[0:00] for the briefing meeting
[0:04] okay great and are there any questions
[0:05] about any items on the agenda for
[0:08] our regular meeting this evening
[0:10] okay so we're going to just follow the
[0:12] agenda as published then for the
[0:14] briefing meeting and the first
[0:16] item is a presentation on the 2025
[0:19] reappraisal schedule Keith Miller is
[0:22] here to help us out with this
[0:31] thank you Mr chairman commissioners
[0:35] so I appreciate the opportunity to give
[0:36] you a update on the reappraisal 2025 let
[0:40] you know a little bit about what we have
[0:41] going on and what we have moving forward
[0:46] um
[0:47] we have the PowerPoint one more
[0:50] oh here we go okay
[1:16] thank you
[1:18] so I first want to recap with you the
[1:21] recommendations that we receive from the
[1:23] ad hoc reappraisal committee
[1:26] we're still working on those
[1:28] recommendations and we'll continue to
[1:29] work for a moving forward on those so
[1:32] just a reminder of what those were
[1:34] increase education and Outreach
[1:37] increased capacity in the assessment
[1:39] Department
[1:40] develop assessment policies to optimize
[1:42] tax revenue
[1:44] enhanced permitting compliance and
[1:46] improve assessment data quality
[1:50] first I want to talk about Outreach we
[1:52] have worked for their Cape team to put
[1:56] together a pretty robust
[1:57] Outreach campaign moving forward
[2:00] this here is we value Buncombe our new
[2:03] slogan and what you see here as far as
[2:05] the pictures that we were at the
[2:07] Juneteenth Festival downtown
[2:09] talking to our residents giving
[2:11] residents some Hands-On opportunity to
[2:14] look up their properties see how to
[2:16] operates as far as the property owners
[2:17] tool kit on our web page
[2:20] beyond that we have also
[2:24] been on the Carolina morning's Carolina
[2:26] Spotlight on WLOS the center photo is at
[2:30] one of our local markets again the one
[2:33] on the right is that our Juneteenth
[2:35] Festival downtown and then just an
[2:37] overall caption of the of the bottom
[2:40] Juneteenth Festival some of the other
[2:42] things that we were doing on Outreach
[2:45] we in conjunction with Orlando Scott
[2:48] Rogers Association and physical legal we
[2:50] put on the appeal clinics for all of our
[2:53] residents who wanted assistance and
[2:55] better understanding of that we did
[2:57] lunch and learns for the Realtors to
[2:59] help them ask them to for their clients
[3:01] that they could talk more about tax
[3:03] about listing their improvements about
[3:05] appeals
[3:07] and again we will continue to be out in
[3:10] the community as far as our and our
[3:11] community centers at our markets
[3:13] homeowners associations we have been
[3:17] doing over the past couple of weeks what
[3:19] we call coffee with Keith we've been
[3:21] going to H Department within the county
[3:24] we want to First educate our County
[3:26] employees and ask them to be our
[3:27] ambassadors as they go out into the
[3:30] community and be able to answer
[3:31] questions to their friends family
[3:33] and others
[3:38] so we'll move on to also related to
[3:41] education and Outreach
[3:43] some our new web redesign
[3:46] this is the property owner toolkit that
[3:48] you see on the slide
[3:50] and if you go to
[3:52] tax.bunkumcounty.org you'll get a
[3:54] landing page to where you can type in
[3:56] your name address parcel number any of
[3:59] those will work to pull up your property will pull up you'll see a
[4:03] picture of it you'll be able to review
[4:04] all the information related to it
[4:06] acreage you'll be able to see a GIS map
[4:09] and then you'll also be able to use some
[4:11] of our new tools one be copper
[4:15] every resident will have the opportunity
[4:17] to use the pro the part of the program
[4:19] called copper so they will better
[4:21] understand what the value of their
[4:22] property is themselves they will be able
[4:24] the program will pull comparable
[4:26] properties in their neighborhoods that
[4:28] surround their home and they can see
[4:30] what the values are doing in their
[4:32] communities better
[4:33] Community is the other piece that you
[4:36] see there
[4:37] residents will be able to focus on their
[4:39] neighborhoods not just to them they'll
[4:41] be focused on their neighborhoods about
[4:43] what's going on in my neighborhood
[4:45] what is the median sales price what's
[4:47] the sales ratio what is what is the
[4:49] increase from the last reappraisal so
[4:51] just another effort of us trying to
[4:53] offer tools and be more transparent
[4:55] about what we have available
[4:59] along with that we launched our new app
[5:04] for part of the property owner toolkit
[5:06] that property owners can load download
[5:09] on their phones and have the same
[5:12] capability that they would have on the
[5:14] website so you can go to that same
[5:16] landing page type in your name your
[5:18] address your parcel number and have the
[5:20] same capability on your phone to do what
[5:22] you would like to do related to your
[5:24] property as you would if you went to
[5:25] tax.buttoncounty.org
[5:28] we saw this as a need for those people
[5:31] who do not have internet but maybe have
[5:34] a cell phone
[5:36] that gives them the ability to get to
[5:38] the information to be able to update it
[5:40] they can file appeals they can pay their
[5:41] bill most anything they can do on the
[5:43] website they can do also from this app
[5:49] the next recommendation was increased
[5:51] capacity in the assessment office so
[5:54] additional staff real property appraiser
[5:57] positions or fy24 we receive two
[6:00] additional
[6:01] reclassifications of a part-time
[6:03] position to a full-time was one
[6:05] and we also entered a contract with
[6:07] splice valuation for consultant on some
[6:11] of the foundational changes that we will
[6:12] make for the 2025 reappraisal
[6:15] reorganization of the existing staff
[6:18] we have a dedicated Appraiser for sales
[6:20] analysts now
[6:21] dedicated Appraiser for luxury homes
[6:23] data analyst team of three and a
[6:26] dedicated appraisal analyst
[6:31] next develop assessment policies and
[6:33] procedures and initiative to optimize
[6:35] tax revenue
[6:37] review sales transaction data
[6:40] so the goals here were to review the
[6:42] data before the Property Transfers to
[6:43] the new owner review the luxury home
[6:45] data and create new procedures for
[6:47] discovery of unlisted and under listed
[6:49] property
[6:51] direct mailing of approximately 20 000
[6:53] listing forums to properties that met
[6:55] the criteria of potential rental homes
[6:56] and compliance with the state statute
[6:59] that effort was to reach out to those
[7:01] folks who have rental properties who are
[7:03] not aware that they should be listing
[7:05] with Furnishings in which they provide
[7:08] to their tenants
[7:11] create a dedicated reappraisal panelist
[7:13] team Implement a procedure for real
[7:15] property listings and created
[7:17] opportunities for owners to correct
[7:19] their property data
[7:21] future and in the process we are in the
[7:23] process now of developing the new
[7:25] community Neighborhood Market areas in
[7:28] which uh you may have in the past heard
[7:30] us this referred to as neighborhoods
[7:35] um
[7:37] sorry you go back
[7:40] part of the uh implementing the
[7:43] procedure for the real property
[7:44] listening and creating opportunities for
[7:45] owners I wanted to point out to you
[7:46] maybe you received one of these
[7:48] postcards
[7:49] I hope if you're a property owner you
[7:50] did if you didn't then I need to get you
[7:53] one uh we mailed 80 000 of these to all
[7:57] the property owners in an effort to
