[0:03] Good morning everybody.

[0:08] We'll ask everybody to take your seats so we can get started here. It is the third Monday, August 17th, 2026. We will call the meeting to order, remind everybody, including myself,

[0:23] to silence your electronic devices.

[0:27] And I will, I'll ask, Mike, then I'll need to feel

[0:30] leaders in the pledge and Jerry, if you will open with prayer.

[0:33] Please, do I want to?

[0:36] I'll play to the flag of the United States of America,

[0:41] and feel Republic, or which it stands, one nation, under God,

[0:46] and invisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[0:50] God, we come to you, thank you, and it's for another day.

[0:53] It's just as far as the two would go with us today,

[0:55] in the questions we have that everything might be decently in an order and that you would

[1:02] bless us with the knowledge slower to make the right decisions on behalf of the people

[1:09] in Ice County and that's lower that everything would be done in a way that would bring

[1:16] glory to you because you created everything we have.

[1:20] And the time of your son cross week break, amen.

[1:24] All right.

[1:27] Okay.

[1:29] Thank you both.

[1:32] Next item is the consent agenda with some odds and ends routine stuff, would hear a motion

[1:40] to approve the consent agenda, if anybody's willing.

[1:44] Some of them.

[1:45] discussion in favor.

[1:50] Thank you. Next is adoption the agenda. We've got two quick edits.

[1:58] We've got one add-on and one takeaway.

[2:04] We have a time-sensitive funding opportunity for a federal grant

[2:15] I guess Adam, will you talk about that?

[2:18] Okay.

[2:19] Anyway.

[2:20] We need to, we'll just tack it on at the end for, let's see, what do we want to call it?

[2:28] Emergency management grant acceptance.

[2:33] How's that?

[2:33] That works.

[2:36] And again, that's time sensitive that came up after the agenda went out and needs to be remedied before the next meeting.

[2:43] And also, removal of the last item, an executive session, to discuss property that will come off.

[2:57] So, with one addition and one deletion, with here a motion.

[3:03] I move, adopt the agenda, Jerry, with a motion.

[3:07] We have a second discussion in favor.

[3:12] This

[3:20] is the public comment period and before we begin public comments, a quick reminder

[3:24] of our policies.

[3:26] Each speaker has up to three minutes to share their thoughts with the board.

[3:30] Board members will not respond or engage in dialogue during this time to ensure an orderly

[3:34] process and to allow more voices to be heard.

[3:38] Comments are taken seriously and relevant matters may be referred to staff for future

[3:42] agendas, please state your name and your home community for the record to missy the clerk

[3:48] sitting to my left and we thank you in advance for your participation.

[4:04] Good morning. Good morning.

[4:08] I'm here this morning to open up and home community and I'll do that.

[4:13] So my name is Dolly Reeves and I live in Creston and I'm here this morning to open up

[4:19] comments around a racism against resolution and hate speech. We are known for being the coolest

[4:24] corner in the state. And what we have now is an opportunity to be a beacon of the mountains

[4:29] and leaders in making a deep commitment to all who live here. A resolution against racism

[4:34] and hate speech is a commitment to stand by the Appalachian values we claim, the values I

[4:39] was raised on. Such as speaking out against injustice, showing radical hospitality and treating

[4:45] all people with dignity. This resolution is an action, an opportunity to not just talk about it,

[4:52] to be about it. There are a reasonable ask in it that we believe are achievable by this

[4:57] commission to take such to take such.

[5:00] Much as condemning speech, that specifically targets group of people in a manner meant to disparage or cause harm.

[5:06] There's a lot of pride built by those who call Ash County home. I too share that pride.

[5:12] And it is for that reason. I feel confident that you will be in agreement with this resolution.

[5:16] This is a public declaration that you, the elected officials, represent and respect all who live here.

[5:24] Let's prove why Ash County is the coolest corner in North Carolina.

[5:44] morning. My name is Mike Harsog, Wes Jefferson, North Carolina.

[5:51] And I'm going to

[5:53] read you the resolution that all it was referring to. Whereas Ash County

[6:00] Commissioners are elected to represent all Ash County residents.

[6:10] Whereas

[6:11] All individuals is fundamental to the promotion of human health and well-being, whereas every

[6:19] individual and group should be safe, secure, and include included in society, whereas immigrants

[6:28] are an integral part of our local economy and contribute to members, contribute members

[6:37] of our community and racism and stereotypes degenerate the inherent worth of all human beings

[6:45] whereas every individual's voice should be heard and every individual should be valued.

[6:54] Therefore, be it resolved that comments that disparage stereotype or belittle groups of people will not be tolerated in county commissioner meetings.

[7:06] including public comment, periods, and county commissioners shall adhere to the protocol

[7:16] of reframing from returning comment into the end of the period.

[7:21] Father, it'd be resolved that when protocol is not being followed, the county manager will

[7:28] and since I have a full time left evidently, I would just like to say that, you know,

[7:40] we don't believe that anybody on setting up our means to be racist or anything, however,

[7:51] Or as I watch back on the video of the event which brought this forward, it did appear

[8:05] that way to the common person and it's not good.

