[3:06] So I'm going to go ahead and call this work session to order. Good afternoon, everyone. Do I have any adjustments to the work session agenda?

[3:18] No. All right, hearing none. I'm going to get a motion to approve the work session agenda today, please.

[3:26] Thank you on favor.

[3:28] All right.

[3:29] All right.

[3:30] Thank you.

[3:31] All right.

[3:35] We have four resolutions today.

[3:38] We have some folks.

[3:38] Thank you for coming.

[3:40] Here to have pictures for those.

[3:42] So basically, the way we're going to do this is we're going to present each of these resolutions.

[3:46] And then after we present all of them, we're just going to go ahead and take a short recess to take photos for anybody that's here for those today.

[3:55] First app is item 260446, but to adopt a resolution, recognizing September 26th is healthy

[4:04] aging month in Chattam County, and to read that as governor, as far as.

[4:12] A resolution of the Chattam County Board of Commissioners recognizing September 26th

[4:17] has healthy aging month in Chattam County.

[4:20] Whereas Chattam County joins the state and nation in observing healthy aging month in September,

[4:25] which raises awareness of the physical and mental health of older adults as we age our minds and bodies changes.

[4:34] Requiring the maintenance of a healthy lifestyle to adapt to these changes and prevent common health problems related to aging.

[4:41] and we're as Chattam County Aging Services operates the Pittsburgh Center for Active Living and the Solidarity Center for Active Living

[4:49] to serve that the physical, social and informational needs of those 55 years of age and older

[4:57] and we're as through the services

[5:00] Activities and programs of chatemcounting, aging services, a growing older adult population can contribute to its health and well-being, and those of its fellow citizens.

[5:11] And whereas the Pittsburgh Center for Active Living and Solidarity Center for Active Living, or staff by caring professionals and volunteers who plan and provide programming, affirming the dignity, self-worth and independence of the older adult population.

[5:27] and we're asked Chetam County Aging Services Centers play a crucial role in preserving and maintaining the independence of older adults, allowing them to age in place for as long as possible.

[5:40] and whereas the Pittsburgh Center for Active Libyan Solidarity Center for Active Libyan

[5:48] Living have earned a center of excellence, these stations from the North Carolina Division

[5:53] of Aging and Adult Services and whereas Chatham County Aging Services will commemorate

[6:00] healthy aging month with its third annual healthy aging expo on Tuesday, September 22nd

[6:07] at the Chatham County Agriculture and Conference Center.

[6:10] Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Chatham County Board of Commissioners,

[6:14] the month of September is recognized as healthy aging month in Chatham County.

[6:18] And, calls upon the people of Chatham County to observe the month on making age-appropriate steps

[6:24] to safeguard physical and mental health, including the utilization of services and programs offered

[6:30] by the Chattam County Agent Services adopted this the 17th day of August, 2026.

[6:38] Is there a motion to approve the resolution?

[6:41] As the resident older person, I will second.

[6:47] Do I have an all in favor?

[6:49] Aye.

[6:50] Aye.

[6:50] Thank you.

[6:52] Thank you.

[6:52] All right.

[6:55] And I am old and in you.

[6:56] But at least six months.

[6:58] Mr. Howard.

[7:01] Okay.

[7:02] Next up is item 260419 vote to adopt a resolution, recognizing September 2026 as Kinship

[7:10] Care Month and Commissioner,

[7:15] you're reading that.

[7:16] Come on.

[7:17] Thank you.

[7:18] Thank you.

[7:19] Thank you.

[7:23] Thank you.

[7:31] Thank you.

[7:32] Board of Commissioners, recognizing September as Kinship Care Month in Chattam County,

[7:39] whereas the children in youth are our hope for the future, and children deserve a safe and

[7:44] loving nurturing place to call home. Whereas Kinship Care minimizes the trauma of separation

[7:52] by placing children with relatives or close family friends, they are already no and trust.

[7:58] And whereas Chattam County has committed dedicated resources to increase the number and supports

[8:06] to kinship families across the county to minimize additional stressors for children and families.

[8:13] And whereas during the fiscal year 2025, there were an average of 79 children in foster care in Chattam County each month.

[8:22] With approximately 25% of these children living with family and

[8:27] can chip connections, including some who are licensed foster homes, and

[8:32] whereas the can chip foster care and guardianship assistance program,

[8:38] can gap offers financial assistance and Medicaid for youth who are determined to be

[8:43] in a permanent family setting and unlikely to obtain permanency through

[8:48] re-unification or adoption. And this helps to maintain continuity of care for children outside

[8:55] of traditional foster homes. And whereas Kinship Care Month is an opportunity to recognize

[9:02] the Kinship Care providers who open their hearts to provide children with the sense of connection,

[9:09] security, and ties to their culture, family, and community, as well as child welfare professionals

[9:17] and advocates, working to ensure children's safety, permanence, and well-being, and to spread

[9:23] awareness on behalf of the children in Kinship Care.

[9:27] Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Chattam County Board of Commissioners that's at

[9:31] 10, or 20, 26 is recognized as Kinship Care Month, and encourages people to volunteer their

[9:38] time, energy, and talents on behalf of children in foster care and their biological families.

[9:44] can ship care and foster parents during the month and throughout the year adopted this the

[9:49] 17th day of August, 2026.

[9:53] Would you like to make a motion?

[9:55] To adopt the resolution?

[9:56] So moved.

[9:57] Second.

[9:59] Thank you.

[10:00] Thank you. All right. Next up is item 2, 6, 0468 vote to adopt a resolution recognizing national voter registration day and Commissioner Robertson will be reading this one.

[10:19] Resolution of the Chattam County Board of Commissioners recognizing September 15th of 2026 is national voter registration day in Chattam County.

[10:27] Whereas the right to vote is a fundamental pillar of the American democracy, ensuring that all citizens have the opportunity to participate in the governance of their communities state and nation.

[10:41] And whereas National Voter Registration Day is a nonpartisan, civic holiday celebrated annually

[10:49] to encourage eligible citizens to register to vote and to participate fully in the

[10:56] democratic process. And whereas millions of Americans remain unregistered or face barriers

[11:04] to registration, underscoring the importance of public awareness, outreach, and access to voter

[11:12] registration resources. And whereas civic engagement and voter participation, strengthen communities,

[11:20] promote accountability, and help ensure that government reflects the will of the people.

[11:26] And whereas local governments, community organizations, volunteers, and election officials play a

[11:33] idle role in promoting voter registration and encouraging informed participation in elections.

[11:42] And whereas the Chatham County Board of Commissioners is committed to supporting fair,

[11:47] accessible, and secure elections, and to encouraging all eligible residents to exercise

[11:53] their right to vote.

[11:56] Now therefore it be resolved that the Chatham County Board of Commissioners hereby recognizes

[12:01] is September 15th, 2026, as National Voter Registration Day and encourages all eligible residents

[12:08] of Chattam County to register to vote. Verify their registration status and participate

[12:15] in the upcoming elections, adopted this 17th day of August 2026.

[12:22] Thank you. To have a motion. I'd like to have a motion. A motion to approve the resolution. Thank you.

[12:28] And we have a second-all in favor.

[12:31] Hi.

[12:31] I'm a magician.

[12:34] Sorry.

[12:36] Oh, oh.

[12:36] It was a Skipper pay roll.

[12:37] Hey, Rob.

[12:37] I just, yes, payroll.

[12:38] Do not want to forget payroll.

[12:40] No, no, no.

[12:40] We definitely got, I did Skipper roll.

[12:42] Allergies of apologies.

[12:43] Thank you.

[12:44] We don't hope payroll to skip us.

[12:45] No, no.

[12:46] Exactly.

[12:47] All right.

[12:48] Next up is item 26-04-4-3.

[12:51] Vote to adopt a resolution recognizing payroll week

[12:54] during the week of September 7th.

[12:56] 2026 through September 11th, 2026 in Shadowham County, Commissioner Howard, will you please read this one?

[13:03] Yes. Payroll professionals play a critical role in ensuring the timely and accurate

[13:07] payment of wages to America's workforce, and whereas payroll departments collect, report,

[13:13] and deposit nearly three trillion in an annual federal income, social security, and unemployment

[13:19] taxes, in addition to managing complex regulatory requirements at the federal, state, and local levels,

[13:25] and whereas payroll professionals help ensure compliance with ever-changing labor and tax laws,

[13:31] protecting employees and employers alike, and whereas the work of payroll professionals contribute to the economic health of our nation,

[13:40] supporting employee financial security and enabling businesses to meet their obligations,

[13:45] and whereas these individuals are vital to the county's mission to deliver efficient and reliable services to residents,

[13:51] ensuring fiscal responsibility and operational excellence across all departments.

[13:57] And whereas payroll org, formerly the American Payroll Association,

[14:02] has designated the first full week of September as national payroll week

[14:05] to honor the vital contributions of payroll professionals.

[14:09] Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Chattam County Board of Commissioners here

[14:12] by proclaim September 7th through the 11th, 2026 as payroll week in Chattam County

[14:18] And expresses a sincere appreciation to the county's payroll professionals for their essential work in supporting the financial integrity and success of chatem county operations adopted this 17th day of August 2026.

[15:00] All right. All right. In the motion to approve is adopted. Thank you. Right. And now we will have a 10-minute recess to take photos for resolutions. Can you keep us on order as far as, which is for second, third, fourth?

[18:49] Next is public comments. And do we have anybody sign up for this afternoon? No, we have no one signed up for this session. Okay. Thank you. All right. And next up is board priorities. We have item 2, 6, 0,

[19:04] 3, 6, 2. Receive a presentation from Chattam Health Alliance, Julie Walkerson will present this item.

[19:47] Thank you.

[19:50] Hi, it's good to see you all.

[19:52] I'm Julie Walkerson. I know some of you.

[19:54] I'm the executive director of the Chattam Health Alliance.

[19:57] This is going to be short and sweet.

[20:00] So many of you know, but the Alliance is a membership-led coalition. We bring together community members, but also agency partners, to work on the health priorities and just wellness and health in Chattam County.

[20:13] We have a wide range of members, and we've been working really hard over the last few years to make the Alliance more accessible to community members, to be part of the work we're doing, and so far that's been pretty successful. I'll talk a little bit more about that.

[20:27] I'm going to focus today on the community assessment, since we have another one right around the corner,

[20:33] 2027, and the community health improvement plan, and then I just want to focus for a minute on our community action team,

[20:40] because it's grown a lot over the last few years and I'm very excited about it.

[20:47] So this shows you the 2024 sort of timeline of the community assessment.

[20:53] the big buckets will look very similar. We are making some changes. Again, our hope is

[20:58] just to make this as robust a data collection as we can and to make it as focused on what

[21:05] the community wants to know and interested in able to communicate with us as possible. So some

[21:11] things might change and next year when I present again, I'll be able to highlight those changes.

[21:16] but the main buckets are obviously survey and data collection.

[21:21] So we develop the survey in the year leading up to data collection.

[21:25] So we're about to start doing the development.

[21:28] And then this survey will go out to community members in the spring of 2027.

[21:35] We also, so that's our quantitative data.

[21:37] We also do qualitative data collection.

[21:39] Those are focus groups.

[21:40] Again, those happen in the spring and early summer of the community assessment year.

[21:45] Those go into the prioritization and strategic planning, that's really what the

[21:50] China Health Alliance does.

[21:52] So the Health Department does a big push of data collection and analysis and the Alliance

[21:55] comes in.

[21:56] We talk to community members and agencies.

[21:59] We show them the data and we ask what they think our focus area should really be on for the

[22:03] collective action work that we do in the community and we develop a community strategic plan.

[22:10] We support the assessment report process as well.

[22:14] We try and get as many agencies to be a part of that development.

[22:18] The County Public Health Department does so much work around this.

[22:21] You all know that you hear from them.

[22:23] They do amazing work and really be alliances.

[22:26] Just try and try to support and make sure we have voices from other agencies as well.

[22:31] We disseminate the community assessment.

[22:33] This is really a year's long process.

[22:36] the actual data collection is a short period of time,

[22:39] but the overall assessment process really does take

[22:43] that it's six months of planning and then six months to a year of dissemination

[22:47] to make sure we're getting that data out to agencies and the community members who need it.

[22:52] I'll talk more about the community action team, but we started that in 2024 again

[22:56] as a way for the community to be part of developing the survey to let us know

[23:01] what they're seeing on the ground in the community, what we need to be asking about,

[23:05] but then also after that to be part of the work we're doing. So they are almost a fourth action

[23:12] committee for the Alliance. They really are helping advise our subcommittees telling agencies what

[23:17] they're seeing, what's working, what's not, what we're doing that they find helpful, what we could

[23:22] be doing differently, so they've been great. And then our health priority subcommittees develop

[23:27] action plans for each of the health priorities. So next I'm going to talk about each of those health

[23:32] subcommittees, and their work in successes in 2025, which I realize seems late, but I unfortunately

[23:40] missed my original date to present to you, I apologize. I will start with activities for youth and

[23:47] young adults. They've done a great amount of work. They identified a city park in

[24:00] city, there's funding through the health department to do a feasibility study for developing

[24:06] that site, but probably the thing I missed and pressed that that group did was they put

[24:11] together a survey for youth 14 to 22 and they got 66 responses, which is huge. And I really

[24:20] credit just the collaborative nature of that subcommittee and being able to do that and we got

[24:25] some great information from youth about what they wanted to see. Just kind of acknowledging

[24:29] that often those rooms are adults talking about what Park should have and in this scenario we really

[24:35] wanted to hear if we create a park for you, what do you want to see there and we got some really

[24:41] interesting information. They want a lot of games that they play with their friends, air hockey,

[24:46] things like that, not so much separation. Is it in the report?

[24:56] For the

[24:57] this, but we can get that to you. I'd love for that.

[25:00] Develop a curriculum for youth her interested in local government in learning how to be involved. So that's exciting. And then the last thing is trying is working with agencies to figure out how we can help get the word out about programs. One of the things that I hear a lot from the community when I'm having community groups or working with the action team is that they don't. They're surprised when I tell them about programs. They haven't heard this. So we're trying to bridge that gap of what we as agencies,

[25:30] think we're doing really well in communication and what the communities actually telling us is

[25:35] reaching them or not so that we can make that better. They've been working on that.

[25:41] Health care

[25:41] access, the health care access subcommittee worked a lot last year to create a comprehensive guide

[25:51] of mobile health care units. So our goal with that is the Alliance has some funding and the task

[25:57] force about to launch to relaunch our community resource hubs, which you all may know of, especially

[26:04] if you saw that happen during COVID, it's something we started in COVID to get needed resources

[26:10] directly to the community where they live, in their neighborhoods, at churches, at schools,

[26:16] and we want to relaunch that. We've heard from community members that it really is helpful

[26:20] way for them to get resources, especially if they don't live in either of the city centers here in

[26:27] want to expand that to include health resources.

[26:31] So the healthcare access subcommittees

[26:33] been working with various providers to find out

[26:36] what mobile options they have for going out

[26:38] in the community to deliver healthcare.

[26:42] They've also created a provider facing resource guide.

[26:45] And this kind of goes hand in hand.

[26:47] This is a way for providers who are seeing patients

[26:50] to directly send them to other resource providers

[26:54] to have kind of at their fingertips a way to find, if they have a, if they have a patient who needs

[27:01] housing assistance, they can go into this

[27:05] resource guide and find someone they can connect them to directly.

[27:10] And then finally, they can be in two healthcare collaborative, the systems navigator,

[27:14] collaborative, and a healthcare leader's collaborative, and we just wanted to improve the

[27:18] coordination between all the providers in Chatham.

[27:23] And then finally,

[27:24] Substance Use Treatment and Support was the third health priority identified in 2024.

[27:31] A ton is happening in Chattam County around this.

[27:34] So I will say what's on here is primarily work that's happening outside of the Alliance

[27:39] Subcommittee.

[27:40] And in recognizing that the Subcommittee did ask to have specific questions put on our

[27:46] 2026 annual survey because the Health Department does send out a survey every year

[27:50] As a way to ask more detailed questions about things we need to know, the hope being that that subcommittee can look at the data and identify gaps and all this amazing work that is happening.

[28:01] Where's their work that still needs to be done that they can fill, but I did want to highlight some amazing work, the fact that our health department now offers medications to help manage opioid cravings and withdraw symptoms.

[28:14] and we have the Freenaloxone Bending Machine.

[28:17] There really is just amazing amount of work happening around this in China.

[28:25] So, the community action team, I mentioned, it really is like a fourth working committee

[28:30] of the Alliance and an advisory committee for our subcommittees.

[28:35] It's a way for the community to speak directly to our agencies who are doing collaborative work.

[28:40] There are 50 community members that are very engaged at any given meeting.

[28:44] we get about 20 to 25, we have a new, at least one new member at every meeting, which to me speaks to the fact that there is a lot of good that's coming out of this for the community, and there's a ton of good coming out for me.

[28:56] It's really changed how we approach the work that we're doing, and I find that it's allowed the community to embrace our work.

[29:04] And the last meeting we had, which was back and makes, we do take the summers off as per requested by the community members.

[29:11] We had a panel on community and agency communication. I mentioned that something I hear a lot from the community.

[29:17] They don't feel like they're hearing from us. So we had a town commissioner. We had agency representatives and Tyler City's mayor come and listen to the community's concerns, tell them what it is we are doing.

[29:29] And I felt that we all left with something positive.

[29:33] Ideas for how to do better and also an understanding

[29:36] that agencies really are trying.

[29:38] It's not that we're not trying to tell the community

[30:00] Finally, I'm not going to click on this. I don't want to take up too much time, but I encourage you to look at it if you haven't. In North Carolina, all accredited public health departments use clear impact score cards to host their community health improvement plans and update them.

[30:18] So every time I have new data coming in, I am updating this.

[30:23] That's probably about quarterly that it gets updated.

[30:27] So I encourage you to look at this to share it if folks are wondering what's the

[30:30] help department doing around this. What happens after this community assessment

[30:35] we hear about it for a year and then we don't know what happens.

[30:38] This is a great place to see what's going on.

[30:43] So looking forward, I mentioned this.

[30:45] It's going to be all community assessment all the time for a while.

[30:50] The subcommittees will continue working on our current community strategic plan through the end of 2027.

[30:58] And we're starting planning for the 2027 community health assessment now.

[31:03] And then you'll see that push for data collection starting in the spring.

[31:08] And you'll start hearing a lot from the health department and again for me once we have data to share and next steps.

[31:14] So I am happy to answer any questions if you have them.

[31:21] I don't have a question, but I do want to say that this this feels really good and it

[31:26] it reminds me of the conversation that we had with United Way going into their bold

[31:31] gold conversation that so much good work was happening on the ground but if people feel

[31:38] like it's disparate or if they're slipping through like little cracks that we could weave together

[31:43] more intentionally like we're going to do so have so much more impact on the ground and it really

[31:47] feels like that is what's happening here, right?

[31:50] We have to be willing to hear that people didn't know,

[31:54] like we were putting the measures, I messed it up,

[31:56] but that's one of the many challenges in China and County

[31:58] with having multiple sources that people go to

[32:01] for their information.

[32:02] There's this risk that they're not hearing

[32:05] about all of the good and relevant things.

[32:07] And particularly not hearing when they're in crisis, right?

[32:09] You need to get the information in hand quickly.

[32:13] So this sounds really good.

[32:15] And I'm glad you did make it out to share this with us.

[32:19] Yeah, thank you.

[32:20] Thank you.

[32:21] I want to tell you, thank you as well.

[32:23] The health director cheers well.

[32:24] Thank you for the work you're doing out there and it's very important stuff.

[32:28] We appreciate you.

[32:29] Thank you.

[32:30] Thank you.

[32:31] Thank you.

[32:31] I have to agree.

[32:32] I think that it's a wonderful work.

[32:35] And it's done.

[32:35] I'm excited about where you're going to go next year.

[32:38] Thank you for this report.

[32:39] I think that so many organizations, including the Commissioner Struggle,

[32:43] with just getting information out.

[32:45] So people know it's going on.

[32:46] It is so hard.

[32:48] So you're not alone in that area.

[32:49] And I think we all just continue to try harder

[32:51] on that and chair.

[32:53] So if you find solutions,

[32:55] I'll just show.

[32:56] Thank you.

[32:57] Thank you, Julie.

[33:00] All right.

[33:01] Next up is item 260447.

[33:04] Receive a presentation on the chatem county,

[33:06] funding partnership with WebSquared

[33:08] and determine next steps presenting on that

[33:11] as the EEO and community engagement officer

[33:13] to run the CLEG.

[33:36] Thank you, Jennifer.

[33:49] Good afternoon, everyone. Good afternoon. Okay. So,

[33:56] Chaddam County's funding partnership with WebSquare. As you may recall,

[34:02] there was a study done in 2022, an assessment study done on entrepreneurs and the needs assessment,

[34:09] And it was determined that there were some disparities.

[34:14] Web squared since 2023 has been one of those trusted partners to provide some incubator

[34:24] like services to entrepreneurs looking for help.

[34:30] And in particularly minority entrepreneurs.

[34:32] If you take a look at this, in fiscal year 24, and we're talking about the entrepreneurs

[34:42] that were supported, in fiscal year 24, there were six supported with the Innovation Lab,

[34:52] and the Innovation Lab is their incubator to what they do.

[34:58] They bring folks in to talk about...

[35:02] In 24, as far as workshops, round tables, networking events, they had, they served 10, the total number of entrepreneurs served for fiscal year 24.

[35:14] I'm sorry, fiscal year 24 was 22 and out of those served, there were 11 of them were Chattam County entrepreneurs, based entrepreneurs.

[35:25] And 2025, 41 served in the Innovation Lab, 36 workshops, round tables and networking events,

[35:36] 26 entrepreneurs served in total. And again, 11 were Chattam County entrepreneurs.

[35:44] In 2026, they've had 37 served, 19 workshops, attending workshops, 27 entrepreneurs served and a total of 17 total were entrepreneurs from Chattam County.

[36:05] When we look at the support at the fiscal support that we've given them over the years,

[36:11] 2023, the initial contract for services was $19,748, that was a total funding from

[36:23] I'm county and that was from May to from April to June 30 of fiscal year 23.

[36:40] There are other sources that they've gotten funds from the amount is there.

[36:44] 2024, they received $59,496, and from our competitive process, they received $10,000.

[36:58] And the numbers again are there, $69,496 was a total.

[37:03] Other resources, $126,352.

[37:07] In 2025, they received from the contract services $84,629 from our competitive human services

[37:19] side, $37,500 for a total of $122,129.

[37:27] In 2026, they received $87,500, $35,000 from the company competitive process for a total

[37:36] of 122,500, and you'll see that they had a drop of other resources outside of the county,

[37:46] it was 86,530. So as we approaching fiscal year 27, I can tell you that they received 35,000 in

[37:57] the competitive process on the human services side. We don't yet know what they will receive from

[38:04] outside and it's left up to you to kind of discernment what that funding will be on the contract

[38:10] service aside.

[38:15] So the question is fiscal year 27 and beyond how do we what do we do with our

[38:21] contract services with web square moving forward? Do you have any questions for me?

[38:30] I do, so I know that a big part of the momentum on this was a conversation out of that study and the fact that we had ARPA funds available.

[38:50] But it seemed to me that we were consistently having at least some contemplation of this as not a temporary thing.

[39:01] Right, this wasn't.

[39:02] We weren't going to fix this in four budget cycles.

[39:06] It wasn't created in four budget cycles.

[39:09] And so there is this sort of enduring need.

[39:14] have we had any conversation about the contract services amount, or is that, is that a complete blank slate for us coming into this right now?

[39:27] I mean, maybe I can look at Brian for that question.

[39:31] They did.

[39:32] Well, they did send a letter request for funding in FY207.

[39:37] They did.

[39:38] Every year they have sent us a proposal of their services and telling us what their goals will be

[39:44] and what they've done for the previous year.

[39:47] And for fiscal year 27, their request was $400,000 to help them do some of those services

[39:57] and some of that included many of the same...

[40:00] The previous year, but also one new goal was building a book, text books that would be something for entrepreneurs to have.

[40:15] But the request has increased to 100,000.

[40:18] Okay. And so I guess the conversation for our board to have is perhaps more than just a

[40:28] one year like let's not have to rebuild this creature again next year but that broader

[40:35] conversation about what does a contractor for this type of service look like going forward.

[40:43] And maybe we do have to have some conversation about the amount or I don't know how we want to

[40:48] that because I don't think we have, when I'm trying to think of something that might be similar

[40:54] and I think of the EDC, we don't revisit how much the contract is with this level of detail every

[41:00] year. So it would be good to me if we, if we, as a board, could get there, right? What does it look

[41:07] like for now and then how do we want to hand this over? So that it becomes more a function of staff

[41:17] curiosity, how feasible would this be, I kind of was thinking maybe similarly, to have this discussion, maybe be part of the budgeting process, and maybe instead of having them present every single year, it's just embedded with how we do budgeting.

[41:36] And past years, it has been part of the budget process.

[41:39] This is a little bit out of sync with that.

[41:42] That was just miscommunication and the transmission of their request and the budget cycle.

[41:50] So this typically would have been taken care of as part of that larger budget consideration.

[41:55] But since we didn't catch that, this is outside of that process.

[42:01] And so far as ongoing, one thing that we can do, what we talked about with about the EDC is making sure that we are touching based on somewhat of a regular basis to ensure that our objectives and goals are aligned.

[42:15] Maybe there are some metrics that we can identify for a performance and what we would like to see, which you would like to see as a board as outcomes for this activity and if that's the direction that we receive.

[42:29] We can definitely work with WebSquare in this next funding cycle for the FY28 budget to make it more explicit in a line with those goals that the board identifies.

[42:39] I think we also have some overlapping goals with Wolf Entrepreneurship, some of the small business work we're doing and I'd be really curious to see how these overlaps happen and how we can maybe support more holistically some of the mutual goals that we might have in these areas.

[42:57] Maybe that's another topic for January.

[43:01] Certainly we need to take care of WebSquared right now.

[43:05] And ensure that that box is tracked.

[43:08] But it seems like we might want to look in a larger conversation.

[43:12] And we are planning on larger conversation with stakeholders

[43:16] in a Donchpreneur small business community,

[43:20] our very own print in Hort.

[43:21] It's put together in agenda and the initial small group

[43:24] discussion with some of their stakeholders and and then in future meetings kind of broaden that net a bit see how, you know, if there is overlap that it's overlap that makes sense is redundancy with purpose versus, you know, redundancy that doesn't get back to the community.

[43:42] I don't let any of you fall to the way, but yeah, absolutely, yeah, cool. Awesome. Thanks, Brian.

[43:46] And I really want to highlight the point that you made that it is redundancy with the intent,

[43:50] because I think a lot of this work could technically be called redundant. It is available elsewhere,

[43:58] but historically it has not been available in the forum format, and with the back support

[44:03] needed for minority communities. And so this is intentionally separated out because of the things

[44:11] that we're not have not historically been made available to minorities in our community,

[44:17] minority business owners, minority entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurial-minded minority individuals

[44:23] who would participate in that space if they could get the level of support that

[44:29] web-squared is providing and so we're going to have to balance that well to make sure that we're not

[44:38] sending people to the source that wasn't working for them in the first place.

[45:00] First, at 100,000. First, there's been a still a and there's also, I do not believe any diminution in the need at this point yet.

[45:14] I don't know how we fund that, whether we do they meet a milestone, is there, is it something that we find a front or do they meet milestones and then we pay out for services?

[45:30] This would follow our standard of contract services with our nonprofit agencies, which would

[45:38] be, I think, quarterly payments.

[45:41] No, and in this particular case, because it's the contract services, we have, in the past,

[45:48] historically, we have given them the full amount of the signing of the contract.

[45:53] only the non-profit competitive portion do we do that in two different payouts and then they do

[46:02] a report at mid-year. So for contract work, for contract services, they do a report or

[46:10] in the end, okay, not in the middle of the year. The competitive process they do a report in the middle

[46:16] of the year and then they do one at the end of the year. Okay.

[46:23] And we can structure it through

[46:25] follow the human service nonprofit competitive process

[46:28] and the board would like to see that mid-year report

[46:31] as well, not just at the back end of the year.

[46:38] And I'm comfortable with leaving it the way it was

[46:41] unless there is something that would compel us

[46:44] to want to do different.

[46:47] Is that your preference?

[46:49] My preference? Yeah.

[46:50] My preference is whatever you prefer.

[46:52] Okay. Thanks, absolutely.

[46:53] Thank you.

[46:54] My staff.

[46:55] I think unless there is something that has raised the concern, I would not be minded to go behind it and change it to something that's more potentially more onerous but for a smaller organization doing a lot of work.

[47:09] Yeah, I'm concerned about it being onerous, so I don't see a reason to change from the, that's what I'm getting.

[47:15] Yes.

[47:16] Okay.

[47:17] Yeah.

[47:17] Make sure you get my source.

[47:19] Do you have anything?

[47:20] No.

[47:21] All right.

[47:24] Any other questions?

[47:25] So do you need a motion from us?

[47:29] You do need a motion for you and an amount.

[47:34] So I will make a motion to approve the chat and county contract services in the amount of 100,000

[47:43] for at fiscal year 2026-27 that I say $100,000.

[47:53] Yeah, if I did not say that.

[47:55] Is that okay?

[47:56] All in favor.

[47:58] Thank you.

[48:00] Okay, thank you.

[48:02] Thank you.

[48:04] All right.

[48:05] Next up.

[48:06] Item 26-0426.

[48:09] Receive a presentation from the Conservation Working Group.

[48:12] a conservation resiliency planner Erin Ansbro and strategic initiatives manager Brent and

[48:18] Hart will present the sign-in

[48:46] don't do that

[48:53] yep it's good

[48:59] here you

[49:18] go all

[49:28] right hi everybody I'm Erin Ansbro on the conservation of resiliency planner

[49:33] and I've burned out the strategic initiatives manager can you guys speak into the

[49:38] Yeah, sure. And today we're going to be giving an update on the Conservation Working Group.

[49:44] So as a reminder, the Conservation Working Group, aka the CWG, is an interdepartmental

[49:49] working group that brings together various departments of Chad and County whose work addresses

[49:54] environmental goals. And as part of this, we meet monthly where we discuss existing...

[50:00] heard from November 2025 to June of 2026.

[50:05] The first update is from the solid ways and sustainability department,

[50:10] formally known as the environmental quality department, and it is about the climate action plan. As

[50:15] you all know, the climate retreat occurred in the fall of 2025, where current climate science and

[50:20] implications for the county was discussed, as well as establishing a common framework for a climate

[50:26] action process.

