[0:00] You said you might. You said, "Yeah." I was like, "Yeah, you might."

[0:03] » Okay. >> You could prove it's subject to

[0:10] » the board receiving.

[0:14] » However youall want to do it.

[0:22] » All right. >> Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I'm

[0:26] Emily Truman, serve as the 2026 chair of the Gates County Board of Commissioners.

[0:30] I'm joined tonight by my vice chair Nathan Barryman, uh, Commissioner

[0:34] Jonathan Kretic, Commissioner Brian Roundtree, Commissioner Dave Foresight,

[0:37] County Manager Scott Sour, County Attorney Thomas Wood, and clerk to the

[0:41] board Renee Draper, Commissioner Barryman is going to provide the

[0:45] invocation and lead the pledge this evening.

[0:52] » Dear Lord, thank you for bringing us all here tonight to conduct our county's

[0:55] business. Please settle down with us. Give us the patience and the wisdom that

[0:59] we see fit so that we able to um conduct business as you seek.

[1:06] » In your reign we pray. Amen. >> Amen.

[1:08] » Amen. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the

[1:13] United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation

[1:19] under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

[1:30] All right. Thank you, sir. Um, and moving forward, are there any amendments

[1:35] to the agenda? And if not, we'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda

[1:38] as presented. >> So move.

[1:41] » Is there a second? >> All right. Close session.

[1:46] » Second. >> Close session.

[1:48] » So So

[1:51] then all in Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. So, sorry about that. Before we

[1:56] moved a little too fast there, I would like to uh amend the minutes to have a

[2:00] close session at the >> agenda. Excuse me. The amend the agenda

[2:05] to have a close session at the end of the meeting.

[2:07] » So, we had a motion on the floor. So, he would have to amend his motion if we

[2:10] were to do that. >> Yes. I amen. My motion

[2:12] » to close. Okay. All right. So, motion and a second on that. All in favor?

[2:20] Close session. Okay. There we go. That is unanimous. All right. So, now do we

[2:26] have a motion to So, that was to add the um close session to the agenda.

[2:32] Need a motion to approve the agenda as amended.

[2:37] » Madam Chair, I move that we uh approve the agenda as amended.

[2:43] » Okay, we have >> second that.

[2:45] » All right. And all in favor? Okay, that is all five.

[2:49] » Thank you all. All right. and then we will move down to the consent agenda.

[2:53] Are there any amendments or clarifications for the items listed on

[2:56] the consent agenda?

[3:00] » And if not, if we can get a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented.

[3:04] » So, I'll move to approve them. >> Okay. So, we have move for approval. Do

[3:08] we have a second? >> Second.

[3:10] » All right. All in favor for the approval of the consent agenda.

[3:14] » Minutes. >> Okay.

[3:15] » Consent agenda and minutes or no. Okay. >> That is on the consent agenda. Yeah, the

[3:19] minutes are okay. Um, all right. Perfect. So, that is unanimous. The next

[3:24] thing we have on the agenda is for Sheriff Campbell. Um, if he has an

[3:27] update this evening for us,

[3:36] [clears throat]

[3:39] folks, I'll be real quick. Just a just a couple things. One thing on the law

[3:42] enforcement side, we are continuing to see and catch people driving at

[3:46] extremely high rates of speed in the county. Had one last night at 110, one

[3:50] night before at 114 mph. Uh I've got multiple deputies with radars and we are

[3:56] catching them and we are stopping them. But uh it's it's everywhere in the

[3:59] county and I don't there is no stopping to people are just driving like maniacs.

[4:04] And uh other two things, we got two events coming up. Both very very special

[4:10] events in October on National Night Out October 6. We've got the night and gale

[4:15] that's going to fly in and we also going to have the Batmobile there. So it

[4:19] should be a really good event. The other event we've never participated in, I'm

[4:23] looking forward to it. It's called Battle of the Badges. There's a flag

[4:27] football game. Uh we'll paired up with [snorts] Kerry Tuck and Camden counties

[4:33] to make a team. Uh Pas Tank, uh Pquimmans and Choan will be the other

[4:39] team. So I'm looking forward to that. That that'll be September 26th at the

[4:43] Pquimman's High School football stadium. So anyway, that's all I got. Thank you.

[4:49] » Thank you. >> And I will be playing. So we might have

[4:53] a notice of potential quorum that day over at the for women's county high

[4:58] school. [laughter] Okay. All right. So u moving to public

[5:02] comments. Miss Ray, do we have anyone signed up to speak tonight?

[5:10] » No. Okay. Moving along. Um we have two special presentations

[5:16] tonight. The first we have Miss Elizabeth Mitchell with the Boys and

[5:19] Girls Club. We can invite you to the podium. Thank you.

[5:28] Good evening. I have some information for you all about.

[5:34] » You going to do it?

[5:40] » Um, thank you all so much for the opportunity to speak with you tonight.

[5:44] My name is Elizabeth Mitchell and I'm the executive director of Boys and Girls

[5:48] Clubs of the Albam Marl. Um, we serve two clubs in Edenton and Elizabeth City

[5:55] and are soon to open a new another club in Perquins County in January of 27. So,

[6:01] I'm here to introduce to you guys a little bit about our organization and

[6:05] tell you what we do for the young people we serve. Um, I know you may have heard

[6:09] about us in name, but you may not understand the impact uh that we have on

[6:13] the young people we serve. Uh we are a nonprofit organization that serves

[6:18] school-aged children between the ages of six and 18 during critical out of school

[6:22] time hours. Um our clubs in Edon and Elizabeth City are open about 4 hours

[6:28] every day after school and more importantly we offer an 8-week summer

[6:33] camp that operates Monday through Thursday 8 to 5:30. Um, our mission is

[6:39] to inspire and enable all young people, especially those who need us the most,

[6:43] to reach their full potential as responsible, productive, caring

[6:47] citizens. And that is exactly what we aim to do. And every one of our

[6:51] activities is geared toward every day after school. Our programs are focused

[6:56] on four key areas: academic success, character and leadership development,

[7:01] healthy lifestyles, and workforce readiness. So, when the kids arrive at

[7:05] the club after school, um they go into what we call power hour, which is our

[7:10] homework help and tutoring program. We've got a very robust uh tutoring

[7:15] program at our club in Edon that's manned by volunteers and run by our

[7:19] education director. We collect report cards for all of our uh club members. We

[7:24] analyze them and those kids who are falling the furthest behind are paired

[7:29] with a one-on-one tutor in our tutoring room. Um and then our education director

[7:34] goes and visits the schools to uh work side by side in the classroom with

[7:40] another set of students who are falling even further behind than that. So we're

[7:44] really intentional about who we target in terms of our academic success

[7:49] programs. After power hour, we serve dinner. Um this is a part of a federally

[7:54] funded feeding program that we offer at both of our clubs. Um, and there's more

[7:59] data in the um, handout that you gave regarding how many meals we served and

[8:03] all of that. Um, we serve dinner, as I said, and an evening snack during our

[8:08] afterchool program and during the summer, we serve breakfast, lunch, and

[8:12] snack. Um, after dinner, everybody rotates through a variety of different

[8:17] activities from STEM activities, um, like unstructured play out on the

[8:23] playground. Uh we offer football, soccer, uh I think I said STEM programs,

[8:30] healthy lifestyles activities. We have a social worker at each one of our clubs

[8:34] who is there to kind of provide what one of them refers to as real time therapy.

[8:39] So um and she can catch the kids as as they get off the school bus and help

[8:44] them with little things that every child encounters. And the beauty of being from

[8:49] a small town is we are aware of the big things that children experience both in

[8:53] the home um and at school. And she's there to catch that and and have a more

[8:59] intentional approach to those kids who need that extra support. Um

[9:05] we charge for our club in Edon just $25 an a year to attend our um afterchool

[9:14] program. At our club in Elizabeth City, we've recently had to increase our cost

[9:18] over there. And so the cost is $25 a month. But having said that, we don't

[9:23] turn anybody away. Again, another beauty of a small town. You're, you know, who

[9:27] needs the extra support and are able to provide all of that. Um, so basically

[9:32] the Boys and Girls Club is all about just leveling the playing field for

[9:35] kids. We believe that every child deserves a chance to be a success. No

[9:40] matter who their parents are, no matter what their parents do, no matter the

[9:43] community or um home environment that they experience. We believe that every

[9:48] child deserves a fair shot to reach their full potential and should never be

[9:52] limited again by the things that they experience at home that are beyond their

[9:57] control. Um so I'm excited about the possibility of bringing a Boys and Girls

[10:03] Club to the Gates County community. I know Emily has been to our club in Edon

[10:07] and and toured maybe about a year or so ago. So, I would love to give all of you

[10:12] a tour around of either of our facilities. I think that's the best way

[10:16] to see the programs that we do in action and see the young kids involved and

[10:20] engaged um and the important support that we provide not only for them but

[10:25] for working parents uh in the communities that we serve.

[10:29] » Yeah. Perfect. I'm going to open up for comments and questions from the board.

[10:34] Um I will say it was a great tour and I know when I was there she mentioned that

[10:37] we did have some Gates County students that were taking part in the campuses in

[10:40] Elizabeth City and Eden. So >> yeah, every year we have um kids come

[10:44] from Gates County and Perquimman's which kind of prompted our growth into women.

[10:48] So >> yeah,

[10:50] » uh we're currently evaluating uh uses of space and everything for our Buckland

[10:54] school. So I know that's been discussed as far as a Boys and Girls Club there

[10:57] and and could we fit it into the footprint and all that kind of good

[11:01] stuff. So, as we go down that path and and uh

[11:06] put everybody's names in a hat that would like to have uh space there.

[11:10] » Mhm. >> Um I'm kind of looking forward to that

[11:13] discussion and what will be the needs and your requirements uh as we get to

[11:16] that point. So, >> yeah. Wonderful. Wonderful. Yeah. Boys

[11:19] and girls clubs can operate in any kind of environment, schools, independent

[11:23] facilities, all all of the above. Yeah. >> And I'm most definitely the advocate of

[11:27] the boys and girls club. Uh one time I in my young age I worked at the Boys and

[11:33] Girls Club and you're exactly right the four aspects especially education and

[11:40] work preparedness you know that's very vital to our youth today

[11:45] » because our youth today need structure in order to get off to a level playing

[11:48] field get off to a great start and of course we want our students healthy and

[11:53] the social aspect is phenomenal and I applaud you the Boys and Girls Club for

[11:58] everything that you do and hopefully uh we'll have a Boys and Girls Club here in

[12:03] Gates County. It'd be very vital to the uh promotion of our young students and

[12:09] put them in the position to be valuable and vital citizens. And if I may, um, to

[12:14] just because I know that it's going to be on the forefront as as we go through

[12:17] all of the things, could you talk about the funding of the program, how that

[12:21] works as far as the funding and what the county responsibility would be, as far

[12:24] as what, um, private donor responsibility is, and then you

[12:27] mentioned the monthly or yearly um, annual fees for the different families.

[12:32] » Right. Right. So um I think maybe contrary to popular belief, Boys and

[12:36] Girls Club, we do not receive any funding from Boys and Girls Clubs of

[12:39] America. We receive supports in a variety of other ways, programming,

[12:43] training, um, all of that. But we pay a fee to Boys and Girls Clubs of America

[12:48] to operate our clubs. So, all of the funding that we receive comes from the

[12:53] communities that we serve or private family foundations. We've had a lot of

[12:58] luck with uh, foundations that really like to serve uh, Eastern North

[13:02] Carolina. Uh, we get very little federal funding. The only piece of that is the

[13:09] feeding program that I mentioned. Um, and we do get some funding from the

[13:13] state that all boys and girls clubs across the state get. Um, and we're

[13:17] getting that again for the first time this year since 2004. So, we were left

[13:23] out of the state budgets for all that time. And that, you know, left a lot of

[13:27] clubs in a bind. Um, but the majority does come from the communities that we

[13:31] serve.

[13:35] How many do you have at Eden and how many do you have at Elizabeth City?

[13:39] » Um, it's pretty much 5050. In Elizabeth City, we serve, we've kind of had to

[13:44] decrease actually the number that we serve because it was a little much, but

[13:47] we we serve 100 kids a day. I was there. I think there was 103 um today in um in

[13:54] Elizabeth City and about 110 or 111 in Edon. And that's lower than it would be

[14:02] as the year progresses when school first starts. People are still trying to

[14:05] figure out bus routes and um and applications for kids are still coming

[14:10] in. >> So in Edon versus Elizabeth, what kind

[14:12] of facilities do you work out of those? >> So our facility in Edon operates out of

[14:17] um a former um school building DF Walker. um it was a high school and so

[14:24] we renovated that space and moved in there in 2020 and we're in a lease

[14:29] arrangement with Choan County where we make an annual lease payment. They we

[14:34] raised a bunch of money and they needed to fund the facil help us

[14:40] fund the renovations. So we put that into a small foundation that we have and

[14:45] that's used to make those annual lease payments to Choan County. um at our

[14:50] Elizabeth City Club. We own that club um free and clear. We moved into that

[14:54] building in 2022 um after kind of have having moved from

[15:00] a lot of different spaces, but love our current space. It's got an outdoor

[15:03] basketball court, lots of outdoor space, indoor space. It's great.

[15:06] » So, Emily alluded to the funding part and you said something about $25 per

[15:11] year for Edon, 25 per month. Is that a fee that's paid by the individual or is

[15:17] that the fee that the local community pays or that's

[15:20] » that's a fee that's paid by parents? That's essentially our membership fee.

[15:23] » So, how much is paid by local community for each of those two facilities then?

[15:27] » So, oh gosh, it kind of varies. Um I know, oh, I'd have to think real quick.

[15:32] Um so, there are different budgets for different communities. Um so, the Edon

[15:38] Club is kind of better funded from the community, if you will. Uh I would say

[15:45] at least 65% of the funding that we receive comes from the local community.

[15:51] Um for our perquman's club that we're starting off um kind of from the ground

[15:55] up, we're starting off with a small budget uh of about 165 to 200,000

[16:01] depending on kind of utilities and some things that we're still trying to work

[16:04] through um with the county over there. So that gives you an idea.

[16:08] » 165,000 for Elizabeth City. Did you say the 200?

[16:11] » That's for our um perquomen's club. >> Perquim's club.

[16:15] » And I mentioned that just because it would be a similar kind of startup

[16:19] situation. >> You gave me a percentage, but is there a

[16:21] dollar number attached to the 65% I 65% of what when you were saying for Eden?

[16:26] » I I don't know right off the top of my head. I'm sorry.

[16:29] » Okay. [clears throat] >> Okay.

[16:34] All right.

[16:38] So, do we have any other comments or questions then? No. Um, yeah, if any of

[16:43] that information is available to go forth, I will recommend that if you

[16:47] reach out to Miss Mitchell, she will coordinate a a tour. Um, I did enjoy my

[16:51] tour. It was very nice to be there. It was there when the kids were there, so

[16:54] got to see it um active. It was during the summer last year, so I know it was

[16:57] during a summer camp. It came through. So, um, a little over a year ago,

[17:02] » but yeah. Well, thank you. >> I do have an additional question. What

[17:05] what is the uh basic layout of facility? >> I guess the uh operational layout for a

[17:12] boys and girls club. >> Um you mean in terms of the like?

