[5:12] I'd like to call to order the Arredell

[5:13] County Board of Commissioner 6 o'clock

[5:15] regular meeting for Tuesday, August the

[5:16] 18th, 2026. At this time, I'd like to

[5:20] ask Commissioner Halp to give the

[5:21] invocation for the Board of

[5:22] Commissioners as we seek guidance and

[5:24] wisdom in the work we're about to do for

[5:26] the citizens of Ardale County.

[5:29] Lord, we come to you tonight asking for

[5:31] wisdom and guidance, Lord, in all

[5:32] decisions. We ask for prayers for our

[5:34] students, parents, staff, and for a new

[5:37] school year, Lord, and keep them safe

[5:39] every day as they come and go for our

[5:41] school and all the importance that they

[5:43] provide for our communities. We ask for

[5:45] prayers for our military, Lord, and our

[5:47] first responders and their families,

[5:49] Lord, for all that they do for our

[5:50] country and our our municipalities and

[5:53] our county and our state. Lord, prayers

[5:55] for our president, our leaders to do

[5:57] what's right for the American people.

[5:58] Lord, keep them focused on that, Lord,

[6:00] and help them to please you with all

[6:02] their decisions. Lord, please bless the

[6:04] United States as we are not perfect,

[6:06] Lord, but we're still the best country

[6:07] in the world, Lord. In Jesus name, we

[6:09] come to you tonight. We we give you

[6:11] praise and glory in all that you do. And

[6:13] thank you for all our many blessings. In

[6:14] Jesus name we pray. Amen.

[6:16] >> Amen. At this time, I'd like to ask

[6:18] » Amen. At this time, I'd like to ask

[6:18] Commission uh Vice Chair Neer to lead us

[6:20] in a pledge of

[6:20] >> allegiance

[6:24] to the flag of the United States of

[6:27] America and to the republic for which it

[6:30] stands, one nation under God,

[6:33] indivisible, with liberty and justice

[6:36] for all.

[6:40] » And turn it over to county manager for

[6:42] adjustment to the agenda.

[6:43] >> The only adjustment we have this evening

[6:45] » The only adjustment we have this evening

[6:45] is just to make sure that we received

[6:48] another application for the Farmland

[6:50] Preservation Board and that was added on

[6:53] the table before you packet for

[6:54] consideration.

[6:56] >> Do we have a motion to approve the

[6:58] » Do we have a motion to approve the

[6:58] agenda?

[6:58] >> Make a motion to approve.

[7:00] » Make a motion to approve.

[7:00] >> Motion by Commissioner Stout. All in

[7:01] » Motion by Commissioner Stout. All in

[7:01] favor say I.

[7:02] >> I.

[7:03] » I.

[7:03] >> Any opposed? The agenda is approved. We

[7:05] » Any opposed? The agenda is approved. We

[7:06] do not have any special recognitions or

[7:08] awards tonight, but we do have an

[7:10] appointment before the board with the

[7:11] Art of County Health Department. I'll

[7:12] turn it to county manager to fire that

[7:14] off.

[7:14] >> Absolutely. Thank you. Um, this evening

[7:17] » Absolutely. Thank you. Um, this evening

[7:17] we do have a request from the health

[7:18] department to present the 2025 state of

[7:21] the county health report and Miss Indic

[7:23] Savage is here to make this presentation

[7:25] to the board.

[7:45] check and make sure that we have to act

[7:46] it out too.

[7:47] >> I do have some booklets as well.

[7:49] » I do have some booklets as well.

[7:49] >> Oh, there there you go. Here we go.

[7:51] » Oh, there there you go. Here we go.

[7:51] Okay.

[7:52] >> All right. So, good evening everyone. My

[7:54] » All right. So, good evening everyone. My

[7:54] name is Danica Savage. I am the health

[7:56] promotion supervisor from the Iredell

[7:58] County Health Department. So, this

[8:00] evening I will be providing to you all

[8:01] the 2025 state of the county health

[8:03] report, also known as the Satch Report,

[8:06] which shows the actual progress of our

[8:07] community health assessment. So our top

[8:09] three priorities for our 2020 health

[8:11] assessment was chronic disease,

[8:13] substance misuse, and mental health. And

[8:15] with this initiative, we did collaborate

[8:17] with several different organizations

[8:18] throughout Ardell County to improve in

[8:20] those areas.

[8:26] All right. So for our first priority in

[8:29] our initiative, mental health, this was

[8:30] done by our own health department with

[8:32] our opioid team. So we did have our

[8:34] youth mental health first aid. So this

[8:36] is done for our actual adults to help

[8:39] them actually respond to an actual

[8:40] crisis for our youth. So we did train 28

[8:43] SRO's for our mindful Mondays. This was

[8:46] done for our recreation center and we

[8:49] had 384 children. So with this we

[8:52] actually provided emotion emotional

[8:54] regulation games like rock pain puzzles

[8:56] and positive affirmations for them. For

[8:59] our teens mental health first aid and

[9:01] this is for our actual adolesccents

[9:02] between the ages of 14 and 18. We teach

[9:05] them how to actually respond to an

[9:06] actual crisis. So in 2025 we did one

[9:10] training. However, we had five students

[9:12] and that number has incre increased this

[9:14] year.

[9:21] We did collaborate with Bwell Aredell

[9:23] which is a suicide prevention coalition

[9:25] in Ayardell County. So for them their

[9:27] all their activities, events, trainings

[9:29] held and material materials directed

[9:32] were provided. It was a total of 3,000

[9:34] people that they actually reached for

[9:37] the 500 youth engaged. This is the

[9:39] actual number of the youth that train

[9:42] attended their trainings in their

[9:43] programs and that was a total of 500 30

[9:46] partner agencies and that included the

[9:48] health department and 20 trainings held.