[50:28] Clarity around roles, timelines and expectations were also established.

[50:32] The Climate Change Advisory Committee took this and discussed a scope of work for the project

[50:37] and then presented to you all at your budget retreat.

[50:40] You all approved for this fiscal year a RFP for the development of a climate action plan

[50:46] and that RFP was released in June.

[50:49] We now have a consultant for the project, Blue Strike, and once they start, the project

[50:53] is estimated to take one year.

[50:55] CWG will also be part of this project that consultant will be meeting with us regularly.

[51:03] Another update from Solid Waste is that the energy efficiency and conservation block grant is almost complete.

[51:10] They finished the first round of audits in November and then the remaining audits were completed in May and the report was received in June.

[51:19] The remaining grant funds will be spent on projects and strategies recommended by these reports.

[51:24] And as a reminder, this is a collaboration between the facilities and solid waste and sustainability department

[51:31] and the grant was funded through the Central Pines Regional Council grant Assistance Program, which we have through CWG.

[51:42] Good afternoon, Commissioner.

[51:44] So I've got an additional update for the solid waste and sustainability department.

[51:49] So, our first, my first, for them, is the electric vehicle charging data, as you all may know, we have four different county owned electric vehicle charging stations,

[52:02] Smithfield and Tyler City, at the Ag Center, at the Goldstone Library, and then also one at the Performance Building.

[52:09] from November 25 through June 26, these stations operated at 18.7 megawatt hours and they

[52:21] dispense that amount of electricity. And this is a 34% increase from what it was in the

[52:28] same period the prior year. So, as you all will note, that kind of represents that genuine

[52:35] continuous growth since those stations were installed. And then additionally we wanted to

[52:41] give some context that this is equivalent to about 2000 gallons of gasoline or 750

[52:48] round trips from Pittsburgh to Raleigh. So just some data there for you all. Additionally,

[52:58] we have some data on the solar systems from the Ag Center and the solid waste building.

[53:04] And they've generated over 160 megawatt hours of electricity from November 25 to June 26.

[53:13] This is a powering about 13 North Carolina homes a year.

[53:19] And then, finally, for this department, food waste drop-off pilots, so you all will know about this.

[53:27] But the solid waste department began the food waste drop-off pilot at four collection centers in November

[53:34] This is generated and

[53:37] Data shows a total of

[53:39] 19,000 pounds of food waste has been dropped off at those four centers

[53:44] This reduces the production of methane

[53:56] in

[53:57] facility in Chattam County where it was used to create compost.

[54:02] Additionally, the second department or the next department we wanted to highlight was Parks

[54:09] Recreation and Cultural Resources for the Parker's Ridge Park in Moncure, the ribbon cutting

[54:17] was held on April 29th and then construction begins this summer and an opening is expected

[54:25] next year, summer of 2027. And just some future amenities we wanted to include were a pump

[55:00] Second thing here is the George Pauli Nature Trail in North East, in the North East District Park.

[55:06] It was completed in May and a ribbon cutting ceremony was held to celebrate it.

[55:11] It's about a 0.6 mile park. Our trail and traverses some upland forest and wild flower and the wild flower meadow.

[55:20] and it was made possible through a donation from the Hall River Assembly in recognition of George

[55:26] Pauli's dedication to protecting Chattam County's natural environment.

[55:32] Additionally, with parts recreation and cultural resources, the Pope Barry Trail, construction

[55:38] is underway and completion is expected by winner.

[55:42] The Deep River Trail Feasibility Study, the RFQ was posted in March and requests for qualifications,

[55:48] the contractor was selected in negotiations or underway.

[55:53] Kickoff is expected late summer early fall,

[55:56] so that should be coming up shortly.

[55:58] And then the some additional stewardship work,

[56:02] pollinator flowers were planted at the prior chapel

[56:06] to provide habitat for those creatures that utilize

[56:11] pollinator friendly flowers and other important species.

[56:15] Additionally, park tax continue, continuous invasive species removal across multiple park parks and then all of the park tax participated in a six hours invasive species whack attack with NC State parks and friends of the lower hall on March 1726.

[56:37] Um, and this work was done on the NC State Parks track property of the upstream of the 15501 Bridge.

[56:46] Um, some invasive species were moved from the NC DOT property that Parks and Recreation maintains.

[56:54] And then my final department here, just giving additional updates, um,

[56:59] for environmental health, the farm to early care and education program, this Spring Health Department

[57:06] staff and Savannah Overman and Dorothy Rolly are implementing the farm to early care and education

[57:13] program with eight Chattam County Child Care facilities and then through training technical

[57:21] assistance. This program is designed to help individuals start growing vegetable gardens

[57:29] at their facilities, treating children where food comes from, and then encouraging them

[57:35] to try additional healthy food. And moving forward, the health department will collaborate

[57:40] with extension staff to connect child care programs with additional local farms to purchase local

[57:47] food for meal service to children.

[57:52] Additionally, heat awareness week, so Chattam County

[57:55] Health Department recognized heat awareness week in May with the press release on steps to

[58:00] stay cool, along with collaborating with Chattam Transit to offer free ride to free ride

[58:07] to cooling centers. And as we all know, that summer heat definitely turned out to begin.

[58:14] So, um, with that, thank you all.

[58:19] The next department that we have is the GIS department with their farmland prioritization

[58:24] mapping tool.

[58:25] This is a collaboration between the soil and water conservation district, GIS and the Triangle

[58:31] and Conservancy.

[58:32] This tool will assist in determining what land should be preserved under the farmland preservation

[58:37] program, and two models were created through this tool.

[58:41] The rural model will emphasize soil quality and clustering for conservation,

[58:46] and the urban model will prioritize proximity to development in infrastructure.

[58:52] The second update from GIS is that they've created a percent slow player. This is one goal

[58:58] in the comprehensive plan under natural resources, specifically to improve, improve outreach

[59:03] and access to environmental data. And slope is important because it helps us understand erosion rates,

[59:09] water flow and habitat locations, and they place this under the Conservation Viewer on the GIS

[59:15] website.

[59:18] The third update for GIS is that they created a flood reporting tool. This was in collaboration

[59:24] with the Managers Office Emergency Operations, Watershed Protection, Planning, and other departments.

[59:31] And this application is supposed to create a user-friendly way to let the county know if a citizen

[59:37] is experiencing flooding or drainage concerns throughout the county. And the county is encouraging

[59:43] residents to submit not only if there's a hurricane event, but you're around if there's other

[59:48] kinds of flooding. And in addition, the county is supporting having retroactive submittals. So

[59:57] something happened five years ago, we also would like to know about that.

[1:00:01] All right, now on to the Planning Department's updates, the North Carolina Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization and C. Campo has completed a wildlife crossing study in their jurisdiction of the Cape Fear River basin.

[1:00:16] And so this is important because it will identify roadway corridors in structures such as bridges, culverts, pipes, and it will intersect that with high wildlife vehicle crash rates.

[1:00:28] This will help in the future determine mitigation opportunities for either future infrastructure projects or if there's a retrofitting project that needs to be completed.

[1:00:39] And they are planning to present to you all in the fall, I believe in September or October.

[1:00:44] And then the Move Chat and Story Map.

[1:00:47] Time, our transportation planner, has created a GIS story map.

[1:00:51] That houses all of the comments from phase one of the Move Chat and

[1:00:55] Multi-Lotal Survey.

[1:00:57] And this was actually a request from Commissioner Robertson.

[1:00:59] You could ask if those comments were available.

[1:01:02] So time made this great story map.

[1:01:04] That has all those comments.

[1:01:05] And I'll actually click on it in a second so we can view it.

[1:01:08] It's currently on the Planning Department's transportation page.

[1:01:11] and it also will be in our conservation dashboard which I'll talk about in a second.

[1:01:19] Hopefully it works.

[1:01:28] So this is a story map. It has a little bit of information and

[1:01:31] them who to contact if you have any questions. And so Tan has broken it down into three themes,

[1:01:38] bicycle and pedestrian, public transit projects, and then destinations of interest. So essentially

[1:01:44] you'll scroll down and it's divided by information on the left with a map on the right.

[1:01:50] And you can either click on the map itself and it will pop up that comment or you can scroll on the left and find the comment.

[1:02:00] And these are about mostly about safety, so safe bike route needed along NC 87 for rural access.

[1:02:08] And then all scroll down to the public transit projects, actually a lot of those.

[1:02:12] For public transit, sometimes the comments are combined, so this one has, I believe, four

[1:02:18] comments were combined that transit rights your needs are needed in siler city,

[1:02:26] and then

[1:02:27] the final theme is destinations of interest, so this could be the Ag Center, the Community

[1:02:32] College, there was one about little sweet potatoes daycare, which we thought was kind

[1:02:38] of fun, they said they needed a bite to school path, so.

[1:02:42] So that's a story map. I think it's really great. It's available to the public, so I encourage you all to view it.

[1:02:49] Yeah.

[1:02:52] All right.

[1:03:05] Our final update is about the conservation dashboard.

[1:03:08] So if you all recall, this is a two phase initiative by the planning department to essentially locate all of the conservation

[1:03:16] based goals of our comprehensive plan and assign a metric to them and that will help us

[1:03:23] understand and measure our progress of what have we completed since 2017. So as I said this was a

[1:03:30] project started by the planning department but it was also in collaboration with North Carolina

[1:03:35] while life resources commissioned through their Greek growth toolbox grant and then also CWG was

[1:03:41] instrumental in this project for locating data.

[1:03:45] And as I said, this marks the completion of phase one of the two phase initiative.

[1:03:51] Phase two will be using the dashboard's findings to identify what objectives we have not completed.

[1:03:58] And then it will develop a detailed implementation plan about what our next steps are.

[1:04:04] And it's located in three areas of the website, two of the planning page, one on our conservation page,

[1:04:10] one on our main page and then there's also a link on the county's information hub and I'm also

[1:04:16] just going to scroll through that with you all so you know what it looks like. So this is the main

[1:04:23] page to have county conservation dashboard. If you scroll there's some information a welcome page

[1:04:30] and then kind of a three step framework about how to use the site one explore plan elements which

[1:04:37] below this, there's 10-plan elements. I'll go through in a second to view the metrics. The metrics

[1:04:43] were either divided between quantitative or qualitative, so either a yes-no answer from a director

[1:05:00] And then, thirdly, this is a living document, so I'll be updating it every six months, so there will be updates regularly. So check back in.

[1:05:08] And then if anybody has questions, there's three tabs at the top about what the dashboard is, what plan Tatum is, if somebody doesn't know what that is. And then also questions and resources, and how to reach out to me.

[1:05:23] Since we have a new commissioner, is there anyone that can speak to sort of the history of how this came to be?

[1:05:30] And there initially was, I think, about $25,000 worth of funding to create it.

[1:05:36] But can you give any of those details, Brian, or how long this has been in the works?

[1:05:42] Because this was something that commissioners asked for a while back.

[1:05:47] Sure. The dashboard or the conservation work in group self?

[1:05:50] I was thinking the dashboard.

[1:05:51] Okay.

[1:05:53] I'll turn it to more people hand in.

[1:05:55] Okay.

[1:05:56] I can speak a little bit about it.

[1:05:57] I've only been here a year.

[1:05:58] Right.

[1:05:58] I don't know.

[1:05:59] All of the story.

[1:06:00] But this has been a long time coming.

[1:06:02] The comprehensive plan was created in 2017.

[1:06:05] So I believe in the early 2020s of planning department determined that, you know, we actually don't know how many of these goals that we've completed.

[1:06:12] We need something to tell us where we are and then where we're going.

[1:06:15] So this was, as I said, a two-phase project and a consultant was originally hired to do this project and that didn't work out, so now the planning department has completed it.

[1:06:25] So it's taken a few years and it's been a long time coming, but I think it'll be very helpful as we complete step two.

[1:06:33] And let me know if you have any questions.

[1:06:37] Okay, so now is kind of the meat of the project, so there's 10 plan elements, they're all here.

[1:06:42] You can click on them, I'll click on, click on resiliency.

[1:06:48] So, each plan element has its own webpage, you scroll down, there's some information about all of this.

[1:06:54] There's a table of contents, so if you know exactly what recommendation or policy you're looking for, you can just click on it and it will follow you down there.

[1:07:03] There's also a legend explaining if the metric is either qualitative or quantitative, kind of to help people with pictures instead of just a lot of text.

[1:07:16] And so it's kind of broken down each plan element in plan chatem has a big idea and then there are a few recommendations and then there are further policies underneath the big idea and the recommendation.

[1:07:27] And so for the big idea of resiliency is to become a carbon-negative county, the metric we chose for that was the greenhouse gas inventory.

[1:07:37] And we have a dashboard about that if it will load hopefully. Yes, so we've assigned that metric.

[1:07:44] I will say for the resiliency, a lot of it, a lot of it has been completed, but the climate action plan is going to be very helpful for the resiliency of a plan shadow.

[1:07:54] A second example of metric is a qualitative metric, so the recommendation is prepare for and respond to acute natural events and made emergencies.

[1:08:07] Through collaboration and discussion with the CWG, we determined that yes, the county is working towards mitigation.

[1:08:14] There are several things we're doing.

[1:08:16] the greenhouse gas inventory participating in the key for regional hazard mitigation strategy,

[1:08:22] developing a climate action plan, completing a heat action plan, et cetera, et cetera.

[1:08:28] So that is just kind of an overview of this. I encourage you all to look through it if you

[1:08:34] have any questions, please reach out to me.

[1:08:38] And that's it for our presentation. If you all have any

[1:08:43] questions. Let me know. I don't have any questions, but this is so helpful because I think

[1:08:50] that we know we're working on stuff, right? But if we were to go back and try to pinpoint

[1:08:57] what are all the things that we did under this particular commissioner goal, there was no real

[1:09:03] way of tying them all or tracking them. So I don't intend to memorize it all, but it's really

[1:09:09] good to know that it's available, particularly when there is an issue that a missioner is

[1:09:14] especially interested in, to be able to go back and see where do we start, what have we been

[1:09:18] doing, where are we going, so that one constituents talk about it, we can answer in a meaningful way.

[1:09:25] Yeah, I know. One thing I found helpful, I do kind of know the dashboard like the back of my

[1:09:29] hands, so I don't need this anymore, but if you're looking for a certain phrase, you can

[1:09:34] command F, like trying to find it in here. It's kind of, it's helpful, it's almost like an

[1:09:38] like this is all of the thing we've done as a county.

[1:09:42] So I will try that.

[1:10:00] I also wanted to say thank you because when I first started, I really wanted to be able to find out what initiatives we were doing and it felt like I had to go to a lot of different places.

[1:10:11] So this in combination with our information hub, I think is a great way for people to know what our commitments are, what we're doing, like Commissioner Howard said.

[1:10:21] And because as I'm sure you all know,

[1:10:25] people are more likely to tell you

[1:10:27] when they have concerns than congratulate you.

[1:10:31] So it's great to have this resource.

[1:10:34] I'm really enjoying hearing about it.

[1:10:36] And then one of my questions was,

[1:10:38] I did want to have a little more understanding

[1:10:40] on for our board of how often does the conservation

[1:10:44] working group meet?

[1:10:46] And so in what ways, because I think one of the unique things

[1:10:50] about it is that it encompasses all the departments

[1:10:52] of our county or key ones, maybe not all of them.

[1:10:57] And so I like that, like that,

[1:10:58] there's a lot of communication on a county level,

[1:11:01] but how does that work towards just the organization

[1:11:09] of focusing on major goals or accomplishing goals

[1:11:14] within those key groups?

[1:11:17] Yeah, I would say the main focus that we have are completing the goals outlined in plan

[1:11:23] chat and so that's kind of our guiding force and the dashboard was a very helpful

[1:11:27] exercise.

[1:11:28] I met with, I mean, I run the CWD.

[1:11:30] So I met with them.

[1:11:31] I would say five or so times and it was like two hour meetings every time to go through

[1:11:36] this dashboard and just to hone all of their experience that they had into this one document.

[1:11:42] So it really helped us as a team understand where we are, and because of that, we now know where we are and what we have completed.

[1:11:51] We now, as departments can determine, okay, goal 5.4 under resiliency hasn't been completed.

[1:12:00] Kevin, like, what are you doing under the climate action plan?

[1:12:03] Like, there is, is there some way we can incorporate that goal in the climate action plan?

[1:12:06] It kind of just helps us assign names and tasks to projects that we want to do.

[1:12:12] the future. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Just one quick thing. I'm just wondering how often people go in and update

[1:12:19] this content because, you know, the website is only in the integrity of it and information

[1:12:24] hub and everything. Do we have a means to maybe this is a run and questions? There's a lot of pages

[1:12:29] that things that you've created and and then we don't know when was the last updated and I think I

[1:12:36] wonder is there a way that we make that visible to public when they go there and see that? Yeah,

[1:12:41] So, at least for the information hub and I'll let Aaron speak to the conservation, the conservation hub, but for the information of there are several different types of applications and those sorts of things that we use, some that are updated by partners, by the state, others, and then others that we update manually, every quarterly or those sorts of things.

[1:13:05] So we have a tracking spreadsheet within our office that CityChic our intern made that helps us

[1:13:12] to understand when different data sets come out because we utilize a lot of federal and state

[1:13:18] data sets to report and then also others that are county data sets such as our well view

[1:13:26] or in those sorts of things that are updated very often by our environmental health team as well

[1:13:33] GIS. So we've got a pretty big mixed bag of types of applications that we utilize within the

[1:13:40] information hub. So the answer is all of the time, the sort of, so we do that work internally

[1:13:49] to make sure that it stays up to date in those sorts of things. Fairly. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Thank you.

[1:13:56] Yeah. And I'll say for the dashboard, I note that I updated twice a year, but I can say what

[1:14:02] you know, updated January 2027, you know, I can up here in the comments.

[1:14:07] Yeah, I think it would be nice when we can, if it's not a huge owner or a thing to do,

[1:14:11] to just put on the site, I've seen sometimes this was last updated on such and such,

[1:14:15] so that people going there know, you know, yeah. Yeah, sure, we can do that.

[1:14:19] Something like that might be useful for us. Awesome. Well, thank you very much. I appreciate it.

[1:14:23] This was great. All right. Next app is item 2, 6, 0, 4, 5, 7,

[1:14:30] Discuss legislative goals and adopt a resolution supporting a fiscalist of goals to be submitted

[1:14:36] to the NC Association of County Commissioners for 2027 and 2028.

[1:14:40] By annual, presenting this will be our Intergovernmental Relations Manager, Lindsay Ray.

[1:14:46] Just give me one more.

[1:14:54] Okay, so I wanted to start off by to say a couple of things.

[1:15:00] 11 goals that I got them down to. I think it is fine to submit more than one. But that tells me that they're trying to get folks to narrow things down a little bit.

[1:15:08] That it might be getting a little overwhelming if everybody submitting, you know, 25 goals.

[1:15:13] So I just wanted to throw that out there. And then commissioner commissioner is I did talk to a couple of folks about federal goals and they said that really the federal goals stem from the stakeholders.

[1:15:24] So for example, they've been advocating to delay implementation

[1:15:29] of the SNAP benefit cost share because counties just don't,

[1:15:33] or trying to figure out how to do that.

[1:15:35] So that directly relates to a county's funding

[1:15:39] and authority over issues.

[1:15:41] So the immigration one might be a difficult one,

[1:15:44] but it's not with you keep talking about it.

[1:15:47] So I tried to get one from every steering committee

[1:15:52] category and a couple of them have multiple. So I don't know if you all took a look at the list,

[1:15:59] if you have things you, and I try to make sure you each have a goal represented.

[1:16:04] The first is the Farmline Preservation, which is a top five goal of the association. So I think it's

[1:16:11] good to keep that one on there. The next one, Chrisate Funding Board is asked for mitigation and

[1:16:16] preparedness. I know that is also one that probably multiple counties will submit. And the next one,

[1:16:23] I actually thought, maybe should be two goals. It is about water quality, but it's also about

[1:16:28] the chemicals and the cleanup of those chemicals. So if you want it to be two goals, I can split

[1:16:34] those out, or if you want to try to meet a consolidated down a little bit, I can't. I'll start with

[1:16:40] just those first three, see what you all think.

[1:16:44] And so are we, you said you are ready submitted?

[1:16:49] No, you will adopt a resolution of file

[1:16:52] and then I'll submit them tomorrow.

[1:16:53] Okay, and do we need to eliminate one?

[1:16:55] So you just do two forms.

[1:16:58] Okay, so yeah.

[1:17:01] Okay, what do you recommend on the one

[1:17:06] that's talking about the contaminants in the water?

[1:17:09] Do you think we've got a better chance of getting that

[1:17:11] to go through if it's combined?

[1:17:14] I think there will be goals that separate, other people will have separated some of these out.

[1:17:21] And I think the PFAS is a, I mean, the chemicals is one that many counties are facing, so that is probably going to be a separate goal then just water quality preventative, you know,

[1:17:46] I'm fine keeping that one together.

[1:17:47] I think it's really an important piece of that

[1:17:49] is the part that holds companies responsible for the chemicals

[1:17:54] that they're putting in our water.

[1:17:57] And it may go through easier if they're tied together.

[1:17:59] It certainly would make it visible.

[1:18:01] I think it's the opposite.

[1:18:02] Either if it's opposite.

[1:18:03] Yeah.

[1:18:03] Do you think it doesn't?

[1:18:04] Mm-hmm.

[1:18:05] Well, then let's separate it.

[1:18:06] OK.

[1:18:06] I'd like to definitely get that to go through.

[1:18:10] And then the general government prohibiting downson.

[1:18:13] And we know that it's going to be a priority

[1:18:15] for the Association, a post-legislation for the

[1:18:19] strips, the authority of the Global Government.

[1:18:21] That's just a catch all, but very common one that we have to do all the time.

[1:18:25] Healthy human services, remove cost share, penalty for counties for

[1:18:29] SNAP errors, that will be probably a top five priority I would imagine.

[1:18:34] Health and Human Services increase recurring

[1:18:35] state funding for mental health services and regional

[1:18:38] behavioral health facilities.

[1:18:42] Another healthy human services supplemental funding to advance

[1:18:45] support of a high quality learning opportunities that support and expansion of early childhood workforce

[1:18:51] public education return to allocating the initial 35% of library profits to public education

[1:18:59] and that was the most of the list. There was another one wasn't there. Yeah, if I must be a page two

[1:19:04] um yeah, we're start funding that don't divert and see traditional public schools into the

[1:19:10] there's this one. Here we go. And then the tax flexibility for generated revenue for operations,

[1:19:20] when they are talking about constricting your ability to collect property taxes. Yeah, so we're not

[1:20:00] Good likelihood of success in being a legislative goal for the association.

[1:20:07] Yes. But I also think some of these are going to or not going to go anywhere with our general assembly.

[1:20:12] But we're not concerning ourselves with that second bullet point.

[1:20:15] You know, right?

[1:20:16] No. But I would say that's really a separate kind of a separate process that we should be doing all the time is making sure that we're not.

[1:20:25] And I will say we didn't send things, I would not send goals just because they might not

[1:20:34] get taken up by the general assembly.

[1:20:35] I think they're still good goals for the association to have.

[1:20:39] Is that me?

[1:20:40] Yeah.

[1:20:41] I feel good about all of these.

[1:20:44] I feel good enough about all of these to advance them.

[1:20:49] Is that what you're looking for, I'm not afraid of.

[1:20:52] If you're okay, but if you have additional goals, I want to make sure that you're not

[1:20:55] we throw that out there to you. This seems good to me. I'm fine with this. I think somebody

[1:21:03] wants that I shared before. It was some of the more challenging to include in the structure

[1:21:10] that we're looking to do. So, keep those on our local, yes, we can see it. Just because it's not

[1:21:18] part of this process doesn't mean it can't be one of your own goals now.

[1:21:24] Can you remind us

[1:21:25] So when the NCAACC gets all these goals from the counties, and then they have a meeting where

[1:21:35] we go through the goals process, what part of the year is that?

[1:21:41] And I know for sure Howard knows about that.

[1:21:42] These have to be submitted by August 27th, and then in September they'll start holding

[1:21:48] steering committee meetings, and all the steering committees will meet to talk about just

[1:21:53] goals in their category. And then from there, they whittled that list down. And then it goes to

[1:22:00] the legislative goals committee. That conference is in November, November 19th and 20th and

[1:22:06] Raleigh. And then you're voting delegate for the county votes on those goals for the final

[1:22:13] in CAC. In November. In November. Yeah, okay. I remember it was winter and I just wanted to think about

[1:22:19] that they're ready for the January sessions, but it's okay. Thank you. So we need to work to have

[1:22:26] other commissioners on this board serve on some of those committees since they're the ones

[1:22:30] that decide on this. I would encourage all of you to have a question. Yes, at least one. I

[1:22:35] tried to attend all of them so that if they have questions, I can answer, give some background,

[1:22:41] but I would encourage you not to all be on the same one. There might be one that you are all interested

[1:22:47] but definitely try to divide up a little bit.

[1:22:52] I don't think he has to be on every single one of them,

[1:22:54] but if there's one that interests you, then.

[1:22:56] Can you go up to the first page, please?

[1:22:59] And I think, you know, for us to be thinking,

[1:23:01] it would be really helpful if there is a commissioner in each room

[1:23:04] who can even, if it looks like they're not minded

[1:23:08] to adopt our goal, if there is language that we can get in

[1:23:12] or help with the language of the adopted goal

[1:23:16] so that it more closely aligns with what we're trying to get to,

[1:23:20] that's very helpful, right?

[1:23:21] I mean, there's a hundred-ball, maybe not a hundred in each room,

[1:23:26] but there are a lot of commissioners

[1:23:27] who have very different perspectives than we do,

[1:23:30] but oftentimes you're able to tweak the goal,

[1:23:34] the language of the goal, particularly if you can show

[1:23:37] that it will make it more broadly applicable to counties.

[1:23:42] So in the last process, I would say there were probably five goals that the board submitted

[1:23:48] that were not, did not show up in their original form, but they were tweaked to work with another

[1:23:56] goal. So you were represented well in that process, but that's what happens in the steering

[1:24:01] committees. They might look at two goals and say, well, these are kind of similar. Do we,

[1:24:05] is that too specific? Do we need it more broad? You know, so there's a lot of discussion about it.

[1:24:10] Thank you, Mr. Gomez, where are you seeing?

[1:24:12] My, I was going to request me to go to that page too.

[1:24:16] I was curious, would it be feasible, I don't know how in a related may be, but on the public education, both have to deal with money, would it be

[1:24:27] of interest to the board of maybe combining those two and using a list to kind of just say 35% initial, you know,

[1:24:37] lottery allocations to public schools, and then the voucher, like just one go over two examples.

[1:24:46] And if that's what the board, I think it's back to which is more effective.

[1:24:50] Like like the one on the environment that I was asking about the contaminants that

[1:24:54] I do want the industries to be responsible for the cleanup and mitigation efforts instead of like...

[1:25:00] You know, how do you look at that? And I think whichever is the best way, and I'm still very new at thinking about this. So I defer.

[1:25:09] I think what he's trying to say is we've got 11 items. You got to submit five. If you're going to do two documents, you need to combine one, two documents, instead of three.

[1:25:18] So you're they can combining the two public education right just so we submit to and given that they both speak about money

[1:25:26] Increasing money to education using both I guess the two different goals that's kind of like examples like two different bullet to list as

[1:25:34] That but I think that's why I asked at the beginning does she need us to remove one and she said she doesn't that she just wants to know do we approve of these legislative goals and then

[1:25:45] And Lindsey's familiar with what will, you know, the submission process.

[1:25:50] I don't think we need to manage her submission process.

[1:25:53] I would keep them, sorry, recommendation, we need to keep them separate because their

[1:25:58] will definitely be goals on lottery funds.

[1:26:02] That is something that shows up every year.

[1:26:04] I don't know that the voucher system is going to show up as much from individual counties.

[1:26:11] So I think maybe separate.

[1:26:13] Can you clarify that understanding then about having to limit to five or you able to submit all of these things?

[1:26:18] I can submit five and then

[1:26:21] I can submit five again. Yeah.

[1:26:23] Okay.

[1:26:24] So we're not limited.

[1:26:25] And other counties have already done this. So we won't be the only one to do it.

[1:26:28] Okay.

[1:26:29] I don't just cause all kinds of hairiness for them to figure all of it out.

[1:26:32] But they'll get your resolution, which we'll have a complete list.

[1:26:36] How many committees are there?

[1:26:38] Um, there is a next.

[1:26:39] Finance, public education, health services,

[1:26:42] general government environment, agriculture, and just as

[1:26:45] in public safety.

[1:26:46] Okay, seven, seven,

[1:26:50] thank you, Lindsay.

[1:26:51] So I just need a motion to adopt the resolution.

[1:26:54] So moved.

[1:26:55] A second.

[1:26:56] All in favor?

[1:26:57] All right.

[1:26:57] Thank you.

[1:26:58] Thank you.

[1:26:59] Thank you, Lindsay.

[1:27:01] All right.

[1:27:03] Next up today is my two, six, zero, four, three, nine.

[1:27:07] Receiver presentation on the American Rescue Plan Act funds.

[1:27:10] Quarterly updates assistant budget director will curve and we'll present this item.

[1:27:15] Did that for new commissioners?

[1:27:17] Well, we can see you.

[1:27:18] All right, so our quarterly update.

[1:27:22] This is for the quarter ending of June 2026.

[1:27:26] So the last quarter in F like 26.

[1:27:29] We are halfway through our final year of our performance.

[1:27:33] And it's looking pretty good.

[1:27:35] I think.

[1:27:36] But review of last our quarterly update and also kind of looking ahead.

[1:27:39] I talked about this during the budget process, but we are in our family year with the

[1:27:43] special deadline of December 31, 2026 for our Shreight ARPA funds and our

[1:27:49] enabled funds don't share this deadline and in FY27 we do have some budget

[1:27:53] impacts from ARPA funding ending. Some of those are funded positions, which are

[1:27:58] five FTE across housing and diversion programs. They'll be picked up by the

[1:28:02] general fund. The emergency housing assistance program or EHAP program

[1:28:06] across is adored by the Housing Trust fund.

[1:28:09] The CEPR-C, our outreach coordinator contract will also be picked up by the Housing

[1:28:14] Department and continue to early childhood program support where a portion of the total

[1:28:19] contract that is $7,99, $1.00, half of that is ARPA enabled the rest is jar of fund.

[1:28:29] But looking just at our Shray ARPA projects, I think the biggest thing to note here is that

[1:28:34] the Chitophany schools has completed all of their ARPA funded work of the school gym

[1:28:40] museums project insulation, insulation improvements in gyms without HVAC systems.