[8:13] I deal with a lot of different nationalities through the ministry and I can tell you that

[8:21] I've not ever made one of them that was not deserving of the same respect we give anyone.

[8:38] And I just feel strongly on this issue because I don't believe it has the place.

[8:45] I have been in different countries due to my military and everything and I know how it feels.

[8:57] Thank you.

[8:58] Thank you, Mr. Horses.

[9:00] Can you leave that with Clark?

[9:06] Thank you.

[9:09] Anyone else for public comment?

[9:11] Good morning.

[9:14] My name is Sally Kinka.

[9:16] I live in Todd.

[9:18] But these are not my words.

[9:19] These are the words of Pastor Laura Birch,

[9:22] Pastor of Blackburn, United Methodist Church, also in Todd.

[9:27] My Christian faith calls me to advocate

[9:29] for the dignity of all our neighbors,

[9:32] as we are all made in the image of God.

[9:35] I urge the County Commissioners to take actions

[9:37] and conduct their business in ways

[9:40] that reflect our shared belief in our common humanity.

[9:44] Signed Reverend Laura Birch.

[9:47] Thank you.

[9:48] Thank you.

[9:57] I'm Padding Miller and I live here in Jefferson.

[10:00] And I think I've told each of you several times that my roots run very deep in Ash County. And I have a deep and abiding love for Ash and Allegheny because of the length and history of Amah relatives that live here. The thing that I would ask is for each everybody in this room to remember the things that I learned growing up is the golden rule.

[10:29] You treat everybody the way you want to be treated and the other one is love your neighbor yourself

[10:35] and that pretty much in my mind settles the question if we observe those two things we have really given our best and

[10:46] it's just this is just to serve as a reminder to all ear and all within hearing that that's our

[10:54] mandate, that's if we make everybody, we want to make everybody welcome, they'll comfortable

[11:01] here,

[11:04] and I just want to emphasize, making people feel welcome is incredibly important.

[11:12] Each of us does work that makes this county what it is, and we've got a lot ahead of us

[11:17] with budget cuts coming from the state and the federal government.

[11:20] So we're all gonna have to work together in a positive way and I urge that positive thoughtful and kind effort from everybody.

[11:32] Thanks.

[11:34] Thank you.

[11:44] My name is Nancy Yamashita from Jefferson.

[11:48] I am a woman of color.

[11:51] And have had racial comments, discrimination throughout my life, even here in ash, I love ash.

[12:05] And I don't want to be treated differently, I don't want people to think that they can comment about my race, about being a woman.

[12:19] I love Ash and I want us to all be equal.

[12:24] Thank you.

[12:26] Thank you.

[12:36] Good morning, guys.

[12:36] My name is Jeff Land.

[12:38] I live in West Jefferson and I'm here to just make a few comments.

[12:43] I've been here for about 20 years and one thing that's noticeable to me is how many fewer

[12:48] Confederate flags we see flying around which indicates to me that there's been a growing

[12:53] understanding of what the symbols of racism can mean.

[12:58] And I've been thinking actually a lot about the actual incident, which occasioned this ongoing

[13:03] series of comments, and thinking what a dreadful situation would have been had the share

[13:09] of for ICE agents been called under these circumstances.

[13:12] We would have been now dealing not with civic conversation, or we're actually not having

[13:18] much of a conversation, but nonetheless, a kind of public conversation, but we would be in

[13:24] much more concerning situation if there had been some mass round up and bounty on some

[13:31] of our immigrant neighbors.

[13:33] So I'm hoping in the future, we actually get to have more of a real conversation that it's

[13:38] not a bunch of us coming up presenting our point of view and hoping that you listen to

[13:42] us, but actually having a little bit more given take so we can understand your perspective

[13:48] on how this is working out because that's one of the things that I would really like to know

[13:52] if possible and I do thank you for your time, so.

[13:56] Thank you.

[14:09] Good morning.

[14:10] My name is Luzzella and I live in Glendale Springs.

[14:18] We all want to live in a world where people feel safe, respected, and cared for, a world

[14:24] where harm is no longer than an arm.

[14:27] Even when harm isn't intentional, it can still be real, especially when we ignore the

[14:35] larger systems around us, like racism and sexism.

[14:39] These systems shape behaviors that can hurt others in both obvious and subtle ways.

[14:46] From low paying jobs for housing laws, from the lack of healthcare access on an underfunded

[14:55] public education.

[14:56] current laws and systems exist to

[15:00] Maintain and order, where a small minority of wealthy people make all decisions while the rest of us simply struggle to survive.

[15:11] I'm not going to argue about today whether recent remarks made to this board reflect race prejudice against immigrants.

[15:21] No. The statements by you and others in the public forum have settled the matter and they

[15:30] are division divisive, biased unfair and based on prejudice. I ask, has the county or

[15:38] town issued a warning notice or a ticket for noise? The Reverend Dr. William Barber

[15:46] said the forces of greed, selfishness, fear, and division have a long history of promoting

[15:53] a divided America.

[15:55] They are good at it.

