

Good evening, friends. I'm Trisha. I live up north of the river. Very proud of that. I am here tonight to address you guys on a couple of the issues you guys have heard from some other really awesome people. I'm concerned about the data centers. I'm concerned about Flock. And... I am concerned for your guys' seats if you don't listen to the people that voted you in when your guys' terms are up. First, though, I am going to talk about living north of the river. My town of Bethel, they say that they have four flock cameras that they know of. We have them popping up, you guys. We have them popping up in private residence yards. I drive down Memorial every day to get my kids to school. They are popping up. Why are they in private people's yards? Why are they pointed at playgrounds? Why does Lowe's have four of them? Why are agents able to look at them from their house? Why are outside agencies able to check them out? Why do we have private citizens being picked up for drug charges because the automatic license plate readers, not just Flock, Axon and other ones are problems too. Why are they able to pick people up for no reason, no reasonable suspicion other than he was going to a state that legally sold cannabis and they thought he might be bringing it back. He just worked across state lines. Ooh, let's see. With the data centers, you guys, I'm from Utah. The town I lived in has a meta data center. It destroyed that town. They have two ways out. Meta has not kept their promises, and they have, there is a desert that they have just wiped out. And we don't need them north of the river. That is where a lot of stuff gets thrown, and since I've moved here, I've put a lot of effort into making sure the county and other things can't throw things up there. Big thing of me. I do want to bring some solutions. I haven't heard me, and I know that I'm a big fan of bringing solutions when I come up to people. My solution, you guys, and this is an opportunity for us to help the school districts, to help programs, etc., etc., etc. Tax the rich. Tax them. Tax them what they were getting taxed before the 80s hit. 70% over 10 million. Tax them. We can do it. Let's start in Pitt County. We have been pioneers since the states formed as colonies, tax them. We need these dollars. We don't need data centers. Also, let's see. Like I said, you guys, you're elected officials, and I think you guys want to do the right thing. And I am just saying the people are speaking, and they are saying the right thing is no to data centers and no to the amount of flock cameras and surveillance we are under right now. Thank you so much for your time. Have a good evening. Thank you.

Gavin Vanderford.

Evening Board. My name is Gavin Vandiford. My current residence is at 3180 Ballard's Crossroads Road, Greenville. I've been born and raised here, along with many generations of my family, not just within this state, but within this county. I'd like to start off by presenting some numbers. 5,427 is the number of active facilities in the US. Roughly 1,500 is the number of additional projects planned throughout the U S along with the 30 to 50 of those being planned here within our state of North Carolina, the same state that currently has 60 or more confirmed active facilities. The average center uses around 224 acres according to the world resources Institute. So with the quick math, just saying we do have 60 and not more, we're already seeing at about 13,440 acres of land that is being used. And that number will continue to rise if communities don't put a stop to the unwarranted growth of corporate greed. And as much larger skills, according to the cloud scene, there's an estimated number of 5,427 data centers in the U S So with the same number of acreage being used, this number would equate to around 1,209,600 acres of wasted land. It's no secret data centers have negative impacts on not just municipal systems in agriculture, but wildlife as well. The same land that could be used for the housing of the increase in population of not just our state, but also the rapidly decreasing habitat of the local wildlife and hunting estuaries that makes North Carolina one of the greatest States and tourist attractions. Millions of people across the nation from families, farmers, outdoorsmen and students alike from both sides of the political spectrum have spoken out against these data centers. These data centers, along with the noise pollution that can range from 90 to 105 decibels, which is the equivalent of running a mega scale lawnmower 24 seven, as well as light pollution, which will have detrimental effects on protected nocturnal species. Data centers and flock cameras only benefit the wealthy corporations that run them miles away from the comfort of their home and in many times not even residing in this county or this country. Let's keep Pitt County beautiful. Let's keep Pitt County free. And if the bureaucrats won't anymore, they need to go in their backyard and not ours. Thank you. Thank you.

Jay Lampa.

Can you hear me? Good evening. My name is Jay. I'm a student at East Carolina University. Sorry, my address is 348 Haven Drive. I'm also a member of the North of the River Association. Some of you might remember me from the crypto mining facility a few years ago. I was going to write something, but something else has been on my mind. I'll repeat what was said before. We don't need data centers in Pitt County. They're bad from an environmental perspective and groundwater contamination. heat and noise pollution from a societal perspective. They provide little while they take so much from our people and they are being used for things that are not in our interests. Data centers are used to collect information on our citizens and we have no say on who gets access to that information. It is for that reason that I come to you today. I'll tell you a little bit about myself. I am Afro-Latino. My mother is Haitian and Cuban. She immigrated to the United States in the 1970s. She's here legally. And yet every day I wake up and I wonder, am I going to get the phone call that somebody picked her up? I say this because we've been seeing a very disturbing trend with ICE in which they will take people out of their homes, out of their businesses, and deport them to who knows where. We've seen some cases where those who are deported, whether they're here legally or not, did not come home. A case comes to mind of a Guatemalan family being deported to Guatemala and turning up dead a few days later, their child malnourished and traumatized. We have a nice detention facility being built less than an hour away from here in Winton. 10% of the county population is Latino. And so far, I haven't seen the city, the mayor, and thus far the commission, give any sort of statement or concern about this. Even with the General Assembly passing SB 153, which requires our police to work with them, I feel that we have a moral obligation to do something about this. In the context of the data centers, I would say a moratorium or modifying our ordinance so they can't be set up here is one good way to hinder those efforts. I would also suggest that you reach out to the Latino community that lives in Greenville and Pitt County and ask them what their concerns are and how you might be able to support them. The concerns that I bring to you today are concerns I've heard brought up by my family, my friends, my loved ones. And in the concern of over policing and surveillance, it's something that the African American community here in Greenville, especially West Greenville, has been dealing with for years. That's part of a larger conversation that needs to be addressed. But I would urge you both for the sake of your neighbors and more practically for the sake of your election chances to give that concern some thought and some action. Thank you.

Thank you.

Our last person signed up to speak is Venus Diamond.

Hello, I'm Venus Diamond. I live in Greenville, North Carolina. I've been here for probably two years now, and I've lived in North Carolina for, I think, eight years. Today, I'm here to speak on behalf of my partner, Zoe, who unfortunately could not make it as she is stuck at her dishwashing job, covering a double right now. Zoe has nearly 10 years, a 10-year-long tech resume, and yet she is still working in a kitchen 50 to 60 hours a week. Her statement follows, after a life-altering medical issue in early 2025, I lost my tech job. Due to my values against the harm AI causes, I have been unable to find a tech job for nearly two years. I refuse to participate in a world which we gentrify our communities, decimate our environments, and hasten our extinction. Those pushing for AI have no intentions of ensuring a stable future for our people, but only themselves. Today, Venus is here on my behalf to beg you to kill the computer and replace it with community. I once believed technology would save the world from itself. Now I believe we must save the world from technology. We believe a future better than what is being sold to us. I beg you to support this moratorium and urge you to ban data centers in Pitt County in the future. A moratorium will go away eventually. Invest in our community, not in the computer. Thank you to the county commissioner and Ms. Diamond for speaking for me when I could not. And from me myself, thank you. Thank you.

OK, Madam Manager, we'll move next to presentations.

Yes, we have three proclamations to read down front if the board would approve all three.

Please vote on all three. Have a motion, hear a second? Second. OK, please vote on all three of these together. Thank you.

While we're going down, if Kelly Andrews would come forward. The first one that we'll do is for Life Sciences Week. And we have David Horn joining us as well. Excellent. Kelly, we're going to put you right on the black line.

Excellent.