[1:28:47] So that's huge.

[1:28:48] That's, if you remember earlier on in the year, updates were pretty slow, wasn't much

[1:28:53] spending, of course summer, nobody's in school, they can go and do all this stuff.

[1:28:57] Yeah, so that was, that made me happy, made my week, there is another million dollars in

[1:29:02] CIP, the Capitors, to continue this project, to finish it out across those schools, finished

[1:29:08] at the project.

[1:29:09] The projects that are bolded there are ones that have a little bit of spending left.

[1:29:14] So those are the three of them, the Hydrant Repair Project, Housing Division Physicians

[1:29:18] and the Bergen Program positions, those positions I anticipate spending through that grant

[1:29:24] budget for the positions, probably in the next quarter.

[1:29:27] I think we've extended that contract into September.

[1:29:33] They've completed the initial 60 hydrants they're supposed to do.

[1:29:35] Now they're working on a few more.

[1:30:00] So, they should be inching closer to about 726,000. If not, we can take some of that budget in the grant, move it to positions, spend it down, don't spend anything back to Treasury. This kind of my thinking, use it all.

[1:30:16] And so you're saying they have completed all the ones that were on the list and then you found some additional ones.

[1:30:21] Yeah, they came in wearing the budget in the bit and then also with the work, which I'm always

[1:30:26] happy with, but I'm also on them this month, you know, what's something back. But we're on a good

[1:30:31] kind of trajectory towards your end, or at least counter your end with that expensive dye line hits.

[1:30:38] Now, looking at some art project updates for that straight art befunding,

[1:30:43] talked about two of these two before. And we'll also hear these coming up with a CIP process for the

[1:30:49] FY208 to 34 CIP, which is crazy to think about.

[1:30:53] That seems far away, it's not that far, but I'll give a more deeper look into

[1:30:58] ASPEC project, a little hydropower project, but again with that HFAC, the Board of Education

[1:31:03] approved contracts in September of last year, and now almost less than a year later, if

[1:31:08] they've spent $100,000, they'll only $2 million, which is wonderful.

[1:31:11] And again, the capers are funding according to our currently adopted CIP as an additional $1 million,

[1:31:17] to $85,000 for that project to continue on.

[1:31:23] For our penable projects, the DSS,

[1:31:27] I mean, now really housing departments,

[1:31:29] e-hat program has spent close to $65,000.

[1:31:34] $660,000 on participants in the past three years,

[1:31:38] since the product says the program has started.

[1:31:40] It went for me to use it in straight art of funds,

[1:31:42] so federal funds, to our penable funds

[1:31:44] to the revenue replacement,

[1:31:46] and now moving into housing trust fund,

[1:31:47] or locally assumed dollars are funding in. And I believe that's also about 390 applications

[1:31:56] I've been a proof of that program as of a May.

[1:32:04] For early childhood programs of ports,

[1:32:06] again, as I said, the first half of that contract was paid to China credit cards for children

[1:32:10] about $39,000. This used ARPA enabled and then the kind of ARPA adjacent funding room,

[1:32:15] see the LATCF funding about $124,000 there will be coming back in September to talk more about

[1:32:21] EAP about that second tranche of their contract to get that $799,000 amount and I'll

[1:32:27] also talk give a bigger update about how that program is going. So looking just that expenses

[1:32:34] between in the last quarter, a big quarter of spending for Stratarpa again always with the

[1:32:40] Now, continually spending hydrant pair of 32,000 that work picking back up again in the HVAC project spending 823,000.

[1:32:49] For our panel enabled, we have a few member way back in the day of the CAD program match.

[1:32:53] That's the second round of CAD by from a thousand missing out to NCDIT for that project.

[1:32:58] For EAP, about 59,000.

[1:33:00] It's a little bit lower for usually for that program.

[1:33:02] A little bit higher most quarters.

[1:33:04] It's a little bit lower.

[1:33:04] And then Park is rich park, now they're out of the design and during phase and construction phase spending has progressed quite quickly.

[1:33:12] And again, you'll remember about this in CIP.

[1:33:14] So internally, we start this week.

[1:33:18] And then looking at all our projects at once for Strait Arpa and Arpa enabled on the Strait Arpa side.

[1:33:25] There's just those three projects. We've left to spend on the Hydra Prayer project and housing and diversion positions.

[1:33:30] And then for our pin able, there's four, one of which is Park is Ridge Park, again, they're working on spending that down.

[1:33:38] The attention covenant team facility modifications, building out that shell space in the jail.

[1:33:42] There's also the early childhood programs support, so last little bit.

[1:33:46] Before the journal fund picks up that contract costs.

[1:33:49] And then the last one is the great grant match.

[1:33:52] We're waiting on some more card support from folks.

[1:33:55] But we are projected to spend everything we receive from Treasury.

[1:33:58] I'm hoping not sending anything back, but I will let you know if anything changes.

[1:34:04] No, no, don't do that.

[1:34:05] Yeah. Well, let you know, some need to write.

[1:34:07] But thank you. That is all I have for this quarterly update.

[1:34:14] Well, just a general question. So once the straight ARPA funds are expanded, will you still report to us on ARPA enabled?

[1:34:23] I think that is up to the board.

[1:34:26] I mean, I would be happy to still before quarterly.

[1:34:29] If something that is more semi-annually, that's okay as well.

[1:34:34] I think I'm going to show this to Brian.

[1:34:35] I don't know if we're still working out through a treat,

[1:34:37] but I would love to at the retreat, bring back a bigger presentation

[1:34:40] and talk about some of the impacts of these upper projects.

[1:34:43] Oh, that would be going to involve all the projects once.

[1:34:45] And the timing wise, maybe retreat, maybe afterwards,

[1:34:48] it'll work session, but when there's a little more time.

[1:34:50] Yeah, that sounds really good.

[1:34:52] I got one question.

[1:34:53] and how many positions are in the housing division and diversion programs and when do they become counted?

[1:35:00] So, there are three housing positions, including the director, and then there are two diversion program positions. Right now, I think, based on the individual positions in the grant budgets, some will become, well, some will get picked up by the journal fund, a little bit quicker than others.

[1:35:18] However, in FY27, we have planned to pay for one housing position out of the housing trust fund to help protect the journal fund a bit. So, with some of that built up on balance they have.

[1:35:26] You just say exactly what you said again, I appreciate more than that.

[1:35:31] So, to give you the answer, I would assume that by the end of this next quarter ending

[1:35:35] of September, that this journal will general fund will pick up most of those positions.

[1:35:39] However, one has in position we are budgeting for in the housing trust fund to help save some

[1:35:43] costs when the journal fund.

[1:35:46] In the total positions of $3 is $890,000.

[1:35:50] Yeah, this has been since, gosh, the 420 first.

[1:35:53] That's not one year, that's the total amount sent.

[1:35:56] So that just, people aren't getting paid to under $1,000 of a piece.

[1:36:00] Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you.

[1:36:06] If we had it, we would pay it.

[1:36:07] If we had it, dare I would give it to him here.

[1:36:14] I don't know about that, but I'm sure, Caitlin,

[1:36:19] did you have anything else?

[1:36:20] No. Okay. Thank you, Will.

[1:36:24] Thank you. Thank you for your questions.

[1:36:26] All right, next up, item 260430, receive a presentation and vote to adopt the Chattam County Master Aging Plan and a company resolution and letter recognizing support for the designation of Chattam County as an age-friendly community.

[1:36:43] Aging services director Ashson Martin strategic initiatives manager Brenton Hart and intern Sidney Jake will present this item.

[1:37:00] Should we wait for Commissioner Howard or do you want us to go ahead and get started?

[1:37:07] You can go.

[1:37:08] There she is.

[1:37:09] All right.

[1:37:10] We'll get afternoon commissioners.

[1:37:12] What an exciting day this is for Chattam County Aging Services.

[1:37:16] The master aging plan that we are presenting to you today is the first aging plan.

[1:37:20] Create a bar department since we became part of the local Chattam County government.

[1:37:25] The development of this plan is the result of months of collaboration.

[1:37:28] listening sessions, data analysis, and community input from residents, caregivers, service

[1:37:36] providers, community organizations, and local leaders. It reflects our shared vision for the

[1:37:42] future. This plan outlines priorities and strategies that will strengthen services, promote

[1:37:48] independence, encourage social connection, and improve access to care and support for older

[1:37:54] residents and their families.

[1:37:56] My name is Ashlyn Martin, I'm the aging services director and I'm happy to be here to present

[1:38:00] alongside Brenton Hart and Sydney Sheek, who will be helping me walk you through the information.

[1:38:09] Today we are presenting the 2026-2031 Chattam County Master Aging Plan for Adoption

[1:38:16] Consideration.

[1:38:16] The plan was developed to guide the county's efforts to support its growing aging population

[1:38:21] and pursue consideration as an AARP-age friendly community.

[1:38:27] The plan was informed by community input, demographic data, stakeholder expertise, and

[1:38:33] the work of the Master Aging Plan steering committee.

[1:38:36] While this plan will serve as a roadmap for the work that we are doing in aging services,

[1:38:41] we hope that it will serve as a community-wide vision that can be utilized by other organizations,

[1:38:47] townships, and our elected officials.

[1:38:50] We began the process in December of 2024 when we launched the community survey to gather feedback on how aging services can better serve its aging population.

[1:39:04] The survey remained open for four months, and we received 760 responses.

[1:39:09] The survey was promoted through social media, official press releases, our website, and physical copies were available at the Pittsburgh and Solar City Centers for Active Living.

[1:39:20] In addition to the community survey, in community input sessions, we're held at the Goldstone Town Hall, the Chatham Grove Community Center, and the Pittsburgh and Solar City Centers for Active Living.

[1:39:33] Through these sessions, residents were able to learn about our plan to create a masteraging plan, understand how the plan would benefit the county's aging population, and share their thoughts and suggestions on how Chatham County can better serve aging residents.

[1:39:48] We then utilize the feedback from these sessions to develop the goals, strategies and metrics that you will see within the aging plan.

[1:39:58] Aging Impact

[1:40:02] Aging impacts every family and every generation. By planning thoughtfully today, we are building a stronger community for tomorrow.

[1:40:11] We know that this work cannot be accomplished by one agency or organization alone. The Aging Plan Leadership Team assembled a steering committee, comprised of Chattam County employees, elected officials, center participants, and community leaders.

[1:40:26] Committee members were selected based on their relevant experience, their involvement with the Master Aging Plan,

[1:40:33] and their engagement with Chattam County's Aging population.

[1:40:37] The steering committee was broken into workgroups based off ARP's eight domains of livability.

[1:40:43] Each group reviewed the public input that was received and developed an initial set of goals and strategies tailored to Chattam County's aging population.

[1:40:51] And you can see those eight domains of livability, they're on the slide.

[1:40:57] I'm going to turn it over to Sydney now, who's going to go through our data in assets.

[1:41:03] Good afternoon, commissioners.

[1:41:05] So as part of our master aging plan, we decided it was best to create an overview of some

[1:41:10] of the demographic data for the county to give insights as to how we look as well as

[1:41:14] to give projections as to how that demographics will change in the coming years.

[1:41:21] So as we all know, Chetam County is one of the fastest growing counties in North Carolina

[1:41:24] currently. And by 2040, our county's population is projected to increase by roughly 33 percent,

[1:41:31] which out of our 100 counties, the North Carolina ranks 11th. And also,

[1:41:36] Chattam County overall is an older county in terms of the immediate age of residents. The

[1:41:40] median age of residents in Chattam County is 48 years old, while state-wide the median

[1:41:46] age is actually only 39. And as you can see in the graphs here, we have a full breakdown

[1:41:51] And the next couple of decades as to how each age group in Chattam County is projected to look in terms of the

[1:41:58] Poppy overall population and these statistics are taken from the North Carolina office of state budget and management's demographer.

[1:42:07] Oh, sorry.

[1:42:08] I just had a question about that median age because

[1:42:12] That's different than a number that we've seen before.

[1:42:15] I've usually seen 55, but do you know Carolyn?

[1:42:19] I feel like it's you and I thought we're projected to be getting older.

[1:42:25] We are projected to be getting older. You'll see in the next couple of decades the percentage

[1:42:31] increase in the 65 plus is the greatest out of all of the different age demographics. I don't recall

[1:42:39] median age presented previously. I think it was a of farmers though. Or it was a specific

[1:42:47] population we were talking about. And also there's average median, you know, if they've selected

[1:42:54] a different range. So it just I hadn't seen that number and I don't think before. So I'm unsure

[1:43:00] that you can pull the mic up if it helps and so you don't have to lean out. Oh, thank you.

[1:43:07] But yes, the percentages shown in this graph does show the what percentage of the total

[1:43:11] population in those decades that each age rage on shows.

[1:43:19] And when looking at other county population projections,

[1:43:22] the population of residents who are age 65 and older

[1:43:26] is what is projected to be our fastest growing population

[1:43:28] in the next coming decades.

[1:43:30] Between the years 2040 and 2050,

[1:43:32] we can expect to see a roughly 84% increase

[1:43:35] in this population of residents, which equates to about 16,000

[1:43:39] additional residents in that population.

[1:43:41] And by 2045, those who are age 85 years in older can see a 202% increase in that population.

[1:43:50] So as we can see, there is a large increase that we can expect to see.

[1:43:54] Again, all of this data is collected from the state office of budget and management.

[1:44:01] And is that partly due to that population moving here?

[1:44:06] So this is a combination of residents that are projected to be entering the county as well as residents

[1:44:12] in terms of where their age will be by that time.

[1:44:19] We'll also be living till that age.

[1:44:23] Like we'll be, you know, which sounds good to me.

[1:44:27] Yes, that is the assumption here with these data.

[1:44:35] And as part of this Master Aging Plan,

[1:44:38] we also thought it would be beneficial to create an asset inventory

[1:44:41] where we looked at all the programs and services conducted by

[1:44:45] I'm county that support aging residents and in the overall plan we've divided these up by the eight domains of

[1:44:52] the ability that are outlined by a rp just to give kind of that overview, as well as to establish a base

[1:44:57] lawn for where a child I'm county currently is with how to do.

[1:45:00] Really quickly for you all is go through each of our domains of livability and provide a little bit of information on each of the domains goals, strategies and kind of what we're looking at in relation to this.

[1:45:14] And just to reiterate, some piece of action said the each section of our steering committee, they were broken out into groups and develop the goals and strategies within them.

[1:45:28] So these were individuals who are related to any aspect of livability for aging, for aging

[1:45:37] folks.

[1:45:39] And then also, I wanted to point out that these are folks throughout the county non-profit

[1:45:45] organizations, and even a couple of folks on the board were within those groups.

[1:45:53] So, to get it started, we recognized for the aging plan that there are several overarching

[1:46:01] goals that are important for all eight domains, so they stretched across all eight domains

[1:46:09] of livability, including communication, some community partnerships, and ensuring equitable

[1:46:17] and accessible access to aging-related information and services.

[1:46:21] So, as you'll note, you'll see that represented within the goal strategies and metrics.

[1:46:27] We're not going to express all of those throughout the domain, so feel free to take a look at

[1:46:33] the plan for the fully expressed goal strategies and metrics.

[1:46:41] So our first domain is respect in social inclusion.

[1:46:44] basically the idea that all folks from all backgrounds, ages, and abilities are welcomed and

[1:46:51] valued within Chattam County, and that was kind of the perspective that we took and requested

[1:46:57] that our steering committee developed those goals and strategies from some of those goals and

[1:47:03] strategies and metrics are focused on community connection, intergenerational programming, and then

[1:47:12] approved accessibility for older adults, we saw those three general categories as the

[1:47:18] main places where we should focus on as Chattam County in the next five years related

[1:47:26] to respect and social inclusion.

[1:47:29] Our second domain is social participation, so social participation is the making sure folks

[1:47:38] active, connected, engaged in that important community life that everyone wants to seek to attain.

[1:47:45] And so, focusing on age-friendly social opportunities and improving access to digital services,

[1:47:53] as you all have adopted your digital inclusion plan, we kind of recognize that those two are

[1:47:59] intertwined in this area as the social venues change throughout the country, not just Chad and County,

[1:48:06] but improving access to those digital services are important.

[1:48:13] And then domain three is our health services and community support section,

[1:48:18] which addresses health and wellness of aging residents,

[1:48:22] focusing on expanding access to health care and enhancing health services within the community,

[1:48:28] and then addressing food security among aging residents.

[1:48:33] Our domain for housing ensuring that older adults have a place to age in place and also remain independent and connected to their communities, expanding safe, affordable housing, increasing access to home repair and maintenance programs as well as having housing stability for aging residents.

[1:48:59] Domain 5 is outdoor spaces, buildings, and recreation.

[1:49:05] The outdoor spaces, as you know, establish social connection, recreation, and physical health for residents of all ages.

[1:49:13] And the goals of this domain focused on improving access outdoor spaces and recreation facilities, along with expanding participation and recreation programs and events and promoting safe and age-friendly public spaces.

[1:49:28] Our domain 6 is transportation, which is focused on accessible transportation, helping aging residents maintain their independence and remaining engaged in community life similar to other domains.

[1:49:42] So, focusing on expanding transportation options for aging residents and strengthening partnerships to improve transportation access where some of those focused goals.

[1:49:53] Domain 7 is Civic Participation and Employment and this Domain helps residents.

[1:50:00] Residents remain engaged to their communities, along with their independence. As you'll see, that was a focus area across a lot of our domains, ensuring being able to continue contributing to their community and maintaining that independence.

[1:50:17] So expanding volunteer opportunities for aging residents, strengthening partnerships that support that civic participation and then skill building and employment opportunities for older adults if they so choose to have them.

[1:50:31] And then our domain eight is communication and information, ensuring the access to information about

[1:50:38] program services and any other information that they seek is available.

[1:50:45] So expanding communication platforms we use as a county, creating accessible and inclusive

[1:50:51] communications, and partnering with community organizations to strengthen outreach.

[1:50:56] So, those are our eight domains, and if you all would like at the end, we could look at the goals we've attached them as an appendix to the presentation, but I will note that the plan is about 100 pages, so we felt that it was almost impossible to do up here today, so if you all have any specific goals you've seen in your review of the plan or anything like that, we can help look at those.

[1:51:20] And then one final section we did want to note that once adopted the master aging plan will have a page on the information hub, which will track all of the information metrics strategies and will be updated by folks that are tied into it, and just to reiterate as well, this is a master aging plan not a strategic plan, so it's not fully a strategic plan for aging services.

[1:51:47] So they won't be 100% responsible for the goals and strategies

[1:51:52] that are within the plan, but they are a key tie-in to the plan.

[1:51:57] As you'll note, as you look over those goals and surfaces.

[1:52:03] And this page will allow residents to publicly view the progress on the Asian plan.

[1:52:10] So with that, I'll hand it back to Ashley.

[1:52:16] All right.

[1:52:17] Do you have any questions for us about the plan?

[1:52:22] So, I might question a sort of broad, how do we anticipate that commissioners can ensure that the places that we have a voice in for advancing specific goals that we are bringing the lens of from an aging perspective.

[1:52:49] And I think I particularly think of transportation and health and sort of the broad health outcomes.

[1:52:57] So if we're having conversations around access to health and health care resources,

[1:53:04] one of the things that doesn't often fall on our radar is hearing aids access to the or things that can help the elderly

[1:53:14] participates because they are able to hear well, and then from my perspective, serving

[1:53:20] on transportation planning bodies, bringing the perspective from the master plan to the

[1:53:29] aging, to the conversation when we're talking about housing. How do, how is it that your

[1:53:36] hope that we can advocate for these things at the level where change happens in a meaningful

[1:53:47] way.

[1:53:49] Do you know I'm trying to get too slow because I don't anticipate that every commissioner

[1:53:55] henceforth will read all of the master plan and have it sufficiently encoded that they're

[1:54:02] Oh, I'm talking about a bus route on 15501, am I bringing up the perspective as it relates

[1:54:11] to healthy aging in Adam County, or even much more broadly, like we, I don't think we do

[1:54:16] have a broad conversation around transit and transportation support for the aging.

[1:54:25] We often tend to think of it in terms of recreation, young people, and work.

[1:54:30] right, getting back and forth for work, that kind of mobility. So in order to me, in order for

[1:54:38] the us to make real, bring about real change or to see the metrics aligned with what the goals are.

[1:54:47] We're going to have to be the advocates in some of those faces and I'm wondering how

[1:54:54] does that conversation or is there a way for us to keep that conversation live so that you know

[1:55:00] First of all, which members of this board are serving on what boards, committees, whatever, and which things that are relevant to the aging population, are you bringing, are you lifting up, are you reminding the relevant commissioner about, right?

[1:55:16] I see the, I often worry that a lot of what happens in these other boards that we sit on because it's just in this repository and not necessarily getting transmitted everywhere it needs to go.

[1:55:26] but we know that you care about all of these eight domains

[1:55:31] for the aging population.

[1:55:32] How do we create a back and forth in enough of a meaningful way

[1:55:36] that it is not just great intentions,

[1:55:42] but we're not tying the pieces together?

[1:55:44] Let me jump in on that, too,

[1:55:45] because I think this might relate to the question

[1:55:48] you're opposing, Commissioner Howard,

[1:55:50] is one of the things that I tuned into

[1:55:52] when I was reading through this report,

[1:55:55] head to do with the numbers of elderly that we're looking for employment and it was wow I was

[1:56:04] just really and so it's those tidbits that come out of this report is how do we know what those

[1:56:12] pieces are that you are working in this space every day that we're like yes grab on this because we

[1:56:19] would see opportunities potentially where we're looking at small businesses I think you were here

[1:56:24] when we're having that discussion about web squared

[1:56:27] and funding for that.

[1:56:28] And the fact that we have small businesses

[1:56:29] and other kinds of entrepreneurial things

[1:56:31] we're looking at here and will there be opportunities

[1:56:33] for folks in our elderly retired community

[1:56:36] to actually have those opportunities ahead.

[1:56:39] So there are things that we're tuned into

[1:56:40] by the nature of what we do here

[1:56:43] and how can we therefore support you

[1:56:46] in this big giant document to know what those tidbits are.

[1:56:50] So that's a great question.

[1:56:51] Um, part of, you know, this aging plan while we created it to be centered around the A or

[1:56:57] RP eight domains of livability is because part of our request today is to ask you all to support

[1:57:02] our efforts to become an age friendly community.

[1:57:06] We would like to join their network of age friendly communities, which is kind of a big deal because

[1:57:11] a lot of other communities here in North Carolina have done that. Um, so I think that our goal

[1:57:16] by bringing this plan to you is that you all can become familiar with the work that we're trying

[1:57:20] to do, so as you're making decisions, you can kind of take into consideration, okay, we've

[1:57:25] considered from a perspective of older adults, but also what we know is that if a community

[1:57:32] is age-friendly for an older adult, it's also age-friendly for, say, a mom with young children,

[1:57:38] or an individual living with disabilities. So I think it's just important to keep in mind that

[1:57:43] this plan we hope will help to kind of guide the work that you all are doing as well.

[1:57:48] Aging services is actually in the process of revamping our community ambassador program,

[1:57:54] which was something that the Council on Aging did previously, but the focus of this new ambassador

[1:57:59] group is really going to be to help promote aging services out in the community.

[1:58:04] We're looking at 12 to 13 individuals who are going to be brought in.

[1:58:08] They have to be either a volunteer or a participant at one of our centers in order to be an ambassador.

[1:58:14] So perhaps we can have more conversations between all of you and those ambassador's beats.

[1:58:18] We also want them to play a regular role in our centers of hearing what participants are saying.

[1:58:25] So perhaps we could look at doing something like that just to kind of bring everybody together on a more regular basis.

[1:58:30] So you all can stay aware of that as well.

[1:58:35] I don't know if that answered your question or not.

[1:58:37] Sort of a similar question, but I think the tracking this plan is going to be the biggest part of that.

[1:58:42] We're going to be able to see as it goes and as if the aging population is going to be 200% of 85 and older, there's a big difference between a 60 year old and 85 year old and what those needs are.

[1:58:53] And so I think what we're saying is we're fully supportive of this, but we want to make sure that we can see it coming.

[1:59:00] And I think this tracking mechanism is going to help with that. So I want to tell you, thank you for the work you've done on this.

[1:59:05] I think you'll see where all we're all supportive of this plan and I appreciate the work that you're doing.

[1:59:11] Thank you.

[1:59:12] And so much of our work is slow, right?

[1:59:15] So, I mean, you're talking about a plan that extends out to,

[1:59:19] what was it, 2030-31?

[1:59:22] And we're looking at transportation planning in 2050,

[1:59:26] 255, MTP, and so for me to make any meaningful difference

[2:00:00] I would be worried about leaving it to chance that a given commissioner at any stage is truly sufficiently focused on all of the populations.

[2:00:13] You know, I think it's easy for us to focus on if you're a parent, have a young child to be thinking about school age and you're working parents parent, you're thinking about working.

[2:00:21] But harder to envision some of the population that we're all hopefully going to become and their needs and bring that into the conversation today so that the funding and the decisions are made in time for this growing population to reap their rewards.

[2:00:42] to make. Yeah. And just to add on to that a little bit, it's a one additional item I wanted

[2:00:49] to bring forward was that this is not just for the elected body and those sorts of things. It'll

[2:00:55] be helpful for staff as well. As an example, there are one of our goals within the plan that was brought

[2:01:03] up by, and I can't I think it was respect and social inclusion that domain group was looking at

[2:01:10] in county facilities for accessibility and ensuring that although we do that already, assisting

[2:01:17] community partners when they need that assistance as well. So making sure that staff is working

[2:01:23] in partnership with different organizations throughout the county and those sorts of things

[2:01:29] will be helpful as well. So I wanted to add that in. So applying this, you know, proactively,

[2:01:34] what are these things that we need to be doing and looking for? And I think that might be part of what

[2:01:40] is a big lift. So we can all be aware of that. Do we want to go ahead and make the motion on this?

[2:01:46] Senator, I make a motion to adopt the Chairman County Master Aging Plan in the company

[2:01:51] Resolution and Letter Recognizing and Designated Chairman County as an age-friendly community.

[2:01:56] So, all in favor. Hi. Thank you very much. This is exciting.

[2:02:01] So we have one more thing, more full of surprises. Britain and Sydney don't know about this.

[2:02:06] So Christy's going to join me in just a moment as well because they've also been instrumental in the work that they have done on the library plan, but I wanted to take a minute just to recognize Britain and Sydney.

[2:02:19] We began the journey creating the aging plan back in 2024.

[2:02:23] I remember Carolyn mentioning to me that we could ask Britain to work on this project.

[2:02:28] I didn't know Britain all that well at the time, but I thought great.

[2:02:32] This is another set of hands to help us out with this.

[2:02:34] We're gonna need it.

[2:02:36] And it didn't take long for me to realize

[2:02:38] that Britain was so much more than another set of hands.

[2:02:41] When Britain takes on a project, he does it 100%.

[2:02:45] He brought his knowledge, skills, talent,

[2:02:48] technology, expertise, which I'm not very good at.

[2:02:52] To this plan and his contributions have been invaluable.

[2:02:56] And just when I thought our team couldn't get any stronger,

[2:02:59] Sydney joined us.

[2:03:02] Sydney brought his own wealth of knowledge

[2:03:03] and a wide range of skills to this project.

[2:03:06] He attended leadership team meetings and spent countless hours

[2:03:10] and behind the scenes helping draft the plan, review content,

[2:03:14] and make edits.

[2:03:16] His dedication and attention to detail strength

[2:03:18] in the plans in so many ways.

[2:03:20] And I learned today that this is his first presentation

[2:03:22] to you all, and I think he did an incredible job.

[2:03:28] So the aging plan is what it is today

[2:03:30] because of the tremendous work and dedication

[2:03:32] of both Sydney and Britain.

[2:03:33] And on behalf of Aging Services, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to both of you for the many months and countless hours you devoted to this project.

[2:03:42] Thank you for being true champions for Aging.

[2:03:45] Through your work on this plan, you have helped to make chat a stronger, more age-friendly community.

[2:03:50] Your dedication has made a lasting impact and the benefits of your work will reach far beyond the completion of this plan.

[2:03:56] Because of you, the people who call Chatham home, those who come here to work, and those who visit our community will experience the positive impacts of your efforts.

[2:04:06] Thank you, Britain and Sydney for your commitment, your expertise, and your belief in making Chatham a better place for people of all ages.

[2:04:12] We are grateful for all that you have done.

[2:04:16] Thank you.

[2:04:21] Ashland also asked me to come up because I wanted to give my thanks before you get my presentation with the library strategic plan

[2:04:29] and she sent that to me and I'm like, gosh, this is what I'm like, what else am I going to say?

[2:04:34] But I do appreciate all of the work that Brenton and Sydney have done.

[2:04:39] They definitely learned at the age-old cultural idiom of a woman's prerogative to change her mind because I'm saying, no, I don't want that picture.

[2:04:46] Sydney, can we put this in there? Can we add that? They did all of it with grace patients, humor and dedication.

[2:04:54] So I want to give them a big round for pause and appreciation for what they've done for the library as well.

[2:04:59] Thanks.

[2:05:00] Next is item 260429, receive a presentation and vote to adopt the 2026-2031.

[2:05:07] Chatham County Library Strategic Plan, Library Director, Christy Bondi, and Strategic Initiatives Manager,

[2:05:14] Brenton Hart, and Interns Sydney Sheak.

[2:05:16] We'll present a side of

[2:05:30] it.

[2:05:31] Oh,

[2:05:41] did it not go to the...

[2:05:50] There we go.

[2:05:57] Right, we'll get after noon commissioners.

[2:06:00] I'm here to present a draft of the Chatham County Public Library.

[2:06:03] to May 26th to 2031, strategic plan.

[2:06:10] Much like the aging plan,

[2:06:12] we went through a similar process,

[2:06:14] starting in December of 2025,

[2:06:17] we started a community needs assessment survey

[2:06:19] that went out across the community

[2:06:23] through all of our libraries,

[2:06:25] through the aging center and other community partners.

[2:06:28] We received 700 responses within two months and other ways that we informed our plan was through data analysis,

[2:06:39] focus groups, library staff input, stake holder engagement and leadership team review.

[2:06:48] Seven focus areas were aligned with community and organizational needs and why do a strategic plan?

[2:06:55] first of all, you should always have a plan, an action, but adoption is required for eligibility

[2:07:00] for the state library aid and for grants that we pursue. I am working on the state aid application

[2:07:06] right now and it was our time to do a new updated strategic plan and I think these gentlemen came

[2:07:13] up with a great for us to go forward with.