[15:56] They are loud at it, and they are consistent at it, and, quote, I say, it's time for the

[16:03] forces of generosity, charity, courage, and unity, to band together, to display an unswerving

[16:11] commitment to equality, equity, and justice.

[16:15] Let us take steps community by community to unravel the golden garment being woven by the forces of greed and create a coat of many colors.

[16:26] I support the resolution against racism and hate speech.

[16:30] Thank you.

[16:31] Thank you very

[16:45] much.

[16:46] Seeing no movement, we will continue next time.

[16:51] Next, we're going to be up for a few minutes with a handful of items.

[16:58] All similar, but you need to know in a way.

[17:03] Good morning, gentlemen.

[17:04] So we have four sets of resolutions with accompanying public hearings

[17:09] associated with them for the CWGDR Community Infrastructure

[17:14] grant applications that we'll be putting in. I'll start by talking about the program

[17:18] generally and then go into our first application which would be for the consolidated

[17:23] DSS and Health Department building and then allow y'all to motion into that public hearing

[17:28] and hold that and then do that for each one of the accompanying projects.

[17:33] So generally this is that the community development block grant disaster recovery in total

[17:39] There is roughly $193 million in this round.

[17:44] There's going to be two rounds.

[17:45] There's about 55 million that are allocated.

[17:48] If we don't get funded in this round,

[17:49] we're able to reapply with all of these projects for round two.

[17:53] The funding totals are awards between 500,000 and 15 million.

[17:59] And generally, the eligible projects involve infrastructure

[18:02] that's supporting lower moderate income individuals

[18:04] and or infrastructure supporting future disaster response.

[18:08] And I can note where these would become eligible within each of these projects.

[18:14] The projects that are put before you were guided by our Capital Improvement Plan.

[18:18] And I think a line with some of the requirements that the C2BG program holds.

[18:24] And so, for this first project, the Department of Social Services and Health Department

[18:29] Building, this is a project that was started, a handful of years ago, and we have a conceptual

[18:34] design of what this consolidated building would look like.

[18:38] This would the proposed project would meet the National Objective of primary benefiting low

[18:46] and moderate income persons and being located in an area primarily resided in by low

[18:51] and moderate income persons.

[18:54] The goal with this grant application would be to seek the max of $15 million for this grant

[18:59] application.

[19:00] Okay, and just a little bit of a comment before Facebook gets wound up, and the story

[19:08] is that we're building four new buildings and spending $100 million dollars and all that.

[19:15] That is not the case.

[19:18] These are grant applications for available federal funds, and we're just trying to get our

[19:26] piece of the pie.

[19:27] Yes, sir.

[19:27] Absolutely, this is the funding that's allocated because of this storm because of Haleen and just the 25 counties that were indicated as most impacted

[19:35] to stress or eligible for this.

[19:37] There is honestly generational funding coming down from the federal end-state government because of what we went through with the storm and us applying for this money does not

[19:53] There's nothing frivolous about it. If we don't raise our hand for it, somebody else will. So the money's

[20:00] The money is there to help and we're our teams doing our part to make sure Ash County gets its peace.

[20:06] I just wanted to clear that up. Yes sir. These are applications for funding. This is not signing a contract with a builder to start grabbing nails tomorrow.

[20:16] Yes sir.

[20:17] All right. So you ready for me to do the first one? Yes sir.

[20:25] So, I will call open a public hearing for any comments regarding the CDBG federal grant application

[20:39] for the consolidated DSS and Health Department building.

[20:45] Is there anyone here that would like to speak to the

[20:53] application for that?

[21:00] Seeing no movement, close the public hearing for the application for CDBG funds for a consolidated

[21:09] DSS and health department building, and I would ask for a motion to adopt that resolution

[21:17] as it's presented.

[21:19] So I'll move.

[21:21] Discussion.

[21:22] In favor.

[21:25] Thank you.

[21:25] Moving on.

[21:30] So the second project that we have is the ongoing continuation of our discussion for EMS.

[21:37] This project would be proposed to construct the consolidated EMS Fire Marshal Emergency Management

[21:43] and EOC consolidated public safety building is what the application is going to say.

[21:50] This again would be seeking the max of $15 million and the national objective that this means is being located in area of low and moderate income persons.

[21:59] All right, so I will open a public hearing for comment regarding the C2BG application

[22:12] as presented for a consolidated public safety building,

[22:19] and he wanted to speak to that.

[22:25] The new movement, we will close the public hearing and I would ask for a motion to adopt

[22:32] the resolution supporting the application for funding for consolidated public safety building.

[22:38] Second.

[22:40] Second discussion.

[22:41] In favour?

[22:47] The third project we have is somewhat of an interesting one, but it's our animal shelter project.

[22:53] This would be an application up to $12 million.

[22:57] The public objectives that this would hit are primarily benefiting low and moderate in

[23:02] persons being located in area primarily resided in by low and moderate income persons and reducing

[23:07] slumber blight. Some might ask why is an animal shelter eligible and part of what the overall

[23:14] eligibility could do is if we design the shelter to house, folks' animals during a disaster

[23:21] and potentially be able to be used as a shelter spot for people in terms of just having showers

[23:27] and being able to cook hot food, which is all something that would likely be included in our

[23:33] general animal shelter project. It does make the project eligible to be funded through this.

