January 14, Chairman Lilley welcomed the large crowd in attendance and thanked the municipal officials for attending the meeting.

Transcription

1 January 14, 2004 The Martin County Board of Commissioners met in Regular Session on Wednesday, January 14, 2004 at 7:00 p.m. in the Board Room of the Martin County Governmental Center, 305 East Main Street, Williamston, North Carolina. ASSEMBLY Chairman Elmo Butch Lilley, Vice Chairman C. Mort Hurst, Commissioners William H. Manson, Jr., Tommy W. Bowen and Ronnie Smith, County Manager Donnie H. Pittman, County Attorney J. Melvin Bowen and Clerk to the Board Linda G. Hardison were present. No one was absent. Chairman Lilley called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. After leading the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance, Chairman Lilley offered the Invocation. Chairman Lilley welcomed the large crowd in attendance and thanked the municipal officials for attending the meeting. AGENDA APPROVAL MOTION by Commissioner Bowen, SECOND by Vice Chairman Hurst, to approve the agenda as presented. MOTION APPROVED by a unanimous vote of the Board. MINUTES DECEMBER 10, 2003 REGULAR MEETING MOTION by Vice Chairman Hurst, SECOND by Commissioner Smith, to approve the Minutes of the December 10, 2003 Regular Meeting as presented. MOTION APPROVED by a unanimous vote of the Board. HASSELL TANK UPDATE Mr. Mark Garner, Rivers & Associates, made a final presentation to the Board concerning the raising of the Hassell Water Tank. The project is complete; the contractor has been paid; and the users are satisfied with the water pressure. Chairman Lilley thanked Mr. Garner and Rivers & Associates for working with the County to find a solution to the problem. SOIL & WATER CONSERVATION UPDATE Mr. Ricky Cannon, Chair of the Martin County Soil and Water Conservation Board, was unable to attend the meeting. This presentation will be placed on next month s agenda. COUNCIL ON AGING DOCTORAL CANDIDATE Ms. Helen Newsome, Director of Martin County Senior Center, introduced Ms. Debra Kleesattel who is a doctoral candidate who chose Martin County to study the issues of aging in rural America for her dissertation. Ms. Kleesattel expressed her pleasure in working with the Martin County Senior Center staff as she gathers information for her dissertation. She gave a brief history of her background and education and provided the Board with an overview of her research. COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICES Mr. J. B. Coltrain, County Extension Director, addressed the Board concerning Strategic Planning. He explained that strategic planning is the process of getting a group of people to agree on some prioritized goads and then deciding how best to proceed toward those goals over time. The group may be small such as the County Commissioners or large like the entire county. Identifying and prioritizing goals is a process that can be simple or

2 very extensive depending upon what you intend the planning process to accomplish. The time horizon can be relatively short 2 or 3 years or as far into the future as 20 years. Cooperative Extension Service has a group called Personal and Organizational Development Services that will undertake a limited facilitation among the County Commissioners or any group of 20 or so, leading to agreement on short term goals. One or two trained facilitators would be present to lead the one or two day meeting. Decision making would be based on data already at hand, and all support services would be supplied by the County. An advantage of this option is that these services would have no cost or at least be very inexpensive since the county is already a funding partner of Cooperative Extension. MARTIN COUNTY STRATEGIC PLAN Mr. David Stein, Gateway Communities Coordinator with North Carolina State University, made a presentation on Strategic Planning that takes a very extensive approach to the process. This effort would incorporate municipal officials and citizenry into a series of community workshops designed to get both public officials and members of the community to look 20 years ahead as a way of helping prepare and deal with many of the issues currently facing the county. This plan would be based on history and focus on using local resources to achieve the goals set out in the plan. Students from the Design School would help gather data for such an extensive strategic plan. With a plan of this magnitude comes a price tag. This option would have an estimated cost of $25,000. The Board expressed various opinions and asked Mr. Stein several questions. Following this exchange, MOTION by Commissioner Smith to push forward with the extensive Strategic Plan and begin to do the preliminary work. The Motion died from lack of a second. MOTION by Commissioner Bowen, SECOND by Vice Chairman Hurst, that we go with the Cooperative Extension option and see what they can do for us before making a longterm commitment. Commissioner Smith pointed out that $25,000 sounds like a lot of money, but we would be paying an estimated $250,000 if the extensive project were contracted out. He also pointed out that Martin County is one of 12 counties within the state that was chosen as a Gateway Community. This is a window of opportunity that may never come this way again. Commissioner Manson stated that we have not closed the door. We are only trying to explore our options before making a commitment. If grants funds are not found for the $25,000, then the taxpayers in Martin County will have to fund this project. Commissioner Manson reiterated that he is not opposed to a Strategic Plan. Chairman Lilley called for the question and the votes was as follows: Commissioners Lilley, Hurst, Manson and Bowen - for the motion; Commissioner Smith - against the motion. MOTION APPROVED by a majority vote of the Board. WATER DISTRICT NO. 1 OAK CITY TANK LOGO Mr. Kirk Rogers, Manager for the Martin County Water System, appeared before the Board to tell them that the Oak City Water Tank has been refurbished. The tank has been painted inside and outside. The decision now has to be made as to the logo to have painted on the tank. A letter was submitted to the Board from the town officials and residents of Oak City requesting that the new logo show Oak City on the tank. Our contract with the painter only included Martin County Water District No. 1. Addition letters may be added at a cost of $90 per letter. Mr. Rogers then informed the Board that the Water Advisory Board met and made the following recommendation: The logo should only read Martin County, with Oak City, NC underneath. Mr. Rogers has discussed this option with the paint contractor and was

