The Alleghany County Board of Commissioners met=
in
regular session on Monday, May 18, 2009, at 3:30pm in the Board Meeting Roo=
m of
the County Administration Building, 348 South Main Street, Sparta, North
Carolina.
Present:
Chair Ken Richardson, Vice-Chair Randy Miller, Commissioner Doug Mur=
phy,
Commissioner Milly Richardson, Commissioner Steve Roten, County Attorney Do=
nna
Shumate, County Manager Don Adams and Clerk to the Board Karen Evans.
Chair Ken Richardson called the meeting to orde=
r.
Commissioner Milly Richardson led the Pledge of
Allegiance and opened the meeting with a prayer.
Chair Ken Richardson stated that the Planning B=
oard
appointment needs to be added to the agenda and WCC Board Appointment needs=
to be
rescheduled for the first meeting in June.
Commissioner Milly Richardson made a motion to
approve the amended agenda for this May 18, 2009, meeting. Commissioner Doug
Murphy seconded the motion. V=
ote 5:0.
AGENDA
Monday, May 18, 2009
3:30 PM
3:30 =
Meeting
Called To Order, Pledge of Allegiance and Prayer
=
M=
otion
on Agenda for May 18, 2009, meeting
Motion
on Minutes for May 4, 2009, meeting
Motion
on April Tax Releases & Refunds
3:35 A. =
Public
Comments—30 minutes
B. &n=
bsp;
Amy Lya=
ll
RE: School Age Kids Summer Daycare
C. &n=
bsp;
Brandon
McCann
RE:
Cascade Highlands
D. &n=
bsp;
Gerald
Leftwich
RE:
Emergency Management Update
E. &n=
bsp;
Electio=
ns
Annual Report
F. &n=
bsp;
Soil and
Water Annual Report
G. &n=
bsp;
CJPP An=
nual
Report
H. &n=
bsp;
County
Business
1. &n=
bsp;
Insurance
Agreements
2. &n=
bsp;
JCPC 2009/=
10
Program
3. &n=
bsp;
WCC Board
Appointment &n=
bsp; =
; (deleted)
4. &n=
bsp;
Region D
Development Corporation Board Appointments
5. &n=
bsp;
Surplus=
212;Ambulances
6. &n=
bsp;
DSS Budget
Amendment
7. &n=
bsp;
Planning B=
oard
Appointment &n=
bsp; (added)
8. &n=
bsp;
Other Busi=
ness
9. &n=
bsp;
Closed
Session—NCGS 143-318.11 (a) (6)—personnel
10. Adjourn
Commissioner
Doug Murphy made a motion to approve the minutes for the May 4, 2009, meeti=
ng. Commissioner Milly Richardson secon=
ded
the motion. Vote 5:0.
Commissioner
Doug Murphy made a motion to approve the real and auto releases for April.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Commissioner Milly Richardson seco=
nded
the motion. Vote 5:0.
Commissioner
Milly Richardson made a motion to approve the real and auto refunds for Apr=
il. Commissioner Doug Murphy seconded =
the
motion. Vote 5:0.
Chair
Ken Richardson opened the public comments’ portion of the meeting.
Amy
Lyall came before the Board to talk about school-age kids’ summer
daycare. She talked about the
number of children/families this affects in her center. She further talked about people wi=
ll
have to quit their jobs because they can’t pay for daycare. She asked if the Board can provide=
any
help.
County
Manager Don Adams explained that he recently had a budget meeting with John
Blevins. He further explained=
that
this meeting was regarding the social services budget. He talked about daycare funding be=
ing
cut. He further talked about =
this program
as a whole will receive a significant cut from the State.
Chair
Ken Richardson talked about the money provided last year. He explained that it will be very
difficult to find the additional funds because of the budget situation. He said that this has been passed =
to the
County Manager then will be sent to the Social Services Director for more
discussions.