And this is a proclamation recognizing Life Sciences Week, September 14th to 18th, 2026. And it reads, whereas life sciences is a thriving and growing industry sector in Pitt County and the state of North Carolina, and whereas Pitt County employers, including Thermo Fisher Scientific, Catalan, CMP Pharma, and others produce life-changing and life-saving products for patients worldwide, as well as provide well-paying career opportunities for our citizens. And whereas life sciences education and training are accessible at Pitt Community College, the North Carolina Pharmaceutical Services Network, East Carolina University, and the Eastern Region Pharmaceutical Center. helping to grow Pitt County's highly skilled workforce. And whereas, important life sciences research is conducted at the R1-designated East Carolina University to address critical healthcare needs. And whereas, Life Sciences Week is an opportunity for professionals, parents, teachers, and others to promote awareness of the excellent training and career opportunities available in and around Pitt County, as well as acknowledge the tremendous economic impact of the life sciences sector in Pitt County and across the state of North Carolina. Now, therefore, be it resolved, that the Pitt County Board of Commissioners does hereby proclaim September 14th to 18th, 2026 as Life Sciences Week in Pitt County and commends its observance to all citizens. Signed this the 14th day of September 2026 by Chairman Mark Smith and attested by Kimberly Hines, clerk to the board, presenting this to Kelly Andrews and the company of David Horn for Life Sciences Week.

Congratulations. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

thank you thank you so much and this proclamation will also be presented at the biotech summit which will take place on Thursday Okay, the next one, if you will stay in place, and if we could also be joined, yes, by Andrew Rogers. If you'll come forward.

We'll put you right on the black dot.

And this second proclamation recognizes Better Skills, Better Jobs Fair Day on October 1st, 2026. And this reads, whereas Better Skills, Better Jobs Fair has been held annually since 2020, and whereas Better Skills, Better Jobs is the largest fair in the region and will host over 100 employers as well as education and training providers at the Greenville Convention Center. And whereas, Better Skills, Better Jobs aims to provide career exploration, awareness, and development opportunities for high school juniors and seniors, as well as job opportunities for adult learners and job seekers. Whereas, the significance of this day is the incredible impact the Better Skills, Better Jobs Fair has made in connecting individuals to career and educational opportunities in Pitt County and the surrounding area. And whereas the Better Skills, Better Jobs Fair is sponsored by the John M. Belk Endowment, Pitt Community College, City of Greenville, East Carolina University, Electricities, Greater Greenville-Chamber, Greenville Utilities Commission, Invest Greenville, Pitt County Economic Development, IVX Media, and WNCT in a collaborative effort to increase awareness and engagement between local business, educational institutions, and current and future job seekers. therefore be it resolved that the pitt county board of commissioners does hereby proclaim october 1 2026 better skills better jobs fair day in pitt county adopted this the 14th day of september 2026 signed by chairman mark smith and attested by kimberly hines clark to the board we present that to you congratulations thank you Wonderful. And if you all would like to stay for the last proclamation that recognizes National Manufacturing Week, an integral part of the training and the recruitment and the development that we as partners collaborate. And this one reads, Proclamation Recognizing National Manufacturing Week, October 2nd to 9th, 2026. Whereas Pitt County is the home of more than 100 manufacturing companies with a workforce of over 7,000, or approximately 8% of our total workforce, producing a diverse range of products including pharmaceuticals, plastics, forklifts, engineered fiber, medical devices, boats, and more. And whereas the average manufacturing annual salary in Pitt County is just over $79,000, which is approximately 27% higher than the overall average salary for all Pitt County jobs. And whereas manufacturing is one of the largest contributors to Pitt County's gross domestic product, adding over $2 billion to the economy, or more than 18% of our total GDP. And whereas five of the ten largest taxpayers and three of the ten largest employers in Pitt County are manufacturers. And whereas National Manufacturing Day is recognized annually on the first Friday in October with events that continue throughout the following week in an effort to showcase modern manufacturing employers and build excitement around manufacturing careers to help communities and future generations thrive. Therefore, be it resolved that the Pitt County Board of Commissioners recognizes the significant contributions of our manufacturing sector, which include employing our citizens with quality jobs and benefits, investing in facilities and equipment that add to our tax base, thus ensuring that the county can provide necessary and desired services, giving back to our communities through philanthropic and volunteer efforts, and enhancing our economic stability and growth. strongly supports our manufacturing sector and commits to making efforts to ensure that our existing manufacturers continue to thrive in a business-friendly environment that will encourage future expansion and growth in Pitt County. And finally, it is resolved that Pitt County celebrates manufacturers on National Manufacturing Day Friday, October 2nd, and National Manufacturing Week, October 2nd to 9th, 2026. Signed this 14th day of September, 2026. Signed by Chairman Smith and attested by Kimberly Hines. Mr. Chairman, if you will present that to Kelly Andrews.

Thank you, Kelly. Thank you so much. Congratulations.

And if we can come in for a picture.

Take a step to your left. Yes. All right, ready? One, two, three, and we call. One, two, three.

As we're going back to our seats, if the Public Information Office would cue a video on the Better Skills, Better Jobs Fair, it'll take just a few minutes and it will round out the preface behind what you've just heard in these three proclamations.

Today is a very special day because this is a true collaboration of bringing together our leaders, our businesses, and the people that make this community work in education and in workforce, and having all of that gathered together in one place at the award-winning Better Skills, Better Jobs Fair.

It is an opportunity if you're looking to start your career or you're looking to take a step up in your career.

Today we're here for the Better Skills, Better Jobs Career Fair. It is the largest career fair in eastern North Carolina where we have over 140 employers and resources here. The Better Skills, Better Jobs Career Fair is two parts. In the morning we have our high school juniors and seniors from all of Pitt County schools as well as Greene County this year coming to our career fair. Then in the afternoon, we have adult job seekers come in who are looking for employment or retraining or upskilling. And then they're able to have an opportunity to meet with the employers as well. And if they need to be trained, then they can see a resource as well to understand their entry into the workforce.

I am so proud to share that we have officially proclaimed October 2nd, 2025 as Better Skills, Better Jobs Fair Day in Pitt County. This recognition reflects just how important this event is to the future and to our community.

To be able to see so many people throughout our community coming together for one common purpose is awesome. I think that we have just started the great work that's going to take place in eastern North Carolina and I'm looking forward to the future.

Collaboration is the ultimate success key. Without that, you know, we're all floundering. We're all going in our own lanes. So we've got to have collaboration opportunities. So to really bring your industry partners in with your educational partners, your economic development partners, all those are so important to ensure that we are creating a vibrant workforce community. And I think this also becomes very genuine. So people when they're seeking or looking at Greenville and Pitt County for an opportunity to either maybe grow their employment or either move their employment here, I think that becomes a really great resource that we have that can really shine through that is very genuine in what we're trying to accomplish here from a collaborative standpoint.

Better Skills, Better Jobs has gotten to the place where it is known and so once you get that kind of recognition, you're going to draw job seekers and this is an opportunity to allow our students, allow our job seekers to not just understand the job market, but also to prepare for it.

This year we have added career coaching. So we have a room set aside where we have professionals from our human resource development and other parts of Pitt Community College who will be working with job seekers ahead of them going out on the floor to engage with employers to kind of beef up their interviewing skills and how they talk to employers and how they engage with them. This year we've also continued to have our Dress for Success. Those people in our communities who may not have their appropriate clothing to come in for an interview, they are able to be outfitted by Dress for Success.

This fair is about hope and hard work. It's about connecting people to opportunities that can change the trajectory of their lives. It's about showing students that their future is wide open. showing adults that it's never too late to start fresh, and showing employers that the talent they need is right here in eastern North Carolina. Last year, more than 1,500 job seekers came through these doors. That's double the number from just a few years ago. Employers met new talent. Students discovered new careers. One company hired 25 people on the spot. That's incredible. That's not just numbers on a page, you all. That's food on the table. That's rent getting paid. That's families with more money in their pockets and more opportunity.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That concludes your proclamations.