[9:56] All right, for chronic disease our own

[9:58] very own mental health well mobile unit

[10:00] I'm sorry. So we are around the county.

[10:03] We did a total of 139 blood pressure

[10:05] checks last year and that number

[10:07] definitely has tripled this year. Down

[10:10] below we do have our healthy for life

[10:12] that we have not yet started. This is

[10:14] with the American Heart Association. So

[10:16] this is actual training that's inerson

[10:18] and virtually done. So it provides

[10:20] education on physical well-being and

[10:22] wellness.

[10:29] All right. So we did collaborate with

[10:31] Ardell health system with their diabetes

[10:33] program. Their diabetes program is for

[10:35] their type 2 diabetes and provides

[10:37] improvement and education to those. So

[10:39] it was a total of 65 people who actually

[10:41] attended the program with 62 participant

[10:44] participants actually maintaining their

[10:46] type 2 diabetes levels. So for their

[10:49] outreach and community engagement, this

[10:51] includes educational trainings and

[10:53] events. There were a total of 406

[10:56] community members that actually attended

[11:03] for substance misuse. We did collaborate

[11:05] with Daki Ardo County Wellness Clinic in

[11:07] the Statesville Police Department. So

[11:10] these are very our own prevention

[11:12] methods. So with the Aridell Statesville

[11:15] Police Department, it was 100 a total of

[11:18] 154 pounds of unwanted med medications

[11:21] for their drug t takeback program. So

[11:24] for Daki, this included their 95 lock

[11:26] boxes. For their fitnol strips, 341.

[11:30] Again, these are prevention methods. And

[11:32] then for our Arredell County Wellness

[11:34] Clinic, there were 19 referrals for our

[11:36] quit line program. And this included our

[11:38] county employees,

[11:46] our challenges.

[11:48] So for 2025, we did have several

[11:50] different challenges. Of course, our

[11:52] measles outbreak with 24 cases and our

[11:55] last reported case was February 21st,

[11:57] 2026. Our government shutdown which

[12:00] affected the entire country, especially

[12:02] the health department with our care

[12:04] management program and access to mental

[12:06] health care. So, here in Ardell County,

[12:08] we do have our we do have behavioral

[12:10] health Davis with 42 beds. However, we

[12:13] do need more inpatient for mental health

[12:16] as well as our substance abuse recovery

[12:18] long-term treatment centers.

[12:26] For our health trends for 2023, the

[12:29] morbidity and mortality rates, there

[12:31] were no significant changes from 2023

[12:34] that remained pretty consistent. Opioid

[12:36] overdoses still a high-risisk concern.

[12:38] So, we still track those with NC detect.

[12:41] And again, with our provider capacity,

[12:43] that was our mental health and our

[12:44] substance misuse treatment centers,

[12:46] which is a need in Iridale County.

[12:52] All right. For our new initiatives at

[12:53] the health department, do we do have our

[12:55] animated character, Globy. He is our

[12:57] mood keeper for our youth. So, he

[12:59] provides our youth emotional regulation

[13:02] and teaches them how to recognize their

[13:03] actual emotions and their actual

[13:05] feelings.

[13:11] All right. And for 2027, the community

[13:14] health assessment is coming up. We will

[13:15] continue to collaborate with several

[13:17] different organizations and we will be

[13:19] partnering with Duke Health on this

[13:20] initiative. Thank you.

[13:29] » Can I ask you a question?

[13:30] >> Sure.

[13:31] » Sure.

[13:31] >> I see it says questions now.

[13:32] » I see it says questions now.

[13:32] >> Yes.

[13:33] » Yes.

[13:33] >> And if you're not able to answer, I'm

[13:35] » And if you're not able to answer, I'm

[13:35] sure you can like phone a friend or

[13:36] reach out or follow back up. If you will

[13:38] um think back to what is capable by the

[13:41] the mobile health unit

[13:43] >> when it's out and about in the community

[13:45] » when it's out and about in the community

[13:45] if someone comes in to have blood work

[13:47] done is something say there go back to

[13:50] the diabetes focus on that one on their

[13:51] numbers

[13:52] >> if they wonder if their sugar's high

[13:54] » if they wonder if their sugar's high

[13:54] whether they are diagnosed with diabetes

[13:56] or if they're just the citizen that's

[13:58] never had their blood check

[13:59] >> is that something they can coordinate

[14:01] » is that something they can coordinate

[14:01] with the mobile health unit or do they

[14:03] have to come in

[14:04] >> that is something that they are able to

[14:06] » that is something that they are able to

[14:06] coordinate with the mobile So we do have

[14:08] a lab team out there. So

[14:09] >> that's essentially what I was wondering.

[14:11] » that's essentially what I was wondering.

[14:11] So that way folks sometimes are hesitant

[14:12] to go.

[14:14] >> They need to know,

[14:14] » They need to know,

[14:14] >> right? So we do have lab out there. So

[14:16] » right? So we do have lab out there. So

[14:16] yes, we they will get the help that they

[14:18] need.

[14:18] >> How long would they have to wait to have

[14:19] » How long would they have to wait to have

[14:19] results?

[14:21] >> I'm not sure. It depends on the actual

[14:23] » I'm not sure. It depends on the actual

[14:23] what they're actually there for. You get

[14:25] it done. Yes. Yes.

[14:27] >> We do not turn anyone away.

[14:28] » We do not turn anyone away.

[14:28] >> Okay. Excellent. Thank you.

[14:31] » Okay. Excellent. Thank you.

[14:31] I think on your slide you kind of

[14:34] alluded to this is

[14:36] >> with the growth that we're seeing in

[14:38] » with the growth that we're seeing in

[14:38] this county.