Brandon
McCann, Regional Tourism Director with the Cascade Highlands, came before t=
he
Board to introduce the Cascade Highlands formally. He named the counties/cities that =
the
group is comprised of. He gav=
e the
Board an overview of Cascade Highlands and how they are working in the coun=
ties
in both states. He explained =
that
they are trying to get an understanding of the businesses’ needs. He said that the board meets again=
in
June to put together a strategic plan regarding these needs.
County
Manager Don Adams explained the initiative that started this group. He talked about the purpose of cre=
ating
this regional tourism group. =
He
explained that this links counties together with like interest and the comm=
on transportation
routes in these areas.
Commissioner
Doug Murphy and County Manager Don Adams discussed the counties in the Casc=
ade
Highlands and how they have items in common with Alleghany County.
Bob
Bamberg talked about the amount of traffic that comes into the Chamber offi=
ce
and which direction they travel to Alleghany County.
Commissioner
Milly Richardson and Brandon McCann discussed how the name Cascades was
chosen. He said that he will =
be
back before the Commissioners with updates soon.
Gerald
Leftwich presented a slide show regarding the recent tornados. He presented a timeline of the tor=
nados
and activities that occurred including departments that responded.
Commissioner
Doug Murphy stated his appreciation to everyone for their hard work.
Commissioner
Milly Richardson stated that she agrees about the volunteer emergency perso=
nnel
that responded; they did an excellent job and made a bad situation as beara=
ble
as possible.
County
Manager Don Adams talked about emails from the trauma center about how well=
EMS
dealt with the injuries that did occur.&nb=
sp;
He further talked about these people are still rebuilding their live=
s. He said they are working with their
insurance companies. He said =
that
one issue that we are dealing with is he has been approached by property ow=
ners
that are uninsured or underinsured regarding rebuilding what they have lost,
had discussions with them about how the solid waste fees will be collected =
and
talked about collecting the materials in an organized manner. He further said that we will have =
some
that doesn’t have the insurance to build back. He explained that he views this li=
ke an
earlier instance where a house fire occurred and relief was provided on the
solid waste fees. He asked is=
this
something the Board would like to provide relief for. He explained that his recommendati=
on is
to do it on a case-by-case basis.
He talked about the need to track the debris in order to have the to=
tal
amount to have to approach the State. He asked in regards to the uninsure=
d and
underinsured, what are the Board’s thoughts on this for relief.
Commissioner
Milly Richardson and Commissioner Doug Murphy stated that they think the Co=
unty
needs to provide all the relief that we can.
Gerald
Leftwich talked about they are still complying the amount of man hours and
amount spent during this event in the chance that the State can provide
assistance.
Kate
Cosner, Elections Director, came before the Board to present the
Elections’ annual report. She
presented information including the number of registered voters, number of =
new
voters, voter registration changes, voter turnout for each election, traini=
ngs
attended by board members and staff, very few problems with the actual elec=
tions,
overview of the elections, Kids Vote program, candidate forum hosted by the
Kids Vote committee, preparing to host a forum for the municipal election,
activities associated with the Kids Vote committee, certification exam, poll
worker appreciation dinner, moving the Cherry Lane polling place to the Che=
rry
Lane fire department and participation in the district. Linda
Hash, District Administrator/Conservationist, presented the Soil and Water
office’s annual report. She
talked about their mission statement, administration, program activities
including the educational programs and technical programs, area 2 programs,
farmland preservation program, dry hydrant project, environmental enhanceme=
nts
grants program and the no-till “truax” drill project. She presented their activities
summary. She talked about the=
free
tree project. Commissioner
Milly Richardson stated that she knows that the farming community is aware =
of
what the Soil and Water department does and the non-farming community shoul=
d be
aware of the activities of the office. Commissioner
Doug Murphy talked about the best management practices helps everyone. Commissioner
Milly Richardson, Commissioner Doug Murphy and Linda Hash talked about the
amount of interaction with children.