[17:17] » Yeah. So in um in Edon, our DF Walker is >> it's a school so it's set up kind of

[17:23] like a school like there are two long halls. Um during our renovations we did

[17:27] kind of open up spaces by adding windows and things like that. Mhm.

[17:30] » Um so one hall um we use for our elementary school kids, other hall is

[17:36] for teens. Um and we have the rooms kind of broken up into like our power hour

[17:41] room, our STEM room, an activities room, an art room. Um and a similar we have a

[17:46] big game room for our middle school kids. And then the the layout of our

[17:51] Elizabeth City Club is much different. um you kind of walk in and there's a big

[17:56] open space with very little classrooms for the kids to kind of break out in. So

[18:00] you have to be more kind of strategic about that.

[18:04] » Hope that answers your question. >> Yes. So you don't have any specific

[18:09] requirements basically the needs of of the specific community?

[18:13] » Not really. I mean Boys and Girls Club just all all around operate in just such

[18:17] a wide variety of facilities. So we can, you know, meet the needs of the

[18:23] community wherever we're allowed to operate.

[18:27] » Thank you. >> Yes,

[18:28] » sounds great. Thank you. >> Thank you so much.

[18:34] » All right. The next item on the agenda um

[18:39] [clears throat] is our second presentation from board uh school board

[18:43] member Danny Hail. Uh he's given an update on the consolidation and

[18:46] leadership. Um,

[18:57] and >> yay. And we also have board member

[19:02] [laughter] Ryan and leg and superintendent Dr.

[19:05] Jordan. [clears throat] [laughter]

[19:08] » I was just reading what I had down. >> Hey, I walked [laughter] in the door and

[19:12] got this information. So, I am to say thank you for having us here. We

[19:17] appreciate it very much and thank you for everyone who's going to be

[19:20] listening. Uh what we're going to try to do tonight is talk about our leadership

[19:25] changes, our strategic plan that we have in place, the consolidation progress and

[19:31] spending and future planning that we as a board have. Um I think we're all real

[19:37] excited with our with our new uh superintendent here. She

[19:42] was approved as acting superintendent July 21st through 31st and she is now

[19:48] going to be our interim superintendent until December 31st. Now, this is a part

[19:55] I hate, but just I'm going to say it real quickly. So, listen carefully.

[20:00] You're going to do it. Oh, well, if she's going to do it, I'm going to pass

[20:02] it on. I'm going to say once again, did I miss anything? No, not if she's going

[20:07] to do it. All right, I'm good to go. Thank you very much for having us here

[20:11] tonight. [laughter] We appreciate it. >> This is Dr. Shante Jordan. [laughter]

[20:17] » I felt like no better person to introduce me or present me than me. So,

[20:21] I had it prepared for you. So, thank you, Miss Ryan, and thank you to the

[20:24] board and thank you for all for allowing us this opportunity tonight um or this

[20:29] evening. I do have a few words, but I'm also sharing because I know people um

[20:33] listen in live and for those who I have not had the opportunity to meet, just

[20:36] want to introduce myself to the community um as well. Um chairman,

[20:41] members of the board of commissioners, thank you for the opportunity to be here

[20:44] this evening. Um as everyone in here, I'm sure knows, I am Dr. Jordan, um

[20:48] interum superintendent of Gates County Schools. I'm especially proud to serve

[20:51] in this role because Gates County is home. I'm a graduate of Gates County

[20:55] High School and much of my professional career has been right here in Gates

[20:59] County. Um my educational background includes a bachelor's degree in special

[21:03] education and master's degree in special education from East Carolina. Go

[21:06] Pirates. Um master of school administration and most recently uh my

[21:11] doctorate in educational leadership from East Carolina University. Um throughout

[21:16] my career, I've had the opportunity to serve in several areas of public

[21:19] education, um including special education, school and district

[21:22] administration, human resources, student services, personnel management, and

[21:27] district operations. Um most recently, I served as a human resource director for

[21:32] um Gates County Schools before the appointment of interim superintendent.

[21:37] These experiences given me the opportunity to see our school system

[21:39] from many different perspectives, but have also reinforced one important

[21:43] belief. Strong schools and strong communities depend on strong

[21:48] partnerships. Um, as interim superintendent, I look forward to

[21:51] working collaboratively with our board of education, board of commissioners,

[21:55] county leadership, and um, our families and employees of our community partners.

[22:00] While our respective boards have different responsibilities,

[22:04] we share community. We share the community, serve the same families, and

[22:08] ultimately want the same thing, a strong, successful future for Gates

[22:13] County and our students in Gates County Schools. So again, I appreciate the

[22:16] opportunity to introduce myself this evening and I look forward to

[22:20] strengthening the partnership between Gates County Schools and Gates County

[22:23] government as we work together on behalf of the community um for our students.

[22:27] So, thank you. >> Thank you.

[22:28] » Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. So, leading right into what

[22:33] do I do? What's my job? So our strategic goal, our strategic plan or our roadmap

[22:39] for the year and how we're going to lead our students and our stu um schools to

[22:42] success. These are our priorities for this year and this is a requirement at

[22:46] the beginning of every school year that the district and our schools develop

[22:49] priorities in which they will um follow to operate for the school year. So just

[22:54] a few of ours um one our strategic priority is develop and retain ex

[22:58] exceptional employees. We want to recruit and hire and retain the best of

[23:03] the best um for our students here in Gates County Schools. We do have a um

[23:06] couple vacancies now, but we are working diligently to fill those roles with the

[23:10] right people um moving forward. Next is to increase um student achievement. Um

[23:15] our last year's testing data has not been released yet, but that will be

[23:19] released soon and I'll be providing an update to our board at a board meeting.

[23:22] But Gates County Schools, we're moving in the right direction. Um we're moving

[23:25] in the right directions. our students are performing well, but this year our

[23:28] goal is to see that trajectory increase and we want to be even better than we

[23:32] are now. Um, another is to adhere to strict fiscal steward um stewardship and

[23:37] operational operational efficiency. We got to do a better job of planning how,

[23:43] when, and what we're going to use our resources on and how they're going to

[23:46] support our students and our schools um for the achievement that we just talked

[23:50] about in our party. Number two, strengthen family and community

[23:54] partnership. That's another big area for me is to um um bridge that gap that we

[24:00] have with just the workings of with our families and our community with the

[24:04] operations of the school. So a goal for me is to bridge that gap and bring our

[24:08] communities into the school so we can all work on the same common goal and

[24:11] that's to support our students um support principles and teachers and

[24:14] staff, promote transparency and collaboration um through social media.

[24:19] I've been trying to do a lot of that um in our schoolboard meetings having

[24:22] presentations just making sure that everybody's aware and have the

[24:25] understanding and we're communicating what's happening in Gates County schools

[24:29] whether it's just procedural things procedural changes celebrations or just

[24:33] need to know information. We want that information to be provided by the right

[24:36] people so that we're getting the right information out to our parents and

[24:39] families. Um and last strengthen district culture. Um, that's a major

[24:45] priority for me is just strengthening the culture in Gates County Schools. And

[24:48] that comes from supporting our students, celebrating our staff, and just bringing

[24:52] our community in, and letting everybody know and be aware of the great things

[24:55] that we're doing so we can all celebrate each other together. So, they are just a

[24:58] few of our priorities this year. I've got a board behind me that I know will

[25:01] keep me in line and make sure that we are meeting these objectives, but these

[25:05] are the goals that um we have to make Gates County Schools even better than

[25:09] we've been before. Thank you. >> Thank you.

[25:14] » [clears throat] >> All right. So now we're where we need to

[25:16] be, right? Consolidation update. Anybody remember the word consolidation? Seems

[25:19] like that was 100 years ago, right? But we're still in the midst of

[25:22] consolidation for those that have sort of forgot about it. So did a little

[25:26] presentation here just, you know, again, just a little refreshing history.

[25:29] [clears throat] You know, started off last winter u when we noticed the

[25:33] general fund balance was the auditori general fund balance was getting pretty

[25:36] low. We went into sort of a reorganization transformation that led

[25:41] to a decision in March uh to close one of our elementary schools. Uh then we

[25:47] had to do a lot of work uh you know in April and May and trying to get all that

[25:52] figured out. And uh this summer we've been really busy. If you've ever had to

[25:56] move a school uh just think about putting about 30 households together and

[25:59] try to move it all at one time. So a lot of moving pieces. Uh again, um we are in

[26:05] our first week of school and we do have our two elementary schools going right

[26:10] now. Trying to get the bugs out of it, but it's been successful so far. Uh so

[26:14] again, uh understand that we're in this process and we're still be in this

[26:18] process for a while. So next slide, please. Let's get to where we're talking

[26:23] about. So, if you refresh your memory, we had asked in our original budget

[26:27] request for $325,600 to help us do the consolidation process.

[26:33] This was the ask from the school board to the county and you graciously uh

[26:37] accepted that. This is sort of our expenditures and what we've spent on so

[26:42] far. I sort of grouped a few things together. So, let's talk about

[26:44] additional staff, which is sort of grouped together. That had a combination

[26:48] of things in it. One of the things we had in there was the ability to pay some

[26:51] of our teachers during the summertime to actually come and pack up their

[26:55] classrooms or unpack their classrooms if they were changing schools. Sort of

[26:59] unfair to ask a teacher to come in in the middle of the summer when they're

[27:03] normally off to unpack all the things they sort of packed up. So, we gave some

[27:07] teachers some ability to actually pay for that. We're paying on a fairly set

[27:10] salary. We also got to hire three, you know, high school students during the

[27:15] summertime. They worked about six weeks for us, I think, actually that did all

[27:19] the leg work. They're the ones that did all the boxing and they're the ones that

[27:22] moved all the pallets and all that kind of stuff. So, uh, that was an additional

[27:26] staff. We had to pack up a library. I mean, you walked in library, every book

[27:32] in there had a bar sticker on it that said that book belonged to Buffin. So,

[27:35] we had to bring our media specialists in in the summertime to rearrange and go

[27:39] into the computer and divvy all our elementary books up to the two remaining

[27:44] elementary schools. So when we say additional staff, that is the kind of

[27:48] effort that we had to put into it with some of our people during the

[27:50] summertime. Um moving trucks and boxes, we had to, as you know, rent a moving

[27:56] truck. And it worked out tremendously well. It had a lift gate on it. So when

[28:01] we teachers piloted everything up, we could move it out, lift it right up,

[28:05] push it right in the moving truck, take it to new classroom, put it right in the

[28:08] center of the classroom. If we didn't do that, we would have had been using

[28:12] trucks and trailers and all kinds of things. So that that definitely helped

[28:15] with the moving truck coming in. Uh the parking lot, that's where we're at right

[28:20] now, as you probably see. Uh so you see some expenditures up there, freezer and

[28:24] a dishwasher. So we get through each one of them. Uh we had budgeted 32,000, we

[28:27] end up spending about 28 and that should be done now. So that's so I mean a grand

[28:32] total on that expenditure. Moving trucks and boxes, we budgeted 36. We spent

[28:36] about 81. And again, the main reason for that was the renting of that truck for

[28:41] 30 days was quite a bit more than we thought it was going to be. But that

[28:46] part is also done. Uh we're at the parking lot. So right now, you saw we

[28:50] budgeted for 150. We're estimating at 105. We have not finished the parking

[28:54] lot, but we have done the work. We haven't been built by the contractor

[28:58] yet. So we're feel pretty safe that that's going to come in about 105 uh in

[29:03] our number there. So we're going to be a little bit under budget on that. Uh the

[29:06] freezer, this is an extra freezer for Gatesville. So this is not doing any

[29:11] work to it. This is actually placing another freezer, an outside freezer. Uh

[29:15] we're still getting quotes for that. We did get one quote in. We still feel

[29:19] pretty good about the 50,000, but because of expenditure, you have to get

[29:22] more than one quote. So we're still working on that little piece right

[29:24] there. The dishwasher has been bought for Gainesville and installed. So that

[29:29] is a final cost for that, too. So we only have two really expenditures up

[29:32] there. So that leaves us 52,000. So we budget 3256. We spent about 273478

[29:39] leaves us about 52,000. Now working with the county commissioners and just let

[29:43] you know um we talked about taking that 52,000 and doing the rock for the

[29:48] service driveway. The maintenance department actually met with the

[29:51] contractor today and that is going to be done I think before your gyms uh in

[29:56] September. So they are on track for that. That is a $10,000 expense. um

[30:01] we'll take care of that doing the contracting off for you on that. The

[30:05] second one is the one that's a little bit more tricky and it's the freezer

[30:08] overhaul. So there's a freezer at Buffman. It's been in existence for a

[30:12] long time. But when it would break down when we were there, when the school's in

[30:16] session, it breaks down. They immediately noticed it broke down. You

[30:19] know, it's an old 30 year old freezer. Um when you put gym stuff in there and

[30:25] it's broke, nobody been it for a week or two weeks. So our recommendation to you

[30:30] was to actually leave the four walls up but put new outside controls and inside

[30:36] controls in it. So we have an estimate for that now. Uh it's going to take some

[30:41] work. So the four walls will stay there. We're basically just as Nathan was

[30:45] saying, we're ripping all the guts out, putting all new guts in. That'll give

[30:48] you a dependable freezer there. Also give you a warranty that you can use so

[30:53] if something goes wrong or something goes out. And we're also, you know,

[30:56] looking at maybe putting Wi-Fi or something in there that would notify

[30:59] somebody at the temperature below. So, with all that said, we're at 52,000

[31:04] uh and our expenses left over. We can spend 50 on behalf of the county

[31:09] commissioners leaving us with a balance about 2,000. So, we're This is one of

[31:12] those that sort of worked out, right? We're sort of dead on. It seems like

[31:14] it's a miracle math, but that is actual expenditures. Um, as I promised the

[31:19] county manager back a couple months ago, we will have the receipts and it some

[31:23] point in September, we'll bring the receipts over and you can have them for

[31:26] your file. Next slide. So, seems like that's the it, right?

[31:32] Everybody's consolidation. The money's done. We're done. Not quite. So, we have

[31:35] some remaining short-term efforts that are really the first one is our student

[31:40] estimates. If you remember, I mean, everybody goes back to memory. DPI

[31:44] estimated we were going to lose 50 students this upcoming year. We were

[31:47] going to be at 1320. We did all our budget planning,

[31:52] everything. Our teacher set up at 1320 as of today.

[31:58] » 1380 >> 1380.

[32:01] » Now that is actually I think six more than we had last year.

[32:04] » So for a financial guy, I'm jumping up and down going this is terrific news,

[32:08] right? Because ADM is how state sends the money to you. But as a facility

[32:14] logistics person, this worries me greatly. Right? Because we have got a

[32:19] lot more students than we anticipated. Now, they're spread across four schools.