[23:39] And so that's how this project ended up making the eligibility.

[23:45] Okay, I would open the floor, Republican, and any comment regarding the resolution and

[23:55] application for CDBG funds for the animal control facility, any comment.

[24:06] Seeing no movement, we will close the public hearing and I would ask for action regarding the

[24:13] resolution and application for the proposed animal control building.

[24:18] So move.

[24:20] Second.

[24:21] Question.

[24:22] Second discussion.

[24:23] In favor.

[24:25] All right.

[24:27] We're getting there.

[24:29] And the final project that we have is the acquisition of the property at 247 Mount Jefferson State Park Road and West Jefferson.

[24:38] And the primary national objectives that this hits are primarily benefiting low and moderate

[24:45] income persons and being located in an area primarily resided in and reducing slumber

[24:51] the application would go up to $4 million.

[25:00] Goal of that property, being? At this point, it would be to reduce slumber blight to remediate the property. This is the old-low's food property. So we know that there are structural issues for the building. Hopefully we would be able to remediate it into a variety of different county priorities. At this point, and in the application, we aren't going to identify those, because we haven't decided that this is the best use of that property. But we think that we'll be able to paint a structure with the reduction in the blight.

[25:29] along with the two other eligible national objectives that it's going to be hit.

[25:36] At this time, we would offer a public hearing and time for any comment regarding this

[25:43] resolution and CDBG funding request for a property acquisition at 247 in Mount Jefferson State Park Road.

[25:52] Any comment?

[25:55] Seeing no movement, we will close the public hearing and entertain a motion to approve this

[26:04] resolution and application as presented.

[26:07] Don't move.

[26:09] Discussion?

[26:10] In favor?

[26:13] We

[26:16] did it.

[26:18] That's a lot of work.

[26:20] Thank you.

[26:20] Thank you, Nick, for putting these together for us and hopefully because success was the time

[26:27] or the public board, do you have any idea when the closing is?

[26:31] We do not.

[26:32] So commerce is still honestly building the program as they're administering it.

[26:37] We are at the point where they are taking that first round of applications.

[26:41] We haven't been told when those applications are planned on being responded to.

[26:45] But as I learn more, I'll make sure to share that with you guys that we have an awareness

[26:50] of when we can expect some of these decisions.

[26:53] Well, thank you again to do appreciate it.

[26:55] Thank you, sir.

[26:55] It's a favorable fund.

[26:57] Yes, sir.

[26:58] It's being administered at the state level, but it is federal funding.

[27:01] Yes, sir.

[27:04] Good job.

[27:05] Chris, you're up next.

[27:11] Morning.

[27:12] Good morning.

[27:21] As required every year, I have to give a kind of a snapshot of what we've done throughout

[27:26] the collection.

[27:28] Here, this is our 25, 26 settlement.

[27:32] If you have any questions, just stop me any time as we get through it.

[27:40] As of July 1, 2025, we had a beginning levy of $29 million, $446,455.

[27:52] We also had the discoveries of $801,450 in 63 cents.

[27:59] The discoveries, most of those are your public utility, like Blue Rich Electric, the Natural

[28:04] Gas Pop Lines, we build those in September, or count as the discoveries.

[28:08] We had $25,666 of releases, air corrections, rebuilding, causes that, so it created a

[28:19] current level of $30 million, $222,299 of the 53 cents.

[28:26] Also, this past fiscal year, we had $421,823 worth of discounts given to citizens of paid

[28:36] during the month for July and August.

[28:38] That was up over $19,000 a year.

[28:41] That means we're getting a lot more money early.

[28:43] We just get things.

[28:45] Our total payments of taxes this year were $29,000,000, $296,

[28:52] and $27 cents.

[28:53] That was up about $1.4 million this year.

[29:02] Of our original Navy, we collected 99.93% of that.

[29:06] That is up also over last year.

[29:08] of the current way, but we collected 97.37% which is also the

[29:19] link with tax collections, we collected

[29:21] the total of $986,880 in three cents. That is down from last year, which is a good

[29:29] thing because that means we're collecting more and we're running out of stuff to collect. So that's

[29:34] a good thing. So the more people we have paying on time helps our current year and our current year

[29:39] The

[29:44] things your office does, of course, is mail the tax bills.

[29:48] We mail those in July, to let people know what they owe, it also has the

[29:52] delinkment mounts on those.

[29:54] We also turn around and mail delinkment notices in January.

[29:58] We advertise in a newspaper which is required.

[30:03] We have numerous wage garnishments, bank attachments that set off, which is where we look at a local and a tax return and take those.

[30:15] And we do do some payment arrangements and foreclosures. We utilize all this to keep our tax collection rates up.

[30:28] $2526, we had $30 million, come through our front windows, out of those, we had $43,825

[30:38] transactions, which is up around $2,500 over last year, cash transactions last year.

[30:44] We had $4,55, we collected almost $1.1 million in cash in our office.

[30:52] check transactions 32,635 value of 26.8 million and online transactions

[31:02] continued to grow 7,135, we collected almost $3 million online.

