[0:03] All right, we're calling the Courthouse and Property Committee meeting to order.

[0:08] Um, if y'all would, bow your heads. Dear heavenly Father, thank you for

[0:14] allowing us to be public servants of this great county.

[0:17] Um, just be with us as we go through these reports and um, we continue to do

[0:22] the business of the county. Uh, let us keep you in light of every decision that

[0:27] we make and the constituents of this county. In Jesus' name, amen.

[0:32] All right. Uh, we do have everybody present except for uh, Commissioner

[0:35] Thomas. Uh, we do have a quorum and um, first order of business is the approval

[0:41] of the July 21st, 2026 minutes. >> Second.

[0:46] » Got a motion and a second. Any changes or alterations? All in favor?

[0:49] » Aye. >> All right. Public comments, anybody?

[0:54] All right, not seeing any. Continue moving on. Our first reports are codes

[0:57] report.

[1:01] » Good afternoon. Uh,

[1:04] I know you guys got my report a little late this month. Wanted to just review

[1:07] real quick. We are on a path to be issuing more

[1:11] permits uh, month over month as compared to last year.

[1:15] Uh, this July we issued 22 new house permits compared to last July of 16.

[1:21] And of course that increases our

[1:24] department's revenue when we do it do those increases. Um, inspections are I

[1:29] included that this time, the inspections performed. As you can see, month over

[1:33] month compared to the prior year, we have definitely increased the number of

[1:36] inspections. So, the demand is definitely there. Our department is

[1:41] hiring. Um, just working on finding the time to

[1:44] interview those applications I'm getting. It's very very hard for us to

[1:48] find a fully qualified person. Any questions?

[1:54] » Any questions? Thank you. I would like to say thank you for the

[1:57] last 3 years that I've been chairman and four as I've been on the committee. I

[2:01] always appreciate your reports and I know you've been here almost every time

[2:05] and I just appreciate you being here and and giving the reports and keeping the

[2:08] county and up to date with kind of where where growth growth is coming and all

[2:13] those and so I just appreciate you and and the work that you're doing. So,

[2:16] thank you. >> Thank you for all your work.

[2:18] » Thank you.

[2:23] Next item is planning and zoning. I didn't see a report in here. So, we'll

[2:28] just kind of move over that one. Fourth is the IT reports. You got that

[2:32] in front of you as well as by email.

[2:37] Does anybody have any questions for Josh?

[2:41] » No. Well, I did want to mention something. First of all, I see that

[2:45] there's a few of you that are leaving and and you're finishing up your terms.

[2:49] I haven't spoken on to any of you about it, but just want to say thank you for

[2:52] stepping out here and uh supporting our community.

[2:56] As a lifelong member of the Bedford County with a lot with a big family

[3:01] roots here, I just want to say thank you for for trying to push things forward

[3:04] and improve our community. I have children growing up in the school

[3:08] system. It's really important for people to step

[3:11] up and uh and stick their neck out there and it's

[3:15] a difficult task to run for public office and I just want to say I admire

[3:18] you and I appreciate you to do that. Um specifically I would like to address uh

[3:25] Commissioner Hooker and uh Commissioner Maddox.

[3:28] Uh when you guys came on board, I remember you telling me we had a a

[3:33] disastrous email system. Um which, you know, it it served its

[3:37] purpose for what we were trying to do. Uh over, you know, we've always tried to

[3:41] uh to to make sure that we provide a

[3:44] service um and with the with the budget in mind. And uh the cost is is a an

[3:50] important factor, but in looking in in analyzing what we had,

[3:55] uh we went ahead and requested that we were able to try to make some forward

[3:59] movement on that. It's taken us a few years because we had to rebuild some of

[4:03] our infrastructure to be able to leverage some of the new technologies

[4:07] that most of your enterprise is doing. And while we might be a little bit

[4:11] behind the the private sector, as we probably should be in some areas because

[4:16] of the cost factor, um I would say that we're making

[4:20] great strides in pushing forward a more modern the Microsoft M365 system across

[4:26] the board. That will enable us to do single sign-on, active synchronization

[4:31] technology with calendars and email across multiple devices. So,

[4:36] uh I I recognize the need uh and and I appreciate you guys bringing it to my

[4:40] attention. Uh we were able to get the funding. I I commend the commission for

[4:45] uh for being able to to give us the the funding to push this forward for the for