[8:00] clean up the data make sure the data is
[8:02] accurate your property owners the
[8:04] opportunity to respond to us in the
[8:06] easiest way that they can to let us know
[8:08] if something is not incorrect those
[8:11] Property Owners had the ability to
[8:12] return this card or either go on our
[8:15] website and update the information there
[8:20] so along with the data quality we've
[8:22] also implemented a automatic evaluation
[8:24] models which is new for us for 2025
[8:28] analyze data and provide feedback
[8:31] daily reevaluation of approximately 90
[8:33] 000 parcels and provides predicted value
[8:35] for current date and Future
[8:38] this is a software program who which
[8:40] takes all the sales data in our system
[8:43] and every night revalues all ninety
[8:47] thousand parcels
[8:48] based on the information that comes in
[8:50] every day so every sales transaction
[8:52] that we have come in the day before the
[8:54] system takes it we re-value every
[8:57] property in the system every night
[8:59] this is a system which our appraisers
[9:02] can use for auditing and also be aware
[9:05] of what another system would value the
[9:07] property at in case that we might be
[9:09] missing something
[9:11] example of how it works
[9:13] so this home that you see here was a
[9:15] session 21 for 426 000 the home sold in
[9:19] 21 for 470 the automated evaluation
[9:23] model for 2023 says today the property
[9:26] should be valued at 612 000. and it
[9:30] predicts a value for 2025 that the
[9:32] property would be worth 656 thousand
[9:38] improve the assessment data quality
[9:40] here's the postcard that I mentioned
[9:42] again we directly mailed approximately
[9:44] 80 000 of these to give the property
[9:45] owners the ability to correct that data
[9:48] 8 000 responses as of August the 7th as
[9:51] of this morning a little greater than
[9:52] ten thousand responses to that postcard
[9:55] so far
[9:59] photography related to data quality
[10:02] we will again as we have done before we
[10:04] will update our street level photography
[10:06] the company Cyclone media is who we
[10:08] contract with cyclomedia will drive
[10:11] these vehicles that you see here in the
[10:12] picture
[10:14] 1878 miles across the city county other
[10:17] municipalities Gathering as they drive
[10:20] 360 degree photography so our appraisers
[10:24] can see the house like you see there we
[10:26] can see those from the street the
[10:28] quality of the photography is good
[10:30] enough that we can do inspections or the
[10:32] sidings the windows the doors the roof
[10:33] we'll be able to see exactly the
[10:36] condition of a property
[10:40] the next thing we do as far as data
[10:42] quality
[10:43] aerial unoblique photography we just
[10:46] recently the plane just recently flown
[10:48] flew Buncombe County planes will fly
[10:50] over 660 square miles and capture a
[10:52] bird's eye view oblique View and a
[10:55] building footprint of all 130 000
[10:57] parcels
[10:59] home on the right is an oblique
[11:01] photography
[11:02] the photography is at about a 45 degree
[11:04] angle which gives our appraisers the
[11:06] ability to see the front sides and the
[11:10] rear of the home from the photography it
[11:13] also gives us the bird's eye view which
[11:14] you see in the middle and the one on the
[11:17] left is the what we call sketch inspect
[11:19] which is identifying differences in the
[11:24] actual sketch what this program will do
[11:27] is you see the red outline on the
[11:30] left-hand photo what that red outline is
[11:32] telling us is that there's been a change
[11:34] on that home that the footprint does not
[11:36] match what it was before or what it is
[11:39] in our system so if there's something
[11:41] added to the home such as an unpermitted
[11:43] improvement or a garage or just an
[11:46] addition this will identify it for us so
[11:48] that our appraisers can
[11:51] revalue that
[11:54] reappraisal timeline
[11:57] July through December of 2023 we will
[12:00] continue the community engagement
[12:02] campaign and this will go on through
[12:04] April of 2025. we have we're scheduled
[12:07] now out as much as two months as far as
[12:10] meetings and things that we currently
[12:11] have ready to go
[12:13] we will also be testing the foundational
[12:14] changes to the valuation methodology
[12:16] land valuation land size evaluation
[12:19] influences the building quality grading
[12:21] system depreciation building size value
[12:23] influence and market area delineations
[12:27] October through December of 23 data
[12:31] collection for the schedule values
[12:33] market analysis residential commercial
[12:35] questionnaires will be mailed to
[12:37] property owners and we will analyze the
[12:39] data from the aerial and the street
[12:41] level photography
[12:43] January through July of 24
[12:45] we will present the schedule values in
[12:48] the informal session to the Board of
[12:49] Commissioners first review of the
[12:51] estimated values
[12:53] will be in a 20 that part of 2024. July
[12:56] through December
[12:58] of 2024
[13:00] audit data compared to the automated
[13:02] valuation estimates
[13:03] January of 25 we will have the final
[13:06] values for the reappraisal 2025 and the
[13:10] appeal period begins
[13:12] February of 2025 notices would be mailed
[13:15] to all residents in the county notifying
[13:17] them of their new value April 2025
[13:20] taxable values delivered the budget for
[13:23] FY 26 Board of Equalization review will
[13:26] convene and the appeal period ends
[13:28] mid-april
[13:32] timeline for the schedule values
[13:34] we will be back to the board sometime
[13:37] around July of 24 that will be our
[13:40] informal delivery to you of the schedule
[13:42] of values
[13:43] August of 24 will be the formal
[13:45] presentation to the Board of
[13:46] Commissioners and we'll open a copy to
[13:48] the public
[13:49] a published statement will be in the
[13:52] paper for those who would like to review
[13:53] that copy
[13:55] September of 2024 Board of commissioner
[13:58] approves and adopts the final schedule
[14:00] of values and that will be advertised
[14:02] for four weeks in October of 24 the
[14:05] schedule values appeal period
[14:07] will begin
[14:10] so for those of you I use the schedule
[14:11] values if you remember I'll refer back
[14:13] to that as the manual in which we bring
[14:17] to you which outlines all the cost of
[14:20] residential and Commercial properties
[14:22] and all the meth valuation methodology
[14:24] that we would use in the reappraisal
[14:30] questions
[14:37] yeah I have a couple
[14:38] first of all thank you Keith for this
[14:40] great presentation and all the
[14:42] information can you talk a little bit
[14:44] more about I think not sure which slide
[14:46] it was on but you said testing
[14:48] foundational changes to the valuation
[14:50] method can you just explain more about
[14:52] that please yes so we have identified
[14:54] those areas in the mass appraisal
[14:57] process that most people struggle with
[14:59] most in those areas at which people who
[15:01] struggle with most we are now going back
[15:04] and visiting with our contractor as a
[15:06] consultant look at how we change those
[15:08] foundational pieces and that is you know
[15:10] quality and great condition of a
[15:12] building appreciation land valuation
[15:14] influences in the land valuation as far
[15:17] as size these are all components that
[15:19] really drive the value in the beginning
[15:20] of the appraisal process in which we
[15:23] want to revisit and tear back down those
[15:27] structures to look to see what in them
[15:28] may not be working the way we want them
[15:30] to work and then we will rebuild them
[15:32] for 2025.