Awesome. Thank you so much. And I just want to recognize two elected officials that are with us tonight. We have Bethel Commissioner Elvis Purvis with us. Jones, I'm sorry. I'm reading notes here. Somebody was wrong. I wonder who that was. My apologies. And Representative Glorstein-Brown, thank you all for being with us tonight. We'll move on to public hearings. And Jonas, you have the first one.

Good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the board, Madam Manager. Tonight I come before you for the second public hearing regarding the CDBG neighborhood revitalization grant. Again, this is the second of two public hearings to gather input from the community. I'll explain the community's intent to submit our grant application, identify the selected activities, and then we'll receive comments from the public. Give you a little overview again. This neighborhood revitalization grant is administered by the Department of Commerce. The maximum grant award is $950,000. There's no local match involved. And the application deadline is October 13th, and the grant period is for 36 months. Reviewing the eligible activities, you have the housing rehabilitation and reconstruction, public infrastructure improvements, and then public facilities. Pitt County intends to apply for the community development block grant neighborhood revitalization funding for the support of reconstruction of owner occupied homes. for income qualified households located here within Pitt County. I do want to touch on an individual who spoke at our last public hearing, Mr. Whetstone, spoke about the need for a Masonic Lodge rehabilitation. I spoke with him. That building is located within the city of Greenville, which is an entitlement community. So they get their own CDBG funds for specific projects within the city of Greenville. Therefore state funds, which the county applies for cannot be used within that entitlement community. So I'd convey that to him. He understood and I advised him to seek the city for assistance. Uh, housing selection committee, uh, the properties that we selected to rehabilitate or actually reconstruct, um, were selected by the housing selection committee. They were based on the severity of need, the household income and the owner occupancy standard, uh, status you'll see in your packet. There are four, uh, houses that we've selected, uh, to reconstruct as well as three alternates. Um, in case one of those four slips out. With that being said, staff recommends the following motion to adopt resolution authorizing Pitt County to submit its CDBG NR application with the citizen participation plan, the housing selection committee bylaws, and other associated documents. So with that, Mr. Chairman, I'll be glad to answer any questions. Otherwise, we can open the public hearing.

Thank you, Jonas. Any questions for Jonas? Okay, I'll open up the public hearing. Do we have anyone signed up to speak?

There's no one signed up to speak.

Okay, I'll close the public hearing. What's the pleasure of the board?

I move, Mr. Chairman, that we submit the application for the grant.

I second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Please vote. Okay, thank you so much. We'll move on to the second public hearing, and I'll invite Kevin up to handle that one.

Good evening. How are you all tonight? Hello. I've been waiting for this debut for six months. It's finally here. I'm here tonight on behalf of Pitt Area Transit. I know Michael's probably laughing back there. I'm here on behalf of Pitt Area Transit to request a public hearing for our community program transportation grant. I will begin reading just a little bit of this. This is informed the public that a public hearing will be held on the proposed good area transit system community transportation program application to be submitted to the North Carolina department of transportation. No later than October 2nd, 2026, the public hearing will be held on September 14th at six o'clock PM to kind of board of commissioners. Um, those intended and, uh, attending the public hearing was just saying to, uh, to contact Kimberly. There's also Title VI documents in the back that if anyone is interested in speaking or say anything from that. And I'm probably getting out of order a little bit, but y'all bear with me. This is my first one in a while. The 5311 administrative funding is, well, we're applying for 256,751, $200,000. of operating 5310 money and a combined capital of $1,180,740 for a total funding request of $1,637,491 with a local match of $256,567. As far as the Title VI, just read this. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 64 requires the North Carolina Department of Transportation to gather statistical data regarding participants and beneficiaries of the agency's federal aid programs and activities. NCDOT collects information on race, color, national origin, and gender. of the attendees to this public meeting to ensure the inclusion of all segments of the population attended by this proposed product. If anyone would like a form, they're back in the back of the room to fill those out. As far as the grant, do you want me to combine this or do you want me to read it entirely?

Each one at a time. I think at this point we could open the public hearing for comments.

That sounds like a good idea.

Okay. All right. We will open up the public hearing. Do we have anyone signed up to speak, Madam Manager?

We have one person signed up to speak, Tricia Workow.

Okay.

if the attorney would read the statement. Thank you.

With this public hearing now open, Pitt County welcomes all comments on the authorization resolution for Pitt Area Transit for the 27-28 fiscal year Community Transportation Program application. Please state your name, address, and the name of any organization that you may be representing. Each speaker is allowed over three minutes to speak.

Good evening, friends. I'm Trisha, north of the river. You guys look so familiar. I feel like I've seen you all before. I am here because being north of the river, we have some issues with public transit quite a bit. I've actually coordinated with my town, with Greenville, to help get assistance for people up there that can't get transit. And so I just want to encourage you guys, please fund it. We need public transportation. We need you guys to take a good hard look at the entirety of Pitt County and make sure the entirety is getting what it needs. Because a lot of the time north of the river, it's not reliable. It's not consistent. It's not on time. And that's a struggle. We deserve better. We deserve on par with what Greenville is getting. Actually, I can't say outside of Deanville intelligently, but we deserve that, too. And back to I know we have woes, and I do have great ideas on how we could solve those, because as I've said before, I love to come to you guys with solutions. One of those solutions I'm going to propose I think you might have heard before tonight, and that is tax the rich. Tax them. Tax them, tax them, tax them. so we can get public transportation that is consistent and reliable because when we don't have it that is consistent and reliable it is destined to fail and it feels a lot like we're set up for failure when we are given a program and told to appreciate it but the program is subpar and yet we have to appreciate it and then it doesn't work and then we're told well we're not grateful enough for a program that just wasn't going to work and then the program is taken away because it was destined to fail to begin with and I I don't want that with the transit system we have here. I don't know what ECU is doing with their drivers. I don't know if we could maybe brainstorm with them about why they are managing to not have the shortage that other areas in the county I know are having. And maybe we could discuss that with them. So I guess at the end of the day, I just want to say public transportation is so important, you guys. It opens up opportunities for people. It creates job openings. It creates that economic growth that we think is so important. And it helps foster that sense of community that we are discussing, that we are saying we very, very much want. If people can't go out into the community, we can't grow together. And so I know that we are discussing this We are hopeful for funding and that you guys will do it. I'm just saying, please take care of the people here. Like you were voted to do. Thank you so much for your time. You guys have a wonderful evening. Thank you.

There is no one else signed up to skip Mr. Chairman, but as a condition of this grant, you are required to explicitly ask if there was anyone else wishing to comment on this grant.

Okay. Do we have anyone else that would like to speak in favor or against this grant? Okay. We'll close the public.

and that we authorize the managers to serve as the authorizers .

Anything else? You're getting ready to say something.

No, I just wanted to clarify the numbers in your packet are correct. It's a $256,751 grant with a $38,513 match. Okay.

We have a motion to hear a second. We've got a second. Please vote. Okay, great. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, sir. We'll move to items for report. Madam Manager, I'll turn that over to you.

Yes, first up we have John Farkas and Ken Brand to report to you on our Pitt County administration building design, seeking an authorization to issue a request for proposals for construction.

Good evening, Mr. Chair, commissioners, Madam Manager. We're going to present a small slide show for y'all tonight, show some pictures of what we've got a concept of the building looking like. John is going to go over pricing, answer any questions y'all have with the selection of pre-qualifications for contractors. Everything we've been through up to this point, he's going to cover. He should be able to answer any questions you have. At this time, I'll turn it over to John.

