The Avery County Board of Commissioners met in Regular Session on Monday, October 2, 2006 at 3:00 p.m. in their offices, Avery County Administrative Complex, Newland, NC.

Members Present: Susan Pittman, Vice-Chair; Joe Strickland, Phyllis Forbes and Bill Beuttell
Members Absent: Kenny Poteat

Call to Order
The meeting was called to order by Susan Pittman, Vice-Chair, at 3:17 p.m. Commissioner Strickland offered prayer.

Public Appearances
Mr. Will Campbell addressed the Board regarding violations of the law and due process which he said occurred to him on May 17, 1999. He provided the Board with copies of various documents in regard to his complaint. Mr. Campbell alleged that his Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution were violated on 5-17-99 and that his property was destroyed without anyone asking his permission to even be on it. He advised that his property was taken without just compensation and said he is asking this Board and the Manager to turn this in on Crossnore Fire Department’s insurance, adding that this should have been done 7 years ago. He stated that according to a letter from the Division of Air Quality, due process was not followed in this matter.

Commissioner Beuttell asked if this would be a matter which should be turned over to the Fire Commission to investigate. Commissioner Strickland said he felt that it is a question for the Fire Commission to resolve. Also, since Mr. Campbell alluded to a violation of Amendments, that it is on a Federal level, and if his rights have been violated at a Constitutional level, I would encourage him to seek legal counsel because that issue is beyond this Board’s capacity to handle, Strickland said. Beuttell said that this matter would have to go to a higher place than this Board if Mr. Campbell feels that he deserves compensation.

Mr. Campbell said that no other family has done more for Avery County than the Brown family over the years. He said he has been trying to get justice for seven years and they keep telling me that this is a civil matter, but in my eyes it is a criminal matter because in any city or state in America, if you show up on someone’s property and you burn it without permission and you back it up with police presence, it is considered an act of war.
Joe Strickland concluded that this Board cannot act as legal counsel, stating that Mr. Campbell has raised a question that is beyond this Board’s capacity to handle.

Mr. Glenn Johnson asked the Manager how the funds that would be generated from the proposed Transfer Fee could be used and whether it would be considered as part of the General Fund. Robert Wiseman said he thought the answer would be that it is according to how the local legislation is written, but he was not sure. He said that he thought that the governing board would have the leeway to direct the use of those funds however they see fit at the time the legislation is written. They can set aside funds for school construction, recreation, economic development, etc. Joe Strickland commented that with some of the existing bills on the books, I think they are written in such a manner that all of the revenues from such income go towards capital projects for schools. I was advised by an attorney for the NCACC that when this came up for our Board, to think about language that would give us a little more latitude, because we have more capital projects than just schools; we have jails, courthouses, county facilities, etc. The way our draft is written, I think that if it were adopted as a local bill, then we would not have to follow suit with what is established in other counties by putting all the revenues towards capital for education, but we could also use it for other activities that are deemed as priorities.
Glenn Johnson said that he is assuming that these revenues will be used to reduce the property tax rate in some way. That would be the ultimate goal, I think. I would like to see it go into the General Fund so we could use it where we had the need. Joe Strickland said he didn’t think that would be allowed by the General Assembly. Glenn Johnson said he would like to see a tax rate reduction in a trade-off. I think if you sell this to the people, you are going to have to show them that this is going to reduce the tax rate by x amount, Johnson said. Joe Strickland reminded that this revenue does not come from the property owners but from future constructions and buyers.

Proclamations & Awards
Robert Wiseman advised that we do have confirmation regarding the name on the plaque for the new Health Department. The plaque will read, “Fink-Smith Building”.
Appointment – Toe River Health
Susan Pittman advised that she spoke with Dr. Sthay regarding filling the vacancy on the Toe River Health Board. She said that Dr. Sthay turned her down, advising that he had too much going on right now and would not be able to serve at this time. The vacancy is a physician position and it can only be filled by a physician, Susan said.