Joan
Henson came before the Board to present the annual report for the criminal
justice partnership program (CJPP). She reviewed the CJPP activities and
goals for 2007/08. She stated=
her
appreciation to the Board. Commissioner
Doug Murphy and Joan Henson talked about the crossover with JCPC. County
Manager Don Adams explained that they are different programs with one worki=
ng
with adults and one working with children.=
County
Manager Don Adams presented the insurance quotes for 2009/2010. He reviewed the quotes for propert=
y/liability,
workers compensation and health insurance.=
He recommended going with NCACC for all three pools. He talked about the NCACC quote be=
ing
less than the other quote obtained. Commissioner
Milly Richardson made a motion to approve the insurance quotes with NCACC.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Commissioner Doug Murphy seconded =
the
motion. Vote 5:0.
County
Manager Don Adams stated that the JCPC summary that was presented at the la=
st
meeting needed to be put before the Board for a vote. He explained that the amount is un=
known
at this time so they are recommending approving the same as this last year.=
Commissioner
Milly Richardson made a motion to approve.=
Commissioner Doug Murphy seconded the motion. Vote 5:0.
County
Manager Don Adams presented three Planning Board applications. He reviewed the applicants; Bill B=
rooks,
Wayne Miles and Nancy Wilson. He
reviewed which fire district these applicants reside in, and the Planning B=
oard
needs a representative from the Sparta-Alleghany fire district.
Commissioner
Doug Murphy made a motion to approve Wayne Miles for the Planning Board.
County
Manager Don Adams presented a letter from Phil Trew asking that members of =
the
Region D Development Corporation be reappointed. He stated that Russell She=
ets,
Dennis Gambill, Bryan Edwards and himself serve on this board. He reviewed the function of the
Development Corporation.
Commissioner
Milly Richardson made a motion to reappoint Russell Sheets, Dennis Gambill,
Bryan Edwards and Don Adams to serve on the Region D Development Corporation
for another year. Commissione=
r Doug
Murphy seconded the motion. V=
ote
5:0.
County
Manager Don Adams requested the two ambulances involved in the fire be decl=
ared
surplus. He explained that bo=
th
ambulances have been totaled by the insurance company. He further explained that the repl=
acement
cost covers up to $85,000 on each ambulance. He talked about the County can kee=
p the
vehicles for $3,750 each. He
further talked about bidding them out locally to see if anyone is intereste=
d in
them, and then if not, turn them back over to insurance company.
Commissioner
Randy Miller made a motion to surplus the two vehicles and go out to bid.
County
Manager Don Adams presented budget amendment General Fund #34 in the amount=
of
$8,000 for an increase in public assistance.
Commissioner
Milly Richardson made a motion to approve budget amendment General Fund #34=
in
the amount of $8,000. Commiss=
ioner
Randy Miller seconded the motion.
Vote 5:0.
Commissioner
Randy Miller thanked everyone that was involved after the tornados for their
hard work. He talked about he=
lping
the people in the mobile home since they lost everything. He said he would like to talk to a=
ll of the
people that was affected by the tornados, and he asked them to call him.
Commissioner
Doug Murphy reiterated his appreciation for all of the hard work regarding =
the
tornados. He talked about peo=
ple in
the community coming out to help in time of need, and you don’t get t=
hat
in other places.
Commissioner
Steve Roten agreed and stated his appreciation to everyone for everything t=
hat
has been done.
Commissioner Milly Richardson made a
motion to go into closed session at 5:08pm under NCGS 143-318.11 (a)
(6)—personnel. Commissi=
oner
Doug Murphy seconded the motion. Vote 5:0.
Commissioner Randy Miller made a mo=
tion
to adjourn closed session at 5:30pm and reconvene the regular meeting. Commissioner Doug Murphy seconded =
the
motion. Vote 5:0.
Chair Ken Richardson stated no
decisions were made during closed session.
Being no
further business, Commissioner Milly Richardson made a motion to adjourn at=
5:31pm. Commissioner Randy Miller seconded=
the
motion. Vote 5:0.
Respectfully Submitted,
Karen Evans
Clerk to the Board
Attest:
Ken Richardson
Chairman