[32:23] We understand that. But again, this is a good problem to have right now. So,

[32:28] logistically, we're trying to work this out. This is going to take us a few

[32:32] months to get worked out to get all the staff in place and all the teachers in

[32:35] place. Just think about it. Just lunchrooms and how many lunch people you

[32:39] can through it, you know, go through at a time. So, it's going to take us a

[32:42] couple while to work that out. One of the obstacles we have and we talked

[32:47] about this in the joint session and I think that sometimes the public sort of

[32:51] doesn't understand this this rule. DPI does put requirements on you of how many

[32:56] students you can have per teacher. Okay, it's a recommendation but it's a very

[33:01] strong recommendation and it's also for the benefit of children. A good example

[33:05] is you can only have 16 first graders per teacher. And if you'll notice we

[33:11] originally had our consolidation plan. was to put three teachers at Gatesville

[33:15] in first grade. We now have four because the number of students took us over that

[33:20] requirement. What we're happy with, whether you're TS Coop or you're at

[33:23] Gatesville, your teacher to student ratio is about the same. That's what

[33:27] we're trying to do. We're not trying to overload one teacher to have 20 or 25

[33:32] students and another another school only have 10 or 12. So, we're trying to keep

[33:36] that balance. So, we're going to be have to do this for several years. If you

[33:41] sort of think about it, is that student population moves up and down. All your

[33:44] first graders this year will get promoted to second grade next year. So

[33:49] you may have four first grade teachers this year at Gatesville. Next year you

[33:52] may have to have four second grade teachers because you may have to follow

[33:55] along with that class. So that really concerns us. One of the things that

[33:59] happened in the consolidation process is a lot of parents came to the board

[34:03] asking for their child to be moved to a specific school and we completely

[34:07] understand that because Willin Road and those kind of places Gatesville sort of

[34:12] closer than TS Cooper. Unfortunately, we almost had to turn

[34:16] down every family to come to us even it's it's it's tough but we couldn't

[34:22] keep putting students in Gatesville because we were overloaded the teacher

[34:25] ratio. So, which is forcing some people that live in the Drum Hill, Wilton Road

[34:31] to drive the TS Cooper. We think it's going to be fine after everybody gets

[34:34] sort of used to it. But that just let you know it wasn't because we were just

[34:38] trying to keep school numbers down. It's because you have to keep the teacher

[34:41] ratio in place because if you violate that, there's some things that come

[34:46] [clears throat] along with that. Um, short-term dependency on long-term subs.

[34:50] How do we get there? Well, go back to your timeline. March, we decide to close

[34:55] the school. April and May, we had lots of meetings trying to figure out how to

[34:59] work that out. Teacher notifications in June. Then we had an appeal process we

[35:05] had to go through. So it was almost first of July before we got our ratios

[35:09] in the teachers, right? Well, when you're competing for resources like

[35:12] teachers and you start advertising in July, you're not going to get a lot of

[35:16] applicants. They've already been chosen. We're very fortunate. When I say

[35:20] long-term subs, what I want to say about that is we have a lot of outstanding

[35:24] retired teachers in this county. And almost every one of our long-term subs

[35:28] is a retired teacher that taught right here in Gates County that has come back

[35:33] and said, "I will fill that position for a while. These jobs are still open. We

[35:38] still have them advertised. We're hoping to get out and possibly get some

[35:41] December graduates >> and bring them into our school system,

[35:44] but we just picked the wrong time of the year to go after a bunch of teachers,

[35:48] you know. So, we're working on that, but we feel comfortable with that. Again,

[35:52] the financial position, you mostly heard the new budget passed and part of that

[35:57] budget was a pretty good raise for beginning teachers. One thing we don't

[36:01] know yet is what's the impact on the local budget for that because again,

[36:05] there is an impact to your local budget because there's health insurance costs,

[36:09] retirement costs that we chip into that. So, we're trying to figure that out,

[36:12] too. The next bullet's sort of important. We have very limited growth

[36:18] right now in our elementary schools. We do not have an available classroom in

[36:21] Gatesville. We are 100% in every single classroom in Gatesville right now. So,

[36:28] we are very limited. I think his Cooper is almost one.

[36:32] So, we're we're working through that. We've got some plans we're we're working

[36:36] for. We can talk about that later on with you. Um but, you know, we that is

[36:41] that is something that's troubling us right now. How we get through that.

[36:44] Again, the growth number is great. I've told you from a financial guy, I love

[36:48] it. Logistical guy, not so much. Okay. One of the good things about the ride

[36:53] home that everybody talks about is being built in the Willington area. Those are

[36:57] TS Cooper. They remember that line comes through. So, we're going to be okay

[37:01] through the first phase of the growth phase.

[37:04] The last one is the parent pickup line. Now, that is uh that's that's a

[37:09] challenge. I don't know if anybody's ever participated in that. I got to

[37:13] participate in the last few days. Um, parents get there at 2:30 to pick up

[37:18] their kids at 3:10 and I was at Gatesville last couple days and we're

[37:22] talking about a couple hundred cars are coming to pick up their kids. So, we're

[37:27] still working that out. I know we're making some adjustments to Gatesville. I

[37:30] know we're still making some adjustments to KS Cooper. So, don't don't write that

[37:34] off as final yet on the parking lot plan. Don't write that off as final yet

[37:38] because we're still trying to get to that end result there. So,

[37:52] She didn't know. [laughter] >> Thank you for the glasses. Good evening.

[37:58] Um so some of the future planning opportunities um for the ways that we

[38:03] would like to examine the benefits of utilizing the available space at

[38:06] Buckland for district purposes. Uh it would be an excellent site for permanent

[38:12] meetings for the board of education. Um currently our technology director every

[38:19] single time we have a meeting he has to bring everything in. He has to set up

[38:22] the microphones. He has to bring his whole team. He's um get it set up for

[38:26] live streaming. So it would be ideal if we could have just a meeting place where

[38:31] we could come in and have a seat and it would be a lot less work on the team. Uh

[38:35] it could be a permanent training site for all of staff. Right now when we have

[38:40] a meeting and we go to a school, we have to go to the principal, you know, which

[38:44] room do you have available or we're going to have to kick somebody out of

[38:47] their classroom. Um so it especially during the school year as a challenge of

[38:51] where we would meet. We could also use some of that space just as a permanent

[38:57] place for district meetings when um professional development days or people

[39:02] coming in and train it for different trainings. we could have a set place and

[39:06] not have to worry about who we're going to put out so that we can have a central

[39:09] uh meeting place and also it would be an ideal place to relocate the central

[39:15] office. Right now we have some central office staff who doesn't have room at

[39:21] the central office. So they may be at um the high school at one of the elementary

[39:26] schools. So, we've just kind of talked about having a

[39:32] place where everybody under the district um office umbrella could have a meeting

[39:38] place in or an office in one spot.

[39:44] [clears throat]

[39:47] All right. So, if you haven't already imagined and didn't already know, our

[39:50] future looks bright in Gates County Schools. But I should have began with

[39:54] this and I did not. Um, forgive me. But as you see, we travel as a pack. When

[39:58] you see one, you usually see at least three or four of us. Um, Mr. Bum could

[40:02] not be here tonight. He's a little under the weather. And Miss Riddick had a

[40:05] family engagement. So, otherwise, they would have been here. So, I want to say

[40:08] that on their behalf because they definitely would have been here to

[40:10] support us. Um, overall, our schools and our county are connected. When our

[40:14] students succeed, our families are stronger and our community is stronger

[40:17] and Gates County is stronger. Uh we look forward to working alongside um the

[40:22] board and we're not separate entities but as partners with a shared

[40:25] responsibility for the future of Grace County Schools. Again, we appreciate you

[40:29] hearing us tonight and considering our presentation and look forward to more

[40:33] collaboration and conversation in the future.

[40:37] » And this will be our new logo. It has to be voted on and board approved, but

[40:41] we're looking at this as being our new logo. As we change our vision and change

[40:44] our focus and rebrand for Gates County Schools, we're looking at this as

[40:48] possibly being our new logo. We had teachers that vote on it doing

[40:51] convocation. So, when those results are in, hey, they make the rules. We'll see.

[40:55] We'll see what they think. So, >> all right.

[40:57] » All right. >> Thank you. Um ADM. Yay.

[40:59] » Yes. >> That's really exciting.

[41:01] » Very. >> Um the communication has been

[41:04] phenomenal. I will say there for a few days. If my phone rang, it was

[41:09] absolutely Gates County Public Schools. >> [laughter]

[41:11] » um which was great cuz communication was amazing. Um but just a we'll dive in

[41:16] more. This was a presentation style, but we do have a joint meeting in September

[41:19] that we'll look at planning. Um so I look forward to to going more into that

[41:23] just talking about different things in the interim for all things I'm going to

[41:27] offer again. Now we do have this meeting space that is available that is set up.

[41:30] You all are always welcome to use it um in the interim of any kind of long-term

[41:34] planning. Um but also we have been incredibly grateful for the

[41:38] collaborations. Um, I know here at the county level they have been phenomenal.

[41:42] We've gone to Raleigh. We've been around Gates County and they are continuing to

[41:45] meet with people in Raleigh. Um, I know that there was a meeting yesterday y'all

[41:49] had with with with DPI and Raleigh. So, thank you so much for all of the work

[41:53] that you all are putting in and the continued collaboration and efforts.

[41:56] Yes. I was just going to say worth mentioning at our work session just

[41:59] prior to this we talked to the A&E firm that's going to go about doing a

[42:03] facility planning for us and we specifically discussed with them that

[42:06] it's going to be a joint engagement with the schools as well as the county for

[42:10] » looking at all the buildings and long-term plans and facilities including

[42:13] Buckland and everything else. >> So they yeah they'll be doing an

[42:16] assessment of all county county owned facilities is the next step with them.

[42:19] So we plan on bringing you all into that with us. It's going to be very important

[42:23] this these list of items that uh you went through that that's brought up to

[42:27] them as far as short-term things for Buffin, but we're we're looking at long

[42:31] term and what we need to do long term. Um and and so having that feedback and

[42:37] collaboration with this whole system would be phenomenal to be able to do

[42:40] that. We're trying to put that 20-year plan kind of together.

[42:43] » Yeah. >> I have a question concern consolidation.

[42:46] I know you said that uh of course you got to look into it but what options

[42:52] um are you considering because there have been uptick as you said ADM's great

[42:58] that's great great for the financial part but as far as

[43:03] when we have even more students where are these students going to go in the

[43:07] short term in the short term we do have some

[43:12] classrooms that we might can reclaim at Gatesville that could expand. We do have

[43:18] a little bit of margin that we can spend a little bit, but again, like you

[43:22] saying, in a short-term plan, the growth is an unknown number. Again, nobody

[43:27] expected us to get to 1380 this year. So, we're going to have to keep a very

[43:32] very close eye on that. I think one of the important things [clears throat] and

[43:35] I I'll go ahead and say it. Nobody else probably wants to say this. This is why

[43:38] we need to maintain that Buckland infrastructure as much as we can because

[43:43] if we get expanded beyond our capability at our two elementary schools, we can

[43:48] always make some small quick adjustment that could utilize maybe that facility

[43:54] for something like a kindergarten or first grade to try to get us through the

[43:59] gap until we get to our long-term plan, which we're still under the premise and

[44:03] we're still trying to work toward that perhaps a new school down the road.

[44:07] » Right. cuz I reason why I asked this question because I know economically in

[44:11] this region it's going to be a shift especially what's going on in Herford

[44:15] County with contractors coming in also with new employees coming in um the

[44:21] industry over in Herford County. So housing is going to be an issue.

[44:24] Surrounding counties are going to uh have a lot of people looking for

[44:30] housing, you know, not only in Herp County, but Gates County, Bertie, and

[44:33] adjacent counties. And I know there may be an uptick. There may be an uptick in

[44:37] our school system. And I, you know, just asked that question for that reason.

[44:41] » And I think, you know, again, we we we talked about this a lot back in March.

[44:45] the the decision to close Buckman was a financial decision, not a growth

[44:49] decision, not a students or teachers. It was simply a financial decision. I mean,

[44:56] we didn't have a choice as a school board. There was a declining ADM at the

[45:00] time. We've lost 400 students over the last seven or eight years. Now, when

[45:04] that trend stops, and you're exactly correct, and maybe maybe we hit the

[45:09] bottom. I mean, not I hope so. And if we've hit the bottom and we start

[45:12] growing and we open up Herford and we get this sludge, we have to be very

[45:16] agile. We have to be agile from a school board. We have to be agile from a um you

[45:21] know, a program and be ready to accept that. Uh I think we still have students

[45:25] signed up today, >> you know, so good problem to have.

[45:29] » Yes. >> You know, from a physical stand, it's a

[45:32] good problem to have, but logistically it could be a nightmare. [snorts] So

[45:34] we're we're we are tracking that every single day.

[45:37] We ought to consider we ought to consider at some point talking to our

[45:40] planning and zoning folks about it because it's common place for the bigger

[45:44] municipalities when a development comes in. They're add x amount of houses.

[45:47] They're required to go and have an analysis done on who the market these

[45:50] houses are sized for, who's going to buy them, and they'll likely impact the

[45:54] number of students that are likely to come in with a school system. That's a

[45:56] routine requirement for almost every city and county north of the state line

[46:01] for them to submit those. I see those fairly regular where they come and say,

[46:04] "We're building 450 houses. we're gonna add 72 students K through 12 or

[46:08] something and they usually have an analysis. The planning group has a

[46:11] consultant on board that'll review them and we've had them kick back and said,

[46:15] "No, you're underestimating it or you've overestimated it or whatever." So, we

[46:18] ought to consider doing that if we're really likely to see big growth.

[46:23] » One of the things that this board is committed to right now is not to go over

[46:26] that student teacher >> Yeah.

[46:28] » uh ratio. I think that's very important. I think a lot of people gloss over that.

[46:32] You know, you can certainly fix problems by just saying and you got 25 students

[46:36] now, you got 30 students there. But as you saw, Dr. Jordan said earlier, who

[46:40] pays for that? And so students pay for that. So we're we're going to be very

[46:44] strict as we be honest with ourselves and say we're not willing to bend on

[46:49] that rule. If you're saying 16 or 17 students per first grade teacher, we're

[46:54] going to keep trying to stay in that range because again, it gets hurt is a

[46:58] student. That's why Dr. Jordan strategic plan is students first. that we have to

[47:03] think in a student way, not an easy solve button where we can just put more

[47:07] desk in there if that makes sense. >> It does. Thank you.

[47:12] » Thank you. >> Thank you.

[47:16] » All right. So, we are moving along to the citizen

[47:20] advisory board recommendations. Um, we have two tonight. The first is Thank

[47:26] you, my light. Um the first is the Merchants Commerce Center committee

[47:32] recommendation um on site preparations. If we can invite Miss Reva Green Holly

[47:36] to come to the podium to present that recommendation on behalf of that

[47:40] committee.

[47:45] » Good evening commissioners. >> Good evening.