[31:14] D&V, the rest of the motor vehicles, the current way of it was 2,732,263 dollars

[31:24] we collected $2,717,385 in 10 cents.

[31:31] We had a collection rate of 99.46% of the MB.

[31:36] That number is also up over last year.

[31:39] There's up around $350,000 for people,

[31:42] bond colors and shopping.

[31:48] Optimacy tax.

[31:50] We collected $589,744 not 10 cents.

[31:54] Again, that is up over last year.

[31:56] About 28,000 dollars.

[31:57] $1,851.

[32:03] Any questions?

[32:06] Students?

[32:09] Why do any questions for Chris?

[32:11] I've got a couple of curiosity.

[32:13] What point do you fall close on?

[32:15] So my is proper?

[32:17] So first, we can start to foreclose your process.

[32:20] The date, the property becomes the length when on tax is so January 6.

[32:23] So no matter to the year, are the amount owed?

[32:28] We first started, we was going over the after the high mails trying to get that work down.

[32:33] Now, we look at the time of, you know, if they haven't paid in three years, four years, five years, six years, we're starting to go after those, but we can foreclose the day it becomes the Lincoln.

[32:46] Is there any way I get in a breakdown with occupancy taxes, like nations in hotels or holidays?

[32:53] Yeah, I'll just make sure I know Airbnb's is a lot of it in there, too.

[33:00] Oh yeah.

[33:00] Of course.

[33:01] Can we give you a break down all the chaos?

[33:04] Just a curiosity on that.

[33:08] That's something you want.

[33:10] Don't come back.

[33:11] Get it?

[33:11] Yeah, I'll do it.

[33:12] Thank you.

[33:12] All right.

[33:14] Any other questions?

[33:15] Thank you.

[33:15] Thank Chris.

[33:18] Well, if this requires action as we do every year, we do needs take

[33:23] to accept the 25-26 settlement as Chris is presented.

[33:29] So I'm moved.

[33:31] Thank you.

[33:32] Any more discussion?

[33:33] In favor?

[33:37] Next, Chris has one more legally required item.

[33:52] This is called the tax collector charge.

[33:53] Just where I give you a snapshot of what we're supposed to collect this year.

[34:00] This year starting July 1, the starting levy is $30 million, $373,723,

[34:16] this is up around

[34:17] $929,000 every last year, based off several things.

[34:25] We've already had a good start as of this morning.

[34:27] We've already collected $9.1 million of that.

[34:30] Again, we get a large amount of money the first few months for discount reasons.

[34:37] The next page is a breakdown of the county, lancing fire departments that we will play

[34:44] for them as well.

[34:48] Any questions?

[34:52] Any questions for Chris on the 26-27 tax collector charge?

[35:03] Anybody's got anything? Would entertain a motion to,

[35:12] yes, to move

[35:17] forward and authorize the 2627 text collector charge as presented.

[35:23] Go move.

[35:24] Right.

[35:26] Anything further?

[35:27] Any favor?

[35:30] Thanks, Kruea.

[35:32] Thank you.

[35:33] See you next year.

[35:34] See you.

[35:47] Next, our friends from Ash County Transportation Authority are here.

[35:56] Are there annual check-in?

[36:00] So to speak.

[36:01] We've all got a job for the hoops, not way.

[36:03] We do.

[36:05] Good morning.

[36:06] I'm Amanda Rotten with Ash County Transportation.

[36:08] I'm here on behalf of the agency to request the FY27 rule operating assistant program funds this year from the state.

[36:23] This year the allocation for the ed tap is $63,389.

[36:29] Employment is $8,068.

[36:32] RGP is $66,093 for a total of $138,450.

[36:43] Again, the ad tap funding is for those that are elderly,

[36:49] or those that might have a disability.

[36:51] The employment funds cover those that are going to work.

[36:58] The RGP stands for rural general public and those are for those individuals that are 59 years and younger and that can be going to work if we run out of employment funds, which we do every year to the doctor's offices, shopping, get their mail, get their pharmacy and things like that.

[37:23] This year, in July, we did celebrate 40 years of providing public transit to Ash County citizens.

[37:31] The business become a nonprofit in 1986, and so we have celebrated 40 years.

[37:38] We're proud of that as an agency.

[37:41] Do you have any questions?

[37:46] I presented the memorandum of understanding and also put in there the application that has to be filled out.

[37:57] You might have any questions for me.

[37:59] Everything's still in line.

[38:00] As far as if I want to take a trip down to Charlotte Airport and pay you, you can take me.

[38:07] Any questions?

[38:08] Yes.

[38:10] You serve any other airports?

[38:12] We do.

[38:13] We do.

[38:14] We do.

[38:14] We do a good job.

[38:21] You take one person or ten.

[38:25] Like if somebody has a doctor's mom and somebody has a, what needs to go to the airport, you

[38:29] try to coordinate both those.

[38:31] Yeah, we coordinate as much as we can.

[38:33] But, even if there are two or three hours apart, we just have to let the people know

[38:38] your time's moving. We've got other people going into some.