[4:49] the county government. I think it'll help with productivity. And um I think

[4:54] it's a really good move for us uh going forward. So, I just wanted to

[4:58] acknowledge that and tell you that we uh have purchased those licenses for the

[5:03] entire organization. Uh we're in the process right now of migrating all the

[5:08] domains over to a a new Microsoft domain. Uh and that will allow us to

[5:13] synchronize those uh users with more better security controls and more

[5:18] accessibility. So, as we talk about accessibility of information and uh as

[5:24] we talk about transparency and things of that nature, I have to consider

[5:28] cybersecurity that piece as well because from the audit end, that's important,

[5:32] too. But, all these things are are were made possible by you guys uh jumping

[5:38] forward into this initiative. And I just want to say thanks for giving us a

[5:42] chance to do that because we're we're moving forward with that. I just want to

[5:45] say as you're walking out, uh Commissioner Hooker, uh that we're we're

[5:50] we're we're we're deploying that. So. >> Well, and I do want to take a moment to

[5:55] just always enjoyed our conversations. You've

[5:58] always been open with me and we've always, you know,

[6:01] I've always had a lot of respect for you. I've known you for a long time. I

[6:04] mean, probably 25 years now and again, I do appreciate you and your

[6:09] team. You have a hard job. It's a big county. You only have a handful of

[6:13] employees and you do a great job of making sure everything's, you know,

[6:16] seamless. So, I do appreciate that and making sure all those meetings.

[6:19] Commissioner Maddox.

[6:24] » Uh first of all, I want to say I know my name was was mentioned, but

[6:29] you have done an amazing job over the past several years. I know you and I

[6:34] have had a lot of conversations and you've been you've been

[6:38] also very professional each time and your team is one of the

[6:41] hardest working teams in this county. Not to take anything

[6:45] away from anybody else, but y'all are at every meeting. You you try your best to

[6:50] make sure everything is is broadcast out. You know, there's some counties

[6:54] that don't do that. And but I just wanted to commend you and

[6:58] say, you know, job well done and many thanks to you.

[7:02] We we have had some some some email conversations about

[7:08] the functionality of a lot of those platforms, but it's good to see that

[7:12] we're we're going to move forward, but I commend you for the work that you and

[7:15] your team are doing and I sincerely mean it. Thank you for that.

[7:17] » Thank you. Appreciate it. You have any questions about my report?

[7:23] » All right. Thank you, Josh. >> Thank you. All right. Appreciate it.

[7:26] » All right. Moving on to the fire department.

[7:30] » Uh I have nothing to add to my report, Mr. Chairman. I will tell you

[7:35] that the front page those numbers are accurate.

[7:37] We just changed softwares and it went live July 1st. So, we were kind of in

[7:42] transition and trying to figure out where all of our numbers were and we

[7:45] spent a couple of days digging for this and we're still digging. Uh we think in

[7:51] the long run it's going to be better for us.

[7:54] We we cut our cost down probably around 6, 7,000

[7:59] dollars and I know that don't sound like a lot, but

[8:01] it is to me. That's a set of turnout gear for me, so

[8:05] uh we do think that we're moving in the right direction and and save a little

[8:10] money there, but it's taking us a little while to get all that data transferred

[8:15] over. Make sure the state and federal government gets their numbers like

[8:19] they're looking for and we concentrated on that more than getting our numbers

[8:23] for a report, but I know that front sheet is correct.

[8:27] And and we audit that, so we keep a spreadsheet with all of our calls on it

[8:31] and then we go back and compare it to the software.

[8:35] And so we're working through that and hopefully we'll get a better report.

[8:40] Now, I'm not unless y'all

[8:43] request it, I I won't put it in color. That cost me more, but

[8:48] if you want it in color, I think I email it to you in color, so but whatever.

[8:52] But I I I just wanted to let you know that

[8:55] we are working through that transition on our software.

[8:59] » Anybody got any questions for Mark? >> We hadn't discussed it in a couple

[9:01] months, any possibility of our our land, anything come about that?