[47:48] » Um I come before you as the chair of the Merchants Commerce Center committee and

[47:54] I'd like to introduce our committee. They chose to stay in place and say

[47:59] they'd stand there. But we have Paul Ascu, our vice chair. [clears throat]

[48:03] Leslie Spinoglio, secretary, Cecil Baggley,

[48:10] Larry Brothers, Ray Brothers, sorry. And we have Lisa

[48:16] Cherry, our advisor. And we have Nathan Bearman, our

[48:20] exofficio member. And we had our first meeting July 22nd. And I'd like to say

[48:26] our committee has jailed and we are about getting some work done. So um the

[48:32] first thing was we had we held our meeting. We talked about why are we

[48:37] here? What are we supposed to be doing? And um we decided to pick a strategy to

[48:44] bring before you all and see how you all feel about it and vote for us to move

[48:49] forward. So I would like to start with uh my committee representative that's

[48:56] going to present Paul Ascue. He and uh Cecil have done a lot of

[49:02] background work on the presentation they're getting ready to make to you and

[49:07] I'm going to turn it over to him.

[49:16] Good evening and and thank you for allowing us to uh first participate or

[49:22] be appointed to this board and we all thank you for that and and we we hope

[49:27] we're going to uh provide a good service for the for the county. So, I'd like to

[49:34] be uh I think concept plan B is up there and so um that's what we are focusing

[49:42] on. It's a it's a tremendously it's a great concept

[49:48] and and we're really excited about it and and we realize that not everything

[49:54] is going to get done at one time and we're not asking asking for that of

[49:59] course but uh that's you know Cecil and myself and I want to tell you we flipped

[50:07] the coin and I lost so that's why I'm up here so next time you [laughter] but

[50:12] anyway Hey. Uh, >> yeah. Oh, I'm not accustomed to using

[50:19] something like this, I tell you. But [laughter]

[50:25] on August 10th, and I we we've been watching the weather forecast very well.

[50:29] And and the the weather man said it was going to be 85 degrees. Well, he was

[50:34] wrong. It was 95. And so Susan myself decided he has a open Jeep. We decided

[50:41] we gonna we're gonna take this Jeep drive and and we did. We started right

[50:47] here on Sony Lane and and we to weed as much as this as we could. We we didn't

[50:54] do a we didn't do a hike.

[50:58] » Yeah.

[51:02] » [laughter] >> I can't keep the steel and tell you I'm

[51:04] probably

[51:08] [laughter]

[51:10] from here and went all the way back to the two farms back there and we drove

[51:17] back through here. But basically what we want to talk about

[51:21] right now is just this section right here for this small section right here

[51:28] is 11 some problem.

[51:32] » Well, so so actually actually it goes all the way to the ponds.

[51:38] » You're right. >> It is kind of you see a break right

[51:41] there and and that's that was uh we measured that the other night at the

[51:45] meeting and it and it is 11.7 acres is is what that turns out to be. And so um

[51:53] and this is what our focus is on and this is what our recommendation is going

[51:57] to be on. Uh and so uh we we're going to call it phase one. So I don't know how

[52:05] many phases we going to end up having, but we we're going to start with one, of

[52:09] course. And so this is this is our this is our board. And this is what we

[52:14] discussed was the clearing uh the stumping, taking all the stumps out,

[52:22] leveling whatever we need to do and preparing that 11.7 acres for uh we hope

[52:30] maybe some businesses coming in or or whatever. But but we got to start and

[52:36] this this is what we recommend our start is going to be it's right along the

[52:41] highway. begins as you come up the hill anybody everybody is familiar with 158.

[52:47] You can't see the pond actually any longer because it's grown up. But but we

[52:53] did ride through as much of that property that part of the property as we

[52:58] could and and uh I'm as a farmer I'm in the irrigation so I have a I have

[53:07] equipment to do this so I'm very familiar with land clearing. But the

[53:11] first thing I'm going to tell you is it's not a cheap thing to do. I mean, it

[53:14] cost a lot to do and and so, uh, that that's going to be something you you

[53:20] guys are going to have to decide on on our approach with that. But, uh, but

[53:25] once it is done and we we would possibly get it seated down and have it looking

[53:30] where, you know, we could host community events or whatever on that on that

[53:36] parcel. uh but it's going to have to be maintained

[53:41] and so we realized that's going to be a cost to the canon uh to to maintain that

[53:47] property. So, uh, Cecil did talk to Tom Morgan about the timber disonment, if

[53:55] you want to call it timber. I don't call it timber. I call it is not not a lot on

[54:00] 11.7 acres is is in my vision and I think Caesar will agree and we discussed

[54:07] it with the board. It's not anything that we're going to log that's going to

[54:11] be excited about going in there and logging anything and getting and

[54:14] generating any money out of that portion.

[54:17] You want to speak on what John Morgan had to say or just

[54:23] » if if I was see if you could use the mic. Yeah.

[54:28] » You got him up there one way or another. Right. [laughter]

[54:32] » Didn't need the coin. You got it. >> I had a two hit a coin. [laughter]

[54:37] Um, yes, I did talk to Tom Morgan about this and and basically uh it's a matter

[54:43] of bringing some equipment in there and and uh pulling those trees up, taking an

[54:49] excavator, putting them in a pile, and he said they could be burnt right on

[54:52] site. Of course, we would have to get a permit to do so, but uh during the the

[54:57] right time of year, uh they could be burnt right there. Uh [clears throat] he

[55:04] also mentioned that drainage pond that has been grown up and it's not doing

[55:08] what it's designed to do that that needs to have some maintenance uh done to it

[55:12] also. Um, [clears throat] and one thing that I'm going to bring up regardless

[55:18] and and there's not a name of that road, but there [clears throat] is a road that

[55:23] comes there's a there's a dirt path that comes off of 158 to the left of the

[55:30] credit union that goes straight back to about where the nursing home is.

[55:40] And the path ends in a large ditch. So, we spotted some four-wheel tracks

[55:46] back there, too. And and my concern about this big ditch and this path

[55:51] winding up in a big ditch is we do have a liability there. Something needs to be

[55:56] done there. Uh either a barricade, a couple loads of sand, or anything. But

[56:03] had it been grown up more than it was and we had

[56:08] been cruising along a little faster than we were were, we could have very easily

[56:12] wind up in the bottom of that ditch. And and it would it's a large ditch. It's

[56:16] it's a deep ditch. It's a wide ditch.

[56:21] So what we what we are asking is uh you know like I said we we envision we

[56:29] vision this 11.7 acres to be be cleared dumped stabilized and sewn with grass.

[56:38] Uh we we could as I mentioned we could have some events begin there. Fall

[56:42] festival was mentioned you know have something going where the county can

[56:47] see. Yes, we we got, you know, we've got something moving forward. We're not

[56:52] dependent on the school systems property or whatever to host these events. And

[56:57] and so [clears throat] um I what what we're asking is is

[57:02] permission for us to secure bids on clearing that land. Um I don't I know

[57:09] what it cost me to do it and it's it's not it's not a cheap thing. I mean,

[57:13] equipment equipment. Y'all all know equipment is expensive and it takes it

[57:16] takes a lot to do it, but there are people out there that are that could do

[57:20] it and and and we feel like with what we've seen and uh it's not a lot out

[57:26] there and and it shouldn't take, you know, a great deal of expense and and

[57:32] I'm not going to throw a figure out there because I don't know what someone

[57:36] would charge, but um but we want permission to secure, you know, some

[57:42] bids to get to get this ball rolling. And so, uh, and and also, you know, with

[57:48] that, uh, if we do get a bid, we'll, you know, whatever how many beers we get, is

[57:56] not a lot of people in that business. Not like it, not like it used to be.

[58:00] But, uh, once we get a bid, we'll bring that to you and present it to you and

[58:05] see what you say, you know. But I want to tell you any bid we get it will have

[58:10] a it will have a time stamp on it because costs change all the time. Make

[58:14] well aware of that. >> And so uh you know we we just we just

[58:19] would have to I mean we're excited about moving forward. Uh uh we have we have

[58:26] you know I uh uh as far as a timeline we we're asking for the you know for you

[58:34] you commissioners to develop a vi a vibrant merchants meal pond committee

[58:40] marketing plan. And so and with that uh you know begin begin marketing that

[58:46] property uh right right away. you know, hope hopefully we can can, you know, if

[58:53] the business knows that this is this is in the beginning or they would they

[58:58] would be maybe perhaps excited about coming to the county and so we ask we're

[59:03] asking for they for that. Um anything anything else that anybody on

[59:10] the board >> can thank

[59:13] u I just again thank you thank you for your time. I'll I'll be glad or any of

[59:18] us be glad to answer any questions that you may have or

[59:21] » Yes, sir. >> Thank you. Yeah. Go ahead.

[59:23] » Excuse me. Yes. Uh I want to say I love this concept and as you mentioned,

[59:28] marketability [clears throat] is so important as we recruit industry

[59:34] or whoever commercial to come here. Curbside appeal

[59:40] is vital. And also we want to be productive of what we have ownership of.

[59:46] I see this as a great investment. I would love to hear the bids because

[59:49] that's a big win factor also. >> But it's good. It's a good investment.

[59:55] It's a good investment. We can get a return on it. We can help the community.

[59:59] We can have as you mentioned festivals, things like that that would generate

[1:00:03] revenue. So, I love the concept. I love the marketability of it. I love the

[1:00:08] curbside appeal. and I want to thank the committee um for everything you have

[1:00:13] done to get this off the ground. >> Um I got to I got to make a point of

[1:00:18] order. Do you still own property there, Mr. Roundree?

[1:00:23] » He he's allowed to make a comment. >> I'm just asking a question. I just want

[1:00:26] to make sure for clarity. I mean, if you don't, it's not a problem. I'm just want

[1:00:29] to the discussion previously was is that you own some property in there and I

[1:00:33] just want to ask the appropriateness if we're going to have this discussion

[1:00:37] advocating for something that >> I do not own any property on the

[1:00:41] commerce part. >> Yes.

[1:00:43] » Okay. On the commerce part. Okay. >> All right.

[1:00:46] » Do not >> Okay.

[1:00:48] » Well, first of all, I would like to say thank thank everyone who serves on the

[1:00:52] committee. Uh you're right. It did on the very first meeting it did jail right

[1:00:55] on up and it's nice to have good conversations. One of the things that uh

[1:01:00] I was tasked with when I was uh um asked to to generate this is um we wanted to

[1:01:08] take this space and and it's a lot of uh of um community concern about purchasing

[1:01:16] the the the land originally.

[1:01:20] One of the things I believe that this board has said before in the past and I

[1:01:23] agree with that you know that's already happened that's already been bought. the

[1:01:26] county owns it, what are we going to do with it? And and so if we want to be

[1:01:32] able to generate any type of revenue off of it through um you bring in any type

[1:01:36] of business or anything like that to it, you got to be able to invest a little

[1:01:40] bit of money into it to be able to uh make it not look like a cut down because

[1:01:44] right now when you ride by there, that's what you see. You see a cut down, you

[1:01:47] don't see any type of commerce park or anything like that. and and so when um

[1:01:52] to be able to market that is what you need to do is be able to clear some

[1:01:55] areas up, rub it, make it look like it's ready for a building to be built on it.

[1:02:00] » Um but at the same time, it's going to take a while to be able to uh bring any

[1:02:05] type of commerce there. You got to get people interested and all that kind of

[1:02:08] good stuff. So, what could we do with the space in the meantime? And I think

[1:02:11] it was some good ideas that was thrown out there. you know, we're getting ready

[1:02:14] to have uh fall festival here coming up in a in a few weeks and looking forward

[1:02:19] to seeing everybody out there at the ballpark for that. But this will be a

[1:02:22] great spot to do that. you know, we could bring back uh something like a

[1:02:26] swamp fest like we've done in the past and bring the community together to be

[1:02:30] able to have those type of things and and so this would be a great area that

[1:02:34] we can prepare for to do that and then see where it goes from there because

[1:02:38] those type of activities brings businesses to the county so they can see

[1:02:43] what type of commerce that they can have here. So, um, [laughter] I I'm going to

[1:02:48] go ahead and and unless you want to go a little bit further and talk about it,

[1:02:51] » I I just think I'm really excited to see from I mean, especially from meeting one

[1:02:55] to have a concept presented is really exciting and to be able to move forward.

[1:02:59] I think that >> yeah, any type of movement to show

[1:03:02] progress is going to be important. But yeah, go ahead and do what you were

[1:03:05] doing. Thank you. >> So, I'd like to go ahead and make a

[1:03:07] motion that we uh allow the Commerce Committee to to move forward with

[1:03:11] obtaining bids and bringing those bids back to the commissioners for review and

[1:03:15] and decision. >> I'll second that motion.

[1:03:19] » All right. If there's any further discussion.

[1:03:21] » Yeah, I got some discussion. So, we've spent $600 some thousand on this piece

[1:03:25] of property and we spent another $50,000 on this property and we continue to

[1:03:30] spend money on this property. What I'm hearing is, yeah, we want to clear some

[1:03:33] land and I appreciate what these folks have done. Mr. Ascu Cecil, Miss Green, I

[1:03:37] mean babysitter Leslie. Um, the point being is Miss Benolio, I appreciate

[1:03:44] y'all's effort. I I really do, Mr. Brothers. I appreciate your effort. But

[1:03:47] for me, we're talking about going out and clearing some land. We just were

[1:03:50] talking earlier about trying to inventory what stuff we have, what we're

[1:03:53] going to do with it. And I I hear that they're saying, "Hey, they want us to

[1:03:56] tell them what we would like to do with this, a plan." I think we need to do the

[1:03:59] plan first. Again, I'm about planning, figuring out what we want to do. And

[1:04:03] then if we want to clear that land because we think long term that's going

[1:04:07] to be an area for parking or part of a bigger facility, I think that would be a

[1:04:11] good thing. I think it might be a very good thing. But I don't hear people

[1:04:15] saying, "Oh, if only that land was cleared, you could market it and sell it

[1:04:18] for $50,000 an acre." It seems like we're again, this is almost like we're

[1:04:23] spending more money after more money after more money for a site that have we

[1:04:28] sold any land in there? Have we done any marketing before now? Will clearing the

[1:04:32] trees make it more marketable? Maybe. So, but I just feel like I have to be

[1:04:36] the voice to speak up and say, I have concerns about us just deciding to go to

[1:04:40] do that. And maybe getting bids is okay. I'm a little um averse to having

[1:04:47] contractors give bids if I'm not absolutely sure I want to go have them

[1:04:50] do that. And if y'all are absolutely sure you're going to have them clear it

[1:04:53] no matter what, then we should go forward with it. I think at this point

[1:04:57] we don't even have a cost to consider if we're going to be be moving forward. A

[1:05:00] bid is a a jumping off point. Everything's going to be going to have a

[1:05:04] timetable to it. Nothing's happening tomorrow. It's going to take time to

[1:05:07] gather bids. It's going to take time to make a decision. Hopefully, we'll be

[1:05:10] further along in a planning process with more information at that point. I don't

[1:05:13] think two things like collecting bids and us going through an assessment

[1:05:16] simultaneously is a bad thing. It makes us further along instead of kicking that

[1:05:20] can down the road further and further. we're actually making progress by doing

[1:05:23] two things >> cohesively.