[15:35] thank you and you mentioned Community
[15:37] neighborhood areas can you share a
[15:40] little bit more about that as well yes
[15:42] you've heard me before mentioned that we
[15:44] currently have about 2500 what we call
[15:47] neighborhoods these are Market areas all
[15:49] across the county that we had divided up
[15:51] into Market areas we are going to read
[15:53] delineate all 2500 of those to have to
[15:57] go back and revisit to see what the
[15:59] market area is has it changed is it the
[16:01] same does it need to get bigger does it
[16:03] need to get smaller so that will be the
[16:06] task there that's the review all 2500 of
[16:08] those
[16:10] and then the auto valuations
[16:14] can you share more about that
[16:16] yes and and how you're using that
[16:19] so we will use that mostly as an audit
[16:23] tool so when this system calculates the value
[16:27] every night
[16:29] our appraisers will be able to see what
[16:31] that automated valuation model value
[16:33] comes out to be
[16:34] and if that say for instance if that
[16:36] came out to be six hundred thousand and
[16:39] we saw then the home came out to be
[16:40] valued at four hundred thousand that
[16:42] should be something that that gets
[16:44] flagged for the appraisers to go back
[16:46] and say why why is it different what did
[16:49] we miss or what did evaluation model
[16:50] Miss why is there a difference in the
[16:52] two numbers so it's an effort to improve
[16:55] the data quality and just the overall
[16:58] performance of the system
[17:00] thank you
[17:04] Keith I want to thank you for what you
[17:08] all have done to make this a lot more
[17:11] transmit parent than it's been in the
[17:13] past
[17:14] I can remember years ago working and
[17:18] banking people would come in with uh
[17:21] questions about reevaluation this and
[17:24] that and it was a struggle for us to
[17:27] figure out what was going on let alone
[17:29] the average person but what you're doing
[17:32] now is really paying off and I was
[17:34] helping one of my relatives and stumble
[17:37] on the changes that's been made on the
[17:39] internet she thought I was a rock star I
[17:42] think because of what I've you know did
[17:45] but uh keep up the good work because
[17:47] this is what we need to make as
[17:50] transparent as it can and I'm hearing
[17:53] some good things from people about the
[17:56] process that you did and uh what you've
[18:00] been doing as far as your community
[18:01] engagement so keep it up yeah thank you
[18:06] hello sir Echo that thanks and just ask
[18:08] I think I know the answer to this one
[18:10] but
[18:11] for the looking out to January 2025 when
[18:13] the appeal period begins I assume you're
[18:15] going to continue to have those open
[18:17] houses or seminars to educate people on
[18:19] how to navigate that process for full
[18:21] two yes I haven't gone through that
[18:23] before and and we're actually uh
[18:25] starting those conversations now about
[18:27] continuing that for this upcoming
[18:29] January of 24. so that will also open
[18:31] that window of opportunity to appeal and
[18:33] for anybody that needs support through
[18:35] that we want also to have our partners
[18:38] in this to be available to help them
[18:40] through that so yes we will do that
[18:41] again in 24 we hope and for sure do it
[18:44] in 25 so those people that want to
[18:46] appeal do have a pro a mechanism to
[18:49] reach out and get support through that
[18:52] system thank you you're welcome
[18:56] thanks for the presentation
[18:58] um I guess just a high level question so
[19:00] you know we're all aware of some of the
[19:02] critiques that we've had of the rebound
[19:04] system in terms of the concerns around
[19:05] the um
[19:08] perceived undervaluation of higher and
[19:11] property and overvaluation of more
[19:12] modest properties so just kind of
[19:14] thinking about and I know there's
[19:16] obviously been a lot of work and thought
[19:17] put into that
[19:18] um
[19:19] over the last couple of years so as
[19:22] we're looking ahead towards this next
[19:23] reval process how are just at a high
[19:26] level how are you kind of feeling about
[19:27] the system we have in place
[19:29] and going through this process
[19:31] in the context of those concerns that
[19:34] have been raised and thinking about you
[19:36] know do you feel pretty confident we're
[19:39] going to go through this process and
[19:40] when we get through it all and can kind
[19:42] of reflect back on it that we're gonna
[19:44] really have made a lot of progress in
[19:46] terms of addressing that issue and also
[19:50] just the perceptions around that issue
[19:51] so just I just appreciate any high level
[19:53] thoughts around around that I I do feel
[19:56] better and we have we listened to the
[20:00] concerns of course every time we hear a
[20:02] concern internally we analyze it amongst
[20:05] ourselves about why it's a concern and
[20:07] what went wrong maybe and what could be
[20:09] done better
[20:10] Mass appraisal is not a perfect system
[20:12] mass appraisal is there in order to
[20:15] accomplish such a large job but does
[20:18] mass appraisal and will Mass appraisal
[20:19] always have inherent issues yes but we
[20:23] have now I think identified what many of
[20:26] those inherent issues are within our
[20:28] community and now how do we break those
[20:30] down and deal with them and we're
[20:32] working on those every day and part of
[20:34] our consultant coming in is also working
[20:36] through those as an outside third party
[20:37] to help us identify what those are
[20:40] I do feel more confident that you are
[20:44] going to find in January of 2025 with
[20:47] these concerns will be handled and
[20:49] they're going to go away now does that
[20:52] mean that we won't have critics that
[20:54] will find something different I don't
[20:56] know okay but let's hope not but we are
[21:00] addressing the issues and I do believe
[21:02] with time with staff with the different
[21:05] Staffing that we have different tools we
[21:07] have is going to make a tremendous
[21:09] difference in what you see the final
[21:12] product to be
[21:13] okay that's what we all were hoping you
[21:17] would say so um the other question we
[21:20] have related a little bit more specific
[21:22] you know one of the pieces
[21:24] um you talked about a bit about the
[21:25] appeals process so there has been
[21:27] concern or race about that process in
[21:29] the past that you know that the um
[21:33] I mean anybody can participate in the
[21:35] process but we do I think we have data
[21:36] showing that more you know more affluent
[21:39] Property Owners tend to be more likely
[21:41] to participate in that process in the
[21:43] past than people who
[21:46] um you know own more modest properties
[21:49] um
[21:49] but not only are they more likely to
[21:51] participate in it they're more likely to
[21:53] be successful right even though there is
[21:56] some pretty good data showing that we're
[21:58] just making generalizations here not any
[22:00] particular property but
[22:01] uh in general there was actually
[22:04] probably some stronger arguments that
[22:06] there were more misses on the lower end
[22:08] properties than the higher end so so
[22:10] just talk a little bit more about about
[22:12] that you've shared some information