[9:06] » tell you this and and we've had to keep this down because one piece of property

[9:10] we had a contract, I think Drew came and looked at it and I talked to Diane and

[9:14] several of y'all I've talked to. We got down to the contract and then

[9:19] somebody offered more money for it, so we lost that piece. We are under

[9:22] contract right now and it looks good and it did cost us a

[9:27] little bit more money than I had gotten through budget, but

[9:32] the money I saved on buying a fire truck and then

[9:36] through other capital projects I saved we're going to funnel that and so it was

[9:40] no new money basically. Uh the land that we're looking at, it's

[9:46] ready to build on. It already has the utilities on it. It already has the

[9:50] storm retention pond, detention pond, whatever you want to call it. It's all

[9:55] It already has all of that. It was going to be developed and the developer backed

[10:01] out and they told us based on our drawings that

[10:06] we have for our building that we would like

[10:10] that we would need a minimum of 2 acres. This is 3 and 1/2.

[10:14] Uh and so hopefully

[10:18] this will work out and we won't have to

[10:22] somebody come in and buy it out from under us. But

[10:26] in saying that, that's this is the only step that we've got and we've worked on

[10:30] this for about 3 years. I thought well, even

[10:34] 4 years. Yeah. I mean, we've been working on this and I can't tell you how

[10:37] many ant bites, chiggers I've gone home with

[10:41] and some of them I didn't even know what kind of bites they were, but we have

[10:44] walked a lot of property and this one seems to be

[10:49] good. It's in the zone where we're at. It's in a place where

[10:54] our future plans, we've already bought a piece of property on Union Hill decent

[10:57] road several years ago and we're looking how we're going to finance that through

[11:02] the volunteer system, but that will eventually our plans that will be a

[11:07] manned station. So we'll have one on this side and one on this side. So we're

[11:11] working our way in instead of being in the middle working our way out. So we

[11:16] think everything will go good. I have all the

[11:20] documentation right there of all the properties we've looked at, all the

[11:23] communications, the dollar figures.

[11:26] Uh once we we seal the deal

[11:30] I'll happily share every bit of that with you

[11:33] all. Uh Uh I'm no attorney and so

[11:38] uh you know we kept everything above board and we

[11:42] just couldn't make it public because like say the first property we tried to

[11:46] close a deal on somebody come in there with a whole lot more

[11:49] money and snatched it right out from under us and

[11:53] and this property we're looking at it's already passed all environmental

[11:56] studies. So, they go to digging and

[12:00] there's nothing there for anybody to find.

[12:02] So, and the other properties we were looking at and and I will tell you this

[12:07] there was two three other properties we signed a

[12:11] contract with. And then after I got uh

[12:16] Jeff Sweeney to look at those properties and then I went out and got a

[12:20] independent contractor outside of him to look at to see what it would cost to

[12:25] develop those lands and they both come back within about a hundred thousand

[12:29] dollars of each other and that was anywhere from eight hundred thousand to

[12:33] a million dollars just to remove the top soil and get it where you could be on

[12:38] it, build on it. And one of them there's a moratorium on the water and sewer so

[12:43] they wouldn't even allow us to use that piece property. So, unless we wanted to

[12:48] build that infrastructure and that's just more money. So,

[12:52] but that's where we're at on it and I hope I've answered your questions and I

[12:56] and I apologize for keeping you in the dark on all of it. I I think I've talked

[13:00] to you individually about where we're at but

[13:05] I'm telling you land in Bear Fork County I talked to a guy last night who has

[13:10] piece property kind of over toward Marshall County and

[13:15] he's been offered an astronomical dollar amount. He's going to sell it and walk

[13:19] away. He said I can't afford not to. So, it's it's just unreal.

[13:27] » Anybody got any other questions for Mark?

[13:30] Mark, I do want to just I'm trying to address everybody as I come through cuz

[13:33] y'all have done so much for me over the last 4 years and out of this room I've

[13:37] probably known you the longest between you and Brian Bruce and Brian Cantrell.

[13:41] You helped me get my start in public safety and you know and so I really

[13:45] appreciate, you know, what you've done for me over the years and I've

[13:49] appreciated your guidance as I came onto the commission. I know we've had a lot

[13:53] of conversations and and I always admire your ability to in the middle of the

[13:58] crazy to be able to kind of to talk through it and and be a calm in the

[14:02] storm and so I do appreciate all that you've done. I appreciate your

[14:05] friendship and your leadership as over the fire department and

[14:10] you know and our personal relationships. I I really appreciate you.