Joe Strickland offered to contact some of the other doctors at Cannon Hospital to see if they are willing to serve, as he is currently serving on the Hospital Foundation Board.

Appointment – Grandfather Village
The Board considered a request from Grandfather Village Council to appoint Peter Gerdon to a three-year term on the Grandfather Village Planning Board and the Board of Adjustments.
Motion by Joe Strickland and second by Bill Beuttell to appoint Peter Gerdon to a three-year term on the Grandfather Village Planning Board and Board of Adjustments, term to expire April 30, 2009. Motion unanimously approved with 4 members in attendance.

Appointment- Morrison Library Board
There were no nominations for the Library Board at this time.

Board of Commissioners Policy – Vacancies on Boards
Robert Wiseman advised that we currently have no policy in place to recruit qualified, interested people for vacancies on boards. Nobody is in charge of recruiting qualified people to serve on these boards and nobody is coming to the front to volunteer to serve on boards, Robert said. Robert suggested that the Board revise Section 7 of their policy manual dealing with appointments to committees and boards to add paragraph 17, which would read that the chairman of the committee on which a vacancy has occurred shall submit to the Board of Commissioners, in writing, applicants to fill vacancies not later than two weeks from the time of the vacancy. The Board of Commissioners shall be not be bound by these recommendations, but if no applicants are recruited, then the vacancy shall be advertised by the Manager’s Office to get word out that the vacancy exists and that there is a dire need for someone to step forward, Wiseman said.

Motion by Joe Strickland to adopt this policy revision on Board Vacancies as presented, effective today. Motion seconded by Phyllis Forbes and unanimously approved.
Susan Pittman commented that Hugh Fields also made this same policy recommendation for his Board, and that it is working. Joe commented that the Commissioners are not bound by any recommendations made to them, plus, this keeps the degree of objectivity in balance with boards for the Commissioners to make these appointments.
Vote: Motion unanimously approved with 4 members in attendance.

Resolution - Waiver of Bid Procedure for E-911 Equipment
Susan Pittman read the proposed Resolution aloud for the Board to consider.
Motion by Phyllis Forbes to approve the Resolution and to authorize the Vice-Chairman to sign the Resolution on behalf of the Board.
Motion seconded by Joe Strickland.
Discussion regarding whether Granville County was located in North Carolina and if so, should the Resolution indicate that it is a county in North Carolina. Joe Strickland felt that that the Resolution should be amended to include that Granville County is located in North Carolina. Joe asked about the kind of equipment we are buying, and if it is new. Robert Wiseman advised that the total amount of the contract is $133,000. Our E-911 Director, Jamie Johnson, has spent numerous hours in research and in meeting with vendors, and this is the company he selected. Robert said we are buying state-of-the-art equipment and are exercising our responsibility as public officials because we are getting this equipment at a premium price. This is called piggy-backing. Granville County went through the entire bid process such as bid bond, performance bond, advertising requirements, etc. and we are piggy-backing on them and we don’t have to go through that long process. We can waive all of that because it has already been done, Wiseman said.

Tim Greene said that our Communications Director had vendors to come on site and give demonstrations of their equipment. He also went to neighboring counties to see how their systems worked, and this was his pick of the systems. We ended up with a good price. The preliminary estimates of 1 year ago were around $175,000. In the budget process we had it down to around $150,000 and through this piggy-backing we are getting the equipment for around $133,000. We feel we are getting a good system and also one that meets our needs, Tim said.
Amendment to Motion: Phyllis Forbes amended the Motion to authorize the Chairman instead of the Vice-Chair to sign the Resolution. Motion seconded by Joe Strickland and unanimously approved with 4 members in attendance.

Tax Collector Report – Mary Daniels
Mary Daniels, Tax Collector, reported that a total of $2,728,334.51 was collected through the month of September 2006. Mary advised that this amount is up by $400,000 over last September’s collections.
Motion by Joe Strickland and second by Bill Beuttell to approve this report as presented. Motion unanimously approved with 4 members in attendance.