[14:39] >> Are you starting to see more folks with

[14:41] » Are you starting to see more folks with

[14:41] the health department because they are

[14:43] having trouble getting in with a their

[14:46] own provider?

[14:48] >> Well, I would say that's everywhere. I

[14:50] » Well, I would say that's everywhere. I

[14:50] would say provider capacity, like I said

[14:53] it before, that's a need in several

[14:54] different counties. the health

[14:56] department does provide you know that

[14:57] access to individuals even those without

[14:59] health insurance on a sliding scale. So

[15:01] we do see a lot of different people with

[15:03] that.

[15:03] >> Are you are you hearing very much of

[15:06] » Are you are you hearing very much of

[15:06] folks kind of um

[15:08] >> more migrating to the health department

[15:10] » more migrating to the health department

[15:10] instead of their primary care providers

[15:12] >> because of capacity?

[15:13] » because of capacity?

[15:13] >> Um I wouldn't say that I'm hearing I

[15:15] » Um I wouldn't say that I'm hearing I

[15:15] would say that we we see more patients

[15:18] um because of that. You know a lot of

[15:19] people don't accept Medicaid so we do

[15:21] see a lot of patients with Medicaid. Um,

[15:23] so I I feel like we do maintain a good a

[15:26] good bit of clients.

[15:30] » Any other questions?

[15:37] » Make a motion to

[15:40] >> All right. Thank you guys.

[15:42] » All right. Thank you guys.

[15:42] >> We got a motion on the floor.

[15:43] » We got a motion on the floor.

[15:43] >> Motion by Commissioner Stout. All in

[15:45] » Motion by Commissioner Stout. All in

[15:45] favor say I.

[15:46] >> Any oppos?

[15:49] » Any oppos?

[15:49] >> You guys have a good evening.

[15:51] » You guys have a good evening.

[15:51] >> I'm feeling healthier already.

[15:53] » I'm feeling healthier already.

[15:53] positive energies.

[15:56] >> We don't have any public hearings

[15:57] » We don't have any public hearings

[15:58] tonight, but I'll turn it over to the

[15:59] manager to do our administrative matter.

[16:01] >> Thank you, Chair Conley. Um, do you want

[16:03] » Thank you, Chair Conley. Um, do you want

[16:03] to go ahead and do the the two that we

[16:05] reserve for the six? So, uh, the first

[16:08] item under administrative matters for

[16:10] the six o'clock meeting is a request

[16:12] from Ardell six schools for approval of

[16:14] phase 2 athletic funding for Weather

[16:16] Creek High School, including budget

[16:17] amendment number six and amendment to

[16:19] the capital project ordinance. And Mr.

[16:22] Mark Shanker is here to make his

[16:23] presentation to the board. I will say

[16:25] depending upon uh the board's decision,

[16:28] Miss Taylor is um has various different

[16:32] options for budget amendments. She's

[16:34] she's been busy with budget amendments,

[16:35] not knowing which

[16:37] ago. So, um she actually will come and

[16:39] tag team at the

[16:45] » Yes. Uh good evening, uh

[16:48] Chairman Connelly, members of the board.

[16:50] Um I'm here on behalf of Irale

[16:52] Statesville Schools, um to present to

[16:54] you a request for funding, additional

[16:56] funding for Weathers Creek High School,

[16:59] uh to complete phase two of our school.

[17:02] Um as you know, we're under construction

[17:03] there and have been for quite some time.

[17:06] Um, we've received

[17:09] $130 million worth of funding from uh

[17:12] the county to build this project. Um,

[17:15] and you know, our intent is to try to

[17:18] complete the project all together with

[17:21] phase one and and open the school

[17:23] together with both an athletics portion

[17:25] of the field um to the to the the school

[17:28] building side of the project. The

[17:30] building part of the project is is

[17:32] running as scheduled and um and we are

[17:36] delivering a school to be opened in fall

[17:39] of 2027. So this is our last school year

[17:41] without the uh school. We're in the

[17:44] middle of a redistricting process right

[17:45] now and we hope to have that approved in

[17:48] our next month in our board meeting

[17:49] there. And so we've been looking at

[17:52] different options. If you remember

[17:54] originally um we were making a request

[17:57] forundred

[17:59] 70 million or so for the project. 32

[18:03] million I believe was the original uh

[18:05] request there for phase two of the

[18:07] project for athletics.

[18:09] You know, we understand that that's uh

[18:11] not going to be possible

[18:14] with a with the constraints that you

[18:16] have with budget. So, we we looked back

[18:18] at it to see what we could eliminate.

[18:20] Our goal all along was to try to provide

[18:22] a full continuum of athletics, every

[18:24] sport to all the students that attend

[18:27] Weathers Creek High School. And when we

[18:29] did that project, when we did that

[18:31] exercise,

[18:32] um, we were able to to eliminate some

[18:35] things and and try to back into around a

[18:38] $25 million construction project.

[18:42] And then we've continued to sharpen the

[18:45] pencil going back through to see what

[18:48] was possible in the project to

[18:50] eliminate. Understand that anytime you

[18:51] do a project there are construction

[18:53] costs but there are other costs

[18:54] associated with the project with

[18:55] permitting design fees. You know you

[18:58] know misconception will be well we

[19:00] already designed it. Well when you're

[19:01] making the design modifications we are

[19:04] to the field uh position of the field

[19:06] and where certain things are located you

[19:09] have to redesign these things. We've

[19:11] looked at consolidating buildings

[19:13] together and doing all of all of these

[19:15] exercises together to try to drop into a

[19:18] budget. So um the construction company

[19:20] Monteth Construction has been helpful in

[19:23] doing this exercise. They've spent hours

[19:26] with their staff trying to come up with

[19:29] different versions that that could back

[19:32] into a budget that everyone was

[19:33] satisfied with. The architect has been

[19:36] very helpful and has put in a ton of

[19:38] time for the project as well. Um, and so

[19:40] the documents I shared with you is is

[19:42] kind of I believe um an option for us to

[19:46] do this project. And um and I'll kind of

[19:50] talk through a little bit of what that

[19:51] is. I have a a map up here that kind of

[19:53] shows some of these ideas that we've

[19:55] done. If you remember, the original plan

[19:56] had the field oriented a different way.