[2:07:18] So as I was saying, we did do a two-month community survey

[2:07:22] online and paper. I will say a large amount of our folks were in the aging category that

[2:07:32] filled out the survey so we got a lot of great information to drive forward with the hard strategic

[2:07:39] plan and Sydney helped to develop all of that. We had great focus groups three at our library

[2:07:46] branches, one at the Chattam Grove Community Center, and each of our front groups participated

[2:07:53] in focus groups as well as our Library Advisory Committee.

[2:07:58] So from that staff myself, Sidney and Brenton took the focus group and survey data to

[2:08:06] develop the plan.

[2:08:09] And now I'll pass it over to Sidney to go through all the fun data story.

[2:08:15] Hello again commissioners. So I'm going to give you some more internal data about that we decided to include in our library plan.

[2:08:27] So we once again create an asset inventory this time focusing specifically on the programs and services offered by our libraries.

[2:08:35] I want to I want to preface this by saying these are not all of these specific programs. They do these are just the overall categories that the various programs they do fall under.

[2:08:43] So book lending, audio books, e-books, entrepreneurship training, all of these different things,

[2:08:50] pretty much everything that they do would fall into all of these different categories.

[2:08:53] So as you can see, they're doing a lot right now.

[2:08:58] And this is some internal data that Christy provided to us for the plan to give kind of the overview

[2:09:04] as to the type of things that the libraries have been seeing over the last couple of fiscal years.

[2:09:09] So as you can see in the total library visitors between fiscal year 23 and fiscal year 25,

[2:09:14] They saw a decent increase in the total foot traffic of visitors within the libraries and went from seven to about 73,000 to 85,000 in fiscal year 25

[2:09:24] And similarly in total library circulation, which includes all of their physical books, any materials that they can check out such as STEM kids all of that stuff

[2:09:34] There was a large increase in the last three fiscal years going from 2,000 to 2,000

[2:09:39] in 18,000 in fiscal year 23 to 20,268,000 in fiscal year 25, which is roughly a 50,000 increase.

[2:09:53] And this was a great stat that Christy provided to us as well.

[2:09:56] So if you take into account everything that our residents...

[2:10:00] Check out from the libraries, books that they use, audio books, any of the other things that they're able to check out and use.

[2:10:06] Everything has a numerical value that can be associated with it. So when you add all of that together in 2025, it adds up to over $5 million that our libraries users manage to save by using all of our available resources.

[2:10:22] And looking at our internal technology data, and fiscal year 25, the reference desk at our libraries for our tech assistance was used.

[2:10:30] they total of 1,378 times, and fiscal year 2025,

[2:10:36] we had 30 technology classes,

[2:10:38] which is great that we're increasing that.

[2:10:41] And between fiscal years, 2023 and 2025,

[2:10:44] the computer usage of all of the laptops and computers

[2:10:47] that we have in our libraries,

[2:10:49] size 28% increase in use.

[2:10:55] And with that, I'll give it to Brenton.

[2:11:00] All right, similarly to our aging plan,

[2:11:04] Although this is a much different plan related to all of the different library goals and strategies and is tailored toward exactly to the library system.

[2:11:17] So we created seven focus areas and their goals, their subsequent goals and we wanted to walk through those with you all.

[2:11:28] And similarly to the aging plan, we wanted to provide an overview of what the goals entailed and rather than the goals themselves.

[2:11:41] So just keep that in mind.

[2:11:44] So an overview of our seven focus areas really quickly.

[2:11:47] Some that you'll recognize, some that are a little bit different from what are typically provided within a library plan.

[2:11:54] So we've got collections, program services, programs and services,

[2:12:00] communication staff and facilities.

[2:12:01] Those are the primary five that are typically

[2:12:04] associated with library strategic plans,

[2:12:07] but due to some of the requests from our community

[2:12:09] and some of those survey responses,

[2:12:12] we decided to add both community and adaptability

[2:12:15] as different goals that we recognized as being important

[2:12:20] for the success of the libraries.

[2:12:23] So, to start off with our focus area one, Sydney went over just briefly, but collections,

[2:12:30] collections includes books, ebooks, magazines, audio books, and online databases, and

[2:12:36] our goals within this focus area are focused on expanding those available materials, items,

[2:12:44] importantly within this is a library of things that was included as a goal to have, and

[2:12:52] access to information.

[2:12:55] Our focus area too, being programs in services,

[2:12:59] in addition to all of those programs and services

[2:13:01] that you all saw earlier, these goals

[2:13:05] focus on expanding and enhancing those current offerings,

[2:13:09] including intergenerational programming,

[2:13:12] educational programming, and creative programming.

[2:13:15] We recognized from a lot of our input that

[2:13:20] residents love to have those, all of these different programs and would like more such as

[2:13:26] educational being STEM kits and things of that nature, folks use those all of the time.

[2:13:34] And then additionally, in combination with our agent plan,

[2:13:38] intergenerational programming has been a major interest at the community.

[2:13:44] For our focus area, three is community. This focus area acknowledges that role that

[2:13:49] libraries play in as a third space within communities. So being able to have a place for folks to go at the school

[2:13:57] actor work, those sorts of things are important. And in addition, fostering those connections, expanding

[2:14:05] that library outreach, so folks in typically underserved areas for libraries also received that

[2:14:13] and receive those services, and then also strengthening partnerships amongst community organizations with the library.

[2:15:01] Focus area 5 is communications, so recognizing that communication with residents and the understanding of libraries being essential communication venues for residents is there, so and recognizing the need for libraries to be able to communicate which services and those sorts of things that are being offered.

[2:15:24] providing community with relevant information, marketing, multi-lingual communications, and community partnerships.

[2:15:34] Focus Area 6 is of what Christy would say is the most important.

[2:15:39] And this focus area recognizes Chattam County Public Library staff,

[2:15:44] are the backbone of Library Work.

[2:15:46] It focuses on staff expansion, investing in professional development,

[2:15:51] and building interest in library careers and then focus area seven is facilities and this

[2:15:59] focus area refers to those physical library spaces improving access to currently existing library

[2:16:07] facilities exploring the possibility of adding additional facilities in the future and responding

[2:16:13] to the needs of patrons are at the top of the list for facilities and for moving forward

[2:16:21] We also did want to note, similarly, that there will be a tracking page for this new strategic plan on the website as well, where Christie and her staff will update as ongoing items are accomplished within the plan or new initiatives come out of it.

[2:16:38] And it will be updated quarterly or by annually, depending on those goals.

[2:16:44] And residents in the board can view progress on that webpage.

[2:16:47] And those links for both the aging plan, new page and the library strategic plan page will be within the press release that is released later on this week for the

[2:16:59] For these both of these plans, so that residents can see those there.

[2:17:04] And so I want to turn it back over to Christy, in case she has any other things to say about the different focus areas.

[2:17:14] Thank you, Brenton.

[2:17:16] I'm happy to answer any questions.

[2:17:19] I will say that once you give me a goal, I start to do it.

[2:17:23] So actually the first goal that is under library collections, the library of things.

[2:17:27] We did receive a grant from that we will be asking you to do a bunch of the amendment for.

[2:17:32] The next month that your commissioners meeting for us to start checking out,

[2:17:37] ukulelees and puzzles and tools, so we're excited for that.

[2:17:43] And I've been doing this for 25 years.

[2:17:46] So adaptability is something that I've learned when I first was in libraries.

[2:17:50] I was just learning.

[2:17:51] We were all just learning what Wi-Fi was, so we've come a long way.

[2:17:56] And we've got a long way to go.

[2:17:58] Happy to answer any questions you may have.

[2:18:01] Well, thank you for all you do for our libraries.

[2:18:04] I live in Siler City and so we usually just go to the Siler City Library and the ability to rent out or order books from other areas has been opportunity to save time but also just expand the accessibility of different titles that may not be at the current library.

[2:18:28] Can you remind me, what other facilities do we have?

[2:18:32] We have the Goldstone, the one in Pittsburgh, do we have one in the Northeast?

[2:18:37] We don't, yeah, I believe that we have that as a potential for our seven-year plan, RCIP moving

[2:18:44] forward, would be to ask for a facility out there.

[2:18:47] So we have Ren Memorial and Cyber City, Goldstone Public Library and a Chatham Community Library

[2:18:53] here.

[2:18:54] Given to ask you still here, has there ever been conversation of cross programming with the libraries and aging services?

[2:19:04] Just you make.

[2:19:06] No, we've had some great bunk brainstorming ideas along with forage and with parks and recreation.

[2:19:12] So we're excited to bring something together.

[2:19:15] One thing that I had mentioned that we could potentially do down the line is.

[2:19:23] Ashley and I have talked about how they have raised garden beds and how we have a seed library.

[2:19:27] We have little folks that come to story time.

[2:19:31] She has the seniors having a growing buddies.

[2:19:36] I program.

[2:19:38] And so we've been thinking about doing that later on this year and letting them plan a seed together.

[2:19:43] Watch it, cultivate their little vegetable, maybe, and then have a communal meal together.

[2:19:49] So we're coming up with lots of different ideas.

[2:19:51] ideas. We do, we are doing one program right now called Kinder Music Bridges that'll start back up in September. So the little

[2:20:00] Our early literacy specialist goes and does stuff and it's wonderful to see the interactions,

[2:20:05] combating some social isolation, maybe for some folks. So we're excited about all the different ways

[2:20:11] that things can go. And I'm glad that you enjoy our career service, but another exciting thing

[2:20:17] that's about to happen is in November we are joining the NC Cardinal Consortium with 60 other county

[2:20:24] libraries so you will be able to have access to 8 million other books, DVDs, audio books

[2:20:31] from our neighboring libraries so that'll be exciting. There'll be a career that comes

[2:20:38] through FedEx. So if you want a book from Bunkham County requested it would be shipped here

[2:20:43] so we'll have some resource sharing so we're excited for that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you

[2:20:54] Marvellous presentations and strategic plans that you guys are doing and it's really exciting and it shows the value that you bring to the community here

[2:21:06] And I think making that visible to the public is just an an ongoing way super important

[2:21:12] It's why the information hub is super important. We talked earlier today about one of the biggest challenges

[2:21:18] Not just us, but a lot of folks have as far as just getting this information out to the public's van

[2:21:23] understand. This is available and it seems to happen all over the place. As local governments

[2:21:30] are really threatened by the general assembly and losing the ability to manage our own local

[2:21:38] taxes to try and help pay and fund some of these wonderful programs. I think it's all the more

[2:21:43] important that these services and what you do and how involved and engage the community is and how

[2:21:53] through like the information hub, but through other channels just to get the word out because

[2:21:58] most people don't like taxes, but if they understand that they're helping provide these kinds

[2:22:03] of services that are really important, sort of changes that picture a little bit, you know,

[2:22:09] I think for all of us. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Any other questions?

[2:22:13] I mean, that was easy. What do you think we could attribute the growth in visits and borrowing

[2:22:22] to because I think there was also a significant bump, post-COVID, wasn't there?

[2:22:29] I believe there was, but I will say that number probably bumped a lot because 2023 we were

[2:22:36] still kind of coming a little out of COVID and then it just kind of people started not being

[2:22:41] afraid to come into the library more and we were offering more programs that people were coming

[2:22:46] to that, and they were checking out materials.

[2:22:50] I will say a large portion of it, though,

[2:22:52] and I am trying to figure this out.

[2:22:54] So if any of the collective brain here knows

[2:22:56] how to do this, people do come in to get their library card

[2:23:00] just for e-books, so that's a bump in that as well.

[2:23:05] And so we're trying to get them to stay to find out

[2:23:08] that we have more than just the e-books.

[2:23:10] But I do think that e-book trend is continual with us.

[2:23:15] We had almost 1,500 requests last month and we were able to fill 10 with the way E-book pricing is, but that's a different story.

[2:23:26] And we're up to people waiting like 70 days for an E-book.

[2:23:32] I do think it's, people wanted to get back out, so they were coming and checking out physical bugs, but then you still had your folks that were now used to downloading.

[2:23:45] their books and just doing that as well. Well, it's just good to know people are still reading.

[2:23:50] I'm thrilled by it every day. Yeah, absolutely. What's the hold of on the

[2:23:54] ebooks? Is it cost subscription? It's pricing. So, um, not to really get into that too crazy with

[2:24:02] you guys, but I'm actually on a task force for ebook pricing. So, as I can buy a physical,

[2:24:09] I'll just say James Patterson, because people know who that is. His book, I can check that out

[2:24:14] definitely. It might come back. It might get damaged. We'll repair it. We'll send it back out with ebooks.

[2:24:20] You're purchasing a license and one of the pricing models is after 26 checkouts. The license goes away.

[2:24:28] And then if you have a hold, you still have people waiting for you. You have to purchase it again.

[2:24:34] And an average hardcover, I would say is going to cost you about $26. They're going to charge you

[2:24:41] a hundred and three dollars for that license for 26 licenses.

[2:24:44] As you go to this 80 libraries, there's something is there a way to do a price point comparison

[2:24:51] for ebooks and instead of each library getting it, let me be a statewide or a community wide

[2:24:57] project. So we agree. We're in.

[2:25:00] A machine with small and rural libraries that's called e-ink and the larger libraries are in one called NC digital and that's really the way, only way any of us can afford it, but there's finally some chatter and discussion about e-book pricing happening actually nationwide. Right now when there is some movement in different states to do some laws around it because it's considered predatory pricing, but I could sit up here and talk about it all day.

[2:25:27] You just talked about priorities, priorities, and I think the library parties are important to us too.

[2:25:33] So I want to tell you, thank you for the work you're doing on it.

[2:25:34] Thank you for your continued look at it.

[2:25:36] Thank you.

[2:25:38] Create a voice.

[2:25:39] Is there a motion to adopt the Chad and Kenny Library Strategic Plan?

[2:25:44] Hi.

[2:25:45] All in favour?

[2:25:46] All right.

[2:25:46] Thank you.

[2:25:47] Thank you.

[2:25:50] All right.

[2:25:50] So next on our agenda is item 260463, a vote to go into closed session pursuant

[2:25:57] to 143-318.11A3 to consult with an attorney retained by the county in order to preserve

[2:26:04] the attorney client privilege to serve out to go in the closed session. So move back to the second.

[2:26:10] Thank you. All in favor. Thank you. And I would just say Christie has talked to our legislator

[2:26:18] But Senator Natalie Murdock about the E-Price, it's on the radar.

[2:26:24] Thank you.

[5:03:08] Clock, and I will call the August 17th, Chattam County Board of Commissioners Regular Session to order.

[5:03:21] Before we get underway, I would first like to, again, thank the 300 or so Chattam County residents who came out several weeks ago at our August 5th public comment meeting.

[5:03:39] Thank you for coming out to bear witness to the 50 or so residents who spoke up about their concerns about the proposed and bridge pipeline.

[5:03:55] This board is very grateful and understands how challenging it can be for many people to come out in the evenings.

[5:04:03] you have families and some are elderly and it's hard to navigate and get out and attend

[5:04:10] an event like that. We're deeply grateful to you all for making space and any of you that

[5:04:14] did come that were there as well. So we thank you to start our meeting. I'd like to take a moment of

[5:04:24] silence and ask those attending today to please hold in your hearts and your prayers.

[5:04:35] Those that are facing this right now that are facing eminent domain of their property

[5:05:00] And just

[5:05:05] think about them for just a moment, please. Thank you.

[5:05:20] Thank you. Now, please, it's all stand for the pledge of allegiance.

[5:05:45] Thank you. Are there any adjustments, additions, stations or corrections to the regular session agenda?

[5:06:00] I do have one item that I laid out at your spot to add to the consent agenda and Gene.

[5:06:09] I think Gene the 15th, the Board approved a fireworks show at Governor's Club.

[5:06:16] And due to fire regulations that wasn't able to be hailed.

[5:06:21] So now they're going to have it on Labor Day, which I think is September the 5th is the day they're having it.

[5:06:26] no, if that's Labor Day. And so this would just be a approval to change that date.

[5:06:35] All right. Thank you, Jennifer. There are motion to add this to the consent agenda.

[5:06:41] Madam Jarrow make the motion. You have a second. Second. All in favor. Is there a motion to approve this evening's

[5:06:50] agenda as amended.

[5:06:52] So moved.

[5:06:54] Second.

[5:06:55] All in favor.

[5:06:56] Hi.

[5:06:57] Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda?

[5:07:00] I would like for us to potentially push back for further discussion.

[5:07:08] Maybe give staff some time to discuss the contract for item 2, 6, 0, 4, 2, 1, which is the EEC contract.

[5:07:16] I don't know if board members would like to actually discuss this or just instruct staff to provide language within the contract that is more aligned with our goals in terms of the industries that they seek and other reasons.

[5:07:33] So I am inclined to say, let's keep it on the consent agenda so that the contract can be,

[5:07:41] we will have a contract with the EDC, but let's bring forward an S Accounting Manager

[5:07:46] if we can start the discussion about the larger nature of the relationship contract,

[5:07:53] whether it's a contract or the strategic plan, but more in line with our board priorities,

[5:07:59] as something that we can maybe discuss leading up to the budget.

[5:08:04] What are the timing impacts where we do called this for next month?

[5:08:13] If it's next month, I don't think we have a check.

[5:08:18] What would it look at our financial people at the other end of the road here?

[5:08:23] What would be the general timeframe for this service agreement?

[5:08:26] and the first payment to be paid.

[5:08:29] So knowing normally,

[5:08:31] I've handled this allocation in 12,

[5:08:33] so they get one payment every month,

[5:08:35] once both of the contract every month.

[5:08:37] Obviously we're already into the second month of the year.

[5:08:41] So the finance office would probably just do,

[5:08:44] if it was approved tonight,

[5:08:45] we probably do two payments and all of us just to catch this up.

[5:08:48] Any further delay of that contract,

[5:08:51] it was next month, it would be three months up front,

[5:08:53] and that's an old and so forth.

[5:08:54] That's to how it would impact the EDC, they're separate legal entities,

[5:08:59] they don't profit into the, I can't, can't fully answer that, but I can't say based on the

[5:09:05] budget that was submitted to us, we're about 70% of their funding, so I'm not insignificant

[5:09:10] to get them out. But I do not know what they're doing. And so I can say it was that it will take

[5:09:15] more than a month for our board to have the kind of discussion that we were anticipating having

[5:09:20] about the contract itself.

[5:09:22] So if we,

[5:09:23] a kept it on and approved it,

[5:09:27] but with the understanding that the county manager

[5:09:29] and the EDC director,

[5:09:31] and maybe some contingent of their board

[5:09:33] and this board would have conversations leading up

[5:09:37] to our budget meeting,

[5:09:38] then we could have the full weighing out

[5:09:43] of what and how we wanted to handle it.

[5:09:45] But now seems like a difficult time to try to do that.

[5:10:00] Weeding until budget discussion comes. I feel like a lot of things can happen potentially. So I would prefer if we have to go on a monthly basis, just to keep them afloat.

[5:10:11] While we have those discussions, that's one thing, but it have and approve a whole year contract right now. I feel like I wouldn't be more hesitant to do.

[5:10:21] And to try to, if I may thread the needle, so to speak here, would the board be comfortable

[5:10:27] in approving the contract, and once we get to a point of having our priorities clearly

[5:10:34] aligned either through the contract, or strategic plan, or any other kind of working document

[5:10:39] that we would bring back or revise contract to amend what the board may approve, but not

[5:10:47] necessarily wait until the next fiscal year that we're able to move that forward as we are

[5:10:53] able, and not set a time clock for FY28, but with the expectation that that would be handled

[5:11:01] inside of the current fiscal year.

[5:11:03] And we have the ability to make contract to do that.

[5:11:07] We could, in coordination with the EDC, either do an amendment through that contract or replicate

[5:11:15] the current contract and then approve a brand new contract.

[5:11:21] That's right.

[5:11:22] We would still be on the hook for a whole year, right?

[5:11:25] That's correct.

[5:11:26] The board adopted the budget with the set of mail

[5:11:29] where the allocation to the EDC.

[5:11:32] But I'm referring to the contract.

[5:11:35] We'd be on the hook for this exact same contract for a whole year.

[5:11:39] But the amount.

[5:11:40] But not so much the amount in the language.

[5:11:43] The language could be amended at any point moving fully.

[5:11:47] Yeah, so I think part of what it is is there's two separate things.

[5:11:50] The contract and then operation of memorandum and strategic plan alignment.

[5:11:55] So I think if we approve the contract also knowing that we can amend it,

[5:12:00] it sounds like there's also a larger conversation around goals being aligned that can be held separate from the approval.

[5:12:15] Okay, all right, okay, did we get a motion to approve the consent agenda?

[5:12:20] I did.

[5:12:21] We did not.

[5:12:22] We did not.

[5:12:22] I made a motion.

[5:12:24] Sorry.

[5:12:24] I might have said it loud enough at any time, but I make a motion to approve the consent agenda.

[5:12:29] And then second of all in favor.

[5:12:31] All right.

[5:12:31] Hi.

[5:12:33] Thank

[5:12:36] you.

[5:12:36] None.

[5:12:39] All right.

[5:12:39] Next we have public comment session.

[5:12:43] Jennifer, you said we do have people signed up tonight.

[5:12:48] Yes, we have 12, I'm sorry 13 folks, I'm sorry, I'm trying to call the list up on the TV over here on the side, so that those in the audience can see when they're up next, and I will say before the chair tells you the roles that there are a few people, board members that have signed up.

[5:13:17] for one of the action items on tonight's agenda that was previously a quasi judicial hearing

[5:13:26] and I think the accounting attorney wanted to give you some guidance about those comments.

[5:13:33] If it's okay, commissioners, I just wanted to say something to you all and also to the public about quasi judicial hearings.

[5:13:41] Can everyone hear me?

[5:13:43] Okay.

[5:13:46] I can come up there if that's better.

[5:13:48] You have to have a speaker.

[5:13:49] That mic works a lot better.

[5:13:54] Thanks Emily.

[5:14:11] Is that on?

[5:14:12] Yeah.

[5:14:13] All right.

[5:14:13] So I wanted to just say a little bit about quasi-judicial hearings for the commissioners.

[5:14:19] quasi-judicial hearings or like court hearings, which means that you all are the judges.

[5:14:25] And like court hearings, there is evidence presented to the judges.

[5:14:29] And you must make your decision based on the evidence that is presented during the evidence

[5:14:34] sharing hearing.

[5:14:35] And your discretion is also limited by state law in that, like a judge, you're applying certain

[5:14:43] factors that are in the zoning ordinance and looking at the evidence that was presented

[5:14:46] to you.

[5:14:48] So there was a hearing, quasi-digital hearing on lockly holdings in June 15th, and that

[5:14:55] evidence you're hearing closed.

[5:14:57] So that was the evidence you have to make your decision.

[5:15:00] Questions are very different than the typical legislative rezoning and it is confusing to the public because it's a different standard and there's evidence and it's limited.

[5:15:09] But I just wanted to make sure that I explain that to you in the public.

[5:15:13] Thank you. Thank you.

[5:15:16] Can you leave that on please, Emily?

[5:15:19] Yes.

[5:15:19] I find them.

[5:15:20] It is hard. That's why I just leave it on because I struggle. All right, so I'm going to read the following for those getting ready to participate in public comment.

[5:15:29] Just now, we want to remind speakers that they will have three minutes to speak.

[5:15:33] The green light illuminates for the first two minutes.

[5:15:36] The yellow light then illuminates along with one beep to let you know that they have one minute remaining.

[5:15:41] The red light illuminates along with three beeps when the three minutes have expired.

[5:15:46] If possible, it's appreciated if you can please provide a copy of your comments to the

[5:15:50] clerk in writing over here and please speak directly into the microphone provided the podium.

[5:15:55] everyone can hear you. Thank you.

[5:15:59] So the first three speakers are Lisa Johnson,

[5:16:03] to Wayne Campbell and Jan Phillips.

[5:16:10] Nobody? Oh.

[5:16:31] Hello again. I'm Lisa Johnson, a resident on Campbell Road for the majority of my lives.

[5:16:37] It's 1976. My experience with the Chan County Plain Board employees,

[5:16:42] the Vazerie Bower Commissioners' Sheriff's Department, et cetera, has been somewhat limited

[5:16:50] to the request of Lockley Holdings' Bear Creek Fabrications. I must share that my experience

[5:16:57] has not left me with a good feeling of community trust and leadership. With the first request

[5:17:03] being a petition for rezoning, to have the industrial which was withdrawn, the neighborhood position

[5:17:10] was not in favor of the evidence by the position in the input gather at that time. Fast forward

[5:17:16] to today, where nothing has changed, just that we have an issue P, the quasi-traditional hearing.

[5:17:25] Allowing input by so-called experts only, which testify to the drive of the side of the business

[5:17:32] for traffic and not the neighborhood, which is the neighborhood complaint, not to mention the owner,

[5:17:38] or a so-called expert to his own request and a praiser of which any research can show you is

[5:17:48] subjective in any way.

[5:17:55] I am the resident of Chatham County because I believe the EDO

[5:17:59] in force today supports my lifestyle. Preserving the role character was identified as one of the

[5:18:05] most important goals during the planning process. We believe that clean water while lives

[5:18:12] in its beauty, peace and quiet, free of noise and air pollution, it's what our community wants

[5:18:19] represented, approving a project that plain chatom was designed to protect, can a road public

[5:18:25] trust in the planning and regulatory process. We, the residents, feel unheard and excluded when

[5:18:31] their concerns about public health and will be in our overwritten, by industrial interests.

[5:18:38] The current facility, a significantly diminished the quality of life for residents through constant disturbances.

[5:18:47] The ambience of our role neighborhood character is threatened.

[5:18:51] This rezoning request if approved while I add to this burden.

[5:18:56] I have said there's ever requests before the planning board,

[5:18:59] and which requests have immediate significant negative impacts on the neighborhood,

[5:19:04] which is not all set with positive benefits to the community or the county.

[5:19:10] We have to do a better job at this.

[5:19:13] We're not opposed to businesses.

[5:19:15] We are simply saying the native impacts far outweigh the benefits.

[5:19:20] Whilst a year's to a business that employs less than 25 people,

[5:19:24] which brings no revenue to this county,

[5:19:27] because the income is realized elsewhere through multi-state operation.

[5:19:32] The neighborhood characters disrupted to satisfy the request or with no positive benefits

[5:19:40] to this county. If as you pay permits or quasi-traditional, then we have taken away public

[5:19:47] input. It appears the county has somewhat adopted the mindset that if block A through Z is checked,

[5:19:54] they cannot say no, taking zoning, classified as our one.

[5:20:00] I'm allowing business ventures, removes the residential impact. If the issue pay is a matter of checking

[5:20:07] out boxes, as it is a pretty, I think we could hire a box checker and save plenty of time on

[5:20:13] the agenda. We must consider things long-term, so I'm going to be a bit of an investment,

[5:20:18] and the environmental impacts on the neighborhoods. Thank you.

[5:20:29] Well, I'm Duane Campbell, a wife and I live at the intersection of Bernie Phillips Road and Campbell Road,

[5:20:36] When I'm speaking about it is the special use permit also by a barricade fabrication.

[5:20:41] We're right there at the intersection where all the traffic comes out from this business.

[5:20:45] Employees, tractor trailers, that type of thing.

[5:20:50] I've lived in this neighborhood all my life.

[5:20:53] I'm concerned about preserving our rural quality of life.

[5:20:57] Six generations of my family have lived here in this neighborhood.

[5:21:00] And the past generations, they've worked hard and sacrificed to preserve our area to make

[5:21:05] this a great and safe place to live and raise the family.

[5:21:09] We've had to privilege to hunt fish, walk, ride bikes, and horses here in addition to raising

[5:21:15] livestock.

[5:21:16] This is a rural community where we're willing to fight to preserve for our children.

[5:21:22] I'm mopping in this business, shouldn't have been put in here to start away.

[5:21:25] the county made mistake of letting this business start and are you just going to let it multiply

[5:21:31] and compound the issues. We're concerned if any special use per meter res on and in the future

[5:21:39] is approved this may eventually in the future lead to multiple shifts at night and weekends.

[5:21:45] We're already dealing with the noise and steel beams being moved around which can be heard inside

[5:21:51] our home. And the noise and tractor trailers, which is not limited to daytime hours only.

[5:21:56] It was an example to a clock this morning. It was a tractor trailer coming in. I don't think

[5:22:01] any of y'all would want to hear that in your house at dual clock in the morning. Most people wouldn't.

[5:22:07] From I understand in a special part, a special use permit will allow additional storage and

[5:22:13] staging area, which will increase the movement of steel beams and the noise factor along with

[5:22:19] I encourage you to track your trailers.

[5:22:21] One big issue is definitely the traffic,

[5:22:23] the speed and the traffic that stops on is the major issue.

[5:22:27] A couple of weeks ago, I just sat in the notice

[5:22:29] whenever we're getting off there, it was 15 vehicles

[5:22:31] come through that stops on, 12 of them stopped.

[5:22:36] Also, I wanted a property that was mentioned in Bradshaw

[5:22:40] in Robinson's presentation, that is on light industrial.

[5:22:43] My property is right off the exit ramp before 21,

[5:22:46] and brings another noise or employee traffic factor like we have at the Bear Creek Fabrications.

[5:22:54] We've had been there 20 plus years of on that land.

[5:22:57] We've had zero complaints from the neighbors.

[5:23:01] I would also like to make it known that I live approximately 1.5 miles from this property that I'm home.

[5:23:07] Mr. Dyer grew up in Chaddam County, but he does not currently live close to the business,

[5:23:11] nor even in Chaddam County.

[5:23:13] Back Greek fabrication LLC is affected our daily life and rural community and we did not want additional

[5:23:20] negative impacts compounded. Some of us had already ordered our daily walks, start walking in

[5:23:27] our own neighborhood for safety reasons. Those of us are in the opposition of this request or

[5:23:32] the ones who live here and will be forced to deal with the repercussions from years to come.

[5:23:38] Thank you for your time. Thank you.

[5:23:50] Good evening. My name is Jan Phillips and I live on

[5:23:55] I'm here to speak tonight on the SUP for Lockley Holdings, I would like to address the ongoing issues in our neighborhood regarding the noise and traffic, which is a constant nuisance six days a week and the safety of our well-being and our children.

[5:24:11] We have respectfully and neighborly addressed our concerns with the owner, his representatives,

[5:24:20] the county, government officials and employees.

[5:24:24] We have spoken truthfully about the issues.

[5:24:27] We have stated the facts as we live in them every day.

[5:24:30] We feel that it is fallen on deaf ears.

[5:24:34] It has been stated that there were no official compliance on file.

[5:24:38] Shame on us for being good neighbors.

