The Alleghany
County Board of Commissioners met in regular session on Monday, December 15, 2003, at 10:00am in the
Conference Room of the County Office Building, 90 South
Main Street, Sparta, North
Carolina.
Present: Chair Eldon Edwards, Vice-Chair Warren
Taylor, Commissioner Graylen Blevins, Commissioner Sandy Carter, Commissioner
Patrick Woodie, County Manager Don Adams,
and Clerk to the Board Karen Evans. County
Attorney Ed Woltz was absent.
Chair Eldon Edwards called the meeting
to order.
Commissioner Sandy Carter opened the
meeting with a prayer.
Commissioner Warren Taylor made a motion to approve the
agenda for this December 15,
2003, meeting.
Commissioner Sandy Carter seconded the
motion. Vote 5:0.
AGENDA
Monday,
December 15, 2003
10:00
AM
10:00 Meeting Called To Order
Motion on Agenda for
December 15, 2003 meeting
Motion on
Minutes for December 1, 2003 meeting
10:05 Mary Walker
RE: Tax Releases & Refunds
10:15 Pete Church
RE: Recreation
County Business
1. Roaring Gap
Budget Amendment
2. Town Budget
Amendment
3. JCPC Funding
4. Joint Meeting
Schedule
5. Animal Shelter
6. Parking Lot
Request
7. WCC Building
8. Fuel Oil
Contract
9. Recreation
& Planning Budgets
10. Other Business
11. Public
Comments—30 minutes
12. Adjourn
Commissioner Patrick
Woodie made a motion to approve the December
1, 2003, minutes.
Commissioner Warren Taylor seconded the motion. Vote 5:0.
Mary Walker, Tax Administrator, presented the tax requests
for real property for November 2003 in the amount of $90.70 for refunds and
$599.99 for releases.
Commissioner Warren Taylor
made a motion to approve the tax requests for real property for November 2003
in the amount of $90.70 for refunds and $599.99 for releases. Commissioner Sandy
Carter seconded the motion. Vote 5:0.
Mary
Walker, Tax Administrator, presented the tax requests for vehicles for November
2003 in the amount of $317.96 for refunds and $1,168.12 for releases.
Commissioner Patrick
Woodie made a motion to approve the tax requests for
vehicles for November 2003 in the amount of $317.96 for refunds and $1,168.12
for releases. Commissioner Sandy
Carter seconded the motion. Vote 5:0.
Mary Walker, Tax Administrator,
presented a motor-vehicle appeal for a 2002 GMC Sonoma with a tax value of
$27,900. She stated that Mr. Moxley paid
$26,013.14 for the vehicle in January 2002.
She further explained that Yadkin Valley currently
values the vehicle at $17,000, and she recommends the value be $17,000.
The Board of Commissioners and Mary Walker talked about a
bill that is going to be introduced in Raleigh to change
motor-vehicle values to wholesale values.
County Manager Don Adams
asked Tax Administrator Mary Walker to get
information about the bill for the Board, so Alleghany County can go record
against changing to wholesale values on vehicles for taxing purposes.
Commissioner Warren Taylor made a
motion to accept the Tax Administrator’s recommendation of $17,000. Commissioner Sandy Carter seconded the
motion. Vote 5:0.
Pete Church came before the Board the
express his support of the recreation program.
He gave the Board an update on the how the Fairgrounds started and
stated his appreciation to the Board for their support of the Fairgrounds and
recreation. He talked about how the
recreation program will help in maintaining the Fairgrounds. He stated that he is support of the
recreation program and will help the Board in any way he possibly can to make
this program work.
Commissioner Sandy Carter told Pete
Church thank you for his comments.
Commissioner Patrick
Woodie told Pete Church that he appreciates his comments regarding
this recreation program and his volunteer efforts for the County.
Commissioner Warren Taylor and Chair
Eldon Edwards stated their appreciation for Pete Church.
County Manager Don Adams
presented budget amendment General Fund #12 in the amount of $7,536. He explained this would create a part-time
line item in the Roaring Gap Deputies budget to enable the Sheriff to hire
part-time personnel to cover shifts when the Roaring Gap Deputies take off
work.