[38:45] Anything else for

[38:45] Amanda? Do you have much kickback when like you say we're going to be leaving

[38:51] two hours earlier than what I told you day before yesterday because we have

[38:55] somebody going very close to where we're taking you. Do you have a lot of

[38:59] complaining about that? We do have some that we all cancel. They're trips but then

[39:07] You know, some will grumble, but then, you know, others will go, you know, we try to

[39:13] express to them, you know, we are public transportation, and we have to get people in

[39:18] the seats, and we don't have the resources to send one vehicle for two or three different

[39:25] people.

[39:26] Well, just out of curiosity, I live a mile from Allegheny County, and I see Allegheny public

[39:35] transportation coming down to 21 in the Ash County quite a bit as that like doctor visits

[39:41] and such as that.

[39:43] So I think that there's programs over here that they bring their residents to every day

[39:49] just like we go to Allegheny twice a day to take our residents over there today programs.

[39:57] We've talked about consolidating to see how...

[40:00] How we could, you know, take our people over there and bring their people back or vice versa, but the times just don't

[40:06] align. I have to be at different places, you know, at the different times.

[40:12] What's a good thing with County Haves? It helps. It helps a lot of people. Anybody else got anything?

[40:20] You all provide a valuable service and do a great job and we're grateful.

[40:24] So need a motion to approve the memorandum of understanding and the certified statement for the rope program from the second.

[40:40] There's a motion in a couple of seconds. Discussion in favor.

[40:45] Thank you for coming.

[40:47] Thank you.

[40:47] Appreciate it.

[41:03] Adam with a couple of special recognitions.

[41:11] It's always an honor to stand here and recognize folks as they've spent many years here with us at the Ash County,

[41:19] but are able to enjoy retirement and part with us.

[41:23] I want to recognize first, who's not able to be here, but Mark Fibs, who spent 14 years with us in corrections over the law enforcement jail center.

[41:33] I'll check to make sure he's not here, I think he would see him if he was here just based

[41:38] on the Statue, but I want to appreciate Mark and his time.

[41:42] I also want to appreciate Chris Dollar if you want to come up and invite the family if you

[41:48] want him as well.

[42:00] Go ahead, Andrew Chris is not at yours, not at Marseilles.

[42:05] But I want to appreciate your service and communications 25 years about not mistaken.

[42:11] It's quite a service in the seat over there.

[42:14] I know not every day is a great day, but I appreciate the service and appreciate what you've

[42:20] done for the county and a plaque of recognition, card and small gift for appreciation as well.

[42:29] Okay.

[42:30] Thank you very much.

[42:31] Thank you.

[42:35] Great question.

[42:36] The podium is yours.

[42:37] If you had anything you wanted to say, tell us what you got with you anyway.

[42:42] Okay, I certainly will, I have got my mother, Linda Walton, and my son Jacob Dauer.

[42:53] I think I appreciate you all the time.

[42:55] Chris, I'm a scanner listener, and I always appreciate, I hear your voice and I know that

[43:03] I know that everything's well under control when I hear you on the scanner, so I appreciate

[43:09] All the years and that's a tough job and you were one of the goats over there for sure.

[43:22] Thank you very much.

[43:23] I appreciate it.

[43:23] Go meaning greatest of all time for anybody not up on the youthful lingo of today's.

[43:31] Anyway, Nick started rolling his eyes at me, so I figured I'd better clarify that.

[43:35] I appreciate you.

[43:37] Okay, well, appreciate it.

[43:38] Thanks very much.

[43:39] Anybody else that have a word for congratulations?

[43:42] Congratulations.

[43:42] Thank you.

[43:43] Now you just work for nothing when you're a time.

[43:48] I do think Chris would you do that.

[43:51] That's not easy job.

[43:53] I appreciate you and your family and you to this job and what you did.

[44:00] Thanks so much.

[44:01] Yeah, thank you.

[44:03] Appreciate.

[44:04] Appreciate.

[44:05] job you're done and I'm sure you're welcome to come back to work so I'm if you want to.

[44:10] Okay, why I appreciate the offer.

[44:14] I was a volunteer for Health and Mabel and Service for 13 years and so I know how important

[44:21] the communications can be every once in a while.

[44:27] Everyone goes up around holler.

[44:30] It happens.

[44:33] Let's have a picture mate. Next one, take a picture. I bet Jesse's got his camera and

[44:38] we hopefully get you a little recognition for your service.

[45:08] Thank you all for being here.

[45:21] Next on the list, I've got Kelsey, our HR coordinator, with proposed changes to the human resources resolution.

[45:32] Good morning.

[45:33] Good morning.

[45:34] You all have these in your packets, so I won't go through them one by one unless you want me to, but I'm open to any questions concerns you might have.

[45:44] So the only edits are the stock crews in red, that second one is consistent with federal laws.

[45:55] Yes.

[45:58] I'll make a motion we approve those changes.

[46:02] Thank you.

[46:04] I'll say.

[46:04] There's a motion in a second.

[46:07] Kelsey, it looks like you're getting off easy.

[46:09] I am.

[46:10] About hardcore.

[46:11] So anybody got anything?

[46:12] in favor.