[1:05:25] » Um is my personal opinion >> and I'm in agreement with that. You

[1:05:30] know, we take our time. We're getting the bids going through the process and

[1:05:35] in the end in the end this is an investment for Gates County

[1:05:41] and we need to start the process instead of delaying the land and you know it's

[1:05:47] something that need to be done. We have the property. So, let let's

[1:05:49] [clears throat] utilize the property. >> All right.

[1:05:52] » I like >> So, we're going to call for a vote on

[1:05:54] that motion. >> Very good mission statement. Could she

[1:05:57] read that? >> We I think we

[1:06:00] » do. We have to vote with the discussion. Yeah. I think we have to vote. We have a

[1:06:04] motion on the floor. We've had our discussion. So, we have to call to vote

[1:06:06] and then welcome to hear that. All right. So, all in favor?

[1:06:11] All opposed? Okay. And that will pass. >> Okay. And because we weren't given a

[1:06:18] mission, we came up with this mission statement. The mission of the Gates

[1:06:22] County Merchant Commerce Park Committee is to provide informed communitydriven

[1:06:27] recommendations to Gates County Commissioners for the future development

[1:06:31] of Merchant Commerce Park, advancing sustainable economic growth, fostering

[1:06:37] business and employment opportunities, and enhancing the quality of life for

[1:06:42] current and future residents of Gates County.

[1:06:45] » Love that. Thank you. >> I appreciate you all. Thank you. Thank

[1:06:49] you. Right, moving on to the next citizen advisory

[1:06:54] board recommendation. Um, we have the planning board recommendation for the

[1:06:57] data center zoning amendment. We will have Miss Lisa Cherry join us to present

[1:07:04] the recommendation. Um, and I just want to thank you on the forefront for the

[1:07:08] event you hosted last week while several of us were out of town at conference. I

[1:07:12] think it is a phenomenal thing that commissioners were not there and that

[1:07:14] you got to have true citizen input without us being present. Um, so thank

[1:07:18] you for what you do. [laughter] >> Thank you for what you do.

[1:07:22] » Oh, thank you. You You do you get your turn. [laughter] I understand. You do.

[1:07:27] It's coming. It's definitely coming. So, yes. So, data centers, we had the

[1:07:34] community engagement last week, just like you said. So, this is the

[1:07:38] presentation that was just missing the first slide of welcoming the public. So,

[1:07:43] I'm just going to go through it pretty um I'll try to be brief because I'm sure

[1:07:48] you're aware of it and the public's aware of it. We just want you to know

[1:07:52] that the Gates County Planning Board has been researching and discussing data

[1:07:55] centers since September 25. So, this presentation will summarize all the

[1:08:00] information, the moratorium, the timeline, discussion, and the ordinance

[1:08:04] amendment itself. So again the timeline December 17th you

[1:08:10] adopted the moratorum in July January through July 2026 we continued the

[1:08:16] research workshops draft ordinance and then of course August of last week we

[1:08:21] did the community engagement to show the planning board recommendation. It's a

[1:08:24] draft recommendation at this point. So, of course, we just went ahead wanted

[1:08:31] to let them see the moratorum and what's highlighted there is just the uh plan of

[1:08:37] action and the schedule that we're in as of right now and that we've met that and

[1:08:42] continuing to meet that. So the recommendation itself has an authority,

[1:08:48] a purpose, a definition of data center findings of fact, countywide

[1:08:53] prohibition, uh the permit denial and the UDO use table that's in our

[1:08:57] ordinance currently. And we met with county attorney Wood. Thank you. And he

[1:09:03] reviewed that as well. So we appreciate that. We sat down and were able to go

[1:09:07] over that. So you know I think really the best thing to go through because you

[1:09:11] will again we will have a public hearing you will approve you know add to it deny

[1:09:17] what whatever you need to do. So I think the best way to go through it is you

[1:09:22] know again we have the definition we have the purpose and we have all that.

[1:09:26] So I think the best way to show it pictures are worth a thousand words. So

[1:09:30] this is the use table and all of the verbiage just backs this up. It shows

[1:09:37] our zoning districts which you know we have

[1:09:41] R1, RH, C1, I1, A1, O and I RMF and also those are residential,

[1:09:49] residential, manufactured homes, commercial, industrial, agricultural,

[1:09:53] office and institutional and the multifamily residential and the planning

[1:09:59] board is recommended to prohibit in those districts and the data center

[1:10:04] which I know it's hard to see for you guys, but that is what's highlighted and

[1:10:08] that there's that's prohibited. And then we have the ordinance note that would go

[1:10:12] along with it that um like I had said earlier that has a permit denial

[1:10:18] and and I'll be more than happy to read the two pages if you'd like me to out

[1:10:21] loud, but it's it's up for everyone to see and it's also on the website um if

[1:10:27] anyone would like to read it in its entirety because we will read it fully

[1:10:30] on the night of adoption once it comes for public hearing if you would like.

[1:10:34] But again, we had the engagement last week. It was a great turnout. We had

[1:10:39] over 60 people attend. We had 45 surveys filled out and to ask the question if

[1:10:46] people, you know, supported that, any, you know, feedback they'd like to give.

[1:10:51] And we've compiled all that that you'll be getting. And if you'd like to see

[1:10:55] that and anyone else in the public as well. and it was seemed to be positive

[1:11:02] um for the uh ordinance draft amendment itself. Um so with that being said, we

[1:11:09] have our next steps. It's to recommend the adoption of the proposed data center

[1:11:14] ordinance amendment after all the research as I've said. So now we'll move

[1:11:19] into a phase of formal adoption will be after required public notice. public

[1:11:24] hearing by the Gates County Board of Commissioners at a future scheduled

[1:11:28] publicly held meeting by the Board of County Commissioners before December

[1:11:33] 17th, unless you decide to extend it if you do not agree with it. So, that's

[1:11:39] basically in a nutshell what we've done. Um, and if you have any questions or

[1:11:43] comments, I'd be more than happy to answer them.

[1:11:46] » Madam Chair, could we ask Lisa to please read that statement in red? I don't know

[1:11:51] about the function. [clears throat] I had a hard time.

[1:11:54] » I can go back >> with the [laughter] friend.

[1:11:56] » I understand. Yeah. The the note that will go along with the use table. We

[1:12:00] have these notes that um in our addition to and it's the ordinance note and

[1:12:05] specific standards. Um it's data centers as defined herein including

[1:12:09] cryptocurrency mining facilities and similar highintensity computing

[1:12:13] operation are prohibited in all zoning districts within Gates County. This

[1:12:17] prohibition applies regardless of the principal use, accessory use, or

[1:12:22] occupancy classification of any building or structure in which the activity

[1:12:26] occurs. >> So, thank you. Yes, sir. Absolutely.

[1:12:30] » Thank you. >> Yes. So, if if there's any questions

[1:12:32] again, I'll be more than happy to answer them.

[1:12:35] » Have any comments or questions for Miss Cherry?

[1:12:37] » No. >> Yep. Okay.

[1:12:39] » Yes. >> Uh for reference, is this comparable to

[1:12:42] any other loca localities or counties around us?

[1:12:46] Clay County has done it. Most of the other counties right now are we have a

[1:12:49] few that are in a moratorum status, one and twoyear status. Then there's others

[1:12:54] that have um I believe some restrictions um or maybe on size.

[1:13:01] » But the language you think is pretty similar to what I

[1:13:03] » believe um Clay County is very similar. Yes. Yes.

[1:13:07] » Perfect. Thank you. Thank you. And just again, that's going to be accessible

[1:13:10] online for for viewing for or is accessible.

[1:13:14] » The presentation is is there. Yes, ma'am.

[1:13:17] » It is. >> That might be something that's worth

[1:13:19] pushing out on social media. >> Thank you.

[1:13:23] » Thank you. >> Thank you.

[1:13:24] » All right. Moving along to old business. Uh we have the Buckland Elementary

[1:13:28] School facility planning. Uh, manager sour, if you could update us on

[1:13:31] discussions from the special called meeting and from our time with our

[1:13:34] legislative um, representatives today and then we can open the floor for

[1:13:39] conversation. Boy, that's a lot to cover. We spent two

[1:13:44] hours with our with our lobbyist and with representatives from Senator Ted

[1:13:50] Bud's office and and Tom Tillis's office. We uh number one said a big

[1:13:55] thank you uh to the North Carolina General Assembly. In the last two

[1:14:00] sessions, Gates County was the recipient of 11.6 million of uh funding for some

[1:14:08] very important projects. Some of those are capital projects. Some of those were

[1:14:13] direct impact for the school system with the Naval Academy program, the science

[1:14:18] uh equipment to expand uh those labs. I think the sheriff's office received

[1:14:24] about 300,000 of that, but most of the money is going for infrastructure, both

[1:14:28] water and sewer. Um, couple of things that we uh discussed

[1:14:34] moving forward. There's an upcoming legislative goal session. The general

[1:14:39] assembly will be u reconvening the long section session in January. Our

[1:14:46] association of North Carolina County Commissioners will have a goal uh

[1:14:50] committee effort to solidify goals as an organization across our hundred uh

[1:14:57] county members. And I think we may even have one or two of those um to come up

[1:15:03] later this evening. Uh but we uh said a big thank you to those uh individuals

[1:15:09] and also um hopefully had them leave understanding that the the board has a a

[1:15:16] strong vision uh a focus on the project execution and completion and and we we

[1:15:25] are moving forward. I'll have a few details under my u report on the on the

[1:15:30] Buckland planning. Um I I believe our direction is that the gyms

[1:15:37] uh food pantry is in the process of moving with a few improvements

[1:15:45] u in the cafeteria and kitchen so that they can handle uh their distribution

[1:15:52] with a little bit more elbow room. hopefully a a lot better uh freezer and

[1:15:57] and refrigeration uh system and and on a level ground surface where there won't

[1:16:05] be so much lifting and and they can hopefully roll uh packages out to the uh

[1:16:11] clients when they when they visit. Um, and it really has been a a partnership

[1:16:17] with the school system as we talked as was mentioned earlier about some of the

[1:16:22] elements that need to be uh addressed and and and again it's a it's really a

[1:16:28] credit to the Jim's organization and the the board of commissioners. I think this

[1:16:32] is about a 20 year partnership, maybe longer.

[1:16:39] » Wow. Oh, >> I'll say that's 40 since my husband was

[1:16:43] born that year. [laughter] >> That's that's phenomenal. And I think

[1:16:47] the commissioners are excited to be a part of that and and a partner u in

[1:16:53] that. Um, we had a uh an opportunity to meet

[1:17:00] with the design firm that the board selected following

[1:17:05] um a rigorous review of proposals that were in

[1:17:10] response to the county's request for qualifications in North Carolina to f to

[1:17:14] hire either an architectural firm or an engineering firm. uh you don't just

[1:17:20] simply go to the yellow pages and and find a a engineering firm nearby. We

[1:17:26] must advertise a stated u scope of work intent and that was done earlier this

[1:17:34] year uh for the purpose of uh moving forward with a new community center and

[1:17:40] senior uh center project. Um uh initially the target location has been

[1:17:48] the Merchants Commerce Center and and that may well be where we end up, but

[1:17:52] that's the the the path that we've been on. Um the county has secured a million

[1:18:00] dollars in its first piece of the funding for the capital project. Uh but

[1:18:05] that million dollars as it's available through the US Department of

[1:18:09] Agriculture, their rural development division, uh indicates that under their

[1:18:14] rules, their money is the last money we spend.

[1:18:19] And we've got a rough estimate of maybe $12 million uh for what that uh project

[1:18:26] might entail. U it would likely be much more than just a building with four

[1:18:32] walls. there's been uh quite a bit of spirited conversation about the

[1:18:38] amenities that we might have in the outdoor area around this. So, the the

[1:18:43] the the scope and the expansive programming and the construction costs

[1:18:49] we believe are going to be significant and it may take years to generate the

[1:18:55] money between where we are today and spending that last $12 million. So, we

[1:19:00] want to look at other potential uh options within the county. U I think

[1:19:08] I even heard the phrase looking at lowhanging fruit. Uh and and that very

[1:19:13] well could be u potentially at the Buckland uh elementary school campus.

[1:19:19] But in order to test that hypothesis and and and look at all of our options, the

[1:19:26] board had a conversation this afternoon with the architect about revising our

[1:19:31] scope of work from

[1:19:36] uh a contract to design a building for construction that we may not be able to

[1:19:41] afford to build for several years. U hopefully not a decade, but certainly

[1:19:46] several years. and put that effort toward an evaluation of our existing uh

[1:19:52] facilities, a needs assessment for future uh programming, and utilizing the

[1:19:59] uh other grant that the county secured several years ago u for what started out

[1:20:06] as as uh renovations on the old community center, the facility next to

[1:20:12] the high school. Um which over a period of uh two different engineering studies

[1:20:18] was determined that between the four additions that they had, the additional

[1:20:23] roof structures that were installed and a building envelope is the word they use

[1:20:30] that uh leaks like a civ when it when it rains. There is no moisture barrier and

[1:20:37] and the water literally comes inside. And if you've ever visited the gym or

[1:20:42] the hallways at the community center, you've seen that. So, uh that money has

[1:20:47] been available to us, has been uh approved

[1:20:52] for a design project. We are going to now seek to revise that u agreement with

[1:20:59] our funding agency. It's the It's the state's construction infrastructure fund

[1:21:04] to put that toward our uh facility assessment and and planning. And as I

[1:21:10] understood the board's conversation this afternoon and as was spoken with the uh

[1:21:15] board of education, uh this effort will include school facilities

[1:21:21] u and and with a a a long reach. I don't know if we'll go 40 years, but I bet you

[1:21:27] we'll go 20 or 30 years in our in our projections. And I would think the term

[1:21:34] facilities will be a uh a wide definition uh with many components that

[1:21:42] could include u expanded athletic fields. It it it could be any number of

[1:21:48] things. Uh we we've had suggestions for uh down the road a a swimming pool, an

[1:21:57] athletic track. Um just a a lot of potential things. Yeah, the board um

[1:22:06] this afternoon during a four o'clock work session um has asked that we

[1:22:12] prepare a recommendation for their consideration

[1:22:16] uh this evening so that we maintain some momentum

[1:22:21] u sharpen our focus and and really try to take advantage of an opportunity we

[1:22:27] have one with the growing partnership with the board of education to the

[1:22:34] opportunity to potentially use a portion of of the Buckland campus, but possibly

[1:22:40] find u an opportunity we hadn't yet envisioned for the Merchants Commerce

[1:22:46] Center property. I mean that we we've got I don't know maybe a half dozen

[1:22:50] different uh concept plans that the board has engaged over the years and

[1:22:58] I think it's safe to say all of those are are plans that have a um a fluidity

[1:23:06] to them. I mean there's nothing to say we we can't erase this component and

[1:23:10] move it over here or uh there's some exciting discussion going

[1:23:15] on. So, um, I I could go on for another hour on this,

[1:23:21] but it it really has been a a an exciting path for the last few weeks,

[1:23:29] and I'm I'm hopeful that we can push this forward. And I think the

[1:23:33] architectural firm of Skinner, Farlo, and Kerwin is very excited and committed

[1:23:39] and experienced in working on projects of this nature and in securing

[1:23:43] additional funding. As I recall, one of the key elements of their selection was

[1:23:48] they have a whole team geared toward grant writing, grant administration, and

[1:23:54] and and especially even USDA rural development.