[5:24:40] As directed by the last planning board meeting, we were told we could file our complaints

[5:24:45] with the Sheriff's Department.

[5:24:47] We have met with Sheriff Steve Manor regarding the noise and the traffic issues.

[5:24:53] Ron Dowd has told us he will continue to grow and expand his business.

[5:24:58] He has 15 acres.

[5:25:00] He currently operates on that is owned having industrial. And he has room to grow on that. By allowing the SUP for an additional lay-down area, he can use that to free up space on the current 15 acres to grow and possibly put up another building, which he has stated he's already looked into.

[5:25:21] It appears to be a pattern to stay within minimum limits set by the county to grow one small step at a time.

[5:25:30] The box is getting checked and that's why we're here today.

[5:25:34] In this case, it would mean we will end up with a small industrial park in our real residential neighborhood.

[5:25:41] Heavy industrial does not belong in a rural neighborhood.

[5:25:45] It belongs in an industrial park.

[5:25:47] The big picture needs to be looked at, and it should stop here.

[5:25:52] The very thing that Chatham County stands out for our rural agriculture area,

[5:25:57] by allowing as she pees to be filed under quasi-judicial,

[5:26:02] it takes away the residents' voices to be heard.

[5:26:05] Yet we have to live with the decisions that are made from those.

[5:26:09] So we feel the commissioners need to pause and take a serious look

[5:26:13] at the issues in our neighborhood before voting yes.

[5:26:16] Thank you for a lot of me to speak tonight,

[5:26:25] Mr. Ruth.

[5:26:27] Good evening, my name is Sean Ruth.

[5:26:29] I'm a joining landowner, just across the road from the concrete fabrications.

[5:26:39] First off, I'd like to make a formal apology to Council Rick Nick Robinson and Brian

[5:26:47] out and socialist at the July 7th planning board, I made some accusations of blatant lies.

[5:26:56] My comments were an exaggeration to what I perceived as a denial of due process, simply

[5:27:05] as that, having said that I had to bring up a couple legal issues that I disagree with

[5:27:16] Council on one an expansion of a grandfathered non-conforming use is prohibited by

[5:27:26] Chattam County's only regulations 8-3.4. Section 8-4 C states that a change

[5:27:35] can be given. From one non-conforming use to another non-conforming use,

[5:27:42] shall not be permitted in the case of a non-conforming use, which is primarily a use of open land,

[5:27:51] which is clear to what we have before us today. Section 10, 6, dot 2c, the proposed useful

[5:28:05] affected, virtually health, safety of residents, or workers in the chat, I'm counting.

[5:28:11] Obviously, the stands are raised with increased space.

[5:28:17] You're going to have increased deliverance.

[5:28:21] More places to put the steel beams, the more trucks are going to come in and place them

[5:28:26] there.

[5:28:29] The UDO, I bring up, apparently,

[5:28:35] does not allow for special use permits, and my understanding

[5:28:39] is the UDO.

[5:28:41] We come effective next June, I believe.

[5:28:47] So my position here would be why, why allow it now, and we know there will be no situation

[5:28:55] or specialties permit will be permitted.

[5:28:59] One last thing, the application specialties permit

[5:29:03] is not on all fours with manuals,

[5:29:06] put forth by the UDL.

[5:29:09] Particularly, preserve the rule character

[5:29:12] in life style of child counting,

[5:29:16] preserve, protect, enable agriculture and forestry,

[5:29:21] promote a compact growth pattern by developing

[5:29:24] in an air-existing task communities, and a well-designated, well-planed,

[5:29:30] workable, mixed-use centers.

[5:29:33] The policy of the post-alty community I was walking

[5:29:36] by a new section.

[5:29:41] And the addition and my understanding is of sections

[5:29:45] that Ragged's involving, you know,

[5:29:48] ways I did initial hearings, the board can hear new evidence as long as material and

[5:29:57] substantial dirt.

[5:30:00] Good evening. Good evening.

[5:30:14] My name is Rick Phillips, and I live in 1991, Campbell Road. So I'm about 1100 feet adjacent to the likely holdings of the Barricard Medal

[5:30:23] Fabrication. I'm trying to minimize my time because you've heard some things and we've been here multiple times before. The biggest thing is the Chattam plan goes that I found on the Chattam County website.

[5:30:37] It's a preserved rural character in lifestyle, and this in no way meets that, the number one list of gold in here.

[5:30:44] My, in our mind, when you can sit in your home, and I stress this before, when you can sit in your home,

[5:30:52] and have to listen to the banging in the street in the dragon of metal, it's not a scenario.

[5:30:58] And I can hear from there, we've got neighbors one mile away that said they can hear of the banging as well.

[5:31:05] So I would encourage you to come visit the site, to come visit, come out there and visit it during the week, and so you can hear exactly what we've got going on.

[5:31:17] We can't live our home, we can't get away from this unless we leave the house totally.

[5:31:23] We've expressed concerns, again, about the traffic and the safety on the Can't Well and

[5:31:28] Runny Phillips Road.

[5:31:28] We've expressed concern about the streams and the ponds and the potential chemicals

[5:31:32] that they're using as a mention before I'd reached out to the Director of the Chattam County

[5:31:38] Emergency Planning Committee, Mr. Stephen Newton, and I understand that nothing has been filed.

[5:31:44] It doesn't mean anything, just means nothing has been filed.

[5:31:48] So, basically, we're looking at what's our next recourse of our

[5:31:52] residents, the quasi-judicial format, basically as you've heard in

[5:31:58] multiple comments already, the limits, it basically just eliminates our

[5:32:03] voice in our mind, unless we want to go through the hassle and the

[5:32:07] expense of hiring lawyers to sit there and make our voice known.

[5:32:18] I was told not to bring this up, but I'm going to anyway because I don't listen well.

[5:32:26] Life and I were at home, we did file a complaint on the noise to the sheriff's department.

[5:32:33] Within a couple of days we got a prank phone call at 10 30 at night from to a cell phone.

[5:32:40] They claim they were from the Chattam County Sheriff's Corps.

[5:32:45] After about five minutes of trying to understand,

[5:32:47] and they said they were the only one there,

[5:32:50] we said it's in the deputy out talk to us.

[5:32:52] They wanted to know about why we had filed a complaint

[5:32:55] or if we had filed a complaint against Ryan Doud

[5:32:58] as a no-est complaint.

[5:33:00] So I don't know how that went forward

[5:33:04] to somebody from now outside.

[5:33:06] I'm sure Ryan was probably contacted.

[5:33:09] whether a notification was put on as bulletin board or whatever, but I can tell you from a husband's standpoint I certainly didn't appreciate it.

[5:33:17] And we call the sheriff's department that night spoke to someone and we fully expect to hear more about it.

[5:33:24] So, again, we have requested you guys to take a deeper consideration of this.

[5:33:29] And tonight any further expansion of use for residential only industrial.

[5:33:36] Thank you.

[5:33:37] So thank you very much for letting us speak.

[5:33:45] Billy Cummings, Melissa Semanola and Clyde Frazier.

[5:33:56] Good evening.

[5:33:57] Good evening.

[5:33:58] It's good to see you all and I wanted to thank you for your public service.

[5:34:01] I know you've been working hard and you've got a lot of hot potatoes to juggle.

[5:34:06] Okay.

[5:34:08] I'm just thanking our commissioners for listening to us the other week.

[5:34:11] And I'm here again on really to say,

[5:34:14] issue, I live in Hadley Township, I've been in Shadow since 1972,

[5:34:22] and I'm representing a new

[5:34:23] organization today called Nuts. That's neighbors united to stop the Enbridge Data Center

[5:34:30] invasion. And I really only have three main things to share with you today, or to bring

[5:34:37] to your attention. I know you had a good work session today, and I presume, or I would hope,

[5:34:42] that some of these issues have come up in your discussions and I hope you'll be transparent

[5:34:47] and let us know where you're thinking and what's going on. I would love and I know most of

[5:34:53] my neighbors and really the whole county has aroused. I've been done in the

[5:34:59] and here.

[5:35:00] Bill and Hickley Mountain, a good deal, lightly delivering meals on the wheels and other things. And the signs are everywhere. And the people are talking that old people that are getting their meals and make a grown man, would make a grown man cry some of what you're here down there along that pipeline where people that are losing their property and appreciate the chairperson's comments on that and they are in our thoughts. That's why I'm here. I live a little bit far away, but we're all neighbors in this county.

[5:35:28] First, I hope that you'll change the ordinances and require a special use permit for a gas pipeline.

[5:35:37] That's what people want.

[5:35:38] That's one step you could take, I believe.

[5:35:41] Second, I hope that once you require that, I hope that when they give it, you'll deny it.

[5:35:47] Of course.

[5:35:50] And you know, I hope you're given some thought to that and you've got some good attorneys here in the county and I know they're advising you.

[5:35:57] Second, I'm confused a little bit, I got one minute left, so I'll be real quick.

[5:36:04] Moratorium.

[5:36:05] Now I see some places, you can go up to 32 months for a moratorium.

[5:36:09] Moratoriums are sweeping the country, strip weeping our state and all the other counties.

[5:36:13] I say, let's kick the can down the road a little bit, we're learning more and more every

[5:36:17] day about the impact of this pipeline and the threats to our rural character but our whole

[5:36:23] life in Chatham County, and I hope you'll consider extending that

[5:36:27] moratorium as long as you can legally and give us time to really make

[5:36:31] a considered and reasonable decision about this. So I hope you'll share

[5:36:35] what your perspective on that is. Finally, it's time to raise the

[5:36:41] stakes with this whole business. And I want to announce that we're

[5:36:46] demanding that Kirk Bradley surrender, that he withdraws his suit against the county.

[5:36:54] And we're threatening, and ultimately, you do that back off Mr. Bradley, you're not from

[5:37:01] here.

[5:37:01] Otherwise, we're going to start a boycott of Mosaic, a boycott of Chad and Park, and we're

[5:37:06] going to raise the stakes here, because that's what people want, so thank you for your

[5:37:09] time.

[5:37:10] Thank you, Mr. Company.

[5:37:22] Good evening, Commissioner.

[5:37:22] And as my name is Melissa Seminov and I live in Hickory Mountain Township, first I want to

[5:37:27] thank this forward.

[5:37:28] You've worked so hard to keep citizens informed and involved in decisions that affect

[5:37:33] our county.

[5:37:35] I want to recognize the public comment meeting held on August 5th as part of that effort.

[5:37:41] I'm asking you tonight to think about what this pipeline means for farms, not some day,

[5:37:46] but for families living in VAD land right now.

[5:37:50] Let's start with Enbridge's own record, 2018 Greenpeace review of federal pipeline data found

[5:37:57] between 2002, 2018 Enbridge, and its affiliates reported over 300 Sphilis nationwide,

[5:38:05] one every 24 days on average during that period. In 2010, their line 6B ruptured

[5:38:12] near Marshall, Michigan. It was 17 hours because the company misread the warning signs,

[5:38:19] and then made it worse by increasing pressure on the line, that clean up cost over a billion dollars,

[5:38:26] a billion dollars. That's the company asking to dig a trench across our farmland. And what

[5:38:34] happens to the farmland independent research on pipelines like this, show soil compaction and crop

[5:38:41] yield loss that can last for years, sometimes longer than a farmer has left to farm.

[5:38:50] Drain tiles,

[5:38:54] drain tiles get damaged, fences get cut, livestock, face, stray vaulted wrists at crossings.

[5:39:00] None of that is fully covered by one-time construction payment.

[5:39:04] Then there's what this does to people.

[5:39:07] Peer reviewed studies of families living through pipeline projects like this one found real, measurable harm.

[5:39:15] chronic stress, anxiety, even physical health problems made worse by frustration with public

[5:39:21] and government process. Leaving them feeling like nothing they say matters. That's exactly

[5:39:29] why we need a community bill of rights here in Chattam County. Commissioners are VAD District

[5:39:34] protects protections exist for a reason to keep farmland informing. I'm asking you to use

[5:39:41] every tool this board has to protect those forms,

[5:39:45] demand real answers from end bridge and not let this decision

[5:39:49] get made around our community instead of with it.

[5:39:53] Thank you very much for the opportunity.

[5:40:03] Good evening. And thank you for setting aside this time to hear from members of the community. For the record I implied Fraser, and for 50 years now, I've lived in northeast Chatham, off of Jack Bennett Road, at 361, Wild Ginger Ridge. I currently serve on the planning board. However, I want to make it as clear as I possibly can that I'm here tonight only as a citizen. Nothing I'm about to say has even been discussed by the planning board, not ever.

[5:40:31] So, I am tonight speaking from a self alone.

[5:40:35] I come before you to suggest a way that you might be able to get more influence over land development decisions in Chattam County.

[5:40:44] When I listened to your discussion last month about Western Farm Webster Farm subdivision,

[5:40:50] it was obvious that nobody was really thrilled with the project,

[5:40:54] but there didn't seem to be grounds not to approve a bi-right subdivision.

[5:40:59] I happened to know that Webster Farms was a buy-right subdivision only because it had water from

[5:41:06] Stry River, and that without access to that water the number of lots would have had to been reduced by about a third.

[5:41:15] So I decided to look up the county's agreement with the City of Sanford to transfer the county water system to

[5:41:21] to try water. And what I found was interesting. According to the agreement, one of

[5:41:27] try-wervers responsibilities is to quote, solicit input from the county on the future utility

[5:41:33] service needs of the county. The agreement gives try-werver the authority to expand the system,

[5:41:40] but requires that expansion quote, to accommodate the county's planned development in consultation

[5:41:47] with the county. So that's twice that the contract calls for consultation. But as far as I

[5:41:54] can tell there isn't any consultation currently taking place. If there is, it's not working very

[5:42:01] well. Certainly there was no mention of consultation that you're meeting last month.

[5:42:08] That part of the agreement as far as I can tell seems to have fallen through the cracks during

[5:42:12] the change of management.

[5:42:16] I don't need to tell you how important the availability of water

[5:42:18] is to development, and I'm sure you're aware how much folks in that part of the county

[5:42:23] want to protect their rural way of life. So I recommend that chatting with your attorney

[5:42:29] and if, as I fully expect, you have the authority to do so, setting up a regular process of consultation

[5:42:36] with dry water on waterline extensions. Your decisions won't always be easy, but I urge you to

[5:42:44] seize this opportunity and take on this responsibility. You are our elected representatives

[5:42:49] after all, and we need for you to use every tool that you have to direct the future development

[5:42:55] of the county. Thank you.

[5:43:04] Mike Flissfack, Fishback Ruth Lett, and Peter Tilt.

[5:43:13] I'm my fish back 900, Highland Trail, Baldwin Township, as this morning I took the stroll

[5:43:21] and saw some red signs that expressed opposition to the Enbridge pipeline, so I did some

[5:43:29] research community library and found some things that Enbridge has put out as far as their

[5:43:37] answers to frequently asked questions.

[5:43:40] I don't believe their answers.

[5:43:42] And I'll refer you to the report that NC Warren made

[5:43:47] about the August 5th meeting that was largely concerned

[5:43:51] with pipeline issues.

[5:43:54] My colleague, Professor Susie Crate, made some comments

[5:44:00] that I agree with talking about listening to the people.

[5:44:06] And I'll leave these documents with you.

[5:44:11] And there's one element of the frequently asked questions that in

[5:44:17] Enbridge published, it was talked about the way the interstate approval is given,

[5:44:30] Where in trust states within the state, the same oversight is not offered.

[5:44:37] So I'd like to suggest that we speak with the state and federal representatives to allow

[5:44:44] the or permit the North Carolina Utilities Commission to be the approving body.

[5:44:50] And also, I wanted to say that, the people at NC Warren in particular Sarah.

[5:45:00] I'm in the clean energy strategist pointed out that the fossil fuel infrastructure just entrances us further in a fossil fuel future.

[5:45:13] And she said that she thought it was important that we feel these businesses with clean energy.

[5:45:19] Local solar installations, battery installations that are faster to install, cheaper, much more equitable, less polluting than those proposed fossil fuel products.

[5:45:29] projects. I don't believe what they're saying about this gas pipeline isn't going to help

[5:45:36] the data centers and we see nationwide moratorium and grassroots opposition to these data

[5:45:45] centers. When the county commission approved the original chat and part development, I don't

[5:45:51] think proper consideration was given to the water resources and it's troubling that enrich is

[5:45:58] going to be digging under the rocky river and the harbor to make this pipeline.

[5:46:04] So I'll leave with the clerk with the documents that I brought.

[5:46:08] Thank you.

[5:46:17] Hi, my name is Ruth Light.

[5:46:18] I'm 970 WR Clark Road.

[5:46:21] Pittsburgh.

[5:46:22] I'm from Silk Hope.

[5:46:24] I want to thank the planning board for rejecting the rezoning of farm land and still

[5:46:29] cope for a cricket field.

[5:46:32] Most of the board members listen to us.

[5:46:35] The neighbors, they listened to them, and they acknowledged our concerns and the concerns

[5:46:43] of the Silkope community.

[5:46:46] They also followed the land use plan, and recognized this rezoning proposal did not fit

[5:46:52] with the agricultural designation of the plan.

[5:46:56] The land use plan is a good document, I know is still needing some work, I'm still trying

[5:47:03] to read it, but it's a good template for managing growth

[5:47:08] in Chattam County.

[5:47:11] Please make sure your appointees to the planning board.

[5:47:17] Understand, they represent Chattam County,

[5:47:22] not other entities like Sanford,

[5:47:26] which one of the planning board members mentioned

[5:47:28] at our last meeting, or a private cricket field in Morrisville, North Carolina, or individual

[5:47:37] real estate or political party people.

[5:47:42] The focus should be on the residents from Silkope to Monk your Bennett to North Chatham.

[5:47:52] At Silkope service station this past week when I was putting up posters a couple weeks ago.

[5:47:58] I was surrounded by farmers, while putting up that poster.

[5:48:05] Chubs more, who owned Silk Hope Service, was very pleased that Commissioner Katie

[5:48:11] Canlin had been there to visit him.

[5:48:16] All of the farmers that surrounded me, I have to say I was startled.

[5:48:20] They were all these people there.

[5:48:22] They wanted to know the question they said, do Chad and county commissioners support

[5:48:28] farmers. Do chat and county commissioners, but support the farming community. I hope you do.

[5:48:37] I hope you will continue to show your support for those of us who do live in agricultural areas

[5:48:44] and that you will make sure that people you appoint to the planning board do as well. Thank you.

[5:49:02] Good evening. I was struck by, I think, a lawyer here earlier, apologizing to some development lawyers here, and I would just simply say that I would never apologize to them, which is probably why I was kicked off the foam board.

[5:49:21] Anyways, I have not Peter 5, 1065, Bethel Road, I live in Jordan, Chadding County, I'm protected,

[5:49:28] I'm in the subdivision, I don't live where Amanda lives who's being succumbed by Chadding

[5:49:35] Park, but anyways, I haven't been here since Georgia Sear was elected chair, I haven't

[5:49:40] had to.

[5:49:41] I've noticed tonight that you guys are still dealing with the same lawyers and developers

[5:49:47] wanting to abstract wealth from our county with no consideration for our land, our water or cultural heritage.

[5:49:57] I want to thank each and every one of you.

[5:50:00] I mean this, for the bottom of my heart, for your service to the county. My heart breaks with what's going on.

[5:50:13] And what was the thing your man last hope? I'm 72. I'm retiring. I'm not working anymore, but I love what you guys are doing and thank you.

[5:50:27] Thank you,

[5:50:34] so did we, did we, I'd already came up, yeah, a Peter and then Guy Hatcher and Nick Robertson.

[5:50:50] My name is Guy Hatcher. I live at 38. It's just so cold comes brings road to country driveways from the withdrawn cricket fields.

[5:51:00] And I appreciate the recommendation of the planning board made and that on the July 7 meeting.

[5:51:09] I appreciate it that they listened to us.

[5:51:12] We all had different concerns.

[5:51:14] We all expressed different concerns.

[5:51:15] I think we all had the same concerns.

[5:51:17] I appreciate you folks being willing to serve.

[5:51:21] I was 72 years old as well to all deserve.

[5:51:24] I probably would fall down if I did.

[5:51:26] And I appreciate the fact that you take your time during the day and in the evenings to think about

[5:51:35] chatem county. My wife and I moved to chatem county a few years ago specifically because of the

[5:51:43] rural nature of the county. We lived in white county and lived in Holly Springs and it just got to be

[5:51:49] crazy out there. Once they did the bypass and everything sprang up, the traffic was terrible and

[5:51:55] we wanted a more peaceful place to retire and then bring our grandkids.

[5:52:02] This is the first time that I've ever been involved in anything specific.

[5:52:07] You know, these meetings and the planning board, and I enjoyed going to them.

[5:52:13] I was concerned, however, during the planning board, that at least one of the members said

[5:52:20] something that I thought was foolish, and was not well thought through, or was presidious.

[5:52:28] I don't know.

[5:52:29] I'm not sure what his real name was.

[5:52:32] He said that when he grew up, there had been lots of farms around there, and now you

[5:52:40] don't see any vegetable stands, any cotton fields, any tobacco fields, and so he was disputing

[5:52:48] that this was a work, that the silk factory is a rural area, and that we were trying to preserve that.

[5:52:55] Well, he might not see vegetable stands and tobacco fields and cotton fields, but I see cornfields, I see soy meat fields, I see cattle.

[5:53:07] It is still a rural area. There are so lot of farmers, Ruth Light and her husband are examples of that.

[5:53:17] We have a small family farm, and I want to emphasize what Ruth said.

[5:53:24] You, please appoint people to understand the land use of

[5:53:27] Jaddam County that understand the nature of the people that live in

[5:53:32] Jaddam County.

[5:53:33] The reason that people moved to Jaddam County,

[5:53:36] they're coming here.

[5:53:37] A lot of people are coming here by in 10 and 20 acre parcels,

[5:53:42] because they want to get away from that rat race in Carey and

[5:53:45] Apex and Holly Springs, please appoint people who understand

[5:53:52] Chatham County, not people that represent developers,

[5:53:57] realtors, attorneys, and that sort of thing.

[5:53:59] Thank you very much.

[5:54:00] Thank you.

[5:54:11] Good evening.

[5:54:12] Good evening, Board members.

[5:54:13] I'm Nick Robinson.

[5:54:14] I only put my name on the list to speak tonight, because I had seen that there were folks

[5:54:17] on the Lockley Holdings.

[5:54:18] Things that were going to speak tonight.

[5:54:20] But I appreciate the comments of the Abel County Attorney, which is what I was going to say.

[5:54:26] To only take into account what was in the quasi-judicial hearing.

[5:54:30] And I will leave it at that. Thank you very much.

[5:54:37] Tyler Patterson.

[5:54:44] Good evening, commissioners.

[5:54:47] My name is Tyler Patterson.

[5:54:48] I live at 118.

[5:54:50] I also want to start by thanking you all from the bottom of my heart for how you represent a

[5:54:58] during the flood cameras.

[5:55:00] Debate, really appreciate that. Tonight, this is in regards to the E.C. PROPCO Resoning request. If you'll indulge me a little bit of speculation,

[5:55:15] I'm asking you guys to pump the brakes on expanding heavy industrial zoning, especially adjacent to triangle innovation point, so we have a clear picture of what is actually going on there.

[5:55:27] We know that approximately 750 megawatt data center obviously is proposed at tip west.

[5:55:35] We also have a proposed 12-inch natural gas expansion.

[5:55:38] What we don't know is how this enormous electrical low will be served.

[5:55:43] Whether large-scale temporary bridge back up or on-site generation could be involved

[5:55:47] and what additional heavy industrial use may follow.

[5:55:51] Um, counter-record show that Wade Barbara Jr., and his nephew Edward Holmes, Jr., both transferred significant family control land interest into E.C. Propco, which Holmes now manages,

[5:56:03] Kirk Bradley, developer of tip west, uh, us publicly described Barbara as a close personal friend.

[5:56:09] While this doesn't prove anything, uh, the location of this parcel, the request for rezoning to heavy industrial and that personal connection is just a reason to ask,

[5:56:19] who this rezoning is ultimately intended to serve and what it aims to accomplish.

[5:56:26] Some of the unknowns about this entire industrial corridor to me,

[5:56:31] specific very specific air quality and public health concerns

[5:56:35] involving the industrial scale gas combustion that is very probable.

[5:56:42] Let's be honest, what quantities of carcinogenic byproducts of natural gas combustion

[5:56:48] could be reaching our surrounding residential communities and for how long.

[5:56:54] There's a lot of questions.

[5:56:56] Tomorrow, there's a meeting specifically about data centers where we can address those concerns directly.

[5:57:02] But tonight, my request is simpler.

[5:57:05] Resoning residential land to heavy industrial is a consequential decision.

[5:57:09] Please don't expand the industrial footprint while we're still trying to understand the air quality infrastructure,

[5:57:16] for structure, public health consequences of what the existing industrial footprint is trying

[5:57:22] to become and maintain the existing zoning until we have more answers.

[5:57:28] Thank you.

[5:57:29] Thank you.

[5:57:34] That's everyone.

[5:57:36] Great.

[5:57:37] Thank you.

[5:57:51] Next, we have public hearing, item 260433, all the public hearing requested by the Chattam County

[5:57:59] board of commissioners for text amendments to the Chattam County zoning ordinance specifically

[5:58:03] section one title section three bonafide farm exempt section 7.2 definitions section 10.13 zoning table permitted uses section

[5:58:15] one for off street parking and loading and section one nine amendment to the zoning ordinance. These amendments are intended to maintain

[5:58:23] compliance with recent legislative changes to the GS-160D and other statutes related to

[5:58:31] the zoning ordinance, update, benefit, farm exemptions, and remove off-street parking

[5:58:36] requirements.

[5:58:38] Add all townships to the title and incorporate additional uses into the table of permitted

[5:58:43] uses, modify staff participation, in legislative processes, and remove waiting periods

[5:58:49] for application, receive middle call on planning staff to present this item.

[5:59:00] Do we have anyone

[5:59:01] signed up to speak on this item, Jennifer?

[5:59:05] We do one speaker. And who do we have to present

[5:59:09] Hunter? Thank you. Hunter, can you go ahead and give us the load down? Yeah, it's a little bit

[5:59:13] less than that title was so long. We put a lot in the title, so you would know what we were

[5:59:19] be discussing. So this is a text amendment package that has a lot of cleanups and sort of housekeeping

[5:59:25] language that has come out from some recent state wall changes as well as a few that

[5:59:35] a few state wall changes from last year that we just didn't get to yet so that we're also adding

[5:59:44] One of those, the first example is adding all the townships in.

[5:59:51] This is just something that we noticed we hadn't updated recently.

[5:59:56] So this red line is just adding all the townships to the title of the...

[6:00:00] The zoning ordinance, this is just something that's been on the front page of the zoning ordinance since we've adopted it and would carry over into the UDO.

[6:00:11] This huge slide of text is about comes from Senate Bill 401, session all 226-11.

[6:00:22] these changes are already in effect. They don't really change anything for the bonafide farm

[6:00:28] exemption just they tweak some language. It's a part of a law that I'd have read the whole

[6:00:36] law but it's a lot about fisheries and coastal some of the ag uses that are more to do with the

[6:00:43] Shrimp phishing things like that. One section was just updating the language. So what we did,

[6:00:54] which is a lot with 160D, was essentially just copy the word, the copy it from the state law

[6:01:02] and put it into the ordinance. It does update how you can become qualified for a bonafide

[6:01:11] So you, like, have to have a tax assumption certificate issued by the Department of Revenue,

[6:01:19] a copy of the property tax listing, showing that the property is eligible for participation in the present

[6:01:23] use value program, pursuant to one of General Statute 105-277.3.

[6:01:30] A copy of the farm owners or operators scheduled F from the owners or the operators,

[6:01:34] most recent federal income tax return and or force management plan. That language is just a tiny bit

[6:01:41] different than it was before. And so these are some of the housekeeping changes that we're adding

[6:01:51] this paragraph just replaces the paragraph right here. It's very similar but instead of going through

[6:02:02] just adding a bunch of different words and we just copied and pasted from the state law just

[6:02:07] to be in compliance. We are also adding a variety of definitions to Section 7.2. We have

[6:02:18] tweaks and definitions and just added them so I have them all here in red line. I'm not going to

[6:02:24] go like to read them all. They're in your packet but public utility transmission line,

[6:02:28] liquid fuel transmission line, a natural gas transmission line, major utility and minor utility.

[6:02:36] We had major utility minor utility in our table of uses. They just did not have a definition.

[6:02:44] So, over the last number of months to a year, we've had a few uses that we've mentioned in

[6:02:49] our table of uses that didn't have definitions. And so we thought that would be a good idea for us

[6:02:56] to define them if we're going to allow them in the table of uses.

[6:03:03] We're also adding uses to table the table of permitted uses.

[6:03:09] So we're not changing anything and we're not taking any uses away.

[6:03:13] We're adding a process and we're adding some uses.

[6:03:17] So there were a few that were added to the UDO during discussions

[6:03:21] that we thought would be could be added.

[6:03:25] while we're in the process of adopting and eventually utilizing our unified development ordinance.

[6:03:34] So breweries and distilleries, either commercial or smaller scale, dog grooming with no boarding community gardens, family cemeteries.

[6:03:45] So family cemeteries, we've had defined in several different ordinances.

[6:03:51] They're always allowed and we they're part of the first plat and part of the final

[6:04:01] plat review process in the planning department and the chatem county historical association

[6:04:07] works with landowners to make sure access is granted to family cemeteries.

[6:04:12] either way now they're just in the table of uses. We've also changed for residential uses.

[6:04:19] We've added a special use permit that would also be subject to additional requirements of

[6:04:25] section 17.9, which is the special study requirement for some uses that were added. So that's

[6:04:34] liquid field transmission lines, natural gas transmission lines. Also commercial breweries and

[6:04:42] community business zone area. They would also have to have a special use permit. Some people might want a brewery near them.

[6:04:50] If they were in a neighborhood business, some people might not, so it would have a special use permit. Process.

[6:04:58] Another big change that happened.

[6:05:00] And very recently, with state law, is House Bill 162, session law, 2026-39. Essentially, that eliminated

[6:05:10] all off street parking requirements in land use regulations in North Carolina. There were there are

[6:05:18] 20 coastal counties that have a car route and an exception, that they can regulate parking.

[6:05:26] But

[6:05:27] essentially parking lots any type of parking regulation that we have in our zoning ordinance currently

[6:05:35] has to be removed. We discussed this with the county attorney and we've also discussed it with colleagues

[6:05:42] at a conference recently and also on our planning listserv just to ask if that's really what the

[6:05:49] legislature meant and it was it had unanimous support only one representative voted against it and

[6:05:56] There are pros and cons to not requiring so much parking. Obviously you may want Walmart and Target to have a smaller parking and you also may not want to require a mom and pop grocery store or something to have so much parking that it makes their use cost prohibitive and then they can't have their business.