3 told that there would be no additional charge for this addition if the words Water District No. 1 were not included on the tank. A lengthy discussion ensued with references to the Hassell tank logo and the Highway 17 tank logo. No action was taken, but the Board instructed Mr. Rogers to discuss this with the paint contractor and see if all the working could be placed on the tank due to its size. If not, there was no objection to putting Martin County with Oak City underneath. Chairman Lilley emphasized that there is room on next month s agenda if this issue cannot be resolved with the paint contractor. COUNTY MANAGER S REPORT Financial Report: The Financial Report for December, 2003 was presented for informational purposes. Tax Collector s Report: The Tax Collector s Report for December, 2003 was included in each Commissioner s packet for informational purposes. December, 2003 Year to Date Property Taxes $ 1,635, $ 5,114, Motor Vehicles 118, , Tax Resolution: Manager Pittman explained the printing error on this year s tax bills and informed the Board that once the error was pointed out the North Carolina Department of Revenue, the Institute of Government and the State Attorney General s counsel were contacted to find out how to handle this situation. The county was instructed to compose the following resolution and present it to the Board of Commissioners. Board approval and execution of the resolution would rectify the problem. RESOLUTION WHEREAS, the Machinery Act of North Carolina requires a 2% interest penalty to be applied to all outstanding current year real and personal property tax bills on January 6 th of each year for bills not paid prior to that date; and WHEREAS, due to a clerical printing error on the 2003 Martin County tax bills, the bills read that they must be paid by January 6, 2004 and not before January 6, 2004 to avoid the 2% interest penalty being applied. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Martin County Board of Commissioners, on recommendation from the North Carolina Department of Revenue, Institute of Government and North Carolina Attorney General s counsel to the Department of Revenue, to honor January 6, 2004 as the final date to pay the 2003 real and personal property tax bills without interest. AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that any payments taken and charged interest prior to notification of the error will be reapplied and the interest amount will be refunded to each individual taxpayer affected. MOTION by Vice Chairman Hurst, SECOND by Commissioner Bowen, to approve the tax resolution as presented. MOTION APPROVED by a unanimous vote of the Board. Tax Relief & Refund Orders: MOTION by Commissioner Manson, SECOND by Vice Chairman Hurst, to approve the following Tax Relief & Refund Orders as presented. MOTION APPROVED by a unanimous vote of the Board. Year Levy Name Remarks Value Total 2000 Denton James C M/H Burned 10,