[46:14] All right, thank you.

[46:15] Thank you.

[46:27] Thanks.

[46:27] Adam is up and we've got some friends here with us.

[46:31] With the Ash County Beekeeper Association.

[46:35] Or yeah, all the partnership and.

[46:41] Q this up and yeah, talk about my friend Todd to the podium as well.

[46:47] But we're approached.

[46:48] I think it's been maybe a month or so about utilizing some of the space that the agricultural center.

[46:55] for some educational space, for B-Hives, and I'm going to a horrible job of explaining that.

[47:04] So I wanted to give a little explanation, but we have prepared an MOU somewhat of a lease,

[47:10] and we've got some images here that Todd can speak on, and kind of what the use of the property will be.

[47:16] Do you want a book copies of all that you want to go to today already?

[47:19] They've got one in there.

[47:20] and they have the memorandum as well.

[47:24] Thank you for the opportunity to come before you guys today.

[47:26] I appreciate all what you do for the county.

[47:30] As a present in the Ash County Beekeeper Association, we're always looking for opportunities

[47:33] in the community to educate people about the importance of beekeeping and pollination services

[47:39] specifically.

[47:41] Several of our neighboring counties in the last two to three years have developed what's

[47:44] called a communal apiary.

[47:46] You've probably heard a communal gardens for the people that like to plant flowers and counties and stuff like that.

[47:53] Beekeepers are trying to do the same thing and it is difficult sometimes to have a place where you could have 30 or 40 beekeepers come to one place and learn about beekeeping.

[48:03] Because if you're out of farm somewhere, they may not have parking, they may be hard to reach, they may have to have a foil drive to get there and that kind of thing.

[48:09] So I used an example, and I hope that you have photos of that,

[48:13] of the token, beekeepers, and Avery County that recently built one.

[48:18] And it was phenomenal.

[48:19] They had the, the workings of the local community college and the county

[48:22] chipped in and helped build a fenced in area with a little trailer next to it,

[48:28] where they stored their materials.

[48:29] And they use it for educational stuff.

[48:31] I mean, every single month, multiple times a month.

[48:33] Our goal is to do the same thing here in Ash County.

[48:36] We had one of our beekeepers pass away in November.

[48:38] and his family generously had people make donations to the Ash County beekeepers and so several

[48:43] thousand dollars was donated late last year and we looked at how could we use that money and

[48:49] an idea was presented to build a community area where we could use that. We just received a

[48:54] $5,000 grant this last year from the North Carolina State beekeepers to do queen rearing program here

[48:59] in the county which is exciting but it's difficult to do queen rearing at different farms every

[49:04] months. So this would be a great opportunity for us to find a spot. And I have worked with many

[49:10] people with the new Ag Center out there in Jefferson to do several events. And we felt like that

[49:17] might be a great opportunity to build something in that area. And we know it's temporary.

[49:22] Obviously it's going to depend on what the county uses that land for in the future. But right now it's

[49:32] there for several years until the property is developed into something else.

[49:36] It would be a great way to start that program.

[49:39] So I worked with Adam and created a memorandum of understanding about what that would look like.

[49:44] I think you guys have a copy of that.

[49:46] I think the term was three years, but it would be obviously either side could remove that.

[49:52] If there's a need for you to build something on that property before then.

[49:56] And the photo that you, I think you can see that's on the screen here kind of

[50:13] There's plenty of land there, plenty of opportunity and we would not be doing anything to the land that would be permanent. It's just a temporary putting up some poles in the ground, put some gravel on the ground for parking, and that kind of thing. It would be a great use of that and it would keep that area, also focused on the ground.

[50:29] agriculture which I know there's a great desire for a lot of the

[50:32] ag community to try to keep agriculture in one area and so I think that would be a great

[50:37] opportunity. Really, I'm here just to answer questions that you may have in a

[50:41] addition to what I've just presented and I'd be happy to answer any questions that

[50:44] you have about the project.

[50:46] Where's our sample honey?

[50:48] Actually, you know, it's good.

[50:50] I'm not going to bring it up to you right now, but there's a funny jar in here for every one of you, and that's not a prize.

[51:08] But I apologize. I grabbed the wrong box this morning on the way out the door and these don't have labels on it, but I'm giving him to you. I'm not selling so legally, I can just give you a jar of honey.

[51:17] And this did finish third in the state of North Carolina last week, so it's a really good

[51:22] honey and it's from here in Ash County.

[51:23] I think you guys will like it.

[51:25] Any other important questions?

[51:28] Last point of clarity on the you said three years on this are what we received says five

[51:33] years.

[51:34] Yeah, I think Adam and I discussed it three years might be more agreeable originally the idea

[51:40] was five, but you know you kind of shoot high and you hope for that, but if three years

[51:44] more in line with what the county wants. I'm happy with five years if that's what the commissioners

[51:50] would like to approve it's totally up to you guys. We didn't want to do less than three years

[51:56] because to build a fence and put it in the ground and stuff we didn't want to take it back up in three

[52:00] months. So three years was more than agreeable to us but that's up to you guys. We could do the

[52:06] three years. We could also add a sentence about renewal of the agreement for another two, three

[52:17] There's no permanent structures being put in here and there is a, there's a 60 day parachute for both parties.