[1:23:59] » All right. Well, uh, thank you very much for the update and giving everybody

[1:24:02] [clears throat] in the attendance and the county update of where we stand with

[1:24:05] that. Um, you know, all of this kind of stems from what we're trying to do in

[1:24:10] the future. In order to have something in the future, you got to have a plan to

[1:24:13] get there. So, uh, in in light of, you know, Madam

[1:24:16] Chair, in light of today's discussion with the architect,

[1:24:20] um, regarding the community center and the

[1:24:24] senior center project for, uh, Gates County, uh, and the county manager has

[1:24:28] been instructed to prepare the following, um, midpoint motion for the

[1:24:34] board's consideration. Number one, approval of the revised

[1:24:40] scope of work deferring identify the design for construction of

[1:24:46] a new community center and senior center. an agreement to undertake a

[1:24:53] countywide facility evaluation of existing county facilities, office

[1:24:58] spaces, needs, analysis, opportunities for consolidation, and forecasting the

[1:25:06] future program space needs for all county agencies, including the senior

[1:25:13] activities and community center and the school system.

[1:25:18] subject to concurrence with the school board of education.

[1:25:25] Number two, approval for the county manager, excuse

[1:25:30] me, approval for the county management to seek approval for the funding agency

[1:25:36] state construction infrastructure fund to utilize the available and existing

[1:25:42] grant funds in the amount of $495,000 to support this revised scope and work

[1:25:49] as outlined above. Number three,

[1:25:54] directions for our county manager to seek USDA rural development support and

[1:26:02] approval from for its commitment to utilize the funds

[1:26:09] previously approved in the amount of $1 million

[1:26:14] for construction and or renovation of a facility to provide expanded community

[1:26:21] center and senior center programs and services.

[1:26:24] Number four, approval to invite and and join the

[1:26:32] Gates County Board of Education to evaluate the plan for the future

[1:26:38] school facilities for the next 30 years. Madam Chair, I'll offer a motion to

[1:26:45] approve the above items. >> We have a motion. Do we have a second?

[1:26:51] second. >> All right. Um and just open for

[1:26:53] discussion. Um I think you know we had covered a lot of this during the work

[1:26:57] session earlier. Um my only my only concern was just the moving too early on

[1:27:03] reassigning that million from the USDA rural funds just in the chance that they

[1:27:08] won't be open to moving it more than once if we go and suggest something else

[1:27:12] again. So if that is I think in lie of what we find from the assessment was

[1:27:17] that correct? Like the item three would be

[1:27:22] » Yeah. The way >> in lie of the first two coming to

[1:27:24] fruition. >> Yeah. So the way it's worded, we could

[1:27:26] use it in either or. >> Okay.

[1:27:29] » Okay. >> Yeah. Um

[1:27:33] I agree with a lot of this and I believe you said it earlier.

[1:27:38] Um, we're one of 100 that does not have a

[1:27:44] senior son and we need one. The seniors in this

[1:27:49] county has been paying taxes for a long time. Mo most of them have and they

[1:27:55] deserve a well organized place to go

[1:28:00] exercise and do whatever they want to do.

[1:28:06] And I don't want them to have

[1:28:13] a huge building that we just turn into a senior center.

[1:28:17] If we have to rehabilitate something and we

[1:28:22] turn it into a senior center and that's all we can do, that's all we can do.

[1:28:27] We set out to have a new community center because the one that we're having

[1:28:32] is it's not falling apart. Technically the bricks are still in

[1:28:37] place but it's in very poor condition and we

[1:28:43] had started moving forward if I can remember correctly because all the

[1:28:47] insulation in between the two walls or or wet with rain and it sag down.

[1:28:54] There's no insulation value left. We looked at putting the new roof on it. I

[1:28:59] forgot how much that was going to cost. We had we had made a decision to move

[1:29:03] forward with a new community center. $12 million. That's a whole lot of

[1:29:10] money. Four years ago, the water system, we spent a million and a half on it and

[1:29:16] and the water the water system was back in the in the black. You know, it it's

[1:29:21] turnaround. We had to invest some money in it. Uh, as far as community center,

[1:29:26] uh, having it on one side of the county a little bit further than the other

[1:29:30] side, uh, I feel like needs to be stayed in in the center of the county where

[1:29:37] it's accessible to all people. No one has to drive down much further than the

[1:29:42] other. Um, we've got the board of elections in the center county. Now, we

[1:29:48] got high school in the center county. would eventually hope to build a a uh a

[1:29:54] new high school right there, consolidate the schools even more, maybe one day.

[1:29:58] That's it's been taught. Uh I feel like this community center needs to stay in

[1:30:02] the community. Um so $12 million. We've applied for $4 million worth of

[1:30:10] grants many times and we didn't get them. I I don't think we need to

[1:30:17] forget about the community center being where we originally talked about it. I

[1:30:20] think we just need to go after grants order and find the money. Our our

[1:30:23] citizens pay all these taxes and run this county year after year.

[1:30:32] They don't deserve something repurposed. They deserve something that's brand new.

[1:30:36] If we got to go after funding and find $12 million, it's out there. You just

[1:30:42] got to look in the right bucket. I just don't think we've looked hard enough

[1:30:46] yet. So, I'm not for repurposing something

[1:30:51] for our seniors. Now, if that's what we have to do in the meantime until we can

[1:30:55] find the correct money for it, then so be it. But I don't want to repurpose

[1:31:01] something and that's what they end up with.

[1:31:05] I want something new. I want something nice. The citizens in

[1:31:10] Gates County deserve anything just as nice as any other county that's around

[1:31:14] us. Some of this I do agree with engaging

[1:31:20] the board of education uh in it because school facilities and and parks I know

[1:31:26] we we do have to share because we are a small county but we deserve just as good

[1:31:32] as all the other surrounding counties and we can do it. We just got to put our

[1:31:36] minds to it. We got to look in the right buckets of money. That's all I had.

[1:31:43] » Are there any other comment? I just want to like just kind of looking at it

[1:31:46] though. I mean, a lot of this is just to revise the scope of work, not

[1:31:50] necessarily to move the community center or senior center. It's to evaluate the

[1:31:53] buildings that we currently have to evaluate the opportunities that we have.

[1:31:57] And so this is not something a motion to >> relocate the the focus.

[1:32:02] » I get that. And I and I do agree with >> every build needs to be looked at. I

[1:32:08] 100% I do. It needs to be done. We need to know what our assets are and what we

[1:32:12] need to work on. >> So, do we have any other discussion on

[1:32:15] the motion at hand? If not, we will call for a vote. All in favor of the motion

[1:32:20] as presented. That is unanimous. Okay.

[1:32:25] Thank you all. All right. We are moving along now. Um

[1:32:31] new business. We just have a few things here. One was the budget amendment. If

[1:32:36] Mr. Sour could address this item for the public and the board.

[1:32:41] » Uh yes, commissioners. You will find >> Well, I was going to say Yeah.

[1:32:45] » budget or you doing the >> Well, I was going to say we actually had

[1:32:50] is discussed that earlier. Is that the one different budget amendment? Yep.

[1:32:54] » Yep. >> Thanks.

[1:32:56] » Okay. You you'll find F272. This is the

[1:33:03] um budget budget amendment prepared by Mr. Robertson to carry forward the grant

[1:33:11] program funds uh that had been u underutilized or not utilized u

[1:33:19] since the last fiscal year. Um and and primarily the the biggest one is

[1:33:26] the stream cleanup and the soil and water conservation. The other is the

[1:33:29] digital literacy teleaalth grant and you'll see all of the expenditures

[1:33:34] identified there. We've also got the uh 4H camp, United Way,

[1:33:39] um some DSS miscellaneous, the veterans office and the America 250. The uh total

[1:33:47] is 134,134

[1:33:51] F272. >> All right.

[1:33:55] Can we get a motion to approve if there are no questions?

[1:34:00] » I got a question. Okay. I I just if you would give us a little explanation. The

[1:34:03] grant one seemed pretty straightforward, but like I know that 4H What is that

[1:34:07] 1,600? Didn't we approve a $5,000 one like last month or something? Is this

[1:34:12] additional to that? What is that exactly?

[1:34:14] » As the summer moves on, we we've had different program fees come in and in

[1:34:20] order to spend them, we have to budget them.

[1:34:22] » So that's fees coming in. Is what you're saying? That's typically what those are.

[1:34:25] Yeah. >> Same. What the DSS the same thing.

[1:34:27] » Mhm. >> 5,000.

[1:34:30] » And then I see the grant then America 250 North Carolina 4259.

[1:34:35] » Yeah. That was originally a $10,000 grant. Okay.

[1:34:39] » And and we just haven't finished that yet.

[1:34:41] » Okay. All right. Just want to make sure. Thank you.

[1:34:43] » All right. Get a motion to approve. >> So move.

[1:34:47] » All right. A second. >> Second.

[1:34:49] » All in favor? That is unanimous. Thank you all.

[1:34:55] » All right. Uh, next item is clerk to the board a report and update. So, clerk

[1:35:00] Draper has the floor.

[1:35:04] Thank you, Madam Chair and commissioners. Um, I would like to start

[1:35:08] off with the open vacancies before we move into the applications that were

[1:35:13] submitted and are in your packet for review. Um, open vacancies. I have one

[1:35:19] for Trillium Health Resources Northern Regional Board. We have six vacancies

[1:35:24] for the nursing home advisory committee, one for the planning board, four for uh

[1:35:32] recreational advisory board, one vacancy for the library board, three vacancies

[1:35:38] for the opioid prevention and intervention committee, and one which is

[1:35:45] we have two, excuse me, uh for senior Tar Hill Legislature Committee.

[1:35:52] one would be a member and the other would be a alternate. Um that is a new

[1:35:59] one that I was not aware of and I'm getting more information on that but we

[1:36:03] actually had a candidate um submitted application. So turning over to the

[1:36:10] applications that were presented um to you all for consideration. Y'all have

[1:36:15] several applicants this month. Um we have Sarah Montig. I hope I'm saying her

[1:36:22] name correctly. She submitted interest in um three separate boards. The nursing

[1:36:29] home advisory committee, library board, and the planning board. I have Miss

[1:36:33] Tiffany Long who has applied for the library board. Mary Chester was

[1:36:41] applied for the planning board. And then uh Debbie Savage who has applied for the

[1:36:47] senior Tar Hill legislature committee. Um I do have a couple recommendations

[1:36:54] from one from Miss Lisa Cherry. She has recommended um

[1:37:00] Miss Montiki >> Mon

[1:37:03] » Monkey and then uh the branch manager for the library, Miss um Kelsey Coburn

[1:37:10] has recommended Miss Tiffany Long. So you have these item

[1:37:16] for consideration this evening. All right. And can you just remind us as

[1:37:20] far as serving on boards, is there a limit on how many a citizen can be on?

[1:37:24] Are there any kind of parameters there? >> Um, I believe, don't quote me on this,

[1:37:29] but I want to say I don't think there's any anything in the rules procedures of

[1:37:35] how many they can serve on. >> Okay.

[1:37:40] » All right. So, we've had these as an opportunity to look over. Do we have any

[1:37:43] questions, comments, or any motions to move forward with any of the um

[1:37:48] applicants? >> So, and as a reminder, um one opening

[1:37:54] for planning board and one for the library board.

[1:37:57] » Okay.

[1:38:07] All right.

[1:38:13] And you said on the nursing home advisory committee we have currently no

[1:38:18] we have six vacancies. >> But I mean no members.

[1:38:21] » No members. >> I just wanted to point that out. We have

[1:38:23] six members at We have no members at all.

[1:38:26] » That one does require some training that comes from additional Yeah. outside

[1:38:33] source. Okay. >> Are the applicants aware of the training

[1:38:35] requirement? >> I'm not sure.

[1:38:44] All right. Have any comments, discussion?

[1:38:48] Motions forward. >> Well, we have one person who's only

[1:38:52] applying for the planning board. So, if there's only one spot, I would tend to

[1:38:57] want to lean to give them that one to share the wealth. There's four

[1:38:59] applicants here. If we give the planning board to the other person, then we over

[1:39:04] with three applicants overall. >> I agree. So I guess my recommendation

[1:39:10] would be Miss Wasco for the planning board. Same for Miss Savage for Tar Hill

[1:39:15] Legislature. Then Miss Long and Miss Montiku both for the library board.

[1:39:20] » There's only one position for library board.

[1:39:23] » There's only one >> one. There's six.

[1:39:25] » No, [clears throat] that's the nursing home advisory

[1:39:28] committee has six openings. >> And Miss Long for library. And then that

[1:39:31] gives Miss Monty Q the nursing home advisory. that would use all four

[1:39:38] since we have four applicants that are interested in participating. That'd be a

[1:39:42] way to get all four of them on the board.

[1:39:44] » Is that your motion? >> That's my motion. I'm sorry.

[1:39:47] » Second that motion. Okay. >> All right. Open for discussion.

[1:39:50] Any comments or discussion on that? And if not, we'll call for a vote. Um

[1:39:56] and that would be for all four to have the first listed board. Yes.

[1:40:00] » For them is the easiest way to I think say that.

[1:40:03] » All right. All in favor of the motion as presented.

[1:40:07] Okay. Is unanimous. All right. Thank y'all. And I have a

[1:40:13] couple updates. Next month. Um the A250 lecture series will continue. Wanda

[1:40:20] Lacier from the Museum of the Aramar will be presenting a discussion of

[1:40:25] woodworking in northeastern North Carolina. The lecture is scheduled for

[1:40:29] Thursday, September 19th here in the historic courthouse. And as part of this

[1:40:36] series, this lecture is an opportunity to highlight regional history and

[1:40:41] craftsmanship [clears throat] as part of the broader American 250

[1:40:45] commemoration. Um, in your packet you will find the

[1:40:52] suggested

[1:40:56] 2027 board of commissioners meeting schedule and 2027 holiday schedule. Um,

[1:41:03] this is just a suggestion for those. I did highlight two of the dates on the

[1:41:08] meeting um, schedule. The April one I will be out of town for professional

[1:41:14] development. I know y'all can handle it without me, but wanted to [laughter]

[1:41:17] make note of that. And then in addition, typically the

[1:41:23] » third week of of August is when the NCACC

[1:41:29] conference is, but I think there's unofficial discussion that it might not

[1:41:33] be >> conversation this past week. I was

[1:41:35] hearing August 5th through 7th earlier in August. I know there's been an outcry

[1:41:39] for it to be earlier because of the start of school, right? Um so um from my

[1:41:43] understanding it will be at the first week of August.

[1:41:45] » Okay. So this is um these schedules and are being presented for board discussion

[1:41:50] and action or it can be tabled to next month as a first reading.

[1:41:54] » Yeah. Any comments, questions or motions for the holiday and meeting schedule for

[1:41:59] 2027. I know we discussed doing it earlier

[1:42:02] just so the staff can plan accordingly. All right. So we have a motion or

[1:42:08] » we got to do it. This is the first rerun. So we

[1:42:10] » this is the first three. Yes. [clears throat] Don't have to adopt it.