[14:14] » Well, I I appreciate you too and and and I I go back a long way cuz Drew taught

[14:18] our first responder class. And I think Brian Bruce

[14:22] you know and so and and they they put on a class

[14:27] 10 days and they the state I think told you it couldn't be done. And we did it

[14:32] in I think it was 2 weeks, wasn't it? And we had a

[14:36] I think out of that group of 20 or so that was in there, we only had one that

[14:40] didn't go get his license and I was one of those that waited 2 years right to

[14:44] the very end but I still passed my test. I couldn't believe it, you know. So they

[14:47] did something right and I appreciate that cuz they did put in a lot of hard

[14:51] work. They didn't get paid for it. They were teaching us 10 hours a day.

[14:57] Bam bam bam, you know, just one subject after another. They did a great job and

[15:01] and we can see the fruits of that labor now as to the lives that have been saved

[15:07] in Burke County just by training these people to be first responders and

[15:12] and it's even advancing a little bit more so

[15:15] I remember Drew we was kind of mean to him when he first come on but he's he

[15:19] still pushed through and uh did did well on training us and and you've got that

[15:24] talent and we appreciate it. >> That was fun class, wasn't it, Brian?

[15:29] » It was. >> It was long, but

[15:31] Yeah, well, it was it was probably the first in the state that taught it all in

[15:36] a straight time period. Um at the time Donna Tidwell was the state director and

[15:41] she told us in absolutely no way, form, or fashion should we do it because

[15:45] there's no way they'll pass. And uh it was me, Brian, and Joey Story

[15:50] that taught the class. It was over at the fire hall. And uh I will tell you

[15:54] that was probably one of my favorite classes I've

[15:57] ever taught cuz everybody cared. Everybody knew that what we had to do,

[16:01] which was we had a short time to get a first responder program started. And

[16:05] everybody in there was committed. We actually had a couple members

[16:09] uh from the community that were high school one was a high school student and

[16:12] she's now a a paramedic. Or is she an EMT? EMT. And um there was

[16:18] a lot come out of that class. So, I thank you for bringing that up.

[16:22] All right, E911 report. You have any closed?

[16:31] » And I I on the building uh

[16:35] building is complete. It's functional. They got their furniture delivered

[16:40] Tuesday. It was two truck loads of the and when I say furniture, it's the

[16:45] dispatch consoles. Uh it's specially made. So, and they

[16:50] were in the process they said it would take them a couple of days to get all

[16:53] that put together. I know Josh has been out there and done some

[16:59] rearranging of cables and stuff, but uh hopefully we're waiting on AT&T now to

[17:05] move the 911 lines out there and then the rest of it will go in

[17:12] to hooking up and and then doing a test phase on it and making sure it's ready

[17:16] to go, but I hate to say a deadline cuz I mean, if

[17:21] I said October, it could be October next year. I just

[17:24] don't know. If you've ever dealt with AT&T and and

[17:28] we deal with them a lot on car wrecks when the poles get torn down, they're

[17:31] not on no time frame. And they'll get to you when they get to you. And then

[17:35] they'll call us a year later, "Do you have a report on who hit that pole?" You

[17:39] know. So, that's kind of what we do. But, yeah, they are moving forward, but

[17:44] it's been a slow process. >> All right. Thank you. Media GIS.

[17:52] » Don't have a [clears throat] whole lot to add to to the report unless there's

[17:55] any questions. It was a busy month. It's going to be really busy at the end of

[17:59] this month. I've been thinking about it. I'm going to be busy

[18:03] changing out names on the website. You know, cuz you can't I can't do it

[18:08] really till right around the day of, you know.

[18:12] But, uh we'll be we'll be swapping things out. There's one one There's a

[18:16] picture on the front page that we'll have to

[18:19] put a ticket in with the provider to to get that changed cuz that's part of the

[18:23] design. Anyway, we'll we'll try try our best to

[18:27] to try and keep up with that, but I

[18:30] Other than that, nothing really to add to the report.

[18:34] » Any questions? John, thank you for all that you do for

[18:38] our county and keeping everybody informed. So, thank you so much.

[18:45] All right. County Buildings Project, you have that enclosed.

[18:50] Yes, sir.