Mr. Chair, board members, Madam Manager, thank you very much for this opportunity to give you an update on the project status for the new Pitt County Administration Building. We are currently completing construction documents for the project. We are readying the documents for bidding. We've also gone through a process of pre-qualifying general contractors. The new design includes all the departments that we've mentioned before, from the accounting manager all the way down to economic development. The project includes a new two-story 82,440 gross square foot building, including 322 new parking spaces. It includes a new commissioner's auditorium. a new service lobby, a new server room for MIS, and a number of other spaces for all these departments. Currently, we are estimating the construction cost of the building, what we expect on bid day, around $39,917,000. When you factor in contingencies, we're looking around $41 million for construction. There's a lot of soft costs you see there, including advanced planning fees, geotechnical surveys, location surveys, construction testing, commissioning agents, and things like that, which will bring our total budget for the project to $47,693,000. Uh, compare that to where we were in advanced planning. We're a little bit under that number right now. So we're optimistic, uh, in the bid market right now is what I consider pretty good. I think it's a good time for us to be bidding this project. So right now we're running a little under budget, uh, our schedule, uh, right now we're, as I mentioned before, we're finishing up construction documents. We are ready to go to bid. Um, around the 10th of November with your permission with bids coming in around November 12th. If that stays on track, we've got 60 days in there to actually review the bids, award the bids, get your financing in place with the local government council. However, when the bids come in, those bids are good for 60 days. So we have to make sure we can coordinate with your local government council. Most likely their December 8th meeting. Um, and if that all goes into a good, we can have contracts ready and hopefully be able to issue a notice to proceed sometime around January 12th. That's about 540 days of construction time. That's about 18 months bringing us to July 4th, uh, 2028 as a completion date for the building. That's when we would accept it. And of course you would have some time to occupy the building and get it ready for conducting business. Uh, our building is located over at the government complex. Uh, to the left is the social services building to the right is the agricultural building. We're on the big grassy area right between the two. Uh, as I mentioned, it's a two story building, about 82,000 square feet. There's parking in the back and the front, our floor plans for the building. The first floor would include use that arrow here. Um, there's an entrance, a large entrance lobby where most of the citizens for Pitt County can come and actually get served. There'll be service windows all around for the register of deed as, as represented as all the departments will be there. Um, To the right, there's a meeting room that has four dividable spaces to it as well. It could be one big space or four big ones. There's an employee lounge back there, which can also act as an ante room for the large meeting room. But this is just for general meeting training and things like that within the building. Up on the second floor, there's another lobby that citizens can get up to, and there's a commissioner's auditorium there. That commissioner's auditorium will seat around 140 people plus you. And in all the spaces around it, our offices, conference, shared conference room, shared work rooms, we were able to get the departments to work together to share resources as opposed to departmentalizing and making more space that we really don't need. There's conference rooms, work rooms available, and a number of offices as well as open workstations. Now the fun stuff. So this is the view of the building that you would first see coming up near social services and see the front entrance of the building. Kind of moving around the left side of the building. Again, a lot of offices, a lot of windows. Moving around to the opposite corner closer to the ag building. That's the back of the building. That will be the main employee entrance back there. Uh, as we move around, there's a mechanical yard. There's also a fenced in employee area outside the employee break room area where employees can actually go outside and take a break. And then we move around to the opposite corner where you can see the, um, uh, this is like sort of where the gym is looking that way at the building. Uh, the building has a standing seam metal roof. There's metal panels, uh, composite metal wall panels and face brick. Um, a lot of this consistent with not only what's there, uh, at, at this particular site, but also with the sheriff's building that we recently did.

As we move around to the front of the building, um,

That would be the main lobby of the building that we'll walk up to. There's a glass two-story atrium there that people will be able to come to. That's where visitors will go into. And once they're inside, you can see the service counters straight ahead and they're off to the left as well. There'll actually be an information wall on the right side that will have a multi-array of monitors so that Uh, this could also act as an overflow space for commissioner meetings. So when the commissioner's room gets filled up, you can also, you can keep them down in the front lobby and they'll be able to watch the commissioner's meetings right there in the front lobby. There's also opportunities around the top part. You can see the TVs there. Um, those are for information. Those are for multimedia. This will be a pretty high tech adventure in the lobby. And as you see, we start to look up and there's going to be this really cool, uh, sculpture up near the ceiling, which is actually a, uh, articulation of the Pitt county boundaries and all the municipalities. within those boundaries, which will be just be points of light up in the ceiling. So it's going to be going to be pretty neat. Uh, this would be standing upstairs, uh, near the curtain wall, looking back at the commissioner with that, the spaces, um, behind all that wood is where the commissioner's auditorium will be. You can see on the left side, we have a spot there for commissioner pictures right there up on the lobby. So you guys will be featured on the wall right there. Move around to the other side, you can see down into the two-story lobby and you can start to see that sculpture up in the ceiling and how prominent that will be as part of that space. Looking back towards the front of the building, there's a glass wall there that brings in all that natural light. And then once we go into the commissioner's auditorium, you can see this will be a very contemporary-looking space. Each seats will be extra wide and have arms on them, and they'll be comfortable. I sat here for a while tonight, so I think those will be good. And you can see there, there's the raised dais up there for the commissioners, multiple seats all around the perimeter, and plus we actually have two spots available, two podiums, which will be done. One will be handicap accessible, and the other one will be normal height. Um, and again, that's just another view. And just to go back on that one, there's going to be, the space is going to be pretty dynamic acoustically. So we're actually thinking other than the fact that you do have to record stuff and amplify a little bit, the room is designed in such a way that actually normal speech can happen from anywhere in the room. without amplification. I know you need it for media and stuff like that. Uh, but we've also planned where the camera locations could be so that they won't be sort of hanging in front of us. We've also designed the lighting in such a way that it won't be in your face. And, and I think it'll be a really neat, uh, a neat space. Um, that's your view looking out at your audience, uh, at your constituents. Currently, we went ahead and sort of as our normal design process on a project this large, we went ahead and solicitated what we call pre-qualifications from qualified general contractors. This was an attempt to sort of weed out people that we really don't need to be building a product. You know, we don't need a small general contractor on this project. We need to, we need a general contractor that knows how to do a 38, $40 million building. So that means some of your smaller firms, some of your local firms may not be qualified to do this work. So we use the prequalification process to, to have the contractors go ahead and submit their qualifications to us. We review them, we score them in a matrix, that's really fair, and we had received 10, this is not a bid, this just means they can bid the project. So we received 10 packages from general contractors. When we finished our review, we pre-qualified or recommended pre-qualifying these nine contractors that you see here, including J.M. Thompson Company, Hudson Brothers, Daniels and Daniels, Clancy and Thays, T.A. Loving, Muter Construction, Monteith Construction Corp., and Thomas and Wilco Construction. So those are the nine that we're recommending. Those are the ones that we'll see on bid day actually. And at the pre bid conference, when they go ahead and pick up plans, um, that's just an excerpt from the scoring matrix. You see, we had, um, nine, nine construction firms pass, uh, with a passing grade 80 was the minimum score they needed to get. And they all got it except for one, uh, who was not pre-qualified. Can I answer any questions on this project so far? I've got a quick update on the PATS building for two right after this if you want to see that. Any questions so far?

you know you can go first go ahead commissioner manning i just want to make sure that this building that there are the curb cuts and the things that make it as accessible oh this building will be fully accessible okay handicap i mean i'll see that in some of the renderings but yeah the site plan is where kind of where that first your first communication happens with the building all that there's handicapped parking spaces all around and

And they're usually right up at the curb.