Commissioner Patrick
Woodie made a motion to approve budget amendment General Fund #12
in the amount of $7,536. Commissioner
Graylen Blevins seconded the motion.
Vote 5:0.
County Manager Don Adams
presented budget amendment General Fund #13 in the amount of $4,212 for Town
taxes. He explained that the County
collects the Town’s taxes and pays it to the Town. He stated that these monies need to be paid
to the Town for prior year taxes that were not paid in the correct year.
Commissioner Sandy Carter made a motion
to approve budget amendment General Fund #13 in the amount of $4,212. Commissioner Warren Taylor seconded the
motion. Vote 5:0.
County Manager Don Adams presented a
letter from JCPC stating that JCPC is receiving an additional $3,256 which will
require an additional $619 from the County.
He explained how the money will be spent.
Commissioner Sandy Carter made a motion
to approve the additional funding for JCPC.
Commissioner Patrick Woodie seconded the
motion. Vote 5:0.
County Manager Don Adams
presented the joint meeting schedule to the Board for 2004. He stated that if anyone has any problems
with these dates to let him know.
County Manager Don Adams
explained that the current animal shelter contract has expired. He further explained how the Twin Oaks Veterinary Hospital is losing
money on their services provided for the County in operating the Animal
Shelter. He stated that he would like to
work on a contract with Twin Oaks Veterinary and bring it back to the Board. He
talked about how he proposes the new contract be worked out in regards to how
the County is currently being charged.
The Board of Commissioners and County
Manager Don Adams discussed the need for these services, a new contract and demand
for these services increasing over a period of time.
County Manager Don Adams
stated that he had spoken to our attorney and Kim Kilday, our insurance
representative, about the cruise-in group using the parking lot at the old Wilkes Community
College building. He reviewed the list of recommendations by
Kim Kilday including having a waiver of liability signed and keeping the
parking lot maintained.
Chair Eldon Edwards asked about the
County being sued even with the waiver of liability and how a claim affects our
insurance rates for five years.
County Manager Don Adams
stated that the County can still be sued even with the waiver of
liability. He explained that the courts
would look at who is at fault regardless of the waiver of liability. He further explained how the insurance rates
are figured each year. He told the Board
that he will work on the waiver of liability and a list of expectations to bring
it back for the Board’s consideration.
County Manager Don Adams talked about
the Board has given him the authority to complete a feasibility study of the
old Wilkes Community
College to see if it is suitable for the
County’s needs. He stated that he has
learned that this facility can be remodeled.
He reminded the Board that it will cost approximately 2.5 million
dollars to renovate this building and the Courthouse and it will costs
approximately 4.5 million dollars to build new facilities to accommodate the
offices that would be housed in the old Wilkes Community
College and the Courthouse. He stated that he has surveyed the users of
the Tax Office, Register of Deeds and the Clerk of Court to determine what they
would like to see.
Commissioner Sandy Carter asked about
the survey results.
County Manager Don Adams
explained that the survey asked whether the users would like to see the Register
of Deeds and Clerk of Court together or Register of Deeds and Tax Office
together. He reviewed the results of the
surveys.
Commissioner Warren Taylor talked about
the necessity of leaving the Clerk of Court in the Courthouse.
County Manager Don Adams
talked about the dilemma of accommodating the needs of the Courts and the Clerk
of the Court and leaving the Register of Deeds in the Courthouse.
Chair Eldon Edwards stated that it is
his opinion that the Courthouse should be renovated for the Clerk of Court and
court-related functions and move everyone else to the other facility. He explained how this process could
work.
Commissioner Patrick
Woodie mentioned consolidating everything into one facility
including the library; the old Sara Lee building.
Chair Eldon Edwards and Commissioner Patrick
Woodie talked about remodeling the Sara Lee building and what
would be done with the Courthouse.
Commissioner Warren Taylor stated that
the Board would have to give the County Manager more money to
have additional studies completed on the Sara Lee building if the Board is in
favor of this.