[6:06:20] So, this will just now say reserved, so we might have another section 14 in the future.

[6:06:27] Instead of deleting it and then having to redo the ordinance.

[6:06:32] The next few slides are just all that slide is also just showing that it was all deleted.

[6:06:41] Section 19.7, planning department prepares final analysis and recommendation.

[6:06:45] This is a housekeeping item that was taken care of in the UDO, but we've added it here in the zoning ordinance.

[6:06:56] This is just stating that planning staff don't won't be making recommendation on items to the planning board.

[6:07:04] They will just have a report and analysis to aid the board in their decision.

[6:07:09] So we removed and recommendation and just added that.

[6:07:15] So we will present our findings and then they can do

[6:07:19] with that what they will.

[6:07:21] And then section 19.11 is the one I mentioned earlier.

[6:07:25] This was a state.

[6:07:26] This was a change to 160D that happened in a previous state law update.

[6:07:32] And this we are changing because we had in our

[6:07:41] either word denied, so if you had an application denied, or you withdrew an application,

[6:07:47] you had to wait a year if you were going to submit the exact same thing. Now you don't

[6:07:50] have to wait a year. You can just start the process again. So that's the red line language

[6:07:58] there. And this is, those are the, that's the extent of the changes. There should be one more.

[6:08:04] Yep. So if you have any questions for me, I know we have a person signed up to speak.

[6:08:09] So we can hear them and then questions or if you have questions, I'll try to answer them.

[6:08:16] Any questions?

[6:08:17] Right now.

[6:08:19] Okay.

[6:08:19] Thank you.

[6:08:20] All right.

[6:08:21] All right.

[6:08:22] I'll go ahead and read the following for the person that signed up to speak.

[6:08:25] Speakers will have two minutes to speak.

[6:08:27] The green light illuminates for the first minute.

[6:08:29] The yellow light illuminates along with one beep.

[6:08:31] To let the speaker know when they have one minute remaining.

[6:08:34] The red light illuminates along with three beeps when the two minutes have expired.

[6:08:37] If possible, please provide a copy of your comments to the clerk in writing and speak directly

[6:08:42] into the microphone at the platform.

[6:08:46] So the one person is John Alderman?

[6:08:57] Good evening.

[6:09:01] John Alderman, Hickley Mountain Township.

[6:09:03] Commissioners, thank you for hosting this public hearing.

[6:09:07] Since mid-April, rural Chattam County citizens have been fighting a huge Canadian gas pipeline

[6:09:12] companies plans to take our property by imminent domain.

[6:09:16] Over there in suing months, it became clear that we could not expect help from Washington

[6:09:22] DC.

[6:09:23] Or, Rally, we also could not rely on federal and state permitting and review in agencies

[6:09:30] to do their jobs.

[6:09:33] Since most of them have been decimated by funding cuts, reductions in force, and restrictions

[6:09:40] limiting their ability to fulfill the statutory, regulatory and mission duties. Thus, our

[6:09:48] local government, specifically, our Board of Commissioners, is our greatest hope for successfully

[6:09:54] fight in this pipeline. Citizens are skeptical that courts will

[6:10:00] Local protect citizens' rights versus corporate rights in today's America, sub-bort of commissioners, you are our shield against

[6:10:08] image aggression. Citizens and more developed parts of Chateau County use a conditional use permit in the past to influence the

[6:10:18] county to deny or approve various projects. Rule citizens now need proof that this kind of process now referred to as a special use permit could

[6:10:29] help protect their forms and other rural properties. Pipeline companies should be required

[6:10:34] to apply for an SUV and provide extensive reasons for SUV approval. Including their public needs

[6:10:42] assessment and alternatives analysis. Most importantly, citizens could then attend public

[6:10:48] hearings to support or not support the permit. Only then should the BAC vote thumbs up

[6:10:54] or thumbs down on the project, that is democracy,

[6:10:58] something that is rare in Washington or in Raleigh,

[6:11:03] but we pray still exist here.

[6:11:05] Thank you.

[6:11:06] Thank you.

[6:11:11] And we do have a member of the planning board with us.

[6:11:14] Tonight, Robin, do you have any comments you'd like to share

[6:11:16] on this topic?

[6:11:18] OK.

[6:11:19] OK.

[6:11:21] Thank you.

[6:11:22] Commissioners.

[6:11:28] All right.

[6:11:29] I will close this public hearing and refer it to the Planning Board.

[6:11:33] Thank you.

[6:11:41] Okay. Next up on our agenda, item 2, 6, 0, 4, 3, 4.

[6:11:46] Hold a legislative public hearing requested for an amendment to revise the

[6:11:51] Chattam County Design Guidelines is recommended by the Chattam County

[6:11:54] Appearance Commission, provide a suggested plant list and an invasive

[6:11:58] Plant list for the development of commercial and industrial properties in the county

[6:12:02] and planning staff and all present this, I guess?

[6:12:07] Thank you.

[6:12:26] I'll just put the,

[6:12:29] okay, so 34 years ago,

[6:12:31] the Board of Commissioners put together a group of folks

[6:12:34] to call the Appearance Commission.

[6:12:36] That was in 1992.

[6:12:39] Since then, there have been two revisions made

[6:12:43] and as development changes as areas get smaller,

[6:12:49] people become more, things have to change.

[6:12:52] The appears commission is made up with the specific group of professionals in that field.

[6:12:59] We have landscapers, we have landscape architects, we've had biologists and botanists and all groups of folks that know everything and anything about plants and how they're supposed to grow and how what type of screening they're supposed to provide and all of that that goes with that.

[6:13:18] So, they were organized to review site plans for commercial non-residential industrial and special use permits and involved Indian non-residential types of uses.

[6:13:29] They review those site plans.

[6:13:31] They look at the landscape and materials that the developers have chosen.

[6:13:36] And it is their expert opinions and knowledge that tastes as well.

[6:13:41] These plans will not accomplish what you're trying to do that matches what the ordinance calls for.

[6:13:46] We have, we have standards in section 12 of the zoning ordinance now that we've used for years.

[6:13:53] The chat and county and parents commission did have design guidelines, guidelines that they have used.

[6:13:57] But like I said, they'd need to be updated.

[6:13:59] Well, the parents commission started this, this whole new design back before we started the UDO.

[6:14:07] So we put this on hold because we took the five years or so to work on that section of the UDO.

[6:14:14] Now that UDO is not in effect, and when I exactly sure when that will be, hopefully next year we shall see what the state legislatures do on that.

[6:14:24] We felt like there were things that needed to be put out there now for developers to know how to develop a site,

[6:14:32] which is what has been done, and I'm going to try to pull up our website here just one second.

[6:14:42] Just to kind of show you that what it looks like.

[6:15:25] Okay, I give up.

[6:15:30] Well, I did that, I thought.

[6:15:47] Well, it doesn't look like it copied over correctly.

[6:16:01] Here we go.

[6:16:04] So they worked really hard on trying to incorporate different aspects of the county to

[6:16:10] they introduced the, the land use plan and got some great photos of something showing what

[6:16:14] chatem counties made up from agricultural auto way to heavy industrial. And it is a vast difference across the board.

[6:16:21] Like I said, they have site design standards that they've put in new landscape design standards.

[6:16:28] They also, you know, talk about elevations now.

[6:16:31] They want to see how a site is going to be graded because that changes the topography and what you plant.

[6:16:37] And so forth, they also provided a list of recommended plants as well as a list of invasive plants.

[6:16:46] the things that we don't want a lot of, and I do have an expert here, Erin, I don't want to

[6:16:53] call her up unless you'll have specific questions. I thought you disappeared all means.

[6:16:58] I thought you said no, I'm doing it. But one thing I want to do want to ask is,

[6:17:04] as this goes to the process, we want to make it where the plant list, the two different plant

[6:17:09] list, can be adjusted as need be. As they find out new information about new plants or things that

[6:17:15] become invasive with things that used to be invasive that are not, you know, we need to be able to modify that list.

[6:17:20] What happened to go back through this whole rewrite again?

[6:17:23] Oh, then a design guidelines, which would say the same, which is what I was just showing you.

[6:17:27] You know, that document would have to come back before the board.

[6:17:30] But the plant list we would like to have that fluid, if at all possible, because it does change.

[6:17:36] So with that, do you have any questions for me?

[6:17:44] just presumably, that would be fluid with the expert participation of the plant person.

[6:17:54] Yes, it would come from the atmosphere, it's going to be okay. And so is there something in

[6:18:00] particular we would have to do to enable that to be something that can be adjusted.

[6:18:07] Just when it comes back to you all, if you're agreed to approve the new design guidelines that they've

[6:18:13] created, it would be with the caveat that the two different plant lists are fluid and can be adjusted as need be.

[6:18:20] Just those.

[6:18:21] Okay.

[6:18:22] That sounds good.

[6:18:26] And so we're still in the process of it.

[6:18:29] So have they developed any of that list?

[6:18:32] What do you mean?

[6:18:34] The recommended list.

[6:18:36] Or they're here.

[6:18:37] Okay.

[6:18:37] Yeah.

[6:18:38] So, yeah, I wanted to say that I think this is a great thing for Chattam County and that there's

[6:18:45] practical ecological and design impacts to having this list and the practical being, you know,

[6:18:53] some of these native plants survived better in projects. They require less water.

[6:19:00] But also I think having this list is a part of what's going to keep a place-based experience

[6:19:07] for people in Chattam County. We don't want to be landscaping with plants that you can find

[6:19:14] just anywhere across the state. We want to have a good ecological impact, but also we want people

[6:19:20] to be able to experience what Chattam County is. And so I think that really fits the rural character

[6:19:26] of our county. And we're so lucky to be home to the largest amount of native plant nurseries in North

[6:19:32] Carolina in chat. And so I wanted to mention that. And as an example, I've noticed that

[6:19:38] Durham has done a great job with some of these requirements. And that's why you see

[6:19:43] cypresses in the middle of the city there. And it, you know, people take for granted the design

[6:19:48] impacts of decisions like this. But it really shapes what people see regularly. So I'm looking

[6:19:55] to these recommendations. Yeah, because, you know, one of the things that they... one of the...

[6:20:00] Really big items that they have strived for the last several years is trying to get developers not to clear cut a property, try to use what existing vegetation that is there that's, you know, native to the area that wouldn't cause a problem to remain on the site and then you can supplement, you know, trunk loads as you need to, again, there's a whole lot more technical conversation.

[6:20:20] I have been the staff person for this group since 2000 and I can attest that it has taken a lot of thought and a lot of time and process to get to this point.

[6:20:31] And they have been successful in getting some developers to go ahead and incorporate some of this.

[6:20:34] Even though we couldn't make them do it at the time, but they seem the importance of doing it the right way the first time.

[6:20:42] So we were very appreciative of that.

[6:20:44] So, Ernie, have you thought you want to say?

[6:20:48] Thank you.

[6:20:49] I managed it.

[6:20:50] Robin Lyons, who is also a planning board member and is here tonight.

[6:20:54] But she's a native plant advocate.

[6:20:57] And I know that whether you have one to speak on it or not, you're certainly welcome to.

[6:21:01] But I think it's really important that this is something that you all are doing.

[6:21:06] Robin,

[6:21:11] is it on?

[6:21:21] Right.

[6:21:21] Oh, thank you.

[6:21:22] Well, I think this is a great initiative and I've looked at those both those lists and they're very good already.

[6:21:28] So having it being fluid like that is a great, a great, you know, benefit.

[6:21:34] It's actually two people who go to the site like me who are looking for alternates to plant in their garden of native plants and it's hard.

[6:21:44] And also, as we grow, we're getting more and more invasive plants coming in, so we need to know

[6:21:50] what they are and to be on top of it, people where they get out of control.

[6:21:54] I think it's great idea.

[6:21:55] Thank you.

[6:21:56] Yeah.

[6:21:56] This will be a list.

[6:21:57] If you're not developing a property, if you're a private property, you can pull up this

[6:22:00] list and have it accessible to you when you do your own yards or what have you.

[6:22:05] Thank you.

[6:22:06] And this is just a slight adjacent issue, but I mean, on the invasive side of things, this

[6:22:13] This is not just something valued locally.

[6:22:15] There are state programs to help people replace Bradford pairs.

[6:22:21] That is a tree that is sterilizing, native trees and city of Sanford actually has found

[6:22:27] a way to help house that program.

[6:22:30] I'm hoping that Chad can find a way to do that as well where if you cut down one of your

[6:22:35] Bradford trees, you can get a free tree to replace it.

[6:22:39] I don't think we have anyone housing that program yet for us, but that is a state program

[6:22:43] that we can work towards in relation to this project as well.

[6:22:48] It's a good thing to do.

[6:22:49] Do we have anybody signed up, Jennifer,

[6:22:51] to speak on this topic?

[6:22:53] No, no, what's not it?

[6:22:54] No, we've had some good discussion already.

[6:22:57] Any other questions or comments?

[6:23:00] No?

[6:23:01] All right, thank you, Angela.

[6:23:02] Thank you.

[6:23:03] All right, so we'll go ahead and close this hearing

[6:23:04] and refer to the planning board.

[6:23:06] Thank you very much.

[6:23:07] Thank you.

[6:23:09] Next on our agenda is item two six zero four three five hold a legislative public hearing requested by Candice Beal for a general use resounding to

[6:23:19] Resown parcel four seven nine four from NB neighborhood business to our one residential on four point zero eight nine acres located at 82

[6:23:28] Bonnley Bennett road planning staff

[6:23:32] Okay, let's end on this one.

[6:23:35] Yes, this should be very quick.

[6:23:37] This is an actual, this is an example of a down zoning,

[6:23:42] that was applied for by the property owner.

[6:23:49] So the property owner who couldn't be here tonight,

[6:23:53] but we've discussed this project in depth of a bunch.

[6:23:58] They wanted to, so this is essentially where it is.

[6:24:04] I'm going to make this bigger.

[6:24:06] So, it's self-abondly been at road.

[6:24:09] This is the parcel right here,

[6:24:15] right there.

[6:24:19] And number of years ago, they resumed it to neighborhood business,

[6:24:26] so they wanted to turn the downstairs of the structure into like an ice cream parlor

[6:24:31] or some other type of retail, and have an upstairs apartment.

[6:24:36] It was being used as an apartment at the time, and it has been residential in the past.

[6:24:43] They no longer are continuing that plan, and so that building has been sitting vacant.

[6:24:50] And they have one, they want to reason it back to residential, so that they can use the apartment

[6:24:57] above it, and then possibly come.

[6:25:00] We've heard the downstairs area back into residential. They're not exactly sure what they're going to do with it. Right now it has, so some of the technical issues that have come up through the TRC meeting. Right now it has three addresses and it would only be allowed to have two under residential and that's fine.

[6:25:22] email one address and already knows about that. They can just remove one of the addresses.

[6:25:28] There's also another structure right here. That's not.

[6:25:33] There's been some issues with central permitting and building inspections on whether that's a habitable space

[6:25:38] because it was moved to the property without a permit.

[6:25:41] That's not really anything to do with the rezoning.

[6:25:44] But if they, they're going to have to bring that structure into compliance before it's

[6:25:53] habitable, and that's essentially it, this is be very quick, we've put up the public hearing

[6:26:02] sign.

[6:26:02] There's been no comments from the neighbors of the public.

[6:26:05] Again, the owner is requesting to just take it back to our one residential, which is what

[6:26:10] it was before.

[6:26:12] Thank you.

[6:26:12] So, yep, but if you have any questions, I'll be happy to be here.

[6:26:16] Can we have any signed up, Jennifer?

[6:26:19] I'm going to be signed up to speak.

[6:26:24] Anybody have any questions or comments for Hunter on this one?

[6:26:28] All right.

[6:26:29] I will close the public hearing and refer this one with the planning board. Thank you.

[6:26:33] Thank you.

[6:26:51] All right, so the next item on the agenda is the public hearing for a special use permit.

[6:26:55] Please note that the board is required to act in a quasi-judicial capacity as it receives evidence and makes a decision.

[6:27:03] This is item 260436.

[6:27:06] Hold a quasi-judicial evidence here in public hearing for a special use permit requested by Anthem Net.

[6:27:12] For a new proposed 199 foot wireless telecommunications tower on parcel 2834, located at 1879 Andrews Store Road for individuals with standing to provide evidence on the direct impact to their property.

[6:27:31] The applicant is entitled to a full evidentiary hearing during this hearing, the board will receive legally acceptable evidence to establish sufficient facts to apply the ordinance.

[6:27:43] Anyone who intends to testify in a quasi-judicial manner must be sworn in, including staff.

[6:27:49] All individuals who will be speaking in this public hearing, please stand to be sworn in.

[6:28:00] Thank you. Please raise your right hand and reply yes after the following oath has been read.

[6:28:06] Do you solemnly swear or affirm that the evidence or testimony you are about to provide is factual and truthful to the best of your knowledge?

[6:28:17] I'm now opening the quasi judicial evidentiary public hearing for a special use permit requested by Anthony Inc.

[6:28:24] for a new proposed 199 foot wireless telecommunications tower and parcel 2834 located at 1879

[6:28:32] under store road for individuals with standing to provide evidence on the direct impact to their property.

[6:28:39] Speakers will not be timed so that they have sufficient time to submit their evidence.

[6:28:46] First we will hear from planning staff.

[6:29:10] Yes, this is a special use permit because it's the process that the wireless telecommunications

[6:29:16] ordinance requires. So that is why it is a special use permit, but keep in mind you are

[6:29:22] evaluating this through the wireless telecommunications ordinance, not the zoning ordinance.

[6:29:28] This is a proposal for a new 199 foot wireless telecommunications tower at 1879 Andrew Store Road.

[6:29:36] I have this area right here in yellow is the proposed site. Andrew Store Road is here.

[6:29:43] And as you can see, there's...

[6:29:45] You can't see it.

[6:29:54] This area outlined in yellow is the proposed location of the sail tower parcel in the sail tower.

[6:30:00] Our location, you'll see here. The applicant does have a presentation, so I'm just going to let them give that.

[6:30:06] Their attorney, Mr. Tom Terrell is going to present that information to you.

[6:30:10] Okay. Thank you.

[6:30:15] I did. We're together.

[6:30:18] Hang on a second. Let me get it back.

[6:30:21] Want to hand some materials to your clerk to me.

[6:30:45] I think the first president is going to be a minor for him.

[6:30:55] But the title is called,

[6:30:56] but it is called,

[6:30:58] but it is called,

[6:31:01] and it is called,

[6:31:19] and it is called,

[6:31:21] and it is called,

[6:31:25] and it is called,

[6:31:28] and

[6:31:45] it is called,

[6:31:48] material I'm an attorney with law firm, Fox, Rothschild, based in the Greensboro office.

[6:31:54] We just handed you some materials that are summaries of our evidence to make sure that

[6:32:00] you know that we are addressing every single standard in your ordinance for this special

[6:32:06] use.

[6:32:07] There are several other items in your packets of materials that have been sent to you electronically,

[6:32:12] and Ms. Fornier will follow me here in a moment and do a more formal presentation. But as

[6:32:20] an introduction 35 years ago, I was hired by two companies to go across North Carolina to

[6:32:28] assist putting up cell towers for what was then the old one G network. It was an analog system.

[6:32:37] very few people had any type of mobile device.

[6:32:41] In fact, that was what was said at public hearings.

[6:32:45] I don't need one, and nobody else will need one of these.

[6:32:48] And if you did have one, it was typically called a carphone,

[6:32:53] because it was mounted to the console of your vehicle.

[6:32:59] In that main time, and during my career,

[6:33:02] we have seen a revolution.

[6:33:05] According to the Pew Research Center,

[6:33:10] just above 40% of North Carolina households have a landline,

[6:33:16] that number drops precipitously for people who were younger than I am,

[6:33:21] who were younger than age 65.

[6:33:25] According to the same research center,

[6:33:27] 87.4% of adult North Carolinians own

[6:33:33] and use a smartphone, that number goes up to 95% when you add the flip phones to that equation.

[6:33:43] You see those numbers go even higher when you back out citizens who are above 85 years old,

[6:33:51] and you see those numbers go even higher when you are within 15 miles of a major research university.

[6:34:00] Statistically, almost every single person in this room uses a smartphone, not just once

[6:34:10] a day, but multiple times a day, and when I stepped out a moment ago, I looked, and there

[6:34:17] were several people who were actually on their smartphones.

[6:34:20] chances are, somebody is using their phone right now as I am speaking to you.

[6:35:00] In any way. But this is the point, having an adequate digital infrastructure to support these devices is an absolute public necessity. Just like the electric lines, we have going along every single road in Shadow County to provide electricity. This is one of those essential items.

[6:35:24] As we move into this evidentiary hearing, Anthem that has very diligently made sure that

[6:35:33] it does not negligently fail to address every single one of your SUV standards, there

[6:35:40] will be competent material and substantial evidence in this record showing that they met

[6:35:47] every standard. Under North Carolina law, that constitutes an entitlement to a special

[6:35:54] use permit, unless an opponent comes along with equal competent material and substantial

[6:36:00] evidence. Now, I don't like to use these hearings to cross examined witnesses. I typically

[6:36:07] don't. I do understand that there are seven people who are who have signed up to speak in

[6:36:14] position. I will vigorously, however, object if someone has gone to what I call Google

[6:36:22] University to pull documents off the internet and wants to annoy themselves as an

[6:36:28] expert on any topic using something that they found and that the offer of that study is

[6:36:35] not here for me to cross examine. I will also vigorously object if someone tries to make

[6:36:43] time about the health effects of radio frequency waves. As long ago as 1996, the...

[6:36:52] And you felt, sorry, some of your questions that they can't hear if you can speak directly into the mic.

[6:36:56] As you get all the closest.

[6:36:58] It's better, thank you.

[6:36:58] It's 30 years ago in 1996, the federal government decided that as long as based on research, as long as a cell tower is

[6:37:09] applying with all federal standards. It is by definition not a danger to public health and safety

[6:37:16] by virtue of radio frequencies. The Telecommunications Act of 1996, in fact, prohibits

[6:37:26] local and state governments from evaluating such proposals on the basis of radio frequency

[6:37:33] admissions. We do have a page from the telecommunications act to show you as part of Ms.

[6:37:41] Fournier's presentation. I will, at this point, ask Ms. Corrine of Fournier if she would come

[6:37:48] forward, she has a presentation. After she speaks Mr. Richard Kirkland of Kirkland of Prices

[6:37:55] will address some of the standards, Ms. Fournier.

[6:38:03] Hi, good evening. My name is Corrine of Fournier.

[6:38:06] I work directly for Anthemnet, we are a relatively newer tower company that specializes

[6:38:15] in high-growth areas, and we work with all the carriers to help site tower locations

[6:38:23] in those areas that they've expressed need in.

[6:38:27] I, my job in particular to kind of weigh the carrier needs finding a suitable property that

[6:38:36] meets zoning requirements as well as all the regulatory requirements and also finding

[6:38:41] a property owner that is interested in doing a list with us.

[6:38:45] So we have achieved that in this particular property.

[6:38:50] I'm going to show kind of what we did for our community meeting, that we did early April.

[6:38:58] We adjusted our design based on some feedback that we received from the neighbors.

[6:39:05] And we'll go from there, let's say.

[6:39:08] How do I change the slide?

[6:39:15] Let's go down.

[6:39:18] You're making this opening up right there,

[6:39:24] and we'll be sure to build it right there.

[6:39:25] There you go. Okay, great. Thank you so much.

[6:39:29] So, Anthemnet, we filed for the Special Use Permits. We held a community meeting in April.

[6:39:38] We originally had proposed a 199 foot monopole, which is a steel structure.

[6:39:46] We had some several neighbors come and concerns specifically over the aesthetics, so we changed it to a monopine to help kind of blend in better with this roundings.

[6:40:00] House to help conceal it.

[6:40:03] As we previously indicated, this is a, it's off of Andrew Store Road. We have our FAA determination. They determine we know lighting is required.

[6:40:15] It's got a hundred foot falls on radius. The towers themselves are designed to collapse within themselves. So it's not a straight over kind of situation.

[6:40:26] It's within the entire parcel that if it's not that this ever happens really, but if it never did, it's designed to collapse within the property itself with just 100 foot radius.

[6:40:42] Excuse me, we have an access and utility easement with the property owner to come right off and restore road.

[6:40:48] We have our least area, which is 25-2500 square feet, 50-by-50,

[6:40:57] with the tower, the compound

[6:40:59] will be surrounded by a chain-linked friends, and it's locked in restriction access, you know,

[6:41:08] 24-7s of people can't just access the tower without having, you know, codes you can

[6:41:15] to get in. So once the tower is constructed, there's relatively little traffic associated with it.

[6:41:26] We say once a month it really ends up being more like once a quarter that a technician may come

[6:41:32] and go to the site and just kind of check on things and maintain the area around it. So there's no

[6:41:40] traffic impact on this. This is the location. We're going closer to the front of the property.

[6:41:50] This gives a little more detailed of the actual plan itself. So we've got back up a slide right.

[6:41:59] Let me see that one again. Sure. Okay. So it's going to be in the middle of those trees.

[6:42:05] It's where the star is.

[6:42:08] Right.

[6:42:08] Yep.

[6:42:08] And your plan is to keep the trees.

[6:42:10] Correct.

[6:42:10] Absolutely.

[6:42:11] I will preserve everything that we can as part of this.

[6:42:16] Thank you.

[6:42:18] This is just a more an engineer type

[6:42:22] design layout to show the specifics around it.

[6:42:27] Access easement.

[6:42:28] We talked about we do a 12 foot wide gravel driveway.

[6:42:32] It's a 20 foot wide easement.

[6:42:35] easement, and then there, we did get a comment from fire department, they wanted the turnaround

[6:42:41] to be adjusted based on their criteria, if we've made those changes, we just haven't submitted

[6:42:49] those drawings yet because we had already submitted, but we have those changes in place to satisfy

[6:42:54] their comments. This is the elevation view of the tower itself. We have Verizon as the anchor

[6:43:03] tenant for this, T-Mobile is going to be the second carrier on, on our application we show

[6:43:09] our letters of interest from both carriers. We also know that AT&T is interested as well.

[6:43:17] So, rate, this is obviously an area of need for all the carriers in this area.

[6:43:24] This is just a more kind of a closer view of the compound itself showing where the least areas

[6:43:31] within the compound where that's Verizon's equipment depicted on there and then these are open spots for

[6:43:39] three other carriers.

[6:43:43] This is just the fence detail regarding that.

[6:43:50] These are we did so we did

[6:43:51] photosimulations as part of application. I know that was a criteria in the code as well. We went and

[6:43:58] did a voluntarily did a visual impact study also to address some of the concerns that came up to the

[6:44:04] meaning, so these are the balloon tests that are associated with the visual impact study.

[6:44:13] This is to show that the height where we do the simulations matches based on the balloon

[6:44:19] fly.

[6:44:21] We did that, I think it was May sometime I forget the exact date.

[6:44:27] So this is actually where it's most visible for this neighborhood across the street.

[6:44:33] This area where it's just kind of coming up above the tree line is where the tower with the branches would be.

[6:44:45] This just shows the balloon itself in relation to where it is above the trees.

[6:44:52] And then the simulation of the monopion that we're constructing.

[6:44:56] Um, the

[6:45:00] Read a bill full of art and Andrew Store Road.

[6:45:06] This is from Parker Herden Road, where it is not visible.

[6:45:13] This is another area where it's not visible.

[6:45:20] And then this you can see where the red arrow is, where the monopime you can see coming off Andrew Store Road, driving on the road.

[6:45:29] And then this is the zone of visibility map.

[6:45:33] So everything in blue is it's not visible.

[6:45:36] This is with foliage.

[6:45:39] Red is visible yellow is slightly visible.

[6:45:45] This is without foliage.

[6:45:48] So the red, again, is where it is visible.

[6:45:51] Yellow is partially visible and blue is not visible at all.

[6:45:55] And this is the briar capital community up here.

[6:46:00] And so it's mostly visible right near the adjacent properties.

[6:46:05] Compliance this.

[6:46:07] Verizon and all the carriers, they are federally mandated to

[6:46:13] comply with FAA, FCC regulations and all local regulations as well.

[6:46:23] They all, the carriers operate well below the FCC limits for the emission standards.

[6:46:32] Again, and we're fed the carriers are federally mandated to be under a certain threshold

[6:46:36] for that, and they can show that they're fully compliant with all that.

[6:46:47] Anywhere, yeah, that's fine. Final statements.

[6:46:51] Again, this tower is needed by all the carriers.

[6:46:55] We have T-Mobile and Verizon both fully committed to the site and we know that AT&T needs some coverage

[6:47:04] in this area as well.

[6:47:06] No lighting is required.

[6:47:08] We tried to do our best in terms of screening it from visibility, making it a model pine,

[6:47:16] And doing the extra photo Sims and doing a visual impact study to show exactly where it would be visible and where it would not be visible.

[6:47:27] And also addressing the carrier's needs and network capabilities.

[6:47:35] And any questions I'm here to answer.

[6:47:41] I think are pretty much covered, everything.

[6:47:43] I wanted to make sure I talked about the community meeting and responding to concerns,

[6:47:53] weighing just kind of the carrier needs and finding a property suitable to meet all the

[6:47:59] criteria for Anthemnet, and I'm available for any questions you guys may have.

[6:48:06] Thank you.

[6:48:07] one question. Ms. Fornier, just so as clear on the record, will this tower be designed to

[6:48:15] comply with all local state and federal regulations? Yes. Thank

[6:48:23] you. Any questions?

[6:48:27] That's

[6:48:27] far. All right. Jennifer, are there speakers that we have to sign up? I think he has another

[6:48:34] person to give testimony. Thank you. Hi. My name is Rich Kirkland, with Kirkland Appraisals.

[6:48:41] I was asked to just to speak briefly about this project and relation to property values.

[6:48:46] We've done research on this type of this type of project before.

[6:48:51] I guess just 20 microdentials.

[6:48:53] I'm a North Carolina state certified general appraiser.

[6:48:56] I've been appraising a North Carolina for right at 30 years now.

[6:48:59] Maybe just over.

[6:49:00] I get lose track.

[6:49:01] I'm an MAI designated appraiser, which is the highest designation put out by the appraisal institute.

[6:49:06] I also have the ARA designation by the American Society of Farm Managers and rural appraisers,

[6:49:11] which is an advanced designation that they will work for advanced studies beyond what's required for the state.