And the most exciting thing I saw in the drawings there were those chairs with the armrest on it. Because the older I get, that becomes really necessary. That's pretty important, isn't it? So when I come to visit y'all years from now, I'll be able to get up and leave when I want to. Thank you.

Absolutely. Commissioner.

Oh, thank you. I have two or three questions. The window panes for the outside. Are they one sided view? You know what you can't see in, but you can see out.

No, they're they're tinted tinted low glass, which means it'll be hard to see in, but it's not reflective. I mean, if I if someone was in the in the building at night and they turn their light on, you would know that they were in the building with their light on.

But they won't see them?

Well, there's window blinds that we have. We're using window shades, actually. Roller shades is what we're specifying, which is a rolled-down shade which blocks any sun from coming in, but it allows the person inside the building to actually be able to look out, and it affords a little bit of level semi-privacy in there.

could acoustics. I'm an acoustic kind of person and voices back out. And since this problem here, uh, what about the acoustics in the auditorium for the commissioners?

I mentioned that before the floor plan, if you looked at it a little more detailed, there's, it's not a square room. It's actually a, the walls are actually kind of, uh, on angles and things. That helps with the acoustics and the sound. The ceiling is also undulating so that it's going to break up the sound as well so you won't get the echo and the acoustics and the feedback and things that you typically get in a space. So what I was mentioning before is the space by itself. Theoretically, you wouldn't need microphones for amplification. I could talk to you from the back of the room with a normal voice and you could hear me. You need the amplification, obviously, for broadcasts and recording everything. But the general sense of what we're designing means that it should be pretty acoustically viable as we're designing the building.

We have technology in here, and our technology staff is hidden in the back. And they don't view us. They view what the cameras show them. A technology person looking at their audience that they are taping. it would be good if they is, are they seeing us in the natural or in through the wall?

We have a control room in the back that's bigger than the one that's here in this building. Um, there's, there's actually designed two niches on either side that technically someone from, um, from their group could actually be out in the floor and you wouldn't know they were there because they're behind a wall, but they can look around and actually see live what might be going on if there's a problem or something like that. They could actually come out and do that. So there's a space for them there. If they did that right now, they'd be standing right there, and we'd all see them. But this will actually be around the corner. We've reviewed that with public information as well to show them that, show them all the camera locations, vantages, the lighting, and how we were going to set everything up. And they have some constructive criticism and comments about the podium and things like that that we were able to incorporate.

There has been a time when we have been concerned about safety for us and the security element. There should be something that we won't have to worry about. Is that an automatic thing that you have considered?

Well, there's a, in the new layout, there'll be a panel right there that you'll go in and you could sequester back in a kitchenette and conference room area, uh, and, and lock yourselves in and basically a lockdown area. If you want to call it that until, you know, help can come and get you out, but you should be safe and secure.

That's a concern. Thank you very much. And my last question has to do with closed sessions.

With what?

CLOSE, C-L-O-S-E, sessions.

OK.

when we asked the general public to give us privacy for a contract or some kind of discussion. I didn't see anything in this presentation that say that there was space or there was closed session. I'm not concerned about them seeing us. I'm concerned about them hearing us.

Well, there is actually in the new layout, there's a if you can close your sessions and you can go back in the room and there's a kitchenette, as I mentioned before, a large kitchenette. And then there's also a commissioner's conference room that is just for the commissioners. No one else has access to that room at all. It is yours. And so you can go back there and close session. Uh, you can go in the kitchenette and sit around the kitchenette if you want to, uh, and actually have your discussion. So, uh, there's two spaces back there for you to meet that are nobody else has actually, uh, public information doesn't have access to it is completely your space. And again, I'd be glad to show it to you on the floor plans at, you know, at another time.

My last question. Yes, I'm almost sure that's my last question. And you just made me lose it. I didn't mean to do that. The thing of it is, it has to do with opportunity to looking at the furniture. your pricing does include, because I was concerned when we had the building of the sheriff's office, uh, there was no furniture because when we open it, we're going to need all of that. Is that built in at some possibility because these prices now that you can't trust them anyway, but, uh, we have a, this is the, the estimate, um,

It's a thought. And down at the bottom, there's a $3.2 million line item for furniture and equipment.

Okay, thank you. I think I hit everything that I could think of. Thank you so very much for your presentation. And I appreciate the acoustics for this building and look forward to getting in it.

Thank you, commissioner, commissioner Weaver.

Um, commissioner Huggins was before.

I'm sorry, commissioner Huggins. I just want to say, um, uh, it's a beautiful building design. I like it. I'm especially impressed with just sculpture up in top.

You're going to love it. We're going to wow you.

That's all I want to say.

Good evening, sir. My question is, is of the pre-approved construction companies, how many are from Pitt County?

Hudson Brothers was from Pitt County. Wimco is from Beaufort County. Daniels, T.A. Loving are from Goldsboro. Monteith is from Wilmington and Raleigh. They actually have multiple offices. Thomas is from Raleigh. Lancy and Thays is Wilmington and Raleigh. They have multiple offices. And J.M. Thompson is from Raleigh.

So one. One. Thank you.

Okay. Any other questions?

Is there a possibility for another one that did not hear about it, won't be getting it? Is that a possibility?

Not at this time. We advertise for this publicly. We put it in the News and Observer. We put it on your portal website. We advertise, and these are 10 responses, which is actually a pretty good response from contractors.

May I say a joke? Mm-hmm. Are there any women on contractors here?

Just historically, from what I know of these, it was a question we didn't ask because according to the new legislation, we weren't able to ask that part. I don't think that... To my knowledge, I'm not aware of any of them being women-owned.

Any other questions other than from Commissioner Perkins-Williams? She's out of questions. Any others? Let's go ahead. I know you've got the update on the PATs. Let's go ahead and vote on this so that we have authorization to move forward with the RFP. So I have a motion to approve that. And we've got a motion and a second to approve sending out of the RFPs. Please vote. Okay, great. Thank you so much. Now we'll move on to the update on the PATS building.

Okay.

Duly noted. Construction for the Pitt Area Transit was a renovation project initiated under construction. The notice to proceed was June 8th of this year. The work to date is approximately 60% through construction and is currently being completed on schedule for completion by December 9th. That is their contractual date to finish the project. Berry Building Group is the general contractor. That's just, uh, that's actually a pretty recent photograph, um, last week of, of where they were. They're in the process of finishing drywall and getting ready to paint and getting ready to put flooring and ceiling grids in. So they're, they're moving along nicely. Uh, this is a floor plan of the building that we were, that we, the design that we came up with, with new offices around a perimeter and open area for workstations. break room, locker room, or driver lockers, and new restrooms, new gang restrooms, which actually are designed in such a way they serve the entire building, not just the PAT area. So the PAT people would actually go out the door, down the hallway, and use the restrooms, but they're literally right there. But it's also added capacity for the rest of the building as well. Our current project summary in terms of cost, our original construction was $1,035,000. We've had $49,230 in changes at this point, and that was basically for a new grinder pump system that we had to put in because of the lack of information we had on the waste lines for the building. We had to actually put a pump in to pump it through the building to get it where it needed to go. The fees are where they were and we had budgeted in our original budget about one hundred and sixty two thousand four furnishings. And we actually got a hard quote on that about eighty eight thousand. So that's about eighty thousand in our favor again. So I remember these bids came in well under budget last time. So we the project itself financially is doing very well. The total funds authorized are one million four eighty four. We have a little contingency left. Plus, actually, that didn't even include the $80,000 for the furnishings that we were under. So we're not anticipating any other change orders at this time. That's it. Questions? It's going along quite well. Great.

Thank you so much. Appreciate you coming out.

Thank you all very much for the opportunity. Thank you.