[1:42:13] You don't have to. >> Or can we?

[1:42:15] » You can. You can adopt it now. I just have it ready.

[1:42:20] » Make a motion to approve as presented. [clears throat] Second.

[1:42:25] » All right. There's no discussion. All in favor? Show of hands.

[1:42:30] All right. Um, two other announcements. County office

[1:42:36] closure. We will be clo all county offices will be closed Monday, September

[1:42:40] 7th in observance of Labor Day. And then I received communication of a diabetes

[1:42:47] fair announcement. Um it's a health announcement. The Edon Lions Club and

[1:42:53] ECU Health Choan Hospital will host a diabetes fair on September 26th from

[1:42:58] 9:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. This will be at the Edon United Methodist Church Family

[1:43:05] Life Center located at 2:25 Virginia Road in Edon. This is a free event, but

[1:43:11] registration will be required as there's going to be a lunch provided. And I have

[1:43:16] anformational flyer that I will post to Facebook and the county website and

[1:43:21] distribute in all the county buildings by next week.

[1:43:24] » I've got four copies of the big ones. >> The big ones. Yes. Yes. Mr. S brought me

[1:43:28] a handful. >> Um and then the last thing I have um

[1:43:34] this is also in your packet. We've received an offer on surplus real

[1:43:39] property. Um the board has been provided in your packet with this offer from Mr.

[1:43:46] Twifford Twilford Tweford >> Twifford sorry um along with the backup

[1:43:52] documentation provided by um our tax administrator and this is being

[1:43:58] presented to you all for review. If you'll notice behind the offer um is

[1:44:04] the information provided by Taylor um Miss Pal, excuse me, um

[1:44:10] that notes the total amount of funding or the total amount of cost that we have

[1:44:16] associated with this parcel. And I also do want to say I have received a phone

[1:44:21] call and email I haven't been able to follow follow up with with some other

[1:44:25] people inquiring about our our surplus our real property surplus. So, um I'll

[1:44:30] get back to y'all if if y'all are here, but um this is what we have on the table

[1:44:35] tonight. Okay. >> I'm looking at the tax card as long as

[1:44:39] I'm going through my correctly here. >> Mhm.

[1:44:42] » The tax card has the the land value at 31,000.

[1:44:46] » Just Yes, >> just the land value.

[1:44:48] » Um and I should have provided a Google map and I apologize I did not. It's

[1:44:55] actually different. Um it's a lot of grown up. It's a lot of growth on this

[1:44:59] property. Not >> versus what is on the GIS map currently.

[1:45:03] I did look it up. It's a lot of overgrowth and vegetation.

[1:45:07] [clears throat] >> Yeah. So, with the land being $31,000 of

[1:45:11] value as far as a tax assessed value, >> not including any structures or nothing

[1:45:14] like that cuz I understand I mean I saw the note as far as don't go in the

[1:45:17] house. >> Yes. But uh um and with the county

[1:45:22] outstanding uh money owed being 155500, >> he he needs to at least come back with

[1:45:29] what the county has owed in taxes. >> Okay. Okay. Do y'all want to counter

[1:45:35] offer that and then we can do the upset bid progress? 15 just under uh just over

[1:45:40] 15. 1553142

[1:45:44] » taxes and attorney fees. >> Uh should be right behind the offer.

[1:45:48] » This one right here. >> Um right uh right here. Right behind the

[1:45:53] offer. >> Sorry.

[1:45:57] » Okay. Yeah. Yeah. >> And so land value at 31. The amount owed

[1:46:01] to county as is with attorney fees and taxes is just at half of that. And the

[1:46:05] offer came in was at 5,000. So at 5,8 >> make a motion to counter offer

[1:46:10] $15,53142.

[1:46:14] » I second that motion. >> Any further discussion on that?

[1:46:18] If not, we'll call for a vote. All in favor?

[1:46:24] » That's all I have. >> All right. Thank you.

[1:46:27] » Thank you all. >> Okay.

[1:46:33] All right. And now we have the county manager report and update.

[1:46:39] » I'll b be brief and it's show and tell as soon as I get the computer up and

[1:46:44] tell >> and I'm not going to try the green

[1:46:46] thing. >> Is [laughter] this a picture of a

[1:46:48] jugging?

[1:46:52] » Just as reference, this is for the uh well 2A

[1:46:57] emergency replacement for the well that failed in January. It's about 400 Brad,

[1:47:05] is it 410 or 420 feet deep? 410 ft deep. There are five screens. You'll see them.

[1:47:13] They're uh kind of dark in color. Those five screens, I think, total 65 ft of

[1:47:20] screen material for for drawing uh water. Uh we continue to work through

[1:47:25] the development of those screens. Uh if you'll jump to the next one, please.

[1:47:32] U on the left was the

[1:47:37] u hydro geologist analysis of how we

[1:47:42] identified where to place the screens and the

[1:47:47] crane operator. I think that's when the test well was being installed. Is that

[1:47:53] » the case? >> The case was being installed.

[1:47:56] Then the next item,

[1:48:05] Brad, help me out on this. That's what they use for the

[1:48:11] » Sure. >> Yeah. Can you explain a little bit?

[1:48:24] I'm going have to look this way cuz that's what I I can see.

[1:48:28] Basically what it is is is it's two um disc at the top and the bottom and they

[1:48:35] they they work it up and down on those screens and in between th those two disc

[1:48:40] they inject water >> or some type of uh chemical mostly

[1:48:45] chlorine and they inject it in and out of the screen and pulls water or pushes

[1:48:50] water through the screen and then sucks it back out with that plunging and it's

[1:48:53] supposed to develop the screen and work the screen and clear it up. And that's

[1:48:58] the work that's been completed. And this next phase is the jetting that we

[1:49:02] described during the >> Yes. This is basically cleaning the

[1:49:04] screens from all the well mud and everything,

[1:49:06] » right? That's correct. From the driven mud, sediment and all that kind of

[1:49:10] stuff.

[1:49:13] » The next screen was one of the shots you've seen in the past. This was from

[1:49:17] Dr. Sproul. It shows the the available aquifers. Our wells [snorts] all

[1:49:22] presently uh draw water from the upper Capefir

[1:49:26] aquifer. In our next round of test wells, we're going to put a an 800 foot

[1:49:33] uh well into the lower Capefare aquifer and run a comparison of the uh upper and

[1:49:40] the lower and we are proposing that. Next slide please. uh for the U Buckland

[1:49:49] school property. And we will start with two test wells and bring back uh results

[1:49:56] and recommendations as to where uh on that site or possibly another site we

[1:50:02] may recommend uh the final production. Well, uh, we've got real

[1:50:10] high enthusiasm for the potential from the lower Capefare based on Dr. Sproul's

[1:50:18] analysis. Item next uh

[1:50:22] is reflective of the board's capital projects. If you've been driving around

[1:50:28] town, you've seen orange cones, you've seen yellow trucks,

[1:50:32] uh, pipe laying in the road, and, uh, we most recently have started the

[1:50:38] directional boring, Carter Creek, uh, Bennett Creek, and a number of

[1:50:43] intersections, uh, throughout the county. If we flip to

[1:50:47] the next slide, please. This is at the lot county owned property adjacent to

[1:50:54] DSS where we've allowed TA11 to set up their layown yard.

[1:51:04] And just another view, they have assured us and promised that they will put the

[1:51:09] property back the way they found it, but they did have to put in a temporary

[1:51:14] access driveway uh to to get in there. This next slide I took this afternoon

[1:51:21] [snorts] after I left our legislative uh gathering. And Brad, talk to us about

[1:51:28] these 24in pipes versus the others. >> Well, what that is, that's the 24in

[1:51:33] casing that's going under [clears throat] Highway 158 that they're

[1:51:36] going to run the 12 in water line through. uh DOT requires uh to be at

[1:51:41] least 30 inches below the asphalt and um and it has to be inductive iron casing.

[1:51:49] So you hit the >> That's just to give you an idea of the

[1:51:53] augers that they used. And I think in a

[1:51:56] previous month I showed you the augers for the well. That augur was

[1:52:01] » 36 in. >> 36 in. That's 24. It was It was 36. And

[1:52:06] then one last slide of a couple of folks I saw in Durham at the state conference.

[1:52:12] And and we'll end with everybody smiling. [laughter]

[1:52:17] That's all I have. >> Thank you, sir.

[1:52:21] Okay. So, moving along to commissioner updates. I'm going to I can't remember

[1:52:26] where I started last month, but I think it was down there. So, I'm going to

[1:52:29] start down here. [snorts] >> Okay. Um report since uh last month.

[1:52:33] Almoral commission. It's hard to remember because we always have it the

[1:52:36] next night after this meeting. So, trying to remember notes. I I actually

[1:52:39] wrote them down my phone to try and capture. Just two things worth noting.

[1:52:43] Um, I talk over and over again about the housing assistance programs they've got

[1:52:47] and the update as of last month, the weather weatherization assistance

[1:52:50] program, which is good for the whole Alamo district. They have $2.9 million

[1:52:55] available funds for a three-year program for a weatherization that still can be

[1:52:59] applied for. And then the essential single family rehab program, that's the

[1:53:03] one that's specific right now for Gates County and Terrell County. They still

[1:53:07] have $346,000 available. We're starting the second

[1:53:11] year. We've had three people from Gates County that have used it and I think

[1:53:15] only two in Terrell. So, there's lots of money still available for folks that

[1:53:19] need that. Again, you have to show a need, a financial need or whatever, but

[1:53:24] um it's a big pot of money still sitting there available for folks.

[1:53:29] Now, um I did want to bring up I think it's great we talked about the whole

[1:53:33] planning actions. I've been a big advocate. Everybody knows that. Run my

[1:53:35] mouth. Won't shut up about it. I appreciate and I appreciate the school

[1:53:38] that we really do want to do the facilities planning and get things

[1:53:41] right. I think people see me a lot as an opposition to everything. It's not so

[1:53:45] much that I like to make a conscious decision going forward with things and I

[1:53:50] think that's a great first step. Applaud the board here. Hopefully the school

[1:53:54] board as well will embrace it. We'll do a great thing going forward. Um

[1:53:58] accountability is what it's for for me. And I do want to say recently and this

[1:54:02] is changing subject slightly. Some people follow social media and other

[1:54:06] things have seen some complaints about the rescue squad and people are very

[1:54:11] appreciative of having the rescue squad the first time you're in need and they

[1:54:14] show up all your concerns about them fall away. But at the same time, I do

[1:54:19] want to say that we mentioned back in this budget development cycle that we

[1:54:24] wanted to see an audit. And I just want to reiterate that because we're coming

[1:54:28] we're now well past the budget year and we're going to be approaching the next

[1:54:32] budget year. And if people come in in May and say, "Well, we didn't know about

[1:54:36] it. We don't have time to do an audit. Let's just let it go another year." I'm

[1:54:39] going to be drastically disappointed. And so, I'd like to encourage us as a

[1:54:44] board to reiterate that we expect a audit when we're giving hundreds and

[1:54:49] hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars for something not taking away at

[1:54:52] all the good job they do. And like I said, if I had a health issue right now,

[1:54:56] I'd be the guy that would be having no complaints about them showing up. But at

[1:55:00] the same time as a steward of public funds I think we need to account for how

[1:55:04] our money is being spent in a public reconciled audit's important for me. And

[1:55:09] then the last thing again we talked about in the work session again that

[1:55:12] whole big long facility planning effort. I think it's again worth noting other

[1:55:16] big thing I've harped on is the necessity and having a conscious

[1:55:21] decision about the pipeline pump station from the Buckland school without us

[1:55:25] having a clear idea of the use of that building. And so I just want to note

[1:55:28] that I think it's good that we talked about it some today and hopefully we'll

[1:55:31] make some conscious decisions just not let momentum carry us forward. Thank

[1:55:35] you, >> Commissioner Roundry.

[1:55:39] » Yes. Uh I truly enjoyed North Carolina Association of County Commissioners

[1:55:43] conference that was held in Durham. It was very informative. It was a great

[1:55:48] networking opportunity and I was blessed to be selected as

[1:55:55] regional director for the NCABCO organization.

[1:56:03] Also earlier at the Social Security Institute, I was selected as regional

[1:56:09] director at large for the North Carolina Association of County Boards of Social

[1:56:16] Services. So I look forward to serving in those two capacity.

[1:56:20] Also I want to congratulate Miss Leila Eglson. She is a freshman at UNC

[1:56:27] Charlotte. She's majoring in communi management management communication

[1:56:31] systems and she received a scholarship during the conference. Also with sad

[1:56:37] hearts uh I mourn and we mourn the death of a Gates County legend Reverend Claude

[1:56:44] ODM. He he also was a former commissioner in Herford County. A great

[1:56:49] statesman, a great reverend at New Mill Swamp Baptist Church. He left a legacy

[1:56:56] of e excellence and he was a great individual who made impact not only in

[1:57:02] Gates County but and not only the region throughout the state. So with sad hearts

[1:57:09] his he will be uh finalized Friday. Also

[1:57:16] there was a great um 250 uh America celebration here. Everyone should have

[1:57:22] been here. Um we recognize former Secretary of State, the late

[1:57:30] Thad U, the longest serving Secretary of State in the state of North Carolina. He

[1:57:35] was an awesome man. and his family was here. They told great stories,

[1:57:40] told about his impact in the community throughout the state. He was a powerful

[1:57:45] man and he made Gates County proud. He made Gates County proud because he was

[1:57:50] one of us and he served our state well. Recognized for his red bow tie and also

[1:57:58] his hat. He was a strong man with wisdom and excellence. And I'm proud that Gates

[1:58:04] County at one point in time had a secretary of state. Also, October the

[1:58:10] 1st, this is my Trillium. October the 1st, Trillium will be launching a uh

[1:58:17] claim system, a unified claim system. And what that is, all claims is going to

[1:58:23] go directly through Trillium. And Trillium would be the payer for those

[1:58:29] who are in that particular tail plan. So that's going to take place October the

[1:58:34] 1st. So that concludes my uh updates. So glad

[1:58:40] to see everyone out and engaged and hope everyone have a blessed night.

[1:58:45] » All right. Thank you, sir. >> All right. I don't really have any

[1:58:50] committee updates. I've uh got some medical stuff going on that I don't get

[1:58:54] out as much as I was. Uh I did have a constituent uh talk to me um yesterday,

[1:59:00] day before, I can't remember which one it was, but uh they were at our

[1:59:05] wonderful library that we have. Um they had problems getting on the internet and

[1:59:12] uh come to find out they don't have fiber optic internet

[1:59:17] at uh at our library. So Mr. S if uh if I can put this on one of your to-do

[1:59:23] lists being that we have fiber optic internet can uh we look and see what it

[1:59:27] would take to get it to our library. Um

[1:59:33] I'm not sure if it's a regional thing they they use all one vendor or whatever

[1:59:38] but I think we might be able to even if we have to pay for for our citizens you

[1:59:42] know uh >> I think they they deserve but everybody

[1:59:47] goes to the library to learn. Some people go to the library to get on the

[1:59:50] internet because they don't have internet and I think we should be able

[1:59:53] to provide them with the best internet and we got it. We got it. So that's all

[1:59:59] I have. >> All right. Thank you.