[6:49:16] We do impact analysis on a wide range of things.

[6:49:19] We've looked at cell towers before.

[6:49:21] We've been doing impact analysis for over 25 years now.

[6:49:25] As far as it goes, we use paired sales analysis.

[6:49:28] We look at homes that are proximity to similar projects that are already in existence.

[6:49:33] Compare them to similar homes that sold in the same timeframe.

[6:49:36] To see if there's any impact on property value, we would attribute to that cell tower.

[6:50:00] And close proximity to cell tower, show no impact on property values. And I would just say, we've done work with just thinking, sitting here thinking, we've worked in Port of Fino, which the, how course community in Johnston County, but it's got multi multiple million dollar plus homes in there. And there is a giant cell tower right at the entrance to that. In fact, the monopole and that situation is, is in clear view right as you drive into that facility, worked with that developer on numerous occasions, different phases, asked them if they had any impact.

[6:50:29] and he always cites me that it's flat out a selling point for his homes out there because

[6:50:34] it's at somewhat rural location. Everyone comes in and has no question about cell reception

[6:50:38] regardless of which carrier they go to. Happy to go on a greater detail. I answer any questions.

[6:50:43] I also cite some national research on this in this study as well, but it's my professional

[6:50:48] paying this project as proposed would not have a negative impact on adjoining property values

[6:50:53] and that this is a consistent and typical use to find in this type of location.

[6:50:58] Thank you.

[6:51:00] You can provide the documents with our

[6:51:02] Any clerk there.

[6:51:03] Who else was sworn in to speak during the hearing?

[6:51:09] Those are all of our witnesses.

[6:51:12] So we are closing evidence.

[6:51:13] We do have a right to close and to a

[6:51:15] But if there is a need for that.

[6:51:17] Thank you.

[6:51:20] Good question.

[6:51:22] Just got a quick question.

[6:51:23] What is your anticipated service area or radius?

[6:51:27] I know the community there has shared some spotty network issues there. It's just curious

[6:51:35] what is your radius of service.

[6:51:43] It's roughly one mile from the tower location.

[6:51:48] Thank you.

[6:51:51] Do you want to go ahead and use the mic?

[6:51:54] Yeah, I have a few questions.

[6:51:56] Mostly linked to visibility from the road.

[6:51:59] if you talked a bit about the fence and you showed a slide of the elevation, but if you could

[6:52:05] elaborate on that a bit more with the fence made of, we didn't really see a picture, will there

[6:52:09] be shrubbery in front of the fence? What will the access to the compound look like? What will the

[6:52:16] gate look like? And then I know that you don't have a requirement to put a light on top by the

[6:52:22] FAA, but will there be lights at the ground level that are on permanently?

[6:52:33] Go off, memory from

[6:52:34] questions. So in terms of the lighting, there is no lighting on the ground required for the tower.

[6:52:40] It is a chain length fence. And we were utilizing the natural vegetation for landscaping,

[6:52:49] but we're open to a different type of fence. That's something the county would require.

[6:52:55] We can also do the landscaping as well. I'm sorry, what were the other questions?

[6:53:04] or other things will be there.

[6:53:06] What will we gate be like?

[6:53:07] It will just be a big chain one.

[6:53:09] Is it a lock or something?

[6:53:10] I'm so sorry.

[6:53:12] Um, well, the apps will click.

[6:53:14] Can't let me.

[6:53:15] So there won't be a gate on the actual like entrance

[6:53:19] into a, uh, and restore road.

[6:53:22] There'll be a gate when it dips off into the section

[6:53:27] where it goes into the compound.

[6:53:28] And it's probably they'll do some sort of like cattle gate.

[6:53:32] I'm not sure if we've gotten to that specific

[6:53:34] fixed yet, but and it is just a chain length fence right now. Again, we're open to if that's something that the county would like us to change, we're open to doing that as well, but it is chain length right now and we're just preserving the natural desertation for screening is what we're proposing right now.

[6:53:59] Thank you. Has anyone else signed up or raised your hand and been sworn into speaking during the public hearing?

[6:54:04] Wait, we have seven people and I have their names up here on the screen

[6:54:17] Oh, they were of their ass all of them before the screen cut off

[6:54:22] It's all my screen

[6:54:25] So the first person that we have signed up is Jacqueline Watson and then Candace Paine after that

[6:54:46] So I can face to you now that I have her after.

[6:54:49] Thank you, ma'am.

[6:54:50] Thank you.

[6:54:51] Hi, my name is Jacqueline Watson.

[6:54:53] My home that we own is on 1789 Andrew Store Road.

[6:54:57] We are one lot away.

[6:55:04] I'm asking for this board to deny this permit tonight. This structure was stand. I know then the initial part said 195, the four foot antenna or lightning rod would make it 195 feet tall. The blintets already confirmed that it was visible from Andrew Sorrow research on cell towers and property vials has consistently shown that homes close to the tower see a real measure on the drop of value.

[6:55:34] I've looked through national studies, not just local, because currently in the local area,

[6:55:41] the studies have been in more industrial areas. This is being placed in a residential area,

[6:55:46] which is, I feel like, a little bit different than what we're looking at locally.

[6:55:50] I was here for a meeting where you all were discussing, putting up a poll, and it was more in an industrial area.

[6:55:58] I would say about a month ago for that application, and I feel like this is completely separate.

[6:56:03] being right outside of Breyer Chapel. And we moved here, particularly based on the area itself.

[6:56:13] And I feel like it's a responsibility that we have as you or you have as commissioners to uphold

[6:56:18] the value of the area. And that's something that I feel like is super important. North Carolina,

[6:56:24] wireless sitting statutes, and we're through your line of General Statute, 1,6A-400.50 to 453

[6:56:32] expressly, because there's local government authority regulate wireless facilities on the basis

[6:56:37] of aesthetics, structural designs, step-ups, and fall zones. They've given all those

[6:56:43] indications on the plans of the 100-foot and the drop zones and all that. But the land use

[6:56:49] consideration squarely within the sports jurisdiction or to be considered with the

[6:56:55] joining property values we're supported by evidence. So I have those national studies

[6:57:00] and all of that information on here I can go through it if you like but I can hand it to

[6:57:03] as well to look over to save on time because I value your time.

[6:57:09] With the visibility in the balloon

[6:57:11] I know it's a monopine and it's a little bit better than just having a straight pull but that doesn't

[6:57:17] take away from it being industrial looking has this project looked in other industrial

[6:57:24] more different areas back over by the 15501 versus right in the middle of the

[6:57:30] residential area. That's the question that I would ask. And I respectfully ask

[6:57:35] that you consider implicitly that it is a residential area when you make this

[6:57:39] And I'll give these to you. Thank you.

[6:57:43] Thank you.

[6:57:43] I'll need a copy of what's been presented.

[6:57:47] Thank you.

[6:57:57] Hello.

[6:57:59] I'm Candidate Stain.

[6:58:00] I live on Barchalo.

[6:58:02] I'm actually just down the street driveway,

[6:58:05] really, from the images that were shown by Anthony.

[6:58:08] That's representatives tonight.

[6:58:10] I'm here representing not only myself,

[6:58:13] living at 413 Barchalo Road,

[6:58:15] but also my neighbors on Barchalo,

[6:58:17] who moved to Barch Hallow Road, which has considered a conservation subdivision within

[6:58:24] Bire Chapel. Many of us chose that specific neighborhood because we loved the conservation

[6:58:31] environment that was created there by the county. This particular tower being perceived

[6:58:39] proposed, whether it's a 199 feet, which I think it is in full, is that correct with the lightning

[6:58:44] on 199 feet is very visible from my property. Now the images that I wish I had known

[6:58:55] I can project to you all, so some of the images that were already projected up on the screen.

[6:59:03] I don't believe this fits the real character of the Conservation Subdivision Framework

[6:59:08] that was established by Chad and County, and I want to ask that this has gone under

[6:59:13] careful scrutiny before approval.

[6:59:16] This isn't simply merely a static preference.

[6:59:18] This was established specifically for conservation.

[6:59:22] And while not all of Breyer Chapel is under conservation

[6:59:24] easement, my neighborhood is.

[6:59:27] In my neighborhood is the one that is most visible to this tower.

[6:59:31] My property sits at the highest point on Bert's Hall of South.

[6:59:35] And unfortunately, from the front of my driveway,

[6:59:38] you can see very clearly very high about the trees.

[6:59:42] the balloon that was performed on May 8th.

[6:59:47] I also want to call out that on May 8th, it was full spring.

[6:59:51] Everything was in bloom, beautiful.

[6:59:54] That's not always the case.

[6:59:55] We know that some fall, all the leaves go, and the trees lose their leaves.

[7:00:00] And there's a lot more visibility and screening will be lacking. And so I ask that we carefully look at evidence

[7:00:08] that anthem that presents to ensure that screening is not just in full season, but also through

[7:00:15] fall and winter when it's already dreary. And now we have to look at a very large tower above our

[7:00:22] conservation easement properties. So in all, I appreciate everyone's time. I appreciate the need for cellular service as someone who works from home and cannot make a phone call without my internet on and working. I get it. We need it.

[7:00:38] But does this tower need to exist right outside a conservation

[7:00:43] event also fully recognizing that tower property itself

[7:00:48] is not under the framework?

[7:00:50] But the surrounding area in character

[7:00:53] should be taken into consideration.

[7:00:55] That is something that's already within the Chattam County

[7:00:58] Conservation Ordnance from my understanding.

[7:01:03] There is a lot of us who feel this way.

[7:01:07] I'm representing many people on my street and I would be happy to provide not only the deed to

[7:01:13] this land that was deeded to Breyer Shabbardic Breyer Chapel Community Association with the

[7:01:18] conservation framework. I'm also going to be submitting a quick little snapshot of where my

[7:01:24] property sits as well as where the proposed tower will be and the direct line across the conservation

[7:01:31] an easement property that is on this map that you can see.

[7:01:37] I just hope that the frameworks that we're put into place

[7:01:41] to protect this conservation land

[7:01:42] and to protect the property owners who purchase this

[7:01:45] under these conditions are taken into account

[7:01:48] when this is considered.

[7:01:50] I think you all for your time,

[7:01:52] and I also think anthem that,

[7:01:53] putting that together.

[7:01:54] Because again, I want to reiterate,

[7:01:55] we do need better cellular service.

[7:01:58] I just don't think better cellular service,

[7:02:00] And going against the conservation framework,

[7:02:03] that's already been established in this area,

[7:02:06] need to go hand in hand.

[7:02:08] Thank you for your time.

[7:02:09] Thank you.

[7:02:22] Hi, my name is Kim Gagney.

[7:02:24] I live at 594, Bertala Road.

[7:02:27] The rear of my property faces industrial road,

[7:02:30] and is directly across from the proposed tower site,

[7:02:32] roughly 300 feet, probably a little bit less from my property line.

[7:02:36] We received the written known to Smarch and attended the community,

[7:02:39] meaning, April 8th, and appreciate the work that's been done to improve the design,

[7:02:43] how it will still concern about the location. I recognize the need for reliable cell

[7:02:48] coverage here, similar to Candace. My concern is more narrow. It's the impact of this

[7:02:54] specific site has already had and will keep having on nearby property values. Under the

[7:02:59] county's ordinance, you must find the permit won't be detrimental to the welfare of the community.

[7:03:05] And the county's own application specifically invites evidence on land value impact,

[7:03:08] what I'm submitting is not opinion, it's fact.

[7:03:13] We listed our house for sale in April,

[7:03:15] a straightforward decision to our children

[7:03:17] graduated college and moved out.

[7:03:19] We have a little too much space.

[7:03:22] Once we learned to the tower,

[7:03:23] we were correctly advised that we were

[7:03:24] advocated to disclose it.

[7:03:26] We did that a few weeks later,

[7:03:28] we did receive an offer on our house.

[7:03:30] The buyer withdrew that offer

[7:03:33] and cited this proposal as the reason for doing so.

[7:03:37] I have submitted a letter from our real estate agent documenting that offer and it's withdrawal.

[7:03:45] Since then we've cut our price a couple of times and have received no additional offers.

[7:03:50] It's not a hypothetical about future value.

[7:03:52] It's a real transaction that fell through for a documented reason.

[7:03:55] It won't stop with us.

[7:03:56] There's a number of properties as everyone's spoken.

[7:03:59] You know, virtual road, industrial road.

[7:04:00] There's a number of yet as yet unbuilt home lots on the industrial road that are in that area.

[7:04:06] And I believe that we'll have an impact on those values.

[7:04:12] Windows have a right to develop their property,

[7:04:14] but it actually has the financial benefit here,

[7:04:18] and who encouraged the cost.

[7:04:21] The benefits are going to go to a landowner

[7:04:23] who doesn't live in that site,

[7:04:25] a Texas-based developer and a national carrier.

[7:04:29] The financial impact cost is going to fall

[7:04:30] on the families who have moved to that area

[7:04:32] for the aesthetic reason of the character of that area.

[7:04:36] You heard from one of my neighbors around around the aesthetic impact, you'll hear from another around sort of the site selection process.

[7:04:44] I'll just add if a less impactful location generally exists, that question belongs here before approval, not after.

[7:04:53] I'm asking the board to deny this application as cited, or at a minimum require the applicant to prove that there's no better site that is.

[7:05:00] Thank you.

[7:05:05] Mr. Chair, I do think it's important to lodge an objection while the evidence is coming in. Both Ms. Watson and Mr.

[7:05:15] Gaffney talked about property values. We have a statute on that. It's chapter 1-60D-1402 Subsection J. And it says that unless

[7:05:29] You have a study that somebody has done that documents how a use has connected negatively impact property values.

[7:05:42] Any statement you make is deemed by law to be incompetent.

[7:05:47] I think his name is Gaffney.

[7:05:49] It's not on the screen.

[7:05:50] I'm just repeating he quoted a real estate agent.

[7:05:54] We have case law in North Carolina that says real estate agents cannot testify on property values unless they offer a study such as a study by Mr. Kirkland, who has the highest designation credential offered by the appraisal institute.

[7:06:14] So, I would like to offer that objection, if somebody else continues to come in and talk about property values, I think my objection now would suffice and I don't need to say it again.

[7:06:26] Thank you. Thank you. So heard.

[7:06:33] Okay.

[7:06:33] I'm Michael Massey.

[7:06:36] Nice to meet you.

[7:06:38] Mike is not here.

[7:06:38] Oh, he's not here.

[7:06:40] Okay.

[7:06:42] Respect to Chatham.

[7:06:43] Conti Board of Commissioners.

[7:06:44] I'm threshold already.

[7:06:46] I'm one of the residents in Birch Hall of Road.

[7:06:49] And we bought a house about a year ago.

[7:06:52] And one of the reasons is obviously everything.

[7:06:56] What can recent him had already said about the neighborhood.

[7:06:59] And the beauty of the neighborhood and the aesthetic value of the neighborhood.

[7:07:03] and what it provided us for residential character.

[7:07:08] As stated by them, I have Verizon and I had AT&T.

[7:07:14] The coverage is definitely spotty, but we still do have coverage, and it is functional

[7:07:19] even times of power outage if you have to use a hotspot like that.

[7:07:22] It has been working for us, but can we use better service definitely we can.

[7:07:28] what we are worried about is obviously the size of such a telecommunications tower being

[7:07:36] in close proximity to our neighborhood which is already being established and if this is my personal opinion

[7:07:43] if someone had told me that a telecommunication tower was coming up right next to a house

[7:07:49] we are not which is the house and it was last year we moved from out of state to in the state.

[7:07:56] Also, Anthemnet said that they had interacted with neighbors.

[7:08:02] I'm on the street where there's the most visual impact, which is highlighted in red as per their graphic.

[7:08:08] And we did not receive any communication from Anthemnet regarding this tower.

[7:08:13] We heard it from our neighbors who got the communication and it was not from us.

[7:08:20] Obviously, I'm going to add more to what can this and Tim had mentioned about property values or proximity to homes.

[7:08:30] We definitely need cell phone service, great cell phone service, and I for one believe in technology work from home a little bit.

[7:08:38] And I would appreciate even in times of power failure having great cell phone coverage so that I can do my job as radiologists.

[7:08:44] But what I ask is that you consider looking at alternative sites rather than opposing rather than putting this tower in a neighborhood, which has already been well established.

[7:08:59] Thank you.

[7:09:05] John and then Jerry.

[7:09:13] Hello, I'm John to New Zio. I live at 560 Birch Hollow Road and that is part of

[7:09:20] Breyer Chapel. It's in that red area, but it is indeed part of Breyer Chapel development. I'd like to address

[7:09:28] just two issues with you. One is about that selection process and how the company went about choosing that site.

[7:09:35] And the second one is about the balloon test and how it may be sort of misrepresenting where the

[7:09:41] or will really affect our neighborhood.

[7:09:45] With regard to the site selection process,

[7:09:48] we learned at the April meeting,

[7:09:50] which we were not invited to because I guess

[7:09:53] because of ordinance, all they have to do

[7:09:55] is invite people who are immediately adjacent to the property.

[7:09:59] We happen to...

[7:10:00] To be a couple hundred feet away from the way of self-taught, they're proposing the cell tone tower, but we're not immediately adjacent to the property.

[7:10:08] So we had to find out from our neighbors to go to this meeting, but we did, and they described to us where they were proposing to put the tower, and what they described as the tower is at the extreme north-east boundary of their target site.

[7:10:25] So, they had described a site that was approximately centered about a half mile south and west of where that boundary was.

[7:10:37] So, in other words, much further away from Briar Chapel in the neighboring communities.

[7:10:42] However, they selected a site that was right on the boundary.

[7:10:46] So, it's the most imposing, most aesthetically, unpleasing, if you will, to us.

[7:10:54] So the site is further, a site further south and west, if they had chosen it, would be in a much less

[7:11:00] densely populated area. If you look on the map and the pictures that they showed, it shows the

[7:11:06] community, the densely packed community. But if you extend that site, their target area, you'll see

[7:11:12] there's basically nothing around there. So perhaps a different selection, a site, a tower and a

[7:11:18] from spot, which would have a much less impact and still

[7:11:22] satisfies the needs of Anthemnet.

[7:11:27] So we're asking you to demonstrate that Anthemnet truly

[7:11:31] takes advantage of what they're supposed to do with selecting

[7:11:34] a site, not necessarily choosing the first response

[7:11:37] to a solicitation.

[7:11:39] This is a great opportunity for somebody who wants to make

[7:11:42] a couple thousand dollars a month,

[7:11:44] leasing out a property that they can't use.

[7:11:47] Perhaps we should look at it from a community point of view,

[7:11:50] put it on the parks or recreation area, get a couple of thousand dollars a month in rent,

[7:11:57] you can pay for a lawn mowing and upkeep of recreation facilities that way.

[7:12:02] The second point I'd like to bring up is the bloom test. So during that test in May, I actually

[7:12:09] walked to the site where the technicians were doing the test. What we found out and what they said

[7:12:15] is they positioned the base of the balloon

[7:12:18] approximately 30 to 50 yards south of where the actual tower was.

[7:12:24] So in other words, it's still quite a ways away

[7:12:27] from where the actual tower would be located.

[7:12:31] Not only that, the position of the balloon was anchored

[7:12:35] at a much lower elevation than where the actual tower would be.

[7:12:40] So again, it would be much more prominent

[7:12:42] than what would show in the pictures.

[7:12:44] And the third point that I'd like to make is you saw the trees that were surrounding the balloon.

[7:12:50] All of those would go away.

[7:12:52] So if you're going to cut a 50 by 50 put swath,

[7:12:56] all those trees that were giving any cover to this monopole tower would be gone.

[7:13:01] So all you would see is this tower in the middle of no trees.

[7:13:06] So again, asking the board to make them do their work,

[7:13:10] have a more accurate visual accurate visual impact assessment instead of relying on the

[7:13:17] balloon test that was done. It probably misrepresent the the way the tower would look.

[7:13:23] Thank you very much.

[7:13:36] Hello everybody. My name is Sherry Yarkowski.

[7:13:40] My husband and I we live at 1712 Andrews Store Road on a micro farm about 1500 feet from the proposed

[7:13:49] cell tower. We do not live within the Breyer Chapel development footprint. I'm going to limit my

[7:13:57] comments. A lot of them have been stated already, but I just want to, I wrote it, so I'm going to tell

[7:14:02] the related to the visibility of the proposed tower or the, I'll skip over the decrease property values

[7:14:11] probably. And then they continued overburdening of the existing community. So as we all know,

[7:15:00] Not performed during the winter months without the leaves to document a more accurate visual burden that to the residents within the one mile radius.

[7:15:12] Also, in the presentation, what methods were used to predict the tower visibility during the winter months without leaves?

[7:15:20] For the public record, we asked that the methods be specifically documented and accurately referenced so that we can understand its accuracy and degree of variability and error.

[7:15:36] The presentation also states that existing trees will serve as the visual buffer for the site.

[7:15:41] Yet the plan states trees will be removed for tower construction.

[7:15:47] So how is this contradiction accounted for in the analysis?

[7:15:51] Is there a visual rendering showing the impact of the tree removal required for construction?

[7:15:58] Clearly removal of the near-source visual buffer will dramatically impact the visual burden by the neighboring residents.

[7:16:07] So I live on a micro farm.

[7:16:08] I'm not in a, I'm not in for our chapel.

[7:16:11] I live in a little farm, we got some two horses, a pony, a mule, and so we are rural.

[7:16:19] And I don't know if we sell our little microform to somebody else who wants to have a similar

[7:16:25] lifestyle, if our property values want to climb, and I don't have a study but perhaps somebody

[7:16:32] else has a study about how what impacts rural properties.

[7:16:38] And then finally, to stick over the alternatives and community burden portion.

[7:16:45] In the application, there does not seem to be any analysis of co-locating on an existing

[7:16:51] tower or structure or any explanation why this particular residential parcel was selected

[7:16:58] over other sites, such as within the Breyer Chapel Community Boundary or within the

[7:17:04] already developed in, aesthetically compromised sites, perhaps, like CCC Health Sciences Center,

[7:17:10] the Food Line, near the 55 plus apartments down on 15501.

[7:17:16] As I previously said, we do not live in Briar Chapel.

[7:17:21] So this is primarily for serving the Briar Chapel residents.

[7:17:26] So we asked staff or the applicant to confirm on the record whether alternative sighting

[7:17:32] analysis was done. And if it has the locations of those alternative sites. And then finally,

[7:17:38] I don't know if the owners of that property are here. I believe they live in a governor's club,

[7:17:43] but I would just like to say, how would they like it if this was proposed to be next to their

[7:17:49] or they reside? Thank you.

[7:18:08] Do we have anyone else signed up? No, that's everyone.

[7:18:11] And that's it.

[7:18:13] We have a report on two points from this foreigner and I have two comments and then we will

[7:18:19] cause.

[7:18:20] Okay.

[7:18:21] That's one.

[7:18:25] I just wanted to address the location for the balloon test.

[7:18:31] The engine or who did that did call me and tell me that they had to shift it.

[7:18:36] It was 100 feet, it was not a change in elevation.

[7:18:39] They had to do that because of the power lines on the property.

[7:18:42] So the balloon wouldn't actually get wrapped up in it, but it did not change the visual where he

[7:18:49] Shifted it did not change what it would look like visually from the sims

[7:18:54] collocation

[7:18:56] We the I think that closest tower was like almost two miles from us

[7:19:01] We did look I

[7:19:04] I recently purchased a home in Pittsburgh. Oh just for the record. I thought about this site like numerous evenings

[7:19:11] Because I've tried to do my best on this, and I understand the concerns of everyone.

[7:19:18] This, the area that was chosen was because it's based on carrier need.

[7:19:23] It's completely based on network need.

[7:19:26] It's not always where it's an industrial area that there's a coverage need.

[7:19:31] It's residential because most people don't even have a landline.

[7:19:36] They only use their cell phones.

[7:19:37] A lot of people work from home.

[7:19:38] And so, yes, it ends up being near residential areas.

[7:19:42] So we tried to make, you know, anthem net

[7:19:44] in particular to try to go at great lengths

[7:19:48] on finding, you know, suitable screening for towers

[7:19:51] and making it more visually appeasing, you know,

[7:19:56] compared to a straight monopole.

[7:19:58] So the other way.

[7:20:00] Be able to cite a tower in that area without being in a residential area. The search ring itself was

[7:20:09] rate. We were pretty close to the center of it where the tower location was. The other property

[7:20:15] that we considered. I think it was on Parker hurting. It was off a private road and he, we were unable

[7:20:21] to get access to the public right away with that parcel. So that one did not work out. And then in

[7:20:28] I think we spoke with the church. That was right near there. They're bored ultimately denied

[7:20:35] Doing a tower at their property and we spoke with I mean I have a huge list of properties that we contacted and there was no interest in doing a little at least

[7:20:45] So this was not the first I mean, this is a good location for in my mind, but we did reach out to several others and was not able to make anything work over there

[7:20:57] And I will close with two points.

[7:21:01] I think the theme tonight, if you back, out property values, the theme is everybody enjoys

[7:21:09] having cell service, but nobody wants to be where they can see this tower.

[7:21:15] They can see the electric power poles going up and down every road they drive them, but they

[7:21:22] don't want to see this tower.

[7:21:25] There is an abundance of case law in North Carolina.

[7:21:29] That says, not liking the way something looks is not evidence.

[7:21:35] It's a subjective feeling.

[7:21:38] And therefore it's incompetent as evidence.

[7:21:41] I am sure that Ms. Meeker could probably

[7:21:44] cite you the case, called Blair Investments versus Rowan Oak City,

[7:21:49] that actually is a cell tower case.

[7:21:51] Many of these are solar form and other types of uses, but that was a cell tower case, and which the court said,

[7:21:59] how you subjectively feel about being able to see something is not competent,

[7:22:05] but most importantly, it does not address a standard that is in the ordinance.

[7:22:13] We heard them, I don't know your name, but we heard you loudly, and if the planning board

[7:22:20] would like to make suggestions to staff for staff to reach out to Ms. Furnier, the fence

[7:22:27] could be changed. It could be enhanced. As long as it doesn't violate county standards,

[7:22:35] the landscaping could be enhanced. There's more that could be done, and anthem that would be

[7:22:41] more than happy to receive those suggestions

[7:22:44] and they could be made into findings to put into an order.

[7:22:49] Okay, thank you.

[7:22:51] Thank you.

[7:22:51] I have a question.

[7:22:52] Yes, ma'am.

[7:22:54] Were this to be approved ultimately,

[7:22:56] which won't happen tonight, obviously?

[7:23:00] But ultimately, how long does it take

[7:23:02] to put such a tower up?

[7:23:09] Typically, from when they actually start construction,

[7:23:12] it can take about two months.

[7:23:15] for it to be fully constructed and completed.

[7:23:18] Thank you.

[7:23:20] Who the other?

[7:23:26] Any other speakers?

[7:23:28] No.

[7:23:29] Any questions from the board?

[7:23:34] All right, thank you.

[7:23:35] We will close the hearing and refer the item to the planning board.

[7:23:38] Thank you.

[7:23:39] At this time, I'm going to go ahead and call for a 10 minute recess.

[7:39:47] Did not, as a matter of fact, I thought we were voting on something else.

[7:40:00] To ask that there would be a new vote on the matter?

[7:40:03] Yes, I would ask there's a new vote.

[7:40:07] And make a motion to that effect?

[7:40:10] I make a motion that we re-vote on this matter.

[7:40:16] On there.

[7:40:19] And maybe I can just clarify. So there are two statements.

[7:40:23] If you approve the rezoning, then you vote for the consistency statement.

[7:40:28] If you deny the rezoning, then you vote for the inconsistency statement, and now I'll make a motion to approve the rezoning.

[7:40:40] Second.

[7:40:44] All in favor?

[7:40:45] Aye.

[7:40:46] All opposed?

[7:40:48] Nay.

[7:40:52] And now a motion for the consistency statement.

[7:40:57] Is there a motion to adopt the consistency statement?

[7:41:00] Some of.

[7:41:02] Second.

[7:41:03] All in favor?

[7:41:03] All opposed?

[7:41:11] Mr. Bradshaw?

[7:41:12] Looks like you got it.

[7:41:26] And in 2, 6, 0, 4, 3, 2, to approve a quasi-judicial request by Lockely Holdings LLC for

[7:41:32] a special use permit for a contractor's store jarred and staging area on parcel 9, 3, 9, 0,

[7:41:40] located at 16, 56-cambal road, Bear Creek, North Carolina, being an area of 3.9 acres out

[7:41:46] of a 10.2 acre tract.

[7:41:48] Madam Chair, but because I was not officially a board member,

[7:41:51] when the evidence was collected,

[7:41:52] I think it's right for me to refuse myself.

[7:41:58] Um, I can not ask bar alternatives to that.

[7:42:01] Yes, so I do agree that Commissioner Robertson should be excused.

[7:42:08] I'd like another Commissioner to make a motion to excuse him,

[7:42:11] but he was not on the board when the evidence came in in June.

[7:42:15] So I do think it's appropriate that he be recused.

[7:42:18] I'll make that motion to recuse commission in Roberson.

[7:42:21] Welcome.

[7:42:22] All in favour?

[7:42:23] Thank you.

[7:42:27] And Hunter?

[7:42:29] I don't have a presentation.

[7:42:32] Typically, after the quasi-judicial process,

[7:42:36] I just comes for about.

[7:42:37] But if you have any questions, I can try to answer them,

[7:42:42] or we can, and we have the applicant here as well.

[7:42:45] But I don't know what is allowed at this point to be introduced or discussed.

[7:42:54] But I can answer any questions that come to tonight,

[7:43:11] missioners, no questions.

[7:43:17] Is there a motion to adopt the resolution to approve the quasi judicial request by

[7:43:21] Lockley Holdings LLC for a special use permit for contractor storage yard and staging

[7:43:26] area on personal 93, 90 located at 1656 Campbell Road Bear Creek, North Carolina being an area

[7:43:33] of 3.9 acres out of 10.02 area tracked.

[7:43:48] I will say, I don't know whether we want to have some discussion first as a board because I

[7:43:53] do find this one to be difficult in that there is already a business there and the not voting

[7:44:07] for this is not going to make the noise, all of the things that residents

[7:44:13] complained about go away. I have some hope that the applicant is genuine

[7:44:24] in there, believe that having more space will reduce the amount of shifting

[7:44:31] of these metal poles and maybe reduce some of that and that the burn will help

[7:44:37] And that there are other things that will come along with it that might be of help.

[7:44:41] I just don't know that the status quo is going to be any better for the residents.