[22:13] about kind of what you're doing to get
[22:15] the word out so people can participate
[22:17] and you know lowering barriers to that
[22:19] uh that participation and that sounds
[22:22] great and so for folks who actually do
[22:24] participate
[22:25] do we do you feel confident going into
[22:29] this that again when we're all done with
[22:30] this we won't look back and say you know
[22:33] the um
[22:34] more modest Property Owners did not fare
[22:37] as well in this process as other
[22:40] property owners and you know so what are
[22:43] we you know even if the data kind of
[22:45] backs up the fact that you know
[22:46] generally speaking there's just as good
[22:48] arguments or maybe better on that side
[22:50] of the spectrum so yeah so I do have a
[22:53] couple things there and some of this
[22:55] will go back to one of the things that
[22:57] commissioner Whiteside said is that the
[22:59] residents of this County have also got
[23:01] to understand is that this needs to be a
[23:03] partnership okay I can't do this alone
[23:06] I cannot the only thing I can do is
[23:08] reach out give the education help people
[23:11] better understand how to go through the
[23:12] process but we do need to continue to
[23:16] bring down those barriers to have those
[23:19] folks who are not comfortable with the
[23:20] process come and appeal now how we do
[23:23] that through this process that we did
[23:26] this year we we think that we did make
[23:28] steps forward and we did make progress
[23:31] to giving people someone else to speak
[23:33] to okay when you can come into the room
[23:36] into a clinic and you have a realtor
[23:39] sitting there who can talk through the
[23:40] process with you show you comparable
[23:42] properties they're not a tax employee
[23:45] there's somebody there who this
[23:47] volunteering that wants to help you we
[23:49] need to get that word out more and more
[23:51] to tear that barrier down
[23:54] I've said in many of our community
[23:55] meetings lately is that people often
[23:58] feel the appeal process is a
[24:00] controversial process it's not I can
[24:03] tell you that I and the staff that work
[24:06] in the tax department is there to work
[24:08] through these problems with you now
[24:11] why would someone of a lower value
[24:14] moderate value at home be less
[24:15] successful than someone in a higher
[24:17] value home
[24:19] typically what I think we see is that
[24:22] education they don't know how to they
[24:24] don't know what to bring with them they
[24:26] don't know how to provide comparable
[24:27] properties they don't really understand
[24:29] how the system works so those are the
[24:32] barriers that we will tear down and we
[24:35] will put out the information and we will
[24:37] continue to reach out to these
[24:39] communities to help them be comfortable
[24:41] with it help them understand why they
[24:43] should do it and what the outcomes can
[24:46] be
[24:47] but I also I'm asking that these
[24:50] communities have to step up and be
[24:52] willing to come to the table with us is
[24:55] that we can all work together and tear
[24:57] down the barriers together and they will
[24:59] be better off come to January 2025.
[25:05] key any other questions for now
[25:09] okay keep thanks for the updates
[25:10] appreciate it
[25:12] all right
[25:14] um the next item on the agenda is the
[25:18] vibrant economy updates with the
[25:20] Department of Commerce
[25:22] economy presentation they've got several
[25:25] folks with us here to help out on this
[25:27] item
[25:28] I think
[25:32] thank you
[25:40] good afternoon good afternoon
[25:42] hello my name is Jeff debellis I am with
[25:45] the labor and economic analysis division
[25:47] with it within the Department of
[25:49] Commerce
[25:51] um for those of you who don't know me or
[25:54] know
[25:55] my division
[25:57] um
[25:57] let me give you a quick analysis uh
[26:01] I am I've got about 20 years of
[26:04] experience doing Economic Development
[26:06] research the last 11 of which
[26:10] I've been with the labor and economic
[26:12] analysis division of Commerce lead
[26:15] um
[26:16] the things we do you may not
[26:20] know of us but you probably know of our
[26:23] work if you've heard of the unemployment
[26:26] rate which I'm sure you all have or the
[26:28] jobs numbers we create that for the
[26:31] Bureau of Labor Statistics and publish
[26:33] those at the national and state level
[26:36] we take that data and others and do a
[26:41] lot of Big Data analysis and research a
[26:44] lot of analysis of our
[26:46] State Workforce and educational programs
[26:50] and look at the labor market outcomes of
[26:52] those programs
[26:53] we do things like we do today where we
[26:56] take the information and we help
[26:58] decision makers utilize it data is only
[27:02] good if you can apply it somewhere so we
[27:04] basically serve everyone from
[27:08] a grade school student who's looking you
[27:12] know for for jobs and career of the
[27:14] future
[27:15] all the way up to the governor's office
[27:17] and essentially everybody in between we
[27:21] produce a lot of Publications we have
[27:23] newsletters we have social media
[27:26] we publish reports and manage the
[27:30] state's administration of the tier
[27:33] system if you're familiar with it so a
[27:36] lot of data a lot of research as it
[27:38] relates to the economy and the labor
[27:42] market we are a resource for for you for
[27:46] your Workforce and economic development
[27:48] entities here at the the local and
[27:51] Regional level as well as other partners
[27:55] so today I was asked to talk about the
[27:57] economy
[27:59] um to look at the workforce look at
[28:02] businesses and and then have an eye to the Future
[28:06] um if you're data people and you get
[28:07] excited by data you're in for a treat I
[28:10] have lots of it
[28:12] um but as I said uh it really only uh is
[28:16] good as if you can apply it so I hope to
[28:18] give you some highlights and we can
[28:19] focus on the application of this data
[28:22] and the insights as to what it can tell
[28:24] you about the economy and Buncombe
[28:26] County's future
[28:28] I'll start off by talking about uh Top Line level about the unemployment
[28:33] rate it's low it's historically low
[28:35] Buncombe County has the lowest
[28:38] unemployment second lowest unemployment
[28:40] rate as of June over the last 12 months
[28:43] it has been the lowest in the state it's
[28:47] lower than what it was pre-pandemic in
[28:51] June of of 2019 and more residents are
[28:55] employed than ever before
[28:58] it's also good for employers there's the
[29:02] largest number of private sector
[29:03] businesses ever
[29:05] and they have produced the most jobs for
[29:10] the county ever recorded and probably
[29:13] the most job openings certainly
[29:17] over the last three years when we've
[29:19] been capturing this data
[29:21] also uh income is up I know that's a
[29:25] goal of Buncombe County's strategic plan
[29:29] um at least for the moment median
[29:32] household incomes are up above the state
[29:34] level
[29:35] and the poverty rate is lower than the
[29:40] state level so all good things happening
[29:42] here in Buncombe County
[29:44] some other lights yes sir so so I'm sure
[29:47] you'll cover this when you get to it but
[29:48] I guess
[29:49] that uh bullet point about the average state