[19:59] We've we've looked at moving the field,

[20:01] eliminating parking lots mostly uh for

[20:05] grading purposes. The project has a

[20:08] large uh it's sloped from the north end

[20:12] to the south end of the property. So

[20:16] having the fields positioned in the way

[20:17] they were before would require a very

[20:20] expensive retaining wall. So we looked

[20:22] to move things up to avoid the that work

[20:25] and avoid having to build a retaining

[20:27] wall there. We eliminated some access

[20:30] roads that went up to the back side of

[20:32] the field. What's highlighted there in

[20:34] green is a section of the road that we

[20:36] would suggest would be done some of that

[20:40] were to be done in gravel versus

[20:41] pavement. On the football field itself,

[20:44] we eliminated several of the buildings

[20:46] to have one building. So, consolidating

[20:49] a concession stand, eliminating a

[20:52] concession stand and then consolidating

[20:53] the concession stand into the

[20:55] fieldhouse. It's much cheaper to build

[20:56] one building than it is multiple

[20:58] buildings. We reduce the capacity in the

[21:01] in the uh stadium there with the number

[21:04] of seats that we have in here to match

[21:06] the same capacity that we have at South

[21:07] Irale High School. on our baseball and

[21:10] softball fields. They had uh bleachers

[21:13] on the home side, on the on the I'm

[21:15] sorry, the first base side, the third

[21:17] base side, and behind home plate. And we

[21:21] looked to eliminate both the ones on the

[21:23] baselines just to have bleachers behind

[21:25] home plate. Parking lots were eliminated

[21:28] utilizing before the idea of the project

[21:30] was we had a gate that would separate

[21:33] athletics from the building side.

[21:35] Eliminating the gate and utilizing

[21:38] parking that's on the building side

[21:40] allows us to not install all these

[21:43] parking lots and saves lots of money in

[21:46] parking. I'm sure you manage your county

[21:47] budget here. You know what parking lots

[21:48] cost. We also look to eliminate both

[21:51] practice fields in this generation and

[21:55] with the idea that we could install one

[21:57] ourselves through our maintenance

[21:59] department or through our capital funds

[22:01] at a later date.

[22:03] We would grade it so that a field was a

[22:06] field kind of footprint was there for

[22:08] one of the athletic fields, but then the

[22:12] other field there actually a slope there

[22:14] where that other there wouldn't be a

[22:16] spot there for that other field. We'd

[22:17] have to go in and grade some of that to

[22:19] add the other practice field.

[22:22] And so there are some other components

[22:24] pieces in there. It's all kind of

[22:25] outlined, I believe, in that letter that

[22:27] Monteth has provided.

[22:30] And all of these I will state is is

[22:32] really just an an option. Um we can

[22:35] really work with any budget the county

[22:37] provides us. Um it is you know and this

[22:41] is this exercise that we did was done

[22:44] rather rather quickly. Um these are all

[22:46] estimates. If you notice the one

[22:48] document I provided you they have lots

[22:49] of zeros because those are estimates

[22:51] that you know we don't we're not really

[22:53] tied to any of this. you know, our

[22:55] request is to to receive funding for

[22:57] this and then we could go back and

[23:01] really decide how we're going to to

[23:03] utilize that funding. Um, but this plan

[23:06] right here, I think, is one um that we

[23:08] would be very pleased with. I will also

[23:10] point out, too, it does not have tennis

[23:12] courts in there. We eliminated all six

[23:14] tennis courts in this piece here. You

[23:16] know, that's unfortunate, but that's a

[23:18] it's a very expensive for the number of

[23:21] participants that we have in tennis. Um,

[23:23] and it's, you know, you'll spend

[23:25] anywhere from half a million to a

[23:26] million dollars instead in installing a

[23:27] tennis court. I think one of the quotes

[23:28] he had in here was $1.2 million for

[23:31] tennis or, you know, for some high

[23:33] schools that, you know, don't even have

[23:35] a tennis team, have trouble fielding

[23:36] tennis teams. We can look to add that at

[23:39] a later date.

[23:41] So, I know one popular question we

[23:42] receive is if we were to do this, how

[23:44] long it would take? We're kind of

[23:45] working with a one-year um timeline. I

[23:49] think 12 months of construction timeline

[23:50] for it. So by the time we finish if um

[23:53] funding was made available and we were

[23:56] looking to um you know go through the

[23:59] design and finalize the design finalize

[24:01] you know how we were going to utilize

[24:02] those funds it would be 12 months from

[24:05] there. So you know I kind of say a day

[24:07] for a day. The longer this is delayed

[24:10] the longer it would take you know to

[24:12] have it installed.