Okay, next up is Kevin with NC Consultant for DOT for that report.

Hey, Herb Mullin with the North Carolina Department of Transportation has been helping – When I first got here, I realized I needed some help, and we needed some help with the county. So I put a call into the state, and they sent Herb here, and he's been a godsend to help get us back in compliance and get things on the right track to where we need to be. So he's here tonight just to give a brief statement of maybe where we were, where we are, and hopefully where we're going.

Thank you.

I'll keep this brief as possible, but I could stand up here and talk for two hours of the progress that's been made since I've been working with Kevin. Out of the five or six systems I'm working with right now, Kevin gets valedictorian so far as enthusiasm and the willingness to take on new projects. Sometimes he has too much willingness to take on new projects. But anyway, I want to talk a little bit about the accomplishments that I've seen since I've been here. since I've been working with Kevin. I work for DOT, but I'm a private consultant that DOT sends me out to basically help new directors in transition to get them where they need to be. So when I started, Kevin was running 19 vehicles to provide the trips that he was providing. In Pitt County, I got him to call CTS and now he's using the technology that the software allows him to use. He had gotten it down to 12 vehicles from 19 to 12 to do the same number of trips. I mean, that's huge in public transportation. The next thing he's done, NCDOT came out with a concept grant. They were allowing up to $400,000 with no match. Kevin called me and said that he wanted to apply for it, and I was like, well, okay, you're brand new. You sure you want to apply for it? Yup, I want to apply for it. So I assisted Kevin and Wood to apply for it with the city of Greenville. It's going to be a good deal for Pitt County. Kevin's going to be able to take $200,000 out of that $400,000, buy two additional vehicles, and the city of Greenville will get the other $200,000 to pay Pitt County Transit to do some of their paratransit. So the county of Greenville wins both times on that grant. The next thing, and it's gonna help with the financial stability, the next thing that is going on that is huge in the state of North Carolina right now, is huge in the country. Kevin went to CTAA, which was a national conference, and he came home and he called me up and he said, hey, Uber's got this grant. I think I want to apply for this. And I'm like, are you sure you want to apply for this with everything else that's going on? Yup, I want to do it. Kevin applied for that grant, and he's got it. It's a $50,000 grant with a $5,000 match, and he's going to use the grant to supply transportation trips using Uber in the areas of Winterville and Aiden. This is going to be huge. This will be the first in the state that's been using microtransit to be able to do this. So kudos to Kevin. I know there's another system they're looking at doing it also in Durham, but not to the same capacity that Kevin's looking at doing it. But, you know, when he got awarded the grant, I immediately contacted Kevin. Everybody at NCDOT and the NCDOT has assigned some of their staff just to kind of look and see what's going on. NC State's looking to see how it's going to work out. So kudos to, I heard earlier that Pitt wasn't doing enough. They haven't seen the pit county transit that it's turning into because there's a lot going on here that isn't going on in other places. He's applying for a 5310 operating grant for next fiscal year. That's a $200,000 grant. He'll be able to take some of the state money that he already gets and apply it for the 50% match. So it'll give you $100,000 more to transport elderly and disabled transportation clients around. And his leadership, you can tell he worked in the private industry before because he wants to make changes really fast. But government and state regulations and federal regulations don't let you make those changes extremely quickly. But he's slowing down and he's learning how to adapt with the changes. Again, he's the most progressive transit director that I've worked with so far, so far as a new transit director. Do you all have any questions for me?

Any questions?

Send all the money you can.

Well, he definitely likes to get the money in. Thank you so much.

We appreciate your report.

Thank you.

Okay, Michael Hardy, financial reports.

Evening to the board. Tonight you have the financial report for August. It is 16.67%. Looking at the general fund, you can see the revenues are right at 35%, which is comparative to last year, which was at 34.5%. You see expenditures are 17%, with prior year being at 15.5%. Solid waste fund, you can see tracking right at 45%, comparably to 45% of last year. Looking at the expenditure side, it's 15.5%. looking at including 550,000 of capital items. And then the EMS fund, you can see 4.501 million compared to 4.118 of last year for EMS fund. 21.2% compared to last year primarily was the million dollars of ambulances that we have currently outstanding. So if you back that off, that puts you at that 21.2% for EMS fund to 14.3%. Are there any questions?

Any questions for Michael? Okay, we have a motion to approve the financial reports. Got a motion and a second. Please vote. Okay, thank you, sir. I'll invite Russell up for his report.

Good evening, Commissioners, Manager Gallagher. The fiscal year combined tax collection rate through August 31st for real and personal property was 59.17%. The combined rate one year ago for real and personal property was 60.50%. Pitt County Tax Administration continues to pursue all outstanding taxes using the necessary remedies available through the North Carolina Journal of Statutes. If there are any questions, I'm happy to answer them. If not, it's my recommendation to approve the tax collection report as presented.

Any questions for Russell? Okay. I have a motion to approve. Got a motion and a second. Please vote. Thank you. And then we had the legislative report, Matt.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Nothing currently on the legislative report. The General Assembly is kind of quiet at this point. But I did want to mention NCACC is requesting submission of federal goals. As you're aware, I presented to this board about state goals for the biennium for 27-28. They are requesting if the county would like to submit any federal goals. The deadline is October 2nd. In the past, there has been some years where we have submitted a federal goal. The most recent would have been broadband, which would have been two years ago. And we've also, I believe, submitted one for COVID relief back in 2020 and 2021. NCACC's federal ledge goals for 25-26 included some funding for behavioral health programs, opposing unfunded mandates for federal programs that cost shift to counties. Broadband has always been a big one. FEMA restructuring has been some of the goals that have been submitted before, and the flexibility and extension for ARPA funding was one from 25-26. So I wanted to present this to the board and see if there was any suggestions or if any commissioners had a federal goal that they would like to submit.

Anything from commissioners?

Yes, sir. Mr. Chairman, um, I would like to resubmit I know NACO did not adopt it, or look at it, but the breast cancer awareness to lower the age for that it was submitted last year. I love to resubmit that.

Any others? Are you planning to submit the ones you mentioned? They've already been submitted.

The state goals have been submitted back in August.

I mean the federal, for the federal, the ones that you just.

Oh, no, those were the ones that I listed was the fed legislative goals that NCAC adopted from the 2526. So I have not. presented any, I was coming to the board to see what they would like. I will mention one suggestion could be to fully fund federal mandated social service programs. I know we're kind of dealing with SNAP and Medicaid and administrative costs with those. So that could be a suggestion for the board if they would like that.

I'd like to make that one.

That would be the only one that has been relevant for the county recently. I'm sorry, Commissioner Legrand, in the breast cancer awareness.

And then, Mr. Chairman, we also submitted a letter to our delegation in addition to fully funding asking them to delay the changes to the SNAP benefits.

Yes.

So perhaps if you wanted to do one motion for those three goals, that would round out a nice federal legislative agenda.

Yes. Somebody want to put that into a motion, all three?

I move that we submit those three for federal.

Okay. We have a second? Second. All right. Let's vote on that, please. Okay. Matt, is that everything you need? That is. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Okay. Thank you, sir. All right, Madam Manager, I think all the rest of the reports are yours.