[29:55] incomes so slide 13 talks about the
[29:58] state incomes and the county incomes
[30:01] the state incomes are higher
[30:03] so I'm sure you're going to explain why
[30:04] both these things are true in a minute
[30:06] but I was just I wanted to fly but maybe
[30:08] you could just speak to it for a minute
[30:09] here sure so
[30:12] um so when we talk about income and
[30:14] wages which I'll I'll go over there's a
[30:16] big difference between between that
[30:18] where right now
[30:20] the median household income for Buncombe
[30:24] County the latest data available I
[30:25] should say in 2021 is that median
[30:29] household incomes are are above the
[30:32] state median household items the wages
[30:34] are not but wages are not so people
[30:36] making come from like Investments and
[30:38] stuff so they're doing well but that's
[30:41] the distinction is income versus wages
[30:43] absolutely gotcha and I'll talk a little
[30:45] bit more about that when we get when we
[30:46] get that
[30:48] um
[30:50] other things that are other uh
[30:52] highlights lights uh maybe not as as
[30:56] quite as positive depending on your your
[30:57] Vantage Point
[30:59] um there's the the lowest number of job
[31:00] Seekers we've had in in years not just
[31:04] the people who are unemployed but people
[31:05] who are looking for a job who may have a
[31:08] job it's the the lowest that we've been
[31:12] able to estimate
[31:14] um
[31:16] it appears and I say appears because we
[31:18] have preliminary data where this is just
[31:20] kind of uh most recently reversed where
[31:23] all the jobs that were lost in the
[31:26] pandemic seem to have been recovered
[31:28] including all the the major sector
[31:31] Industries although not all Industries
[31:33] have fared equally well in the recovery
[31:38] buncombe's average wage which we talked
[31:42] about a moment ago is up which is a good
[31:44] thing but when adjusted for inflation is
[31:48] actually down from the last two years
[31:49] although up from pre-pandemic levels
[31:53] and the wages as mentioned before are
[31:57] below the state's level
[32:01] other quick
[32:02] points uh to highlight housing values
[32:06] which is I think is no surprise to
[32:08] anybody here are up when adjusted for
[32:11] inflation they're up uh 43 percent over
[32:14] the last 11 years that's higher than the
[32:18] state and higher than the than the
[32:19] region
[32:20] median home values have outpaced uh
[32:24] income
[32:26] and rents have outpaced wages
[32:30] so I'll go through each one of those in
[32:33] a little bit more detail
[32:35] um when we talk about the unemployment
[32:37] rate you can see from this this chart
[32:40] how low the rate has has gone we have
[32:44] actually in Buncombe County about 4 000
[32:47] unemployed people I should clarify what
[32:50] unemployed means it means all those who
[32:54] are interested in in working and don't
[32:58] have a job so they are active job
[33:00] Seekers people who are not interested in
[33:02] working or not counted in the
[33:03] unemployment statistics so the retired
[33:07] kid you know youth who might be in
[33:09] school people who are independently
[33:10] wealthy and don't don't want to work
[33:12] people who just don't want to work
[33:14] because they feel like they can't or
[33:16] they have
[33:18] um they're caring for loved ones they
[33:21] may be disabled etc those people are not
[33:24] counted in the unemployment rate
[33:27] I mentioned that the there's the most
[33:29] number of employed people ever
[33:32] um 145 000 as of of June so this area
[33:36] took a real hit
[33:38] um during the pandemic but that's fully
[33:41] recovered as far as Jobs go
[33:43] um mentioned that job Seekers are are
[33:46] down
[33:47] um
[33:48] but really what is what is up our job
[33:51] postings and this has created a really
[33:54] tight labor market
[33:56] what it means for a tight labor market
[33:59] it means it's a great time if you're a
[34:01] job Seeker there are roughly 1.5 job
[34:05] openings for every job Seeker it is not
[34:09] so great of a time if you are an
[34:11] employer trying to look for work so that
[34:15] has resulted in rises in wages and
[34:20] income is includes everything from wage
[34:26] income to income that you get from
[34:28] passive investments from income you
[34:31] receive from some of the
[34:34] government support that was provided
[34:37] during the pandemic and for that reason
[34:39] you've seen a real real shoot upward
[34:44] both from the wage standpoint and from
[34:48] benefits standpoint
[34:50] from 2019 to 2020 when adjusted for
[34:54] inflation that number dipped if we if we
[34:58] take inflation
[35:00] um into account you can see that it
[35:02] wasn't quite as large of a jump this
[35:04] increased uh 20 percent
[35:07] since uh 2010
[35:09] um and that's still higher than than the
[35:13] state rate
[35:14] um
[35:15] looking here you can see there's been a
[35:17] fall from 2020 to 2021 as it relates to
[35:21] median household income
[35:24] um and it's now kind of closer aligned
[35:27] to to the state rate
[35:30] not certain about the reasons for that
[35:33] at the moment but one can suspect that
[35:35] some of the pandemic relief may have had
[35:37] a play in that there was particular
[35:39] pandemic relief for those in targeted wage groups and industries that
[35:46] Buncombe County has more of
[35:50] so we'll see what happens as far as that
[35:53] in 2022
[35:55] um
[35:56] poverty is down it's nearly down to
[35:59] levels seen in the late 2010s
[36:05] um it is now lower than uh than the
[36:07] state and also lower than than the
[36:10] nation at 11.7 percent
[36:14] wages
[36:16] um especially when when adjusted for
[36:18] inflation have grown since 2010
[36:22] um but they've dipped a little bit in
[36:24] over the the last year and that's really
[36:28] just because of inflation wages in
[36:30] nominal terms have continued to go up
[36:33] but inflation has really cut into
[36:34] people's
[36:36] pocketbooks and and and uh and their
[36:39] wages is still much lower
[36:42] than the state's average weekly wage
[36:48] wages have
[36:50] [Music]
[36:50] um
[36:51] or higher when we talk about income
[36:54] there are a couple reasons for that one
[36:56] we're talking about medians versus
[36:58] averages and two when we talk about
[37:01] households we can have multiple earners
[37:03] in a household and we can have uh
[37:07] different uh means of of income so these
[37:10] are not real comparable statistics but
[37:14] wages are a part of of income
[37:17] for both of these uh you can see where
[37:20] the state Falls so income is is higher
[37:24] for the county than it is for the state
[37:28] and the state wages is higher than the
[37:30] county
[37:32] both of those uh and the growth rates
[37:35] for both income and wages pale in
[37:37] comparison to what we've seen for median
[37:39] home values and meeting rent
[37:45] so let's talk a little bit more about
[37:47] wages and where they come from
[37:49] here's a distribution of average wages
[37:54] by industry that goes from
[37:57] accommodation and food services at over
[38:00] 500 a week to eighteen hundred dollars a
[38:03] week for finance for the finance
[38:06] industry
[38:08] buncombe's average is just over a
[38:11] thousand dollars where the states is at
[38:14] 12 15.