Commissioner Graylen Blevins talked
about the debt service of any of these scenarios and the Board should thoroughly
investigate all of the ideas before making any decisions.
Commissioner Sandy Carter asked how
much additional money would be needed to evaluate the Sara Lee building for a
consolidated facility.
County Manager Don Adams
stated that he will have to talk to the other departments to see how they could
fit into this building and go from there.
Commissioner Warren Taylor mentioned
structural issues in the Sara Lee building.
Chair Eldon Edwards mentioned the costs
associated with the Sara Lee building and moving the Court-related functions
into the other building.
Commissioner Patrick
Woodie talked about the Board would have to find a use for the
Courthouse, and he doesn’t think it is feasible to add on the existing
Courthouse.
Commissioner Graylen Blevins stated he
would like to know the public’s responses to these scenarios before deciding on
anything as well as how the debt for any remodeling will affect the public.
County Manager Don Adams
told the Board that the current fuel oil contract will expire in February. He stated that he is asking the Board for
direction on how to bid the new contract out.
He reviewed how the contract was bid out last year.
Commissioner Sandy Carter and County
Manager Don Adams discussed breaking the contract out, not receiving any bids
on certain sections and the County will have to pay market price.
Commissioner Patrick
Woodie asked about bidding it out both ways.
The Board discussed these scenarios and
who bid last time.
County Manager Don Adams
stated that he will bid it both ways and bring it back to the Board.
County Manager Don Adams
informed the Board that Jack Conaway has turned in
his resignation effective January 5,
2004. He stated that he
has been approached to research the possibility of combining the Planning
Director and the Recreation Director. He
reviewed his research about combining these positions and his
recommendations.
Commissioner Warren Taylor stated that
he thinks the Recreation/Planning office is the way to go because the
recreation department will need a full-time assistant to make it work
properly.
Commissioner Graylen Blevins asked
about giving the code enforcement to the building inspections to help the
recreation department.
Commissioner Sandy Carter stated that
the recreation department would not have an assistant if that scenario is
played out.
County Manager Don Adams
talked about sharing positions between the departments and turning the
part-time position in the building inspections department into a full-time
position.
Chair Eldon Edwards stated that he
doesn’t think the building inspections should have the code enforcement duties due
to time constraints on the inspectors already.
Commissioner Warren Taylor talked about
the little amount of time that it takes to review a subdivision and determine
whether the guidelines have been met.
The Board and County Manager talked about
hiring a recreation director, planning, new job descriptions, administrative
assistant/code enforcement officer and combining the departments.
Commissioner Sandy Carter stated that
she likes the County Manager’s proposal
with the recreation/planning director and administrative assistant/code enforcement
officer.
Chair Eldon Edwards stated that we need
to contact the recreation director applicants to see if they are interested in
the new position.
Commissioner Graylen Blevins reiterated
his comments about the code enforcement duties moving to the building
inspections department.
County Manager Don Adams stated that
the pay of the recreation/planning director will go up to the level of the planner.
Commissioner Warren Taylor made a
motion to create the position of recreation/planning director and readvertise
for the position. Commissioner Patrick
Woodie seconded the motion.
Vote 5:0.
Commissioner Warren Taylor and Chair
Eldon Edwards wished everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
Chair Eldon Edwards stated that the
next meeting will be on January 5,
2004.
Chair Eldon Edwards asked for public
comments.
Coby Larue talked about
the fence being placed back at the Fairgrounds and the creek there being
stocked for fishermen. He asked about
leaving the gates open to allow people to fish.
He talked about making the creek accessible for everyone to fish.
Chair Eldon Edwards stated that the
County will look into this issue.
Chair Eldon Edwards asked for further
public comments. None were received.
Being no further business, Commissioner
Warren Taylor made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 11:38am. Commissioner
Sandy Carter seconded the motion. Vote 5:0.
Respectfully
submitted,
Karen Evans
Clerk
to the Board
Attest:
Eldon
Edwards
Chairman