4 2001 Denton James C Double List 1, Denton James C Double List 1, TOTAL REFUND ORDERS Rogers Robin A Stevenson High Mileage 3, Parker Rose W High Mileage 1, Smith Paul D Bill of Sale 5, Smith Paul D Bill of Sale 5, Smith Paul D Bill of Sale 4, Lilley J Elmo Jr Bill of Sale 4, Lilley J Elmo Jr Bill of Sale 4, Lilley George Randy Bill of Sale 4, Lilley J Elmo Jr Bill of Sale 10, Inscoe Irvin Kent Bill of Sale 4, Hutchinson Bruce High Mileage 1, Leggett Michelle High Mileage 2, Reed Hilary Eugene Error in Landfill Fee Etheridge Katharine Anne Error in Landfill Fee Harris Farms W Robert Inc Error in Landfill Fee Whitehurst Donnie S Error in Landfill Fee Rodgerson Lynn Dail Error in Landfill Fee Lilley Vergil Error in Listing 3, Matthewson Steven Dale High Mileage 3, OLD BUSINESS TOTAL RELIEF ORDERS 1, Bertie-Martin Regional Jail Commission Appointment: MOTION by Vice Chairman Hurst, SECOND by Commissioner Bowen, to appoint Tommy Hathaway of Oak City to a two-year term on the Bertie-Martin Regional Jail Commission to replace Mike Roberson. MOTION APPROVED by a unanimous vote of the Board. NEW BUSINESS CDBG Administration Bids: The following two bids were received to provide administration of CDBG Grants. Mid-East Commission $42,500 Washington, NC Adams Company $64,000 Warsaw, NC After reviewing the bids, Manager Pittman recommended the Mid-East Commission to administer the 2004 CDBG Scattered Sites Grant, so long as Mid-East uses the same staff that handled the 2001 Scattered Sites Grant. MOTION by Vice Chairman Hurst, SECOND by Commissioner Manson, to approve the Mid-East Commission to provide services for the 2004 Scattered Site grant as long as Mid-East uses the same people who ran the 2001 Scattered Site grant. MOTION APPROVED by a unanimous vote of the Board. Business Park Tank Bids: Mr. Bucky Moore of The Wooten Company updated the Board of the Request for Bids for the elevated tank at the Business Park. He reminded the Board that this project will be funded 100% by grant money. Bids were scheduled to be opened November 25, 2003 but not enough bids were received.

5 The second round of bids were received. Bids were requested for a 300,000 gallon tank, with an alternate bid for a 250,000 gallon tank. Contractor Base Bid Alternate Bid Caldwell Tanks, Inc. Louisville, KY $632,655 $597,000 Phoenix Fabricators & Erectors Avon, IN 711, ,475 Pittsburg Tank & Tower Co. Sebree, KY 768, ,125 The bids were still over budget. The following people/agencies were contacted to find additional funds for the project with no success: Reid Paul USDA RD; Kevin Richards Mid-East Commission, Department of Commerce; and CDBG Funds Robersonville Ann s House of Nuts Project. Members of The Wooten Company negotiated with the low bidder for a 200,000 gallon tank for $497,965. If the altitude valve at the Ithaca tank in Robersonville ($41,000) and the altitude valve at the new tank in the Business Park ($37,000), the total cost of the project will be $419,965 which will leave a contingency of $22,035. Once the pile foundation for the tank has been installed and it is determined that contingency funds will not be needed, then consideration can be given to spending the contingency funds on adding the Ithaca altitude valve back into the project. The purpose of the altitude valve at the Ithaca tank was to allow Robersonville the ability to run its well on site more often while not causing the elevated tank to overflow. Reducing the elevated tank size in the Business Park to 200,000 gallons will not have a significant impact to the overall performance of the water system. This size tank will still provide the minimum required fire protection for the Park. MOTION by Vice Chairman Hurst, SECOND by Commissioner Bowen, to award the contract for the elevated tank at the Martin Regional Business Park to Caldwell Tank in the amount of $419,965. Commissioner Manson questioned whether these alternates would still provide the necessary requirements for this project. He was assured that fire protection requirements would be met. MOTION APPROVED by a unanimous vote of the Board CDBG Housing Bids: Mid-East Commissioner submitted the following recommendations following a bid opening on January 6, 2004 for houses and in the 2001 CDBG Concentrated Needs Program. House No. Owner/Occupant Contractor Amount Mary E. Marrow Stephen Wayne Davis $28, James Council & Milton D. Council Stephen Wayne Davis $42,285 MOTION by Vice Chairman Hurst, SECOND by Commissioner Manson, to approve the bid recommendations from Mid-East Commissioner and award the contracts to Steve Davis for the amounts presented. MOTION APPROVED by a CLERK S REPORT Clerk to the Board Linda Hardison reviewed information included in each Commissioner s packet and reminded them of scheduled events for January and February, 2004.

6 Vice Chairman Hurst stated that he had an item to be included on next month s agenda: signage on new Highway 64 is for Plymouth and doesn t include Jamesville. DOT signage is supposed to show the next town. ADJOURNMENT MOTION by Commissioner Bowen, SECOND by Commissioner Manson, to adjourn the meeting. MOTION APPROVED by a unanimous vote of the Board, and the meeting was adjourned at 8:20 p.m. ANNOUNCEMENT Before everyone left the meeting room, Commissioner Manson stated that he had an announcement to make. After receiving many phone calls encouraging him to seek another term on the Board of Commissioners, he has decided that he will run again in the upcoming election. The next scheduled meeting of the Martin County Board of Commissioners is Wednesday, February 11, 2004 at 7:00 p.m. in the Board Room of the Martin County Governmental Center, 305 East Main Street, Williamston, North Carolina. Elmo Butch Lilley, Chairman Linda G. Hardison, Clerk to the Board