[24:14] I believe you're going to have the best

[24:16] price is the price that uh is today's

[24:20] price and as we move further along this

[24:22] if we were to defer this project I think

[24:24] it becomes more expensive. How much more

[24:26] expensive? I I'm not really sure. A lot

[24:29] of the pricing that all the pricing that

[24:30] we provide in here is based on the you

[24:33] know construction consumer index um and

[24:37] you know what we're seeing from we

[24:38] haven't rebid the project but I think

[24:40] once we rebid the project we'll be able

[24:42] to kind of go through and and see you

[24:44] know what our best prices in there and

[24:47] what we can do um on any of it. So, this

[24:52] scope right here, without the tennis

[24:54] courts, without the practice fields, and

[24:56] all of these modifications that we've

[24:58] spoke about, brings a construction cost

[25:01] of $22 million.

[25:03] Um, we are estimating $2 million in soft

[25:06] costs

[25:08] um for a total project cost of $24

[25:11] million.

[25:13] We have saved money from phase one on

[25:15] the project. We're running probably

[25:18] about $1.5 million and what we call our

[25:21] our kitty. We've eliminated things from

[25:24] that project to try to save money there

[25:26] to put towards phase two. We I think

[25:29] we've done a really nice job not to

[25:31] cheapen the building, but to find, you

[25:33] know, savings where things might have

[25:35] been unnecessary.

[25:37] Um so, for example, you know, I I shared

[25:40] this with the board last week. We found

[25:41] $30,000 last week because the mezzanines

[25:44] where the HVAC system is housed above in

[25:47] these areas above the classroom space.

[25:50] It's just mechanical equipment up there.

[25:52] Those in the in the plans, they were set

[25:54] to be to have painting up done up there.

[25:56] A coat of primer and a coat of paint.

[25:58] Eliminated that. You know, they could be

[26:00] just regular masonry walls up there. We

[26:02] saved a hund00 million by eliminating a

[26:04] a hall of fame kind of corridor that

[26:07] went towards the gym. Now we have a wall

[26:09] of fame with just some casing and

[26:11] trophies and things in there. So we've

[26:13] looked to eliminate a lot of these

[26:15] things through the project, saving about

[26:17] 1.5. We're comfortable with about 1.25

[26:20] of that. Still want to leave something

[26:21] in there. There is unforeseen things

[26:23] that pop up from time to time. We also

[26:26] have some allowance savings as well too.

[26:29] You know, anytime you do a construction

[26:30] project, you have little pots of money

[26:31] for allowances. you have one for um you

[26:35] know an allowance for electrical, an

[26:36] allowance for all of these different

[26:38] trades. And as the project gets further

[26:40] along, you know, we're more and more

[26:42] comfortable with utilizing the money

[26:44] that's there in the allowances. This is

[26:46] $250,000 towards allowances. There's

[26:49] more than that in the allowances, but

[26:51] this is the part I think we're we're

[26:52] going to be comfortable dedicating

[26:53] towards the project. A half a million

[26:55] dollars of the project is going to be

[26:58] reimbursed by NC DOT. This is not

[27:00] something that you receive immediately,

[27:02] but at some point we'll have a

[27:04] reimbursement of $500,000. A lot of time

[27:06] when we get those reimbursements,

[27:07] they're, you know, returned back to the

[27:10] school, but you know, that'll be your

[27:12] choice there. But 500,000, you know, you

[27:15] know, we kind of put in there as well.

[27:18] We also receive somewhere around $2

[27:20] million a year in lottery funds. So,

[27:22] we're prepared um to put money into this

[27:25] project toward from lottery. So, for

[27:28] example, we can look at one of the maybe

[27:30] baseball and softball fields and see if

[27:31] we could utilize lottery funds to to pay

[27:34] for those portions of the project. So,

[27:36] that brings a total contribution to the

[27:38] project from the district at $4 million.

[27:42] Um, so if you take you do the math, 24

[27:44] million total project cost, $4 million

[27:47] from the district gives us an estimated

[27:49] counting funding request of $20 million.

[27:53] And so, you know, and I'm going to share

[27:55] uh a little bit later about Parkertown

[27:58] Elementary, which we are operating, you

[28:01] know, within our budget there and things

[28:03] are favorable on that project. You know,

[28:07] that's another space there that I think

[28:08] we could look at at some point, too, is

[28:10] seeing, you know, is there savings that

[28:13] we have from that portion of the project

[28:14] to put back into this project. So there

[28:17] are other opportunities I think along

[28:19] the way and as as time goes on I think

[28:21] it'll become more clear on exactly what

[28:24] this may look like.

[28:28] It's probably a lot of information. I'll

[28:29] I'll take any questions you have.

[28:31] >> Anybody got any questions for Mark?

[28:33] » Anybody got any questions for Mark?

[28:33] >> Simple one on the football field. Are

[28:36] » Simple one on the football field. Are

[28:36] you is it considered to be turf in this

[28:38] estimate as well?

[28:39] >> Yes. The field itself would be a very

[28:41] » Yes. The field itself would be a very

[28:41] similar product to to what we've done on

[28:43] our other fields. South Irale High

[28:45] School. They'll have their first home

[28:47] football game on their on their turf

[28:49] field on Friday night if you want to

[28:50] come out for that. But that'll it'll be

[28:52] a similar product to what we have at our

[28:54] other ones. The track in this particular

[28:57] estimate is looking at a different

[28:59] version of track surface. And we're

[29:01] still in conversations with geoaces that

[29:04] provides our our track and fields there

[29:06] to see is there another really good

[29:08] track surface that may not be the the

[29:10] Mondo system that we have on these

[29:12] fields is top of the line across the the

[29:15] country. I think they said that

[29:16] something crazy I'll say the number

[29:18] wrong but 80% of all world records are

[29:21] set on the this particular track

[29:22] surface. We can find a really good

[29:24] surface. I just care about it lasting

[29:26] long. Is it safe for kids and will it

[29:27] last long? That's the kind of the the

[29:29] way that I look at it. So, could we find

[29:30] another product that could potentially

[29:32] save us, you know, half a million

[29:34] dollars? And I think that that's this is

[29:36] that that is the product that would be

[29:37] listed in this this so it's a very

[29:40] similar but maybe not identical as far

[29:42] as a track service.