[38:17] looking at State versus County wages you
[38:22] can see areas in which the county does
[38:25] better than the state and where the
[38:26] state does better than County for
[38:28] industries that I can highlight where
[38:31] the county is doing better than the
[38:33] state are ones where the county tends to
[38:36] specialize mostly in Hospitality
[38:39] accommodation Food Services arts and
[38:41] entertainment as well as Healthcare and
[38:45] public administration
[38:48] the four uh or five lowest paying County
[38:53] of what of the lowest paying Industries
[38:56] have actually grown twice as fast as the
[39:00] state
[39:01] um
[39:02] while
[39:08] um
[39:09] well the the top ones are are
[39:13] significantly lower than the state I
[39:16] should mention that
[39:18] taking the top five paying industries
[39:21] that if we were to increase wages just
[39:23] to the top five
[39:25] you'd recover about 30 percent of the
[39:28] differential between the state's average
[39:31] wage and the County's average wage so
[39:34] that disparity at the high end is part
[39:38] of what's what's driving the difference
[39:40] in county and state wages
[39:45] let's look at employers mentioned that
[39:48] employment is up number of total number
[39:51] of jobs
[39:53] There's 7 400 people
[39:56] more people employed now than there was
[39:59] pre-pandemic
[40:03] um the county saw a lot deeper of a hit during the
[40:10] pandemic than the state did and has
[40:12] recovered but the state has recovered a
[40:14] little bit faster you can see over the
[40:17] last few months if you can defer from
[40:19] that uh
[40:21] from that slide that wages are starting
[40:24] to accelerate here in the region
[40:28] looking at growth
[40:32] good news is that the four fastest
[40:37] growing regions are also amongst the
[40:40] highest paying so we have Business and
[40:42] Professional Business Services which
[40:44] also includes that management of
[40:46] companies industry which are
[40:49] headquarters information financial
[40:51] services and wholesale trade all growing
[40:55] fast
[40:57] here in the county
[40:59] um
[41:00] the county has a different look as far
[41:04] as a breakout of its industry sectors
[41:07] compared to the state
[41:09] here's a the share of employment versus
[41:12] the share of employment for North
[41:14] Carolina
[41:16] sheriff industry
[41:19] differences
[41:20] account for about 40 percent of the the
[41:24] difference in median of average weekly
[41:27] wage
[41:28] I mentioned that just only give you
[41:30] context I don't think it would be wise
[41:33] to
[41:35] um
[41:35] to to try to achieve the same level as
[41:39] the state as far as the the composition
[41:41] and share Buncombe County is unique from
[41:45] other counties
[41:47] um in this in the state in that is able
[41:50] to draw a lot of people via tourism via
[41:54] um
[41:55] via seasonal residents that increases
[41:59] the demand for services for for food for
[42:03] entertainment for hospitality and
[42:06] Leisure more so than what could be
[42:09] satisfied by the local residents alone
[42:11] so that's always you're always going to
[42:14] seem to have a high concentration of
[42:17] those of those Industries but this gives
[42:21] you a perspective as far as as where the
[42:24] state is relative to your economy
[42:30] um there's a significantly lower share
[42:33] of employment
[42:37] um in in Buncombe County compared to the
[42:39] state in these industries highlighted
[42:43] um I should note that these industries
[42:45] that are highlighted whereas there's the
[42:47] greatest difference are also the ones
[42:49] that pay the pay the most
[42:52] conversely those where this the county
[42:56] has a higher share of employment
[42:59] are ones where typically they they pay
[43:03] less
[43:08] tourism is vitally important as you know
[43:10] and has rebounded strongly
[43:14] um from 2021 to 2020 we don't have 2022
[43:18] numbers yet grew 18
[43:21] between 19 and 2021
[43:25] tourism accounts for 9.1 percent of the
[43:30] state's total and is the second largest
[43:33] in tourism receipts second to
[43:36] Mecklenburg in the state
[43:39] um
[43:39] the Leisure and Hospitality roughly
[43:42] accounts for about 6.6 percent of GDP
[43:45] for uh for the county so it's it's very
[43:49] important
[43:51] we look at business as a small business
[43:54] we saw a big increase
[43:58] Statewide as well as nationally in
[44:01] business formation
[44:04] um but a lower percentage here in in
[44:07] Buncombe County so where we've seen
[44:10] according to the census 51 increase in
[44:15] new business starts uh from 22 from 2006
[44:19] to 2022
[44:21] uh or sorry since 2019 we saw a 41
[44:26] increase here in Buncombe County
[44:33] looking forward
[44:35] um the future is uh
[44:38] is going to be determined by the
[44:41] workforce and education is critically
[44:45] important to the jobs that we see coming
[44:47] online now and in the future our
[44:50] Department of Commerce and Lead does
[44:53] 10-year projections of employment by
[44:56] industry and occupation every two years
[44:59] and our latest
[45:01] run shows that the jobs that require
[45:06] post-secondary education are growing
[45:09] much faster than those that that don't
[45:16] automation
[45:19] sorry
[45:23] automation is something that is of
[45:26] interest to a lot of folks these days
[45:28] the latest data available on automation
[45:33] really did not include uh the latest in AI or looking more at traditional
[45:41] Robotics and
[45:42] um and process automation
[45:45] we're currently looking into the effects
[45:49] that AI may have on the labor force but
[45:51] you can see that automation is more
[45:54] likely to affect the lower educated jobs
[45:57] than the higher ones and for Asheville
[46:01] that means a lot of jobs that have the
[46:05] potential to be disrupted I like to say
[46:07] disrupted as opposed to
[46:10] lost I don't think that they're
[46:12] necessarily going to be lost but jobs
[46:14] will change
[46:15] there may be jobs that that do
[46:19] Transition
[46:21] but new ones may be created they often
[46:24] are and often what people do in those
[46:27] professions change we often talk about uh
[46:34] about ATMs and their effects on bank
[46:37] tellers everybody was afraid that we're
[46:40] going to lose all bank tellers that
[46:42] actually grew bank tellers just do a
[46:45] little bit different of a job than they
[46:46] did 20 or 30 years ago so we expect some
[46:51] disruption and we're starting to see
[46:53] that already even in the hospitality
[46:55] sector because of things like automation
[46:58] automated Payment Systems ordering
[47:01] online
[47:04] um menus on your phone and whatnot so
[47:07] it's changing jobs and what's needed in
[47:10] the workforce and will continue