Yes, I have quite a few this evening, and I'll go through them fairly quickly. Your next meeting dates October 5th and 19th at 6 p.m. in this room. Secondly, I wanted to let you know that Public Health is hosting a family health block party this Saturday morning, September 19th, from 10 to 2 at the Pitt County Office Park in conjunction with distribution of free pharmacy meds for those who ordered them. They've done this in the past, and it is usually a very successful event. Then on the next day, Sunday, September 20th, Invest Greenville is sponsoring the Encore event at Wildwood Park from 3 to 6. Encore stands for engaging newcomers through community outreach, relationships, and experience. And we'd encourage you to stop by the table that we will have at that event between 3 and 6 this Sunday at Wildwood Park. You've already heard today about the Better Skills Job Fair at the Greenville Convention Center. That'll be on October 1, and you will all receive an invitation to attend breakfast, and then the fair will continue for the remainder of the day. And then continuing in that theme, we have the Existing Industries Reception on October 6 from 5.30 to 7 at the Hilton to celebrate our existing industries within the county. Looking a little bit further ahead on your calendars, November 19th and 20th in Raleigh is the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners Legislative Goals Conference. If you would like to attend that, please let the clerk know this week so that she can get you registered and reserve one night of hotel. I have two updates just for the benefit of the board and those who may be listening. The board asked us to bring back a report from our engineers on Lake Glenwood. Sarab Nomula with LJB Engineers was not available this evening, but he will be here on October 5th to talk to the board about various options and the design on Lake Glenwood. so some of you might have been expecting that this evening it will come back on october 5th and similarly you might have been expecting this evening a report on data centers and due to the absence of commissioner mclawhorn who requested that it be on the agenda this evening and the absence of commissioner nunnally who asked for further elements of that presentation we have postponed that discussion until october 5th as well So just wanted to provide those updates. Also, we have Kimberly Mitchell in the audience this evening, our Animal Services Director. For those who are ready and willing to adopt a dog or cat from the Pitt County Animal Services shelter, we are full and we're offering half-price adoptions for this entire month to encourage our community to adopt their new forever furry friend. So please check out the shelter and the half-price adoptions that she's offering this month. Also wanted to take a minute to recognize the commissioners that I'm aware of who have recently been appointed to various boards and commissions in addition to their services county commissioner. Melvin McLawhorn is not with us this evening, but recognize that he has been appointed to the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners Board of Directors into an at-large seat for the 26-27 year. That's a big deal. And Commissioner Ann Floyd-Huggins has a bit of a list that I'll share. She has been appointed by NACO, the National Association of Counties, to serve on the Rural Action Caucus, the Healthy Counties Innovation Council, and the Presidential Initiative Committee. She's also been appointed by Governor Stein. to serve on the North Carolina Code Officials Qualifications Board, and she's been appointed by the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners to serve on the Health and Human Services Steering Committee and the Legislative Goals Committee. So we wish our fellow commissioners luck in those roles. I'd also like to take a brief minute to introduce our newest Assistant County Manager, Carrie Sanders, if Carrie would stand up. Thank you. Carrie comes to us having served most recently in Onslow County as Assistant Manager and Consolidated Human Services Director. She has previous experience as a DSS Director and for working for the Department of Health and Human Services. So please join me in a warm welcome for Carrie. Next, I want to bring to the board's attention NACOs, the National Association of Counties Presidential Initiative from NACO President George Dunlap from Mecklenburg County, and his initiative is Building Better Futures. President Dunlap has asked all counties to pass a resolution supporting efforts to create a better future for our youth. Um, and, uh, commissioner Floyd Huggins is on the president's initiative committee as well. And so if this is something you're interested in hearing more about at a future meeting, if the board will let me know, I can bring that back for further discussion. Is that something the board would like to consider? Sure. Okay. I will bring that back to you then at a future meeting. And then lastly, I have one item that's not on your list with the Chairman's approval that I would like to add. Pitt County Schools reached out to Michael Hardy and I last week and we met, and they are going to apply for a Department of Public Instruction needs-based capital grant. that would support the cost of construction for a new high school with the potential to receive up to $74 million toward that high school. Dr. Lassiter, Michael Hardy, Erin Erickson, and I met last week. The grant is due October 2nd, which is before your next meeting. Otherwise, they would have come and made a formal ask for that. I told them that I would mention it this evening. It would require a 15% match. If the board is in agreement for the schools to apply, if you would consider a motion allowing me or the chairman to sign the paperwork necessary for submission of that grant.

I have a question.

Yes.

Will the match put us in a curious situation?

will put us in a less precarious situation than funding the cost of the school. It will put us in a situation to pay $74 million less than we would otherwise. I just want to make sure, because I have a motion that we do so.

I'll allow it. OK, we have a motion. I hear a second. I'll second. Let's vote on that. I think that's a no-brainer.

And that's all that I have, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you, Madam Manager. We'll move on to items for consent. Do I hear a motion to approve those? We did remove 16. We have a motion. I hear a second. Second. All right. Let's vote on that, please. Thank you so much. Madam Manager, I'll turn items for decision over to you.

Yes, the first item, if Kevin Wallace would come forward to briefly ask you to receive the Uber grant pilot program for $55,000 with a $5,000 match. Yes. Well, that was here. And if I may, if I may assist, um, director Wallace has applied for an Uber grant that will provide, um, shared transportation in Winterville and Aiden. Um, and the system would allow for funds to be received by the county with a $5,000 match in order to partner. so that folks may ride through Uber but be compensated through the grant funds. Have I missed anything?

Correct. Yeah. Microtransit has been a catchphrase in the past in transportation, but it's very expensive to get into. We have a lot, basically when I came, Pitt Area Transit was doing on-demand, which that's not what the system was designed for. So it's doing what it's designed for now, but there's still a big demand for on-demand for people. Some people just don't like the riding buses. Some people can't. Basically, this is a pretty much no-cost situation for the county to try on demand to see how successful it is in these two areas. The reason these two were chosen because the demographics were good, the statistics were good there with Uber riders, so it'll be a bigger area to draw statistics from to see how well it goes over. And we may look at even bringing grifting into that if we don't get enough response. So, you know, this is, again, this is a pilot project. It can be changed. It can be done differently during this private pilot time. But, um, I think it's something that's probably going to go over pretty well. It's just going to be a matter of how the state looks at it, and they're going to be looking, I guess, at a lot of the results that we get here. Any questions?

Any questions?

No motion to approve.

All right, we've got a motion. You're a second. Could you second it? All right, let's vote on that. Okay, thank you, Kevin.

Yes, sir. Thank you.

Next up we have Ken brand. If he'll come forward to seek permission to issue a request for qualifications for design build on the new animal services spay neuter clinic.

Good evening again, mr chairman, commissioners, madam manager. Tonight I'm bringing before you the design build request for qualifications for the new pit county animal services spay and neuter clinic. The Board of Commissioners approved funding in the fiscal year 26-27 CIP for a new Pitt County Animal Services spay and neuter clinic. Staff is seeking approval of the required design build criteria under the North Carolina General Statute 143-1281A. Once approved, the county plans to solicit proposals from qualified design, build contractors for the planning, design, permitting and construction of a new 1600 square foot clinic at 4550 County Home Road in front of the current animal services building. The project has a budget of $550,000 and is intended to improve spay and neuter services for the community.

Anybody any questions?

All right. It's a pleasure to work.

Motion to approve.

We got a motion. We got a second. I think I heard a second. Let's vote. Thank you. Thank you, Ken.

Next one we have is Carrie Sanders will come up and request three motions from you regarding the Consolidated Human Services Agency Board.