[29:46] » Any other questions?

[29:48] I just want to say thank you to uh Mark

[29:50] and and all of their staff and Monteth

[29:53] Beth and I and Bert along with them had

[29:56] had several meetings on behalf of our

[29:57] board and staff um to try and

[30:00] prioritize. We asked them, we t them

[30:02] with coming back with the highest

[30:04] priorities

[30:06] for the athletic stuff in this phase

[30:09] because of our um funding limitations we

[30:12] have uh throughout the county, schools,

[30:16] fires, all these things. And as Mark

[30:19] mentioned, they they prioritize things

[30:23] with where we think we can be today. Not

[30:26] saying none of the other things are not

[30:28] valued and important, but I think we had

[30:30] to move these things forward if possible

[30:33] uh without jeopardizing, you know, Mark

[30:35] mentioned quality. When they did the

[30:37] scope modifications and things, they

[30:38] didn't jeopardize quality of product.

[30:41] And I wanted to say thank you to all the

[30:43] people that took part in that. And um it

[30:47] was important to to do that. And I

[30:50] think, you know, we've said it for many,

[30:51] many years

[30:53] um at other facilities and Mr. Norman

[30:57] used to say all the time is, you know,

[30:59] we can try to invest in athletics in the

[31:01] county. Our jail is already at capacity.

[31:03] We've got to try to give our kids an

[31:05] outlet. And hopefully investing in

[31:07] athletics gives them that ability. And

[31:10] also hopefully the communities will use

[31:12] these facilities. That's always been our

[31:14] long-term plan. you know, when the

[31:17] schools are not using these facilities,

[31:18] the public can use them and bringing

[31:20] economic impacts to our county. So, I

[31:23] look at all this as a as a continued

[31:25] investment.

[31:26] So, I appreciate the work that's gone

[31:28] into that from everyone.

[31:30] >> I'd like to say just a couple things.

[31:33] » I'd like to say just a couple things.

[31:33] >> This thing when it was done, and I know

[31:35] » This thing when it was done, and I know

[31:35] I've hound this horn almost four years,

[31:39] this this project was put out to the

[31:42] voters for $80 million.

[31:46] And fault lies on both sides on why it

[31:49] was not jumped on and done. Morsel

[31:51] jumped on theirs and got on theirs

[31:53] pretty quick.

[31:56] And if we approve anything tonight, we

[31:58] cannot forget Morrisville graded has

[32:00] needs as well. Big needs that they've

[32:04] got as well. So we can't forget them

[32:07] when it comes down if we make a decision

[32:08] to do anything with this tonight. So, I

[32:10] just want please let the board know

[32:12] we've got to look at requests that

[32:14] Morsel's got coming up in the next

[32:15] fiscal year. They sent us some this year

[32:18] and we told them no and they understood.

[32:20] So, I think if we decide anything

[32:22] tonight, we need to make sure that we we

[32:24] give our due diligence to Mor School

[32:27] District next fiscal year. Mark, I

[32:30] appreciate everything you have done on

[32:31] this project because it started out very

[32:33] high and it went. everything you've

[32:36] done, anytime I've dealt with you,

[32:38] you've been very honest, very you do a

[32:41] hell of a job. I'll just go ahead and

[32:42] tell you right now. And Jeff, I'm saying

[32:44] that here and you're happy your board's

[32:46] here. Mark does a very good job and and

[32:49] I appreciate I appreciate me being able

[32:51] to call him, reach out to him and it's,

[32:53] you know, we get the get the answers. I

[32:55] go back to the rest of the board. The

[32:56] board can call Mark and we value what

[32:59] Mark says.

[33:00] Please give him a good, you know, a good

[33:03] thing or something, you know, something

[33:05] on his door or something. But we go from

[33:08] 80 million, if we approve this tonight,

[33:10] we will be at 150,924,615.

[33:17] We're still 50 million shy of the $200

[33:19] million request we got. So we're 159

[33:24] 150,924

[33:26] 615.

[33:27] But with that comes the delay. This is

[33:31] well before I got on the board. The

[33:33] delay of bringing it to us thousands so

[33:35] many days with time the voters passed it

[33:37] to us to do something. The interest

[33:39] rates went up tremendously our finance

[33:42] directors here. So then we had to pay

[33:45] you know bukoo of money extra on

[33:48] financing.

[33:51] So, just

[33:55] I see it every day. I see what it is if

[33:58] kids don't have an out. And I hope if

[34:00] this passes tonight, I hope that we work

[34:02] with our kids and we keep our kids busy

[34:04] and keep them out of trouble. But we

[34:06] know that's not going to happen in all

[34:07] cases. But high school without sports is

[34:11] just if it was an early college and I

[34:14] still hope y'all sit down with Mos

[34:15] Graded and I hope y'all sit down with

[34:17] Mitchell and talk to them about early

[34:19] college opportunities there because I

[34:21] don't think you're going to get this

[34:22] thing filled up anytime soon. I I really

[34:24] don't u you know people hit at us about

[34:29] the reval that come apart that that

[34:31] we've done and you know we still get

[34:33] hounded about that. kind of got hounded

[34:34] the weekend over that, but they don't

[34:36] understand the things that we're having

[34:38] to do and we're trying to pay cash for

[34:40] with elementary school. And I mean, the

[34:43] other projects we got going on with the

[34:44] courthouse expansion, the other projects

[34:46] and stuff that we've tried to do, you

[34:48] know, we got beat up for Jennings Park.