[47:13] some quick takeaways as I mentioned it's a tight labor market we expect this
[47:18] to last as long as the economy is good
[47:20] recession will change everything but but
[47:24] we expect there to be more more jobs
[47:28] available
[47:29] than there are job Seekers coming online
[47:32] just because of demographics so this is
[47:35] something that's that's likely to to
[47:37] continue to happen it's a great time to
[47:41] try to reach out and get some of those
[47:43] people who are not in the labor force
[47:46] into employment they're often very
[47:49] difficult to serve very expensive to
[47:51] serve to try to get people whether it's
[47:52] those with disabilities whether it's a
[47:56] those who are have long-term
[47:57] unemployment
[47:59] youth who have dropped out of school or
[48:03] those who are just as involved but now
[48:05] is probably the best bang for our buck
[48:07] to be able to to get those people into
[48:10] jobs because they're needed
[48:12] wage growth is trailing the state and
[48:16] houses housing costs
[48:18] um
[48:19] education is going to be critical as I
[48:23] mentioned you can diverse diversify to
[48:26] some extent but tourism is is critical
[48:30] in trying to get to the same level as
[48:33] the state as far as a a share of
[48:36] employment probably is not wise or
[48:39] realistic but there is opportunities to
[48:42] try to to get more people into those
[48:45] high-paying sectors
[48:48] um
[48:49] support those those high-paying sectors
[48:51] and the people in it we don't yet have
[48:54] data on those who may be working remotely or
[48:59] who have relocated to work here remotely
[49:02] there is data available on remote work
[49:06] um but it shows kind of a mixed picture
[49:07] as it relates to
[49:09] the region there is opportunity though
[49:12] potentially and maybe that's part of the
[49:14] reason why we're seeing some of the fast
[49:15] wage growth in those in those remote
[49:18] work capable Industries
[49:21] that pay well
[49:23] lastly a small business there's
[49:27] opportunity here to try to grow and
[49:31] nurture that Community especially if
[49:35] we've seen lower
[49:36] um
[49:37] lower startups here than than across the
[49:41] state
[49:42] if you want more information from us or
[49:45] where to where to stay abreast for this data we have a website called
[49:51] analytics.nccommers.com
[49:53] there we highlight things like
[49:56] nccareers.org which is our Career
[49:58] Information System for the state where
[49:59] we have we offer a free Career
[50:03] Information System for those in school
[50:06] and those in the workforce we have we've
[50:09] had about 900 000 unique users across
[50:13] the state
[50:14] take assessments learn about the jobs
[50:17] that are available and what it takes to
[50:19] get them
[50:20] and it's available for you in the county
[50:23] at the local level as well we have area
[50:26] profiles at the county level where you
[50:29] can look at
[50:31] economic conditions in your county is
[50:34] updated monthly
[50:37] and then we have two News letters that
[50:40] you can follow on economic and labor
[50:42] market statistics
[50:44] we have a we also have a LMI Tuesday
[50:48] mini webinar that you can you can follow
[50:51] every other Tuesday on the first and
[50:52] third of the month
[50:54] so with that I'll conclude and I'll take
[50:57] any questions you may have
[51:00] thank you so much this is really great
[51:02] content a lot to digest
[51:04] um on that last takeaway in terms of
[51:07] ways to kind of stimulate or nurture uh
[51:12] startups and that kind of
[51:13] entrepreneurial environment do you have
[51:15] any kind of um
[51:17] concrete examples that come to mind
[51:19] where you've seen other communities able
[51:21] to kind of reverse that Trend and
[51:23] cultivate more of that startup
[51:26] um there are uh I know that there is a a
[51:30] startup Hub I forgot what that that I
[51:33] think they the EDC runs
[51:35] um here and I've seen that happen in a
[51:37] lot of local communities I know Durham
[51:40] has networking events that their their
[51:44] chamber
[51:45] offers there are social events
[51:48] um which may be something especially if
[51:50] you're attract if
[51:52] you're attracting
[51:54] um some more remote workers to get those
[51:56] people integrated into
[51:59] um not only the community but also a lot
[52:03] of tech workers as you know are involved
[52:06] in startup activities or could play a
[52:08] role so a lot of counties and and edcs
[52:12] tend to work on a lot on networking also
[52:15] you know the sbtdc here in the region
[52:19] has been putting more and more attention
[52:21] to startups in the future I get in touch
[52:25] with them to see what they're offering
[52:27] and and their what they're seeing on the
[52:29] ground
[52:32] I had a similar question but in regards
[52:34] to engaging those with hiring challenges
[52:37] particularly Justice involved people
[52:39] with disabilities
[52:41] a lot of organizations that have Federal
[52:43] funding for example are required to hire
[52:45] someone with a bachelor's degree have
[52:47] you seen any examples of where
[52:51] you know communities have had success in
[52:54] navigating some of those more difficult
[52:57] hiring situations where requirements are
[53:00] put on them in terms of who they can
[53:01] hire so they can focus on hiring
[53:05] I haven't seen that as much I know has
[53:07] been talked about a lot in the state has
[53:09] lowered their you know as a employer has
[53:11] lowered their hiring requirements
[53:14] um I think a lot of a lot of it really
[53:18] is generated by the the business right
[53:22] and so
[53:24] um we've seen that employers have been
[53:27] more willing to lower their standards
[53:30] you can think of it when you know you've
[53:33] got a stack of of resumes this high that
[53:36] you need to whittle it down somehow and
[53:39] often times things like education were
[53:42] the first point of of that narrowing a
[53:46] lot of employers when they have a stack
[53:47] this high or they have nobody have
[53:49] opened up
[53:50] their requirements I haven't seen a lot
[53:54] I know in some manufacturing
[53:56] particularly where things like drugs are
[54:01] more of a drug screening is more of an
[54:03] issue I have
[54:05] I haven't heard as much of the
[54:07] requirements about
[54:09] Justice fault that it doesn't surprise
[54:11] me that there that there would be some I
[54:15] even so I think there are still lots of
[54:18] employers and I know the state's
[54:20] division of Workforce Solutions the
[54:23] local Career Centers here work with
[54:25] Justice involved communities and
[54:26] employers who are willing to to hire
[54:29] there is federal bonding and other
[54:30] method other ways to encourage employers
[54:33] to work with with that population I
[54:36] think there's some of it is an awareness