Tax Assessor Report – Phillip Barrier
Phillip Barrier, Tax Assessor, presented the monthly report of Releases and Refunds.

Real & Personal Releases
County Tax Released in amount of $4,577.62 and Fire Tax Released in amount of $363.35.
Motion by Joe Strickland and second by Bill Beuttell to approve these Releases as presented. Motion unanimously approved with 4 members in attendance.

Real & Personal Refunds
County Tax of $274.85 Refunded and Fire Tax Refunded in amount of $22.40.
Motion by Bill Beuttell and second by Phyllis Forbes to approve the Real & Personal Refunds as presented. Motion unanimously approved with 4 members in attendance.

Motor Vehicle Releases
Motor Vehicle Releases were presented in amount of $139.80 County Tax, and Fire Tax of $11.41.
Motion to approve the Motor Vehicle Releases by Phyllis Forbes and second by Joe Strickland. Motion unanimously approved with 4 members in attendance.

Discussion on property where the owners are unknown. Phillip explained the procedure his office is using in such cases. He added that in the future they might start posting signs on the property which say that if you know who owns the property, to please contact the Tax Office. We are down to about 7 parcels in the county where we do not know who owns them. A lot of them are due to mapping errors that we need to get resolved, Phillip said.

Property Tax Appeal
Phillip Barrier advised that he worked with the State to settle a property tax appeal for two parcels of property located at Yellow Mountain so the appeal would not go on to the state level. My office had valued the parcel with the house on it at $529,500 and the Tax Commission felt we could settle at $497,600, which would be a release of $121.22, Phillip said. The second parcel is an adjacent 6-acre piece that we had valued at $45,000 and the property has a huge rock cliff on it. We walked the property and the Tax Commissioner felt it should be valued at $25,000, which would be a release of $75.24. I am in agreement with these values, Phillip said.

Motion by Joe Strickland and second by Phyllis Forbes to approve the two releases in amount of $121.22 and $75.24 on these parcels of property at Yellow Mountain, as recommended. Motion unanimously approved with 4 members in attendance.

Phillip Barrier advised that he and the County Attorney will be going to Raleigh on October 18 for their first formal appeal before the State Property Tax Commission is in regard to the Sugar Top Condominiums. The reason we are pursuing it is that we do not feel it will be fair to have one unit in there that is less than the other 307 units. We have another hearing scheduled for November 18 at Winston-Salem. This appeal will be on a house at Sugar Mountain. The Grandfather Golf & Country Club has dropped their appeal, Phillip said.

Re-bills have been done on the releases and will amount to another $109,000 in taxes, Phillip said.

Resolution – Traffic Light, Lowe’s Hardware Drive & Hwy. 184
Susan Pittman read aloud a Resolution from the Town of Banner Elk in which they requested that the Dept. of Transportation install a traffic control light at the intersection of Hwy. 184 & Lowe’s Hardware Drive in Banner Elk, in order to help control the increased amount of traffic in that area due to the opening of the new Lowe’s Hardware Store.
Joe Strickland commented that it would help them if we support them in their request for this light. Susan Pittman advised that the County also has a similar Resolution in support of Banner Elk’s Resolution.

Motion by Bill Beuttell to adopt a Resolution from the County in support of Banner Elk’s request for a traffic control light and to authorize the Chairman to sign the Resolution. Motion seconded by Joe Strickland and unanimously approved with 4 members in attendance.

