[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

Buncombe County Board of Commissioners' Briefing (August 15, 2023)

Transcript