[7:44:49] Well, it won't be, but the status quo won't be better and it feels like there might be a possibility.

[7:44:54] But again, it is just a possibility.

[7:44:58] So I find this one difficult.

[7:45:00] I don't know whether additional time would help us. There is no more information that I need. I just think it is a difficult

[7:45:15] to determine whether the changes will be an improvement.

[7:45:23] I do agree that it difficult as well.

[7:45:26] We saw one version of this application where they were resounding a larger piece of the property

[7:45:31] and then they've come back making it more specific to this lay-down area.

[7:45:36] Um, and so I do appreciate them specifying more, um, you know, what they're trying to do with the property, um, instead of a larger rezoning.

[7:45:51] So, um, but I do agree it's very difficult.

[7:46:04] I'll make motion to postpone this for next meeting.

[7:46:09] To table.

[7:46:10] Yes, to table.

[7:46:14] Is there a second?

[7:46:15] And last second.

[7:46:19] Did you second?

[7:46:24] All in favor.

[7:46:26] All right.

[7:46:28] Just Emily.

[7:46:30] I'm sorry.

[7:46:32] How many more days do we have on this item?

[7:46:35] Is this also within that 60 day?

[7:46:37] There is not a time clock on this.

[7:46:41] Thank you.

[7:46:42] And since I asked whether it would be appropriate and because I think it might be helpful for us to see what this

[7:46:50] set up looks like or for me it might be helpful to get a sense of what this, what the current layout looks like and what an improvement might look like.

[7:47:04] And I don't know how appropriate that is at this stage or feasible.

[7:47:09] I was interested in the sound impacts.

[7:47:14] So, I mean, if you'd like their attorney to go over that evidence, again, I believe he's here and would be glad to do it, or Mr. Glenn may be able to do it.

[7:47:28] I mean, I think, while that's, I feel as though the information you've provided is helpful, but it is a little bit in a little bit of a vacuum, just not knowing what does this actually look like.

[7:47:42] and sound like in operation and and what could that improvement look like and sound like.

[7:47:51] I'm just I'm just pulling up a few I'm just going to pull up the GIS of the

[7:47:55] parcel of the most recent aerial image just so you can see this was also my presentation but

[7:48:03] it's the same information. I think the challenge that the lot of folks talked about was

[7:48:11] the existing noise from the current industrial facility that is there.

[7:48:18] They spoke about how loud this is, even at 2 o'clock in the morning, that they can hear something that just bangs and wicks them up.

[7:48:30] And I do not doubt that. I am sure that that is the case.

[7:48:34] Unfortunately, we can't do anything about the existing industrial facility that is there.

[7:48:39] That was there before that whole area was owned. It was already there.

[7:48:43] And so it did receive zoning when the county went in and zoned the county in the areas that were not previously zoned.

[7:48:51] They got appropriate zoning for that particular industrial center.

[7:48:56] That was already there if it was based on what was there.

[7:48:59] And so that's how that zoning happened, folks were already in many of also those residential areas around it.

[7:49:08] They could have been there before after the Industrial Facility went in.

[7:49:12] The Industrial Facility got that zoning now and is already an existing business.

[7:49:21] My understanding from what they did try to accommodate when they stopped with what they were trying to do with that current space and came back and said, okay, we heard folks, we really want to be able to have a space to spread out here.

[7:49:37] We've got a lot of stuff, it's really cramped, and we think it'll help make things quieter if we can have a place to put other stuff, so we're not lifting it two and three times.

[7:49:47] I know it's hard for folks to trust when something's already there and it's really loud,

[7:49:54] but I do want to emphasize that we can't do anything to take it back.

[7:49:59] We can't remove it.

[7:50:00] We can't change the zoning number. I mean, he's already there. So he's not going to be open to us going and saying, hey, would you be okay if we change this to residential?

[7:50:12] He's got a business there. And so trying to figure out how can we accommodate the fact that there is a business and he does own this property that he's already on and has purchased this other property, whether we zone in or not that was his risk.

[7:50:27] Personally, I feel like that is the better route.

[7:50:32] Now we have already tabled this for next week, prior to coming back after the recess,

[7:50:38] I stopped to talk to our county manager, such as, you know, this is a really hard one for

[7:50:43] the very fact, you know, that a couple of commissioners have already spoken up and talked

[7:50:47] about how it's hard, but the truth is, we can't do anything about the sound that's out

[7:50:53] there.

[7:50:53] We can't do anything about the fact that it's already

[7:50:55] down, having industrial in that one location.

[7:50:59] He's there.

[7:51:01] I feel good that he's trying to accommodate something to spread out,

[7:51:05] so he can hopefully lessen the noise.

[7:51:07] Will it lessen the noise?

[7:51:09] Anybody's guess?

[7:51:11] Man, I just don't know.

[7:51:16] I mean, I think that's the discomfort.

[7:51:19] I think there's some extent to which we want to believe that it will mitigate some of these impacts.

[7:51:33] Yeah, I'm happy to hear from Nick.

[7:51:35] Yeah, good.

[7:51:36] Thanks, another.

[7:51:38] Thank you, Madam Chair.

[7:51:40] Board members, Nick Robinson here on behalf of the applicant.

[7:51:43] I don't want to lay my picture.

[7:51:44] You can push that computer back so you can picture both of your.

[7:51:47] You see my problem.

[7:51:49] I didn't want to start typing or changing screens.

[7:51:52] Thank you very much.

[7:51:53] I will address the board just very briefly on this.

[7:51:56] I appreciate the genuine concern that's been expressed from the board on this.

[7:52:01] And I think that I can appreciate that, but also say that from an evidentiary standpoint

[7:52:07] now, the quasi-judicial evidentiary hearing is now closed.

[7:52:13] The evidence in the record about whether or not there will be noise reduction comes from

[7:52:19] applicant who owns the company that has the industrial facility and it is extremely competent

[7:52:27] evidence under oath that he believes that this expansion area will reduce the amount of noise.

[7:52:36] The only other evidence that's in the record comes from the neighbors who are people of good faith

[7:52:42] and good will, but it's pure speculation that it won't reduce the noise.

[7:52:48] And so the only competent evidence that you have in the record at this point, and you have to base your decision on the evidence that's competent material and substated on the record, is that allowing this special use permit will reduce the reduced noise.

[7:53:07] I'd also remind you that your professional planning staff has agreed that all the findings

[7:53:14] have been met.

[7:53:15] And your planning board voted eight to two to recommend approval based on the events and what was in the record.

[7:53:26] So I understand that it's been tabled.

[7:53:30] County attorney might be able to tell you what all can be done between now and the next meeting other than think about it some more.

[7:53:38] I don't think there can be any more evidence, including a field trip to the site, which they might be good.

[7:53:47] But I don't think we're at a place where that can happen at this point.

[7:53:51] To me to be perfectly honest, I think we're at a point now where there's ample evidence to support approval.

[7:53:59] of the requested SHP and there is insufficient evidence to deny it.

[7:54:07] Nick, is this the operation really going on throughout the night?

[7:54:12] Not throughout the night, no.

[7:54:14] And that certainly is not evidence that's in the record.

[7:54:19] Oh, deliveries can happen occasionally,

[7:54:22] but my understanding of that is that.

[7:54:25] And I think the evidence in the record was to this effect

[7:54:27] is that occasionally a trucker with a load to deliver will show up before it's open and wait

[7:54:34] until it is open to deliver. And that's the thing that Michael I had said is out of his control.

[7:55:00] All the pictorial evidence of the size of that driveway to the opening of the plant and it is huge and it can accommodate a truck for waiting if it needs to.

[7:55:12] But again, approving or not approving this issue, P is not going to change that issue.

[7:55:21] Yeah, but I think for us at this moment is there's no going back on whatever decision we make and it has to feel good I think or as the feel right.

[7:55:37] Yes, I hope it does based on the evidence.

[7:55:41] That's right.

[7:55:41] I would say that the evidence should make you feel right.

[7:55:45] Because that's what you have to be based your decision on.

[7:55:47] Thank you. Well, this has been tabled until next month, so thank you, Nick. I appreciate being here.

[7:55:55] All right. Next app is item two six zero four five four about to appoint the triangle area rural planning organization that delegates.

[7:56:06] This was a position previously held by David Delaney.

[7:56:12] This is the RTAC Central Pines Transportation role.

[7:56:18] I went last week and invited Commissioner Robertson to go with me.

[7:56:23] So he could see what it's all about.

[7:56:26] And he did.

[7:56:28] And I would recommend we go ahead and appoint Commissioner Robertson to take on that position.

[7:56:38] I'll second, but then I do want to talk to Commissioner Roberson ahead of our vote.

[7:56:44] So I'm seconding.

[7:56:48] So this is the planning org that covers the vast majority of Chattam County.

[7:56:54] I don't know who your alternate is right now, but I just want to stress how critical it is that

[7:57:06] And some that in there in between the two of you,

[7:57:12] fair has it's a very steep learning curve.

[7:57:15] And right now for 90% of the Tadam County to be,

[7:57:20] or more, to be in Tarbo, and not have a delegate to me is scary.

[7:57:29] And so I just want to share with you, it's a big lift.

[7:57:35] And I found out the hard way from my small planning organization that it is an extremely heavy

[7:57:43] lift.

[7:57:44] But just how critical and essential this is, I'm glad that you're stepping up and stepping

[7:57:49] into the role.

[7:57:50] I don't know what Commissioner Delaney's participation was because we weren't getting a lot

[7:57:54] of information back, which I think is, again, critical.

[7:57:58] It's easy for us to attend a lot of these meetings and it becomes a repository in our head

[7:58:04] a lot of information, but to the extent that, and I have felt very differently that you are

[7:58:11] definitely bringing information back. It's so critical. We're at this point with planning,

[7:58:18] transportation, you know, where at our 255 metrologin plans and to think that, you know,

[7:58:27] for a long time, Chad, I didn't have any, we just weren't showing up at these at all. We have a

[7:58:34] I think we have a long way to go to catch up and get our voices heard at the table with the

[7:58:41] the weight that we need.

[7:58:44] And I think Commissioner Kendall would agree, right?

[7:58:46] She's in, she has a, again, a very small portion of the county in-campus, but those conversations

[7:58:52] is so critical because our regional partners, like, weigh county, rally, they're, they're big players,

[7:58:59] Durham, even Orange County in Chapel Hill and Durham City, in my planning org, have had a

[7:59:08] long history of being very active and very engaged. And so I just want to sort of stress and

[7:59:16] and happy to help talk some of this stuff through. There is great training available. I don't know

[7:59:23] there are other people in Tarpa, the other Chad and County resident people who have served

[7:59:28] in Tarpa have taken advantage of that, but excellent staff, really excellent staff and they

[7:59:35] will help get you along that path, but I think both Commissioner Cantland and I are really

[7:59:41] happy to have conversations with you so because our planning for regional transportation,

[7:59:48] we really need to be communicating well, the Commissioner is communicating well so that

[7:59:53] these plans begin to hold hands like better.

[7:59:55] Our staff, our staff is doing an excellent job with that too,

[7:59:58] but we're the one sitting at the table.

[8:00:00] We get there. So I'm going to rely heavy on that. And I also realize that a lot of these decisions are not decisions that happen tomorrow.

[8:00:08] There are decisions that are years into making and down the road. And so it's a long-term investment. So I don't think there's anything quick to change about it.

[8:00:18] But I promise to communicate and do the best that I can and learn the most that I can from that. It is a lot more counties involved than you would think it would be.

[8:00:28] Um, I'll try to name him. I think it's more to Lee, Chad. Um, orange. Is that correct?

[8:00:34] Not not orange. I think maybe burn it.

[8:00:36] Who's an orange one?

[8:00:37] Yeah.

[8:00:37] Make a mission right there. Orange.

[8:00:39] Very right to this orange.

[8:00:40] Right right.

[8:00:42] Um, and so it would end, um, and so she's in.

[8:00:45] Tart is in, um, triangle West.

[8:00:49] I think part of orange is imparted and I think the rule area is what she was talking about. There was

[8:00:54] one thing for Orange County on there. But I'm just saying it's not just chat

[8:00:58] up County, it's a big area and it is rural areas and I'll do the best I can

[8:01:04] to to learn and communicate with the whole board on that.

[8:01:08] Right. You're tired, right? So you got time.

[8:01:11] Yes, you got time.

[8:01:13] Awesome. Thank you. I wanted to say I appreciate your words. I appreciate you being

[8:01:17] well into serving. It is almost more time consuming than being a commissioner.

[8:01:24] my experience on that metropolitan planning organization. I drive two hours in total just to get

[8:01:30] to those meetings, let alone how many hours those meetings are. And they give you a book of acronyms

[8:01:41] when you start because they speak in those. So it is a huge investment in education, but

[8:01:52] I appreciate you being willing to serve, and we know you're good researchers.

[8:01:58] Well, I will take all the advice that you have and like to learn from your successes and failures so that I don't make the same failures that might be in the future.

[8:02:09] But I do promise to do my best at it.

[8:02:12] All right. We've had a motion in a second. All in favor.

[8:02:16] Hi.

[8:02:17] Hi.

[8:02:18] Thank you.

[8:02:18] Appreciate it.

[8:02:20] All right, next step is item two six zero four seven three vote to appoint a district four recommended member to the planning board with a term expiring December 31, 2026, or re-advertise.

[8:02:36] Mr. I want to make a motion to appoint Whitney Schmidt from district four to the planning board.

[8:02:44] It's great all second. All in favor.

[8:02:49] Thank

[8:02:56] you.

[8:02:58] All right.

[8:02:58] I guess the building isn't burning down.

[8:03:01] That's okay.

[8:03:03] It's good news.

[8:03:04] Hopefully it's good news on your end.

[8:03:06] All right.

[8:03:06] Next is item 260437,

[8:03:09] but to adopt a resolution,

[8:03:10] improving the 2027 Board of Commissioners meeting schedule

[8:03:14] and fiscal year of 2028 budget calendar

[8:03:19] clerk to the Board Jennifer Johnson will present this item.

[8:03:24] I think that the horn was to let me know to come on up. I appreciate that.

[8:03:33] All of this item right quick.

[8:04:16] Okay, so we wanted to let you know a few things that we were proposing to change.

[8:04:24] The first thing is in the budget calendar and all of these are incorporated into this one calendar.

[8:04:33] We're moving back the budget retreat to the next week.

[8:05:00] Moving that back a week, still the same number of days and laid out the same. The next thing that we're doing is adding, I think, three, first Monday meetings, only calendar, the first one is April the 5th.

[8:05:22] And this is also a dual thing, the afternoon of that day instead of a work session for normal items will do a preliminary budget work session, which was similar to that special call meeting that we have this past year.

[8:05:38] So that'll happen that afternoon.

[8:05:41] Then the next one is, see, in June.

[8:05:50] So as you are quite aware, our summer has been a little heavy this year.

[8:05:55] So that we can anticipate for that a little bit better and not have such long meetings.

[8:06:01] We are adding June the 7th.

[8:06:05] And then, sorry, Jennifer, there was also a may for...

[8:06:09] So that's one there's always on there.

[8:06:11] That's when the budget is presented.

[8:06:14] So that one there's one we always have.

[8:06:18] So there's some Mondays that you routinely have every year.

[8:06:22] The December one, November and May, I think,

[8:06:25] are the three that we have for Garclas.

[8:06:30] So, yes, so June 7th is a new one

[8:06:34] to help with some of that summer stuff that's going on and then August the second.

[8:06:42] Is the second one? So those are the three. Everything else is the same kind of calendar that we

[8:06:50] normally have. So we always have the first meeting in November and December. So we're adding those

[8:06:57] free first Monday meetings for next year's. What our recommendation is? Can you go back

[8:07:06] up to April? April? Okay. Yeah, so we'll have two meetings that month, but one of them will

[8:07:15] be the the preliminary budget. Is that the new meeting that we started last budget cycle? Yes.

[8:07:22] Okay,

[8:07:27] I didn't find that one particularly helpful, but that could be a discussion for another time.

[8:07:35] Well, and we can still do the separate ones if we want to do.

[8:07:43] Okay. Any other questions?

[8:07:47] So we would just need a motion from you all to,

[8:07:53] Let's not yet.

[8:07:58] I'll make motion to approve the schedule of our meetings as presented.

[8:08:03] Thank you.

[8:08:05] Sir, second.

[8:08:08] All in favor?

[8:08:09] Aye.

[8:08:10] Great.

[8:08:12] Thank you very much.

[8:08:14] Thank you.

[8:08:14] Next is item 26470.

[8:08:17] Vote to approve a process for appointment of the Goldstone Golf Sanitary District Board.

[8:08:24] vacancy, county manager, Brian Thompson will be presenting this item.

[8:08:34] I'm having a presentation.

[8:08:36] Sorry.

[8:08:40] Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the board.

[8:08:45] As you see in the agenda packets, just a way of introduction, the Goldstone Golf Sanitary District

[8:08:52] is a local public utility district, based in Goldstone, that provides water and wastewater

[8:08:59] to customers in and around the Golston and Gulf communities in Shadow County.

[8:09:06] A member of the Golston Golf Sanitary District Board, Mr. Henry Kitchens, passed way on June 27,

[8:09:17] 2026, therefore were there by creating a vacancy under North Carolina General Statutes,

[8:09:24] 1-38 governs sanitary districts, and as part of that statute, the CHAMP County Board of Commissioners

[8:09:33] has its role to play with the existence of this vacancy where you would identify a process

[8:09:40] to go through to fill that vacancy. On a staff level, we've spoken with the county attorney.

[8:09:48] Our thought and recommendation to you is to basically follow the appointment process for

[8:09:54] advisory committees that we currently have in place, which would include noticing the big-

[8:10:00] Through a media release website, email list, notice for 30 days, and then Board of Commissioners, review the application, and then the Board of Commissioners, a point that member to the sanitary district,

[8:10:16] the vacancy would continue whoever is selected to fill that vacancy would continue to serve until December 6th,

[8:10:25] 27 and would be relieved either they if they were to run and were elected or somebody else ran and were elected when that person takes the oath of office, then the person who's standing in in that vacancy will be relieved of office.

[8:10:43] So those are our thoughts happy to entertain any additional thoughts and ask any answer any questions.

[8:10:52] What do you think the turnaround would be to do that, but since we have to have a meeting and I kind of think is it like a month, to do what you're proposing?

[8:11:02] It would be, I would say just over a month.

[8:11:06] Yeah, we, when we talk to the staff with Galston Golf Sanitary District, we told them that it would anticipate the board making an appointment at the October meeting, but that would be of course up to the board commissioners.

[8:11:34] All right. Is there a motion to approve a process for appointment at the Galston Golf Sanitary District Board?

[8:11:40] I can say. So I moved. Oh, second. All in favor. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Brian.

[8:11:48] All right, Marie. And I know he's gone, but I wanted to thank Henry Kitchens for his service.

[8:11:55] And he taught me how to drive. He was a driver's head teacher in Chatham for he had already been

[8:12:00] doing it for 30 years when I had him and it was a long time. He's up. And I want to make

[8:12:07] self-emission. He taught me to drive too. So I don't know. Maybe I've been more than 30 years.

[8:12:11] Wow. That was 94.

[8:12:14] My goodness. 94. All thank you for that. And as we transition, I think, Emily.

[8:12:21] Four of Lindsay steps up. There is one thing I want to just advise you all on about the

[8:12:27] lock, Lee Holdings case and the anthem net. As you all know, it's quasi judicial. You all are the judges.

[8:12:34] And I know there's a lot of community interests, but you all really need to be careful about

[8:12:40] exparte communications.

[8:12:42] So that is communications about the case.

[8:12:46] Any exparte communications would need to be disclosed.

[8:12:49] And so I would recommend that you just avoid exparte communications about either of the quasi-judicial

[8:12:56] hearings.

[8:12:58] Thank you, Emily.

[8:13:00] I know some of those folks are still here, so don't talk to us.

[8:13:09] All right.

[8:13:11] Now we're up for our intergovernmental relations report with manager Lindsay Wright.

[8:13:18] Thank you, commissioners.

[8:13:20] So last week, you got the first edition of the intergovernmental relations newsletter and

[8:13:26] Commissioner Robertson and Commissioner Canline provide us in feedback already, but as we go forward, I'd really love to get your feedback if you think it's helpful if it's just another thing to read.

[8:13:34] If you need it to be more in depth or if you need less information.

[8:13:39] The goal is to try to do it every two weeks, which I think once sessions, once they're back in session, there might be more frequent communication, but we don't know what to have to see how it goes.

[8:13:51] I did want to give you an update since your last meeting when you voted to send a letter to our Senators in Washington about to say that.

[8:14:01] So we anticipated we would hear from Senator Celis and we did a very positive response that he shares many of your concerns and we'll keep those in mind going forward.

[8:14:13] We knew that Senator Bud was a co-sponsor of the bill and weren't really expecting to hear anything back, but we did hear that we're reminded that he was a co-sponsor of the bill, but they appreciated the feedback.

[8:14:24] So I just wanted you to know they both responded.

[8:14:28] Last Thursday, we got our NACO update from the government affairs committee department.

[8:15:00] I'm going to pick out some things to put in your next newsletter. But there's one thing I wanted to go ahead and talk to you about, that if you have seen it from Neko, you might not know what is all about. And I think at the conference this week, you probably will hear a commissioner or a CACC person talk about it. And I just want you to have a kind of a high level overview of what this is. And the Office of Management and Budget, the Federal Office of Management and Budget, has something called uniform guidance for all federal

[8:15:29] So your ARPA grants, you all heard about that in the past couple of years with ARPA, and it's guidance.

[8:15:36] It was not regulation and the OMB has proposed another rule of regulation.

[8:15:42] It would be regulation instead of guidance.

[8:15:46] And the basically, the short of it is the federal grants process has always been nonpartisan.

[8:15:53] it's not, which is how what you would want that to be and they have made it very clear

[8:16:00] with this proposed rule that it would be partisan, that there would actually be a political

[8:16:06] appointee reviewing the grant applications. There's a whole lot of other many more things

[8:16:13] that are concerning that I don't think we need to go into now, but finances are where the public

[8:16:20] period in the July 13th, and I think they got 480,000 comments that they had to respond to every single one.

[8:16:29] So they've already done that miraculously, and it was set.

[8:16:33] It is still set to go into effect October 1st, which is our biggest concern.

[8:16:38] That is not a lot of time to change everything we know and do in relating related to federal grants.

[8:16:46] However, the Senate passed a continuing resolution that would delay that start date to December

[8:16:55] 11.

[8:16:56] So we're happy that we have some more time to try to work on this, but that is not a done deal

[8:17:01] yet.

[8:17:01] We need the House to also agree on the same language.

[8:17:05] And so we will be reaching out to the delegation, all of them, asking them to please consider

[8:17:11] passing the Senate's version on language from the continuing resolution or delay even longer.

[8:17:20] December 11th is still very close. It's not a lot of time to try to get this done and we're

[8:17:26] looking in chat and we we won't have the impact the way some other places will but we want to

[8:17:32] be unified all counties together that we need to work on this. I just wanted to make sure

[8:17:36] heard about it, we're in it, we're learning about it every day, so don't panic or anything.

[8:17:43] The some people I think are panicked.

[8:17:46] Yeah, yeah, that's pretty scary.

[8:17:48] But Lindsay, is it one political employee appointee who will oversee all?

[8:17:57] No, so it would be based on agency, so each agency decides to adopt the rules and

[8:18:06] And so the appointee would not be for all federal grants.

[8:18:11] That's our understanding.

[8:18:13] The problem is so much of the rule is vague.

[8:18:15] We have a lot more answers than we have questions.

[8:18:18] And if they don't nail down some of that stuff,

[8:18:21] it's going to be very hard to comply with.

[8:18:24] But it sounded like that each agency would

[8:18:27] have an political appointee to review the grants

[8:18:30] granted by that agency.

[8:18:35] And so that just means the person reviewing

[8:18:37] is purposely from a political leaning, not which could impact how they pick grants, but they're

[8:18:45] not going to change how they technically offer and weed through grants.

[8:18:53] Not how they're offered. I think how it's scored. How they're scored. So it may very well change

[8:19:02] the typical outcomes of the current process, right, and guidance.

[8:19:09] There's also, there are a lot of questions around whether or not,

[8:19:14] so it also ties to administration policy.

[8:19:19] So it says in the role that any,

[8:19:23] I can't remember the exact terminology,

[8:19:26] negative reputation, something that would make,

[8:19:29] Something that Chattam County does that the current executive branch does not feel is in line with their policies,

[8:19:40] that you, it is possible you could lead your funding for that, but it doesn't give any definition of what does that mean, what does the line with the policy policies mean, so that's why I think counties all over the country are very concerned about this because there's just not enough

[8:19:58] Specificity to know how to...

[8:20:00] It's Thursday, through Saturday, and some of you, I think, are signed up for this Saturday evening

[8:20:07] event as a bill. And we, and I'll notice today, just to notice the meetings are, since to notice that your attendance that you all be there.

[8:20:20] And speaking of that, there's a weekly that goes out, and if you all sign up for any of those events,

[8:20:30] or if you're going to any of those events, if you'll please just let us know so that if there's a form of the board going to those events that we do notice that to the public.

[8:20:42] That's all I have.

[8:20:44] Thank you. Thank you.

[8:20:45] Thank you.

[8:20:46] Manage the report.

[8:20:50] I don't have anything to report.

[8:20:53] I do just want to say I look forward to spend time with you all in a few days in Durham with our

[8:21:00] NCC conference.

[8:21:02] Okay.

[8:21:02] Thank you.

[8:21:04] Next up we have Commissioner Reports, Commissioner Robertson.

[8:21:11] The only thing I really got to report on is I went to the Tarpo and had a good time there.

[8:21:16] Really happy that our staff was there.

[8:21:17] It was obvious that our staff is a step ahead of what was going on and I'm excited that the work that she's doing and

[8:21:26] That we're going to

[8:21:29] There was talk about micro kind of bus rides or that kind of thing in

[8:21:35] Sanford that was intriguing to me and I look forward to learning more about that with what Pitch Pearl's doing is sounded very similar

[8:21:43] And it'd be really good if that would be something that we could figure out

[8:21:47] how to make happen more across our county, especially in

[8:21:51] South of City, and between Pittsburgh and South of City to help bring

[8:21:56] parts of that together. So I had a good time with that.

[8:22:01] Thank you, Mr. Caleb.

[8:22:06] I was able to attend the

[8:22:08] web-squared panel discussion who shows up for Black entrepreneurs,

[8:22:13] and it was good to be there. I was the only elected official and it was a

[8:22:17] great turnout and I'm happy to share more about that. If anybody's interested in some of the

[8:22:25] connections I made and what happened?

[8:22:32] Commissioner Howard, I have nothing to report.

[8:22:40] She has going to say that I've, I guess, in tangent to the local state reaching into local

[8:22:49] jurisdictions under next Board of Health meeting will be looking at the

[8:22:54] Mending our well-policy just to to recent policy from the state level affecting

[8:23:01] private wells regulation at the local public health department and tomorrow I'll be

[8:23:09] having a UNC health chat room board meeting. That's all.

[8:23:15] Great. Thank you. All right. A couple things here on the fifth Brian and I met with Madison

[8:23:23] Kilgore represented from Governor's Science Office. So she's going to be sort of a new person.

[8:23:29] This is a new thing. His office is doing. She's going to represent the Piedmont region to

[8:23:34] keep him updated on things that are issues here that we're facing. And we'll be in a new point

[8:23:40] contact for us, attended a ribbon cutting, Mr. Robertson was there as well with me for

[8:23:48] Sipers Cafe in Bakery.

[8:23:50] At the Alpha Center, it's a new coffee shop bakery of a Hillsborough street and owner

[8:23:57] Rachel Adam and created the Bakery as part of a brisa foundation, so basically she uses

[8:24:03] this to support a healthy community but with a focus on mental health for young people to give

[8:24:09] opportunities to work there and learn and support Jesus psychiatrists for young people.

[8:24:17] So that was a really impressive thing and hopefully folks can go and bring them some business

[8:24:22] and keep them going. I met with Josh Harris, Western, Chin and Chamber for lunch just to get

[8:24:29] updated on things they're doing over there. Nothing really new is curious about the data center

[8:24:35] atorium and some things happening here. I was contacted by

[8:25:00] Speed limit and by an image road and they were really concerned about it being really fast. We've got new developments out there and other ones coming.

[8:25:09] So I got up with Jason Miller at the DOT and they spent a month, had people go out and check it out and did a new analysis.

[8:25:17] And they have since lowered the speed limit down to 45 miles an hour. So I think this is go local citizens and reach out and sometimes it really can happen.

[8:25:27] As Mike said, attended the Vocal Transportation RTAC meeting in Sanford with him last week

[8:25:35] on Thursday, we adopted the final proposed rankings for Road Projects in Chattam County

[8:25:43] that was recommended by our Board of Transportation attended an event like was also there

[8:25:50] this week at Korra where we were seeing,

[8:25:54] they were seeing 40,000 pounds of food on Friday

[8:25:58] from church of the Latter-day Saints.

[8:26:00] This is a big donation and they're working on that.

[8:26:04] The church is on a national basis across all states

[8:26:08] and they actually supported Korra here in our county,

[8:26:12] which was really awesome.

[8:26:14] So it was great to be there and see that happen.

[8:26:17] We were there when really early,

[8:26:18] when the truck arrived at 8 o'clock.

[8:26:21] So Lindsey was there as well, and spoke.

[8:26:24] So as part of the 250 events, that was really cool.

[8:26:30] And the last little bit I wanted to share is that this summer

[8:26:34] has been really hot, and I can't see things getting any better,

[8:26:39] because climate change is real, and it's here,

[8:26:41] and it's just getting worse, and we all know it,

[8:26:44] and we're trying to do all we can to work on that.

[8:26:47] But I got really concerned this summer about seniors and who was checking on them.

[8:26:55] So I called our local health department and said, you know, what can I do to help?

[8:27:00] And one of the things they said is to join their meals on wheels program.

[8:27:05] And so I've gone through the process and applications.

[8:27:07] And I think I've passed my background check and they're trying to get me on a ride along

[8:27:12] with some folks first.

[8:27:13] And then I'm going to start working on meals on wheels across the county to try and help check on

[8:27:19] Folks that can't easily get out and I think that you probably knew some of that when you were

[8:27:25] Sheriff you checked on a lot of people and I I really worry about that. So this is something I'm doing

[8:27:32] And I think that's all I have tonight

[8:27:35] Would be thrilled if anybody wanted to join me though. Do I have a motion to adjourn some of

Board of Commissioners on 2026-08-17 1:00 PM Final

Agenda

Transcript