County Manager Report – Robert Wiseman

Re-organization of the Emergency Management Department
Robert Wiseman advised that he received the attached letter from Daryl Smith, Chairman of the Fire Commission, requesting that the Board re-organize the Emergency Management Department in Avery County. Discussion was held on this request. Joe Strickland questioned why the Manager could not deal with this if it is simply a management issue. Robert advised that it is being brought to the Board mainly as a matter of clarification. He added that there are two members of the Fire Commission in attendance who can give the Board a better explanation of the need for this re-organization. Robert said this will not require the creation of a new position but will require a reclassification of the job description, which will require an increase in salary for the added responsibilities. Joe Strickland said he felt that this was a matter which could be easily resolved by the Chairman and the County Manager, without assistance from this Board. Robert Wiseman said that we are dealing with an entity established by and through N.C. Legislation with the creation of the Fire Commission and we are re-allocating county resources above and beyond the scope of the Fire Commission. We are committing County personnel who are paid for by the County. Joe Strickland said you are saying that you want to take an existing County position and re-allocate it to the Fire Commission and you are simply informing the Board of your actions.
Robert said we would be allocating County resources to an organization that is funded by a special tax. I think it is needed, justifiable, and that everybody will be better off in the long run, Robert said. There will be a re-classification as far as the Assistant Fire Marshal/Emergency Management Coordinator position, Robert said. This person will remain as a County employee and will still be entitled to County benefits.

Daryl Smith said this position will be a tremendous benefit to the Fire Commission in helping us keep up with the paid employees on the Fire Commission. We just can’t do it ourselves. I spend one or two hours per day dealing with Fire Commission business and it is getting to be more than we can do without some help. Discussion continued on how this person will be supervised. Daryl said they will be supervised through the Fire Commission but it will eventually wind up back with the County Manager. Daryl said that David Charles is in agreement with this re-organization. We have agreed that if there is an emergency, that Butch Sholar will still be able to do what he needs to for David Charles, Daryl said. He said that Butch is already doing a large majority of our work, anyway.
Robert said that the way the Fire Commission is currently structured with paid, half-time positions in 9 of our Fire Departments, (the other two departments are half in and half out of Avery County), those positions answer to the Chief of that particular department, all of whom have full time jobs or other responsibilities. The organizational structure as far as reporting, follow-up, reprimands, etc. is fractured in that there are 8 different organizations and there is no focal point to keep everybody pulling together. This will create a central clearinghouse to get everything done for all of these paid positions.
Daryl added that the Fire Chief at each of the Fire Departments is responsible for the paid employee in his department. It then goes back to the Fire Marshal’s Office, who then reports back to the Fire Commission. The Fire Chief will still be involved to some extent, but this new position will give us some closer supervision for our paid people, Daryl said.

Susan Pittman asked which budget the pay increase would come from. Daryl Smith said he would hope it would not come out of the Fire Commission budget, but that it probably could, if necessary. Joe Strickland commented that the Manager has the delegated authority to deal with this and is also obligated to stay within the existing budget but can also transfer funds and inform the Board of his actions, then from my perspective this is a no-brainer. I appreciate the fact that the Manager has brought this to the attention of the Board and I have no objections, Joe said.
Joe said that this report is for information only, and that no action is required by the Board.

County Attorney Report – Michaelle Poore
Michaelle Poore reported that there were few developments in any pending matters.
Michaelle advised that they have now started the new round of tax foreclosures and have filed the first 5 or 6 foreclosures. There are about two dozen foreclosures to be filed altogether. We have already had one person to come in and pay their property taxes after being served.

FEMA
Robert Wiseman commented that at the last meeting of the Board the instructions were for the County Manager, in cooperation with the County Attorney, to pursue the 3 outstanding situations in regard to eviction of people from the FEMA structures which had been condemned and were still occupied. Two of those three are no longer an issue; the people are out of the houses. The third one is vacating as we speak, no legal action should be necessary. It would appear that the County is no longer at risk, Wiseman said.

Property Transfer Fee
Robert Wiseman stated, for the record, that it is his intention to pursue the property transfer fee matter to the fullest degree and report back to this Board on where we are and what we are doing. If we intend to pursue this, we need to be prepared to present it to the Legislature this coming spring. Joe Strickland commented that since Rep. Frye already has something on the books, this one could be placed on the fast track.