Good evening, Chairman, Commissioners, and Madam Manager. The items before you this evening relate to the establishment and implementation of the Pitt County Consolidated Human Services Agency. So just a quick overview. On May 18, the board adopted a resolution establishing the Pitt County Consolidated Human Services Agency. And then on August 11, the nominating committee, which consisted of members of the social services and public health boards, reviewed applications and made recommendations for the CHS board appointments. And then this evening, we are asking for the commissioners to appoint the CHS board members and adopt a resolution to continue the existing Board of Health rules. If all that goes well, on October 1, our consolidated human services agency will be established and board appointments will be effective. We are planning our initial CHS board meeting on October 13th, where, um, we'll have several items of business, but one is to request from that board advice and consent for a CHS director to reaffirm, reaffirm the board of health rules and also vote on the vote on the bylaws and operating procedures. As you'll recall, the adopted CHSA establishment resolution stipulated to the creation of a 15-member CHS board with attributes required by North Carolina general statute. Those attributes are listed on the slide as shown. Pitt County was very fortunate. We received several applications for the CHS board. However, we will continue to advertise for three seats that we were not able to fill. Those are seat one, the psychologist, seat three, the engineer, and seat four, the dentist. And then we are recommending that seats 7, 12, and 13 start with two-year terms so we can have staggered appointments for the CHS board. The resolution you have before you this evening can be found on page 212 of your agenda packet. It is recommended by the School of Government during this transition period to a CHS board, and it does authorize a continuation of the existing Board of Health rules. So the requested action this evening is to consider the appointments to the CHS board to be effective October 1, 2026, and to consider adoption of the resolution to authorize continuation of existing board of health rules during this transition. And I'll be more than happy to answer any questions that you may have at this time.

Any commissioner questions? Okay, what's the pleasure of the board?

And the actual recommendations of the nominating committee are found on pages 180 and 181 of your packet for reference. In each one, you'll see the seat number. the attribute, the eligible applications and the recommended nominee and commissioner and Floyd Huggins on the public health board. I'll just note also served on that nominating committee. If there were any questions about any of that process, I think the simplest way, um, would be to nominate the slate of, um, those recommended by the nominating committee. And then since the time of that, um, nominating committee, We did receive one application from a psychiatrist, Dr. Michael Lang, and I would ask that you appoint him as well.

Okay. All right, somebody put that into a motion.

Do you make the motion for the appointments and the resolution at the same time?

Yes, I'd love you to make all three at once, except something like a motion to appoint the nominees of the nominating committee, in addition, Michael Lang and the resolutions.

Exactly what she said. I couldn't have said it any better. And I second it.

We have a motion and we have a second.

Let's vote.

Okay, great. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Okay, Madam Manager, I think you have the last two.

Okay, here we are. Next, you have on page 214 of your materials a reappointment and an appointment to the Board of Equalization and Review. The staff is recommending the reappointment of Ann Heath, who serves on that board, and the appointment of LaChancie Staton to Board of Equalization and Review. Both would have a three-year term expiring September 2029.

Move to approve. Okay, we've got a motion and a second to approve. Please vote. Thank you.

And then on page 218, you'll see that the Bethel Planning and Zoning Board has been reinstituted. It was not functioning for quite some time. In order to reinstitute it, they need two members from the ETJ, and Bethel is requesting the nomination of Kevin Adams and Otis Cox for appointment to the Bethel Planning and Zoning Board.

Got a motion and I hear a second. Let's vote on that, please. Okay, thank you so much. Is that everything, Madam Manager?

Yes, just your Commissioner's comments and then a short closed session. I'll start from my left. Commissioner Manning.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have just two things I wanted to mention. Regarding the debate about flock cameras, I personally support the use of flock cameras, and I just want to pose a question so that people can consider. If your car was just stolen and your child was strapped in the backseat of that car, wouldn't you want law enforcement to have every possible tool available to find your car and rescue your child? I want to pose that question for thought.

And I'll answer it absolutely.

Right. That's the way I feel. And the only other thing I wanted to mention quickly is I'm concerned about the constitutional amendment that's on the ballot in November. And I appreciate the manager's comments that were published in the newspaper. I have one basic concern that the General Assembly's pointing fingers at all 100 county commissions. but yet a state department DMV sets the value on our vehicles. And those I have, I have more complaints from citizens about their vet, their vehicle valuations being too high and they're paying too much taxes on that. Then I have heard it the whole time about home base case in point. I have a, Constituent that lives in Farmville. He bought a truck, same model, same year, just about the same time I did. Main difference is his is white and mine's gray. In 2024, I was still running for this seat. He complained to me. I was a candidate. And he complained to me about the fact that his valuation was too high. He went to the tax office and they evaluated it and brought his value down and he was happy. About a month ago, he called me and said, you know what? They went back up on my value, the Department of DMV. He said, I'm going back down to the tax office. He went down, talked to the property appraisers. They readjusted it. He got a reduction in his taxes. But just to compare, we bought trucks same time, same year. His truck is now valued at $26,000. My truck, I hadn't been to the tax office, is valued at $39,500. That's what, $13,500? I'd head on over there tomorrow. Well, the point is, the point is, the state is pointing fingers at county boards. And we're required to balance the budget every year. They couldn't even balance a two-year budget. And they're pointing fingers at us. And their State Department of DMV is setting the valuations on vehicles. that uh i think they need to be looking at their self that's all i want to miss say about that constitution you and i have agreed on a lot tonight and that's kind of rare but i appreciate it it is thank you mr chairman yes sir thank you commissioner i mean commissioner floyd huggins well uh thank you uh mr chairman i too um i brought the newspaper okay i i'm probably

the only subscriber in this room to the printed paper of the terror reflector. Uh, but, um, I also want to call your attention to, um, to, um, two articles. And as we already talked about the, the big, beautiful bill and, and high impact, you know, snap. So, uh, I want to read just the food insecurity. deepening across the region, North Carolina. The rate of food insecurity across the region now exceeds pandemic levels and is expected to worsen as more federal changes in the assistance program take effect. And this is said by the Food Bank of Central Eastern North Carolina. So, I just want to, our delegation needs to hear this. This is very important. Okay. My second newspaper article that I want to call your attention to is the article that Commissioner Manning just spoke about. The tax reference raised questions on how county managed money. And our own Janice Gallagher, our manager, went toe to toe with Brian. What is his last name? Ben for something like that with the John Locke Foundation. Talking about how we manage the money that we get. She is now serving. on a 16-member committee, along with four county commissioners, four financial officers, and four tax administrators from across the state to come up with a presentation to present to the legislators when this amendment that will be on the ballot when it's passed, because they will have to pass the law. So she is on that committee. So I hope that, I'm sure she will probably bring us some information. She might want to speak to it. But I want to say the last statement that he made in this paper, He said that the local voters should decide who makes those spending. The county manager said this. Local voters should decide who makes those spending decisions. Local voters have decided local elected officials are not being responsive. This is what he said. Local officials are not being responsive. So the voters are frustrated. Boiled over, and they're now appealing to the legislators enrolled at the General Assembly because the local elected officials are not being responsive. And again, you said they did not pass the budget. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Commissioner Weaver.

Well, I won't say anything, but thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to say I drive a 1998 Z71, and I do appreciate it because mine's not that high. So I can't afford a new vehicle. Thank you.

Yes, sir. Commissioner?

I pass on that. I would like to thank all of you for coming in to see representatives from the local government. Be blessed. Stay vigilant.

Thank you. Commissioner?

No comment.

None? All right. We'll hear a motion to go into closed session. If I may read the basis briefly. I'm sorry, Mr. Chair.

It's been suggested that this body go into closed session on the following grounds. One, to discuss matters relating to the location or expansion of industries under North Carolina General Statute 143.318.11, a four, and two, to prevent the disclosure of information that is not considered a public record under North Carolina General Statute 143.318.10.

Have a motion and a second? Did I hear a motion and a second? I did now. Let's vote on it.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

We're ready.

OK, welcome back. I'll entertain a motion to approve the minutes.

Okay. Thank you. Do I hear a second? Okay. Got a motion and a second. Please vote. And then I'll entertain a motion to adjourn.

I make that motion too. Okay.

We've got a motion to adjourn and a second. Please vote. Thank you very much. Y'all have a good evening.