[18:54] Yeah, they'll make you go up there. >> Uh

[18:58] we have started using your new morgue. It is now It's I appreciate you guys

[19:04] because the other one was not functional. It is now in function. We're

[19:07] waiting on uh the rack system. So, we're still kind

[19:11] of in a little modified stage with it, but uh

[19:13] we're something happened with the bidding process of that. So we're

[19:16] waiting on the lift and the rack system to come in so they can be fully

[19:21] functional, but we are out of that old building now and we do have a

[19:25] functioning county morgue that we that we are in dire need of. So

[19:30] I know we started back this process 17 18 months ago here and I appreciate you

[19:35] guys getting that, you know, on the agenda cuz we had to have that. I mean,

[19:39] and I want to reiterate that's not an EMS morgue, that's your morgue, but

[19:42] we're we it is functioning now and we have a place that in the event that we

[19:47] need to take a citizen in to identify one of their loved ones, we have a place

[19:52] that we can do that where we did not. So with that with that, I do have one

[19:57] question and I don't know if you guys are prepared to answer this, but just

[20:00] because I'm we'll be coming onto the commission,

[20:03] um have you guys started any process of getting rid of these other buildings

[20:07] like the old workhouse and the judicial

[20:13] uh juvenile judicial

[20:14] » Yeah, I'll I'll tell you it came up a couple months ago, but because it's so

[20:18] close to the election, we felt like that the new commission needed to weigh in on

[20:22] some of that and the other thing is is, you know, it has to go through the

[20:26] appraisal process and all that to be able to start talking about those, but

[20:29] we do have probably three or four buildings that need to have some

[20:32] consideration for that. I know that, you know, there's been some

[20:36] conversation about, you know, animal control needing space and things like

[20:40] that. So again, I think as the new commission comes on, that's probably

[20:43] something that they need to to bring up and be able to kind of weigh in on

[20:47] because again, as someone that's outgoing, I wouldn't feel comfortable

[20:51] with trying to make that decision for them.

[20:52] » sure exactly when they're going to move the juvenile detention. I know it's

[20:56] close. They were in the finals with it cuz we toured it the other day just for

[20:59] public safety purposes to make sure we knew how to get in and get somebody if

[21:02] they needed this, but with the uh

[21:07] surplus building stuff. That's that should be ready. So, I just kind of

[21:10] figured out where we're at on on getting rid of that because

[21:14] if you've been if you've not been in it, you should go down there.

[21:17] » I I'm sure it's much different than when I went in it last.

[21:20] Yeah, but thank you for that and >> Keith, put it on your list.

[21:24] » All right. So, I'll take a motion to approve the reports.

[21:29] » Second. >> Got a motion and a second. Any

[21:32] Anything? All right, all in favor? >> Aye.

[21:35] » All right. Any other reports that you're aware of? Any old business?

[21:39] Any new business? Any announcements? >> I'm going to take this opportunity.

[21:46] You've known Drew since what? 20 I I I knew him when he was Yes, thank you, at

[21:52] the boy's wedding. I've known him since he was a kid

[21:55] and he's been an inspiration. And Drew, you know I love you. You're my brother.

[21:59] And and I'm going to miss you. And I know bigger and brighter things

[22:03] are ahead. And thank you for everything you do, everything you've done, the

[22:07] guidance that you've given everyone. And you know I love you and appreciate you.

[22:12] » Well, I should get to say something, too. I did not know you, Drew, until you

[22:16] came on, but I think we've developed a friendship and I've really enjoyed

[22:19] serving with you these past 4 years. And we've got Troy down there on the end

[22:23] that I did kind of know when he came on, but I've also really enjoyed serving

[22:27] with you. I've learned a lot from both of you and I appreciate all that both of

[22:30] you brought to the table.

[22:34] » Yeah, and I'm going to just finish this up with Diane. Thank you. I've learned a

[22:38] lot from you. You know how to read a budget better than anybody I've ever met

[22:42] and I've learned so much from you, so I appreciate that. Keith, you've always

[22:46] been a friend and thank you. And I've I've enjoyed you ever since you come on

[22:51] the commission. I take pride that I got to make the motion to to make you as a

[22:55] commissioner and I'll bring you on. And so, never regretted the moment I did

[22:59] that. And Troy, you've been a great friend, uh

[23:02] fellow coach, and just a great person. And thank you for

[23:06] everything you've done. Great friendship. So,

[23:09] uh anything else? >> Adjourn.

[23:11] » Motion to adjourn.

Courthouse and Property Committee 8-18-26

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