[34:50] Now we get beat up for Jennings Park

[34:52] because we didn't do enough for the

[34:53] parking. So, we're having to adjust the

[34:54] parking there. So, it's kind of dained

[34:56] if you do and dained if you don't in

[34:58] certain situations. But

[35:01] I just going forward $20 million of

[35:05] sports of a high school that could have

[35:06] built back in the day what two and a

[35:09] half elementaryaries way back not so far

[35:11] back. I mean that could have easily

[35:13] built. So but now elementaryaries are 50

[35:16] $60 million. So if we do save money at

[35:18] Parkertown, can we adjust that money

[35:21] that we could pay back some of this 20

[35:23] if we do invest the 20?

[35:25] >> Yes.

[35:25] » Yes.

[35:25] >> Yeah. I'll share that in just a little

[35:26] » Yeah. I'll share that in just a little

[35:26] bit. We're seeing things are positive

[35:28] there and I I'll probably

[35:30] >> And please knock on wood. Please knock

[35:31] » And please knock on wood. Please knock

[35:31] on wood before you leave.

[35:32] >> Um but yeah, I'm sure I can work with

[35:34] » Um but yeah, I'm sure I can work with

[35:34] Carolina. We can figure out how to make

[35:36] that happen.

[35:37] >> Well, I will interject just a little

[35:38] » Well, I will interject just a little

[35:38] bit. Parker Town, we're paying cash for.

[35:40] >> So that is something that if there's

[35:43] » So that is something that if there's

[35:43] savings, that's just less cash we'll

[35:45] have to front. So that's a benefit

[35:49] because we're paying cash for that that

[35:50] entire school.

[35:53] >> Anybody got anything else?

[35:56] » Anybody got anything else?

[35:56] You know, I uh

[36:02] I remember the uh the vote in 2020,

[36:07] $80 million to build a school.

[36:10] Most of the people sitting in this room

[36:13] voting were not a part of any of

[36:20] not in the same capacities not in

[36:24] I was a voter.

[36:28] That bond was presented

[36:31] regardless what anyone says that $80

[36:33] million going to build that school.

[36:38] I'm not going to sit here and and let's

[36:41] beat a dead horse. But the trigger

[36:43] didn't get pulled. Action didn't take

[36:46] place. Yes, there was things going on.

[36:49] There was a change of of leadership

[36:52] going on with Idol Statesville schools.

[36:54] There was changes within the county.

[36:57] There was uh COVID all the things. I

[37:00] mean, you call it a perfect storm.

[37:04] We've had folks who were a part of it

[37:10] make statements such as didn't realize

[37:12] it uh was going to ask for $80 million

[37:15] when their names on the form that

[37:18] requested it when it brought forward to

[37:21] this board

[37:23] in 2020 to be placed upon the

[37:27] U. Um but then there their signatures on

[37:29] it requesting the board at that time put

[37:32] it out for the vote but denying

[37:36] there's a lot of

[37:42] misinformation,

[37:45] a lot of convoluted information.

[37:51] I've been labeled by some folks of

[37:53] saying I'm anti-education and I'm anti-

[37:55] athletics.

[37:58] That is not true.

[38:00] I played sports at Stacil Senior High.

[38:03] Coached Jesse Jackson.

[38:06] This was my position coach

[38:09] played basketball.

[38:14] My children came through this

[38:17] space schools. I have grandchildren who

[38:19] will come through Idle Space Schools.

[38:24] But sitting here as a board member

[38:28] and all the duties and responsibilities

[38:30] that this board has, 28

[38:34] county departments,

[38:37] 18 fire departments,

[38:39] two rescue squads,

[38:44] and countless other issues.

[38:48] We're paying 52 million cash. When was

[38:51] the last time you know that that was

[38:53] done?

[38:55] This board, this sitting board as it

[38:58] appears in front of you, voted to give

[39:00] an additional $50 million to this

[39:03] project because of those issues.

[39:14] There's going to be folks that voted for

[39:16] me that will agree with what I say and

[39:18] folks that won't. But I was voted

[39:23] in and part of my thing was

[39:25] accountability

[39:29] and my belief

[39:31] it should have went back to the people

[39:35] and the people had the right to decide

[39:40] to spend. We're if we go this we're

[39:42] we're we're

[39:44] going to be at what 70 almost 71 million

[39:48] in addition to the 80 million that the

[39:50] voters approved.

[39:57] You know, George Washington didn't cut

[39:58] down the cherry tree, I don't think. I

[40:00] think he cut down the money tree.

[40:02] Um,

[40:07] I understand and I get the value, but I

[40:09] also get and understand

[40:13] living to your obligation to your word.

[40:16] And I do not think that the people of

[40:18] Arle County,

[40:20] the voters of our county, and I'm not

[40:23] blaming again. I want to go back and

[40:25] state the majority of the people

[40:28] inherited

[40:30] this issue.

[40:34] The taxpayers inherited it.

[40:37] The school board and this board

[40:40] inherited the the the responsibility of

[40:42] trying to

[40:48] make sense of it.

[40:54] I was a taxpayer before I came here and

[40:56] I'll be a taxpayer in December.

[41:00] I'm supportive of the schools. Dr.

[41:02] James, Mark, I am 100% behind the

[41:06] schools,

[41:08] but I'm of the beliefs this has to go

[41:11] back to the people. And

[41:13] so I I personally can't support

[41:20] with Brad, you know, the last time we

[41:22] voted

[41:26] a little bit and I said, "Boy,

[41:30] That's a hard one to swallow. It was a

[41:32] hard one to swallow. But after we did

[41:33] the bond, we argued

[41:37] figure it out. And we got together, we

[41:40] figured out, hey, we can make this

[41:41] payment. We can do this. And we did it.