[52:26] I'm fine.

[52:27] I'm fine.

[52:28] Whatever.

[52:29] It wasn't image of the structure.

[52:34] Currently he has subject.

[52:37] That's a trail that we would use to store all of our equipment.

[52:42] It is sometimes with a challenge to for people to bring all their equipment that's needed.

[52:47] So this was a facility that was not currently being used, but I believe it's right here in the parking lot.

[52:53] And it's no longer being used after healing.

[52:56] So our great extension officer Blake grabbed it and said, hey, I know a group that would love to use it if it's not going to be used.

[53:03] So it would not be the property of the Ash kind of beekeepers, but it would be there.

[53:07] it would be would remain in owned by the county.

[53:13] Cooper of extension.

[53:14] And they're letting you use it.

[53:17] Be in the non voting member on the AIC committee or the non voting commission

[53:24] or representative on the AIC committee.

[53:30] This area where this is going to be is a highly unlikely area to be developed

[53:37] for any kind of future industry especially that the county might be interested in.

[53:46] This is next door to be in a salt.

[53:50] So it's a great place to be.

[53:53] Wonderful place for bees.

[53:55] And not a very good place for development.

[53:59] So I can imagine it be in a problem in Poland in that period of time.

[54:07] That's a good idea.

[54:09] Either way.

[54:15] If everybody's comfortable with this as presented,

[54:20] yeah, motion to approve this as presented.

[54:23] I'll make the motion that we do the five-year

[54:25] subscriber in the three years.

[54:27] That was basis and important.

[54:29] To one for bees, we all wouldn't be setting it right now.

[54:35] I think it's cool.

[54:38] Anything further?

[54:39] It's a great, in-vover.

[54:42] All right.

[54:42] Congratulations on the grant.

[54:44] Thank you very much.

[54:45] And we will be letting you know when it comes time to dedicate that area.

[54:49] The several organizations that have done it have had a really good presentation.

[54:53] The state comes in, the state,

[54:55] the president of the beekeeper's association.

[54:57] North Carolina comes in.

[54:58] We'll see if we can get some of our...

[55:00] Local officials to be there as well as you guys would love for you to attend when the time comes. Thank you for your time.

[55:06] If you go there, sweating, the bays will let you know you've been right.

[55:11] Oh, yes.

[55:15] Oh, yeah, I can do that too. If you grant me one minute, I'll troll.

[55:20] I'll mention also, and I'll leave these with Adam and he can distribute to you guys.

[55:25] Yeah, I can do super association is also part of a festival that's coming up in October.

[55:30] I think most of you may know we're trying to create the second largest festival in Ash County

[55:35] behind the Christmas in July and it will be called the High Country Honey Festival.

[55:40] It will be October 3rd at this exact site right here.

[55:44] We have about 15 food trucks and 150 vendors, 3 bands that will be there and the most important

[55:53] thing for us is that we're crowning the first Honey Queen in North Carolina in 50 years.

[55:57] So, we have not done that for a long time in the State of North Carolina, and I think that's a great educational outreach to have a young gal that can go speak in schools and 4-H groups about beekeeping.

[56:09] I think this last year the stats came back. We had 6,800 registered beekeepers in the State of North Carolina. The median age was 68.

[56:19] It's a lot of us gray-haired old people, and we need to get young people involved in

[56:23] beekeeping.

[56:24] So, honey queen, I think, is going to be a great opportunity.

[56:27] We're also going to judge 200 honey and have honey tasting for the community, honey small

[56:32] over the world.

[56:33] So we would love any endorsement or encouragement that you can give to the community for this

[56:37] event.

[56:38] Parking will be our big challenge out there as you are fully aware, but we're excited

[56:42] and we've secured some more parking area and suddenly an opportunity to get hopefully 10,000

[56:48] people to this festival would be a great first year. We would really

[56:52] welcome that opportunity and we thank the egg people for all their hard work

[56:56] Judy and a bunch of folks have really helped us make this festival an

[57:01] opportunity. We've been working on it for 18 months so we're excited about it

[57:05] and any encouragement that you can give this share that would be great.

[57:09] You have another one of these? I've got lots. I'll give it to Jesse on your way out on the

[57:19] How could you?

[57:20] I did that.

[57:22] And don't forget your hiding in here.

[57:29] Good stuff happening.

[57:30] Thanks, Todd.

[57:30] Thank you.

[57:31] Good stuff.

[57:32] All right.

[57:36] All right.

[57:38] That rounds it out except for the last item, which we will recess here for and go to the conference room

[57:45] where we have some audiovisual things and Adam can pull up maps and all of his things.

[57:54] of course that's open anybody is welcome to go to the second floor and here are project

[57:59] updates right under us yep right straight down so anyway so I will call us in recess here

[58:08] and we will reconvene in the second floor conference room of us and anybody wants to come at

[58:15] 10 minutes after 10 when the big hand gets to the table

[58:22] we'll do downstairs

County Commission on 2026-08-17 9:00 AM

Agenda

Transcript