Approval of Minutes
Motion by Phyllis Forbes and second by Joe Strickland to approve the Minutes of the September 11, 2006 Joint Meeting w/Planning Board and September 18, 2006 Regular Meeting. Motion unanimously approved with 4 members in attendance.

Agenda Consent Items
Joe Strickland commented that under existing policy, the Manager is recognizing his fiduciary responsibility by informing the Board of the transfers he has made.

Phyllis Forbes asked about any new developments with plat review in the Planning Board. Rachel Deal advised that they have approved one new plat and the other two have to come back to us. Indian Saddle didn’t get their information turned in to us. We require a month between the time they bring it to us and when an inspection is done. This gives the Planning Board time to go out and look at it before it is approved. We also had 3 properties to come before us last week; one is at Spear Tops, one at Isaac Branch and the other at Hickory Nut Gap Road on the Banner Elk side, Rachel said. The one at Isaac Branch went through fine; the one at Spear did not due to the grade of the road for their fire turns.

Bill Close commented that he sees a need for the Board to revisit their Board Policies. I think the Planning Board does a wonderful job and spend a lot of time analyzing situations, Close said. He recommended that the Board consider amending their policy that would require the Planning Board, when finished with their work of analyzing new projects, to submit the preliminary plat to the Board of Commissioners for their review with the recommendation that comes out of the Planning Board for either approval or disapproval. My reason for this is that you folks are elected officials and accountable to the citizens of this County, but the Planning Board is not. I think there should be a system of checks and balances in place to protect the County Commissioners and the citizens of the County, Close said. I saw a subdivision in the past year that came before the Commissioners and when the final plat came before you for your signature, there was a lot of concern and discord amongst you, and you signed and approved it. But, if you had the opportunity at the preliminary plat approval to voice any particular concerns, then it would have gotten beyond that. If you used this method, you would at all times know before construction started what was on the Planning Board’s mind, where the project was located, what it looked like and what it entailed regarding buffers, etc. I think it would put the burden of the responsibility where it belongs, which is on the elected officials, Close said.

Joe Strickland said that this opportunity is already in place without revising the Policy. The Manager indicated at one of our meetings that he intended to meet with the Chairman of the Planning Board to work out some type of strategy that would give us an opportunity to have joint meetings from time to time to discuss these types of items. I appreciate your remarks, Mr. Close, but I think that what you are suggesting is being actively pursued by the Manager.

Robert Wiseman said that he and Tommy Burleson have discussed this at length but we have not given it the degree of importance that it probably deserves. Discussions are still ongoing on this matter. I agree totally with what has been discussed today. Joe Strickland said he felt that the joint meeting we had with the Planning Board recently was very productive and if we were to continue that practice as we do with the Board of Education, it would accommodate what Mr. Close is saying and also give the Board an opportunity to be better informed on items in the pike. Phyllis Forbes and Susan Pittman agreed.
Bill Close said that Joe Strickland had brought up that same recommendation about meetings with the Planning Board at a previous meeting and I don’t know if it was done by consensus or a resolution that the Planning Board Chairman was to meet with you and give you either a monthly or quarterly report. I don’t think that has been done by the Planning Board yet, Close said. That is why I suggested that you review your policy and that all of you should take a look at any preliminary plats, Close said, and lean toward the direction of the Planning Board’s recommendations, refuting them only if necessary.
Susan Pittman agreed, stating that a lot of times she did not even know what was going on with some of these projects until she saw it in the newspaper.

Recess
Motion by Joe Strickland to recess today’s meeting until 5:30 p.m. and to reconvene at the Board of Education offices for a joint meeting with the Board of Education. Motion seconded by Bill Beuttell and unanimously approved at 4:17 p.m.

_______________________________
Susan Pittman, Vice-Chair
Avery County Board of Commissioners
ATTEST: ____________________________
Nancy H. Cook, Clerk to the Board