[54:38] and some of it is just a natural
[54:40] hesitancy but now more than any time in
[54:44] my lifetime
[54:45] it appears that there's more of a
[54:48] willingness for employers to take a
[54:51] chance I'm not saying it's easy and that
[54:52] you've got a lot of employers wanting to
[54:54] take a chance on on that type of
[54:56] individual but there's more of a
[54:58] likelihood now during the tight labor
[55:00] market than their of her husband
[55:04] Jeffrey you know when I would like to
[55:06] see more of on reports like this is we
[55:10] don't talk enough about the challenges
[55:13] we have with people of color
[55:16] you know overall Buncombe County is no
[55:19] different from North Carolina or the
[55:22] United States for that matter but I
[55:25] think when you give reports like this
[55:27] it's great don't misunderstand me but
[55:31] we need to highlight
[55:33] the obstacles and that we have in that
[55:37] and what we can do to improve this sure
[55:40] because this is a group that I still see
[55:44] that we are losing a lot of valuable
[55:48] Talent
[55:50] right and we've got to discuss it and
[55:53] tackle it and look at it and and if I
[55:56] could go back to my I had a slide just
[55:59] in case
[56:00] it's hard to to know exactly what
[56:03] everybody wants to talk about and try to
[56:05] fit everything in a short presentation
[56:06] so I have a couple slides at the end of
[56:09] my presentation that are um
[56:12] extras and so here's number one extra I
[56:17] should say which is not to say that it's
[56:18] not important
[56:20] um it shouldn't be extra it should be
[56:22] included you're right and and so
[56:26] um when we talk about employment
[56:27] opportunities in a tight labor market
[56:29] it's a tight labor market overall but
[56:32] it's not
[56:33] that tight for everyone which again
[56:35] leads some to question well
[56:38] how how desperate are employers for
[56:40] people when we have five and a half
[56:42] percent
[56:43] unemployment rate for black African
[56:45] Americans in in Buncombe County so
[56:49] um yes I I
[56:52] um I'm sorry I didn't put this in the
[56:54] front of the presentation
[56:56] um but it is an important thing to to
[56:59] call out and to address and to have a
[57:01] Frank and honest conversation with
[57:03] employers as well as reaching those
[57:05] people and see if there's any other if
[57:07] you know there there may be other
[57:10] opportunities other barriers within
[57:13] racial populations as well we need to
[57:16] make sure that we talk about opportunity
[57:18] youth people have dropped out of high
[57:19] school
[57:21] um you know how much overlap do we have
[57:23] with race in Buncombe County so
[57:27] yes
[57:29] um
[57:30] it's an issue
[57:40] um I guess my only question
[57:42] this time would be
[57:45] you know there's over the last um 12
[57:49] months since the
[57:50] um Congress passed the the so-called
[57:53] inflation reduction act which is
[57:55] actually about a lot of other stuff with
[57:57] you know domestic manufacturing and uh
[58:01] um clean energy economy related things
[58:04] there's been the you know the largest
[58:06] number of announced manufacturing
[58:09] expansions and new manufacturing
[58:11] projects in the country by like this
[58:14] huge margin compared to any time in
[58:17] decades right so we're going to go
[58:19] through this big National Renaissance in
[58:22] terms in the clean tech and
[58:24] Manufacturing sector
[58:27] um
[58:29] what else should we be doing I mean
[58:30] obviously those are all things that are
[58:32] like what people in our community really
[58:34] love right so is there is are there
[58:36] other things that we should be doing to
[58:38] position ourselves to benefit from
[58:43] um the rapid growth in that sector I
[58:45] mean I we've had a lot of great projects
[58:47] happening in our area
[58:48] when we look at a lot of things
[58:50] happening around North Carolina we'd
[58:52] love to see more of those projects you
[58:54] know coming to Western North Carolina so
[58:56] any thoughts sure
[58:58] um yeah we're seeing uh high growth in
[59:01] uh occupations such as solar
[59:04] photovoltaic installers solar panel
[59:07] installers in the uh in the state and in
[59:09] the region working with Community
[59:11] College on that but really the the new
[59:14] green economy is going to require a lot
[59:16] more electricians than we currently have
[59:20] everybody's kind of struggling with that
[59:23] in the state and and nationally so I
[59:27] would you know certainly work with
[59:30] um your local Community College make
[59:32] sure that not only
[59:35] are programs in place but also that the
[59:40] community at large is aware of these
[59:43] opportunities and and what it takes to
[59:45] get into them
[59:46] and that's what we're trying to do with
[59:48] the NC careers I mentioned you know how
[59:52] can we prepare the uh the students and
[59:55] the job Seekers for future employment if
[59:57] we don't tell them what that future
[59:59] employment is and what it takes to get
[1:00:01] there so
[1:00:04] any other questions
[1:00:07] all right Jeff thanks so much appreciate
[1:00:09] you thank you
[1:00:15] all right is that it for this item
[1:00:18] okay all right I wasn't sure if we're
[1:00:19] gonna go to the other slide all right
[1:00:21] well then if that said on this yeah the
[1:00:23] other side is just your information okay
[1:00:25] great
[1:00:26] all right well Commissioners that's
[1:00:27] everything that we had on the agenda so
[1:00:30] um
[1:00:31] we are
[1:00:39] Here Comes Rafael we were including that
[1:00:42] for your information but we can discuss
[1:00:43] it if that's yeah
[1:00:46] okay so we're not doing that other PowerPoint
[1:00:51] presentation of the meeting okay great
[1:00:52] all right well then we're adjourned for
[1:00:54] this meeting we'll reconvene I believe
[1:00:55] you had a closed session yeah so we'll
[1:00:57] reconvene it at five o'clock but we do
[1:01:00] have a need for a closed session Mr free
[1:01:01] would you tell us what the purpose is
[1:01:03] yes sir Mr chairman Commissioners uh we
[1:01:06] request to go in a closed session for
[1:01:07] two purposes one
[1:01:09] uh General statute 143 318 11 A6 that's
[1:01:13] for uh Personnel moderate uh matters
[1:01:16] considering uh qualifications confidence
[1:01:18] performance of a County employee and
[1:01:21] second for GS 143 31811 A3 to console
[1:01:25] with attorneys uh regarding the matter
[1:01:28] involving attorney client privilege we
[1:01:30] just expect direction from the board
[1:01:31] with no action to be taken an open
[1:01:33] session
[1:01:34] all right
[1:01:37] is there a motion to go into closed
[1:01:39] sessions second
[1:01:42] all in favor say aye aye any opposed all
[1:01:45] right from closed session