[2:00:01] » All right. Well, uh I sit on the Almar Regional Transit Authority and we had

[2:00:07] some really good discussions this past uh month and um a lot of was geared

[2:00:13] around trying to get more funding out of the

[2:00:17] North Carolina DOT uh to the Alamar area. You they talked about a lot of

[2:00:23] things they wanted to do over uh in in the the Deer County area, but uh Gates

[2:00:28] County is on that list, too. and uh they're continuing with uh working to

[2:00:34] get additional funding to um modernize 158, widen it as it kind of comes down

[2:00:39] through the the the county as well as uh continuing the fourlane of 13 up to the

[2:00:45] Virginia state line. Um there's also uh that design has been

[2:00:52] done and the funding is available uh for a roundabout at 158 and Acorn

[2:00:59] Hill Road. So that's something that's uh >> could could be coming in the future. So

[2:01:03] that's something that North Carolina DOT is looking. So just kind of informing

[2:01:06] everybody that something just different for Gates [clears throat] County. So

[2:01:10] » I don't know if I exactly agree with them, but hey,

[2:01:14] you try to drive a combine around that thing. [laughter]

[2:01:20] » Yeah. um had a had a good time uh this past week

[2:01:25] at the NA in NCACC. Uh yes, I got up and spoke and I had

[2:01:31] that was a tongue twister for me. I had to slow down every time I got up and

[2:01:33] talked about that. [laughter] >> So, uh ju just to hear uh the issues

[2:01:40] going on in the other 99 counties in this great state and um they are very

[2:01:47] similar. Some of them have more has a bigger price tag than what ours do, but

[2:01:51] they're very very similar. And to be able to bat ideas off of one another, uh

[2:01:58] how are they handling their issues, how we're handling them? Um they were

[2:02:03] shocked to hear how great of a uh relationship that we have with our board

[2:02:08] of education. And I said, "Well, when you got good folks on the board of

[2:02:11] education, then you got good relationships. That's how it works." So,

[2:02:14] um I I also want to uh uh thank Dr. Jordan for and and let her know that we

[2:02:20] appreciate her taking on that role as interim superintendent. Um we look

[2:02:25] forward to your success. Uh we know that your success will bring the school

[2:02:30] system success. So, um we're looking forward to it.

[2:02:34] » So, that's all I have. >> All right. Well, thank you. Um so, just

[2:02:39] to highlight, yeah, the NCAACC conference was phenomenal. um as it

[2:02:43] always is. Lots of great information, lots of great connections. Um I had

[2:02:47] mentioned last month that I was running for the second vice chair. I had the um

[2:02:51] vice chair of our board do one of my nomination speeches. I did not win,

[2:02:55] which I think is an okay thing. Um I was I was the underdog going in. I knew

[2:02:59] that. We're new to we're new to showing up in Raleigh. We're new to showing up

[2:03:03] at the NCAACC events. Um it's just been the past few years. My opponent's been

[2:03:07] there over 12. He's a mentor in the association. So, I'm incredibly excited

[2:03:10] to be under his leadership for the next few years. Um, and continue to serve as

[2:03:15] the district 1 director for the NCAACCC as well, uh, which is the northeast most

[2:03:19] 10 counties here, um, in North Carolina, what we jokingly call the forgotten

[2:03:24] northeast. So, we're getting a little louder so they remember us over here. um

[2:03:30] also in the past month have traveled um to DPI as we mentioned earlier with

[2:03:35] board of education and our superintendent and it was I think a

[2:03:40] fruitful meeting. Um it came out with relationships build and more

[2:03:44] conversations going forward and I cannot wait to see what um it does for Gates

[2:03:48] County. I think it's going to be really good. Um the EMS board is meeting

[2:03:53] tomorrow and I just going to put that out there. We haven't had a meeting

[2:03:55] since the budget was passed, so it hasn't been neglected. We're just having

[2:03:59] our first EMS board meeting tomorrow night in this fiscal year. Um [laughter]

[2:04:04] just so I'll have that update in report next month. Um and then lastly, I have

[2:04:10] here um I have two legislative goals. North uh the North Carolina Association

[2:04:15] of County Commissioners, which is the NCAACCC, um has a legislative goals

[2:04:19] process every two years um when the general assembly goes into a long

[2:04:22] session. And so counties are able to propose um goals for NCACCC to pick up

[2:04:29] to lobby and to advocate for on behalf of 100 counties. And so I've had just

[2:04:34] based on conversations with um staff and with our board various issues we've had

[2:04:39] with funding and then with a citizen that had come and asked for us to back

[2:04:43] something. I've drafted two um proposed legislative goals that you should have

[2:04:47] received tonight. Um, but I will read those and just see if we are open to

[2:04:52] adopting these and if so, I need to have them submitted tomorrow. Um, the first

[2:04:56] is a proposed legislative goal uh to reform North Carolina's county tier

[2:05:01] system. And just for a little background before I read what the proposed goal is,

[2:05:05] um, the tier system is how we what we use to apply for a lot of our grants. We

[2:05:09] are a tier 2 county. You want to be a tier one as far as a lowincome area. um

[2:05:15] somehow or another, Pit County and and various counties across the state are

[2:05:19] tier one and we are a tier 2 county um which loses a lot of grant opportunities

[2:05:24] for us. A lot of funding that we could get at state level we are not capable of

[2:05:27] getting because of this tier system. So we're trying to advocate for reform of

[2:05:30] the tier system for counties like us. And this proposal um says support

[2:05:35] comprehensive reform of North Carolina's county development tier system to ensure

[2:05:39] that economic distress is measured accurately and that counties are not

[2:05:42] unfairly excluded from critical grants, incentives, and other funding

[2:05:46] opportunities. The current system requires counties to be divided into a

[2:05:50] fixed allocation of 40 tier 1 counties, 40 tier 2 counties, and 20 tier three

[2:05:55] counties. This structure forces counties to compete against one another for a

[2:05:59] limited number of designations, even when multiple counties face similar

[2:06:02] levels of economic distress. As a result, a county's designation may

[2:06:07] reflect its ranking relative to other counties rather than its actual needs,

[2:06:11] resources, and ability to fund essential services. Legislation should replace the

[2:06:16] fixed 40420 allocation with objective needs based thresholds that allow any

[2:06:20] county meeting the established criteria to receive the appropriate designation.

[2:06:25] modernize the formula to account for poverty, poverty, household income,

[2:06:29] population loss, unemployment, taxbased capacity, infrastructure needs, access

[2:06:32] to health care, educational attainment, and the cost of providing essential

[2:06:36] services. Recognize the unique challenges of rural low population and

[2:06:40] geographically isolated counties. Prevent counties from abruptly losing

[2:06:44] funding eligibility because of small annual changes in rankings or data. and

[2:06:49] establish a reasonable or a transition or hold harmless period when a county

[2:06:53] moves to a higher tier and regularly review the formula and its effect on

[2:06:58] county's eligibility for state grants matching requirements and economic

[2:07:01] development programs. So that is the first um proposed legislative goal. And

[2:07:06] then the second um general assembly for years has been

[2:07:12] trying to take power away from the county and put it at state level for um

[2:07:17] property and land use and now property taxes and all the things. You'll be

[2:07:21] hearing from us a lot more on this as we get closer to election times. But this

[2:07:26] specific uh goal was brought to me by a citizen um and asked that we put up and

[2:07:31] it's restoring local control of fox hunting pres preserves. Uh it states

[2:07:36] support legislation clarifying that controlled fox hunting preserves

[2:07:39] commonly known as fox pins are recreational or commercial hunting

[2:07:43] facilities rather than bonafide agricultural operations. amend North

[2:07:47] Carolina law to ensure these facilities are subject to county zoning, land use,

[2:07:52] permitting, and reasonable operational reg regulations. The legislation should

[2:07:56] restore decision-making authority to county governments, allowing locally

[2:08:00] elected officials to consider location, neighboring property uses, noise,

[2:08:04] traffic, public safety, animal welfare, environmental impacts, operating hours,

[2:08:08] and other community concerns. Counties should have the authority to approve,

[2:08:12] condition, regulate, or deny these facilities according to local needs and

[2:08:15] circumstances. The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission may

[2:08:19] continue establishing minimum statewide standards related to wildlife

[2:08:22] conservation, animal health, and licensing, but those standards should

[2:08:26] not override a county's authority over land use and local operational impacts.

[2:08:30] Um, so these are the two proposed legislative goals. Um, we could take

[2:08:34] them individually or together if, but I would like to make a motion that we move

[2:08:38] these along in the legislative goal process for the NCAACCC.

[2:08:43] Take a second. >> We have a second. Do we have any

[2:08:46] comments or discussion? >> Yeah. The only thing the the way the

[2:08:49] formula currently works the you can hear accounting for poverty household income.

[2:08:54] » That's what killed us. >> Separated.

[2:08:56] » Okay. >> What I was going to say was is the

[2:08:59] current thing that killed this county changed our tier was the household

[2:09:03] income and poverty. I would say I think you should push that household property,

[2:09:08] household income to the last because the order tends to give emphasis and I think

[2:09:13] you should push up taxbased capacity because that's really where we lack

[2:09:16] compared to other counties similar tier. >> Yep. Yep.

[2:09:21] » Okay. All right. So, I'm going to make an amendment to my motion. I'm going to

[2:09:24] make a motion to we're going to separate these out. um

[2:09:30] approved their reform North Carolina's county tier system with the amendment of

[2:09:34] switching tax base and capacity and household income um forward and we'll

[2:09:38] take the other one as a [snorts] second. All right, so that's my amended motion.

[2:09:42] » And we have a second for that. So all in favor of the amended motion.

[2:09:46] All right, that is unanimous. And then bringing forth the um restoring local

[2:09:51] control of fox hunting preserves. Um I mean I think land use in general, but

[2:09:55] this is specific. So, um, it was a specific request, so I'll open that.

[2:10:00] Again, I make a motion for this one. >> Yeah. Yeah, I'll I'll second that. It

[2:10:04] was something that, uh, one of the local citizens has come pretty big advocate

[2:10:08] for that. So, we'll see. >> Repeatedly. Yeah. We've had lots of

[2:10:11] comments about this. Only question I'd ask is not to argue for against this,

[2:10:15] but what other counties nearby are doing this? Have you talked to any of the

[2:10:18] other neighboring counties with this? We're making sure

[2:10:21] » this was brought to me and I was told and and I have had the person that came

[2:10:24] to me say that they would do the leg work for it. They just need our approval

[2:10:27] and support as a county that they are not asking for anything other than us

[2:10:31] trying to push it through that they are willing to call and

[2:10:34] » county conversations you know years ago but the the difference is that yeah

[2:10:39] because of the new state law and how it's working.

[2:10:41] » Yeah understand I guess what I'm getting at is there anybody besides us

[2:10:44] » I do know there are other counties that would like to see this change. Well, see

[2:10:48] the whole thing about this is you can affect people's businesses.

[2:10:52] » You can you're telling them that if you buy this 200 and some acres of land, you

[2:10:58] can't do with it what you want to do with you. You see what I'm saying?

[2:11:01] » So, this this is a real touchy. That's why I asked them to be separated because

[2:11:06] » yeah, >> I I'm not against it doing homework on

[2:11:10] it, but I would need more information on what we're really asking for before I

[2:11:14] would vote to change something. >> Yeah. So, like as of right now, I

[2:11:19] believe and and I'm going to look it's zoned as agriculture role through the

[2:11:23] state >> bonafide farm and agriculture.

[2:11:27] » Yeah. Yeah. So, we're just asking to separate it out of

[2:11:30] » separate it and give county more control over the approval of them. So this is

[2:11:33] just requesting the authority return to the county approve that that one would

[2:11:36] [clears throat] then become ours to determine

[2:11:38] » 100% it's just requesting authority to come back to the county authority

[2:11:42] » I understand it but yeah I think

[2:11:50] that's

[2:12:01] » work And again and I can say too when we

[2:12:05] submit these the way the legislative goals process works it goes to the NCC

[2:12:09] staff they consolidate similar and like request and bring them down. They go

[2:12:13] before the steering committees and they approve so many. If they make that then

[2:12:17] they go in November before the 100 counties to approve the legislative

[2:12:21] goals. And after November the NCACCC will be given directives to advocate for

[2:12:25] the goals that are approved in the November legislative goals conference.

[2:12:28] So it's not just saying it's going to go to them and they're going to do it. It's

[2:12:30] going to go through this process of being weaned down and this process of

[2:12:34] vetting um and being fine-tuned to fit most counties.

[2:12:38] » And these are just the two that our county is

[2:12:40] » right. Just submitting, but it will be refined before it goes forth to anything

[2:12:44] else >> on their level.

[2:12:46] » Yeah. >> Okay. So, we have a first and second.

[2:12:50] So, all in favor? All right. Thank you all.

[2:12:56] And [sighs] my last comment was and they had left.

[2:13:00] I'm guessing because of time and having school, but I was really excited to see

[2:13:03] a family with young kids in the audience tonight. I had a text the other day

[2:13:06] asking what time the meeting was that they were wanting to get their family

[2:13:09] involved in politics and just following local politics and community

[2:13:13] involvement. So, they're not here, but I think it was phenomenal that they they

[2:13:17] were and that the kids got to see some of the process. So,

[2:13:21] now um do we have any end comments?

[2:13:26] [laughter]

[2:13:30] No. Okay. So, we have come to the end of our business meeting. We do have a close

[2:13:34] session that was added to the agenda. Um, so if we could get a motion to go

[2:13:38] into close session pursuant 143-318116

[2:13:43] for personnel. >> Just I'll make that. I just want to make

[2:13:46] one comment. I may have insulted Mrs. Spanolia. She was my kid's babysitter

[2:13:50] when she was younger. And when I said that earlier, I apologize. She's not

[2:13:53] here now. I'm going apologize to her later by saying my babysitter. The

[2:13:57] woman's brilliant. She's a professional and I said that lightigh-heartedly. It

[2:14:01] may have offended her and I just want to tell the public that was not my intent

[2:14:04] at all and I will apologize. So with that, I'll move to go into close

[2:14:07] session. >> All right. All in favor? Okay. We'll be

[2:14:12] in close session. >> I remember phone stay out here. Yeah, I

[2:14:18] saw she gave me a look. I was like, "Oh man, I'm in trouble." [laughter]

[2:14:22] She's sharp. She's a shark.

[2:30:51] Come on. Mhm.

[2:30:59] » Quite expeditious. It would be nice.

[2:31:24] Madam chair, I make a motion to come out of close session.

[2:31:27] » Do we have a second? >> Is there a second?

[2:31:29] » All in favor? All right, we are back in open session.

[2:31:34] » Motion to adjourn. >> That is perfect. Can we have a second?

[2:31:38] Second. >> All in favor?

[2:31:40] We are a turn. >> All right.

[2:31:46] » Way to make it happen, guys.

8-26-26: 6pm GC Regular BOC Meeting

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