[41:44] I didn't sleep at night. That's probably

[41:46] the worst worst decision I've made since

[41:48] I've been on the board that I had to do

[41:51] that. We did it. But it bothered me now.

[41:54] And when I did that, I said, "Okay,

[41:56] guys, I'm gonna do it." I told this I'm

[41:58] going to do it. I'm done.

[42:01] So, I made my decision

[42:04] and I'm not against

[42:11] so you know I see what it does for this

[42:13] county but I'm like Brad

[42:16] we're almost double what bond was and I

[42:20] owe it to the people of this county to

[42:22] ask their that's my I'm spending $70

[42:27] million of taxpayers money and and I

[42:30] don't have that right, not me. So the

[42:33] people of this county, it's their money.

[42:35] So So I'm standing.

[42:39] >> Any other discussion?

[42:40] » Any other discussion?

[42:40] >> I got some comments.

[42:42] » I got some comments.

[42:42] >> I am on I was on the board when this

[42:44] » I am on I was on the board when this

[42:44] passed and I was on the board when we

[42:46] did a bond in 2020.

[42:48] and what we took to the people in 2020.

[42:52] At that time, you could build this

[42:53] school for the proposed amount that was

[42:56] on the bond. The perfect storm, as Brad

[43:00] said, happened. I don't disagree with

[43:01] any of your heartburn for it. However,

[43:05] as they've had changes of things at the

[43:07] school, we had changes after COVID. The

[43:10] state made revenues available for

[43:13] capital in the state of North Carolina,

[43:15] tier three counties. were one of 20. If

[43:18] you started a project and broke ground,

[43:20] you were not eligible to receive any of

[43:22] that capital money. 95% of the tax

[43:26] dollars in this state come from tier

[43:28] three counties and it's redistributed to

[43:30] the other 80 tier one and two counties.

[43:33] So, I just wanted to clarify we had that

[43:35] was one of the reasons we had to wait

[43:37] because we did our due diligence for the

[43:39] taxpayers of the county. If we could

[43:41] have got state capital money that was

[43:43] made available, we wouldn't have had to

[43:45] pull out that 50 million Scotty's

[43:48] talking about, but we had 50 million

[43:50] approved at the time from Katherryn

[43:52] Truit and Governor and at the time

[43:54] Governor Cooper denied that because

[43:57] we're a Republican county. We were going

[44:00] to get 10 million a year for five years.

[44:02] That didn't happen either because of

[44:04] politics.

[44:06] So, we did the best we could trying to

[44:08] look out and do our due diligence for

[44:10] the taxpayers. Yes, there were

[44:12] challenges for the timing of everything.

[44:16] All of your heartburn is right as far as

[44:17] interest rates, all those things.

[44:20] I don't disagree with that. We learned

[44:22] from that. Next time, you just got to

[44:24] pull the trigger and move on. But I feel

[44:26] like for the taxpayers, for the record,

[44:27] they needed to know some of the delay

[44:30] was trying to get their taxpayer dollars

[44:32] coming back to Ireland County that was

[44:34] made available by the legislature and

[44:37] tier three counties got none. Okay. So,

[44:40] that was part of our due diligence. And

[44:42] if you started the project, why you

[44:44] couldn't continue to apply for the

[44:46] project is beyond me. It's another dumb

[44:49] legislative

[44:51] uh part of the legislation.

[44:53] And so

[44:57] everything you've said I I don't

[44:59] disagree with. I have heartburn as well.

[45:01] However,

[45:04] we voted to spend 65 or more million

[45:07] dollars on a courthouse edition that we

[45:10] need because we've got to get the jail

[45:12] population down. If we don't provide

[45:14] athletics or alternatives for our kids

[45:17] in this county, we're going to add on to

[45:20] the jail. And the jail's going to cost

[45:21] you more per square foot than this

[45:23] school. So when we go to the people,

[45:27] with all due respect, and ask for what

[45:30] we need, if the voters turn it down, it

[45:33] don't take away my mandated

[45:35] responsibility or our mandated

[45:37] responsibility to build the school. We

[45:39] can go ask for their permission and

[45:41] approval, but if they deny it, we still

[45:44] got to build it. It just presents

[45:45] problems on how we get the money. And

[45:48] we've done a great job of paying cash as

[45:51] we go. We've put a lot of county

[45:52] projects on hold to pri for

[45:54] prioritization of mandated things.

[45:58] Sometimes we have the the public elects

[46:00] us to make informed decisions on their

[46:03] behalf because we know all the details

[46:06] and facts they may not know like the

[46:08] courthouse, the challenges, the fire

[46:09] departments. We're stretching a dollar

[46:12] getting great service from our people to

[46:15] do fire and rescue service in the county

[46:18] when we know the challenges they face

[46:20] for personnel. We fight it every day

[46:22] with staffing for paramedics and

[46:25] everyone. The jail, the hell they put

[46:28] put up with in the jail every day. Guys,

[46:31] if people come in here to tomorrow, if

[46:33] an inspector comes in here tomorrow and

[46:35] says, "Add on to the jail." You got to

[46:37] add on to the jail. A judge can call the

[46:39] manager over there and demand we add on

[46:41] to the courthouse whether we want to do

[46:42] it or not. The state mandates us to

[46:45] build schools, adequate facilities.

[46:49] We have gone back and adjusted the scope

[46:53] without jeopardizing the quality to do

[46:56] what I think is the right thing to do is

[46:59] to give this high school athletic

[47:01] facilities

[47:03] to provide that experience for our

[47:05] community, our kids. I think it's the

[47:07] right thing to do. Does it hurt? Yes, it

[47:10] hurts. But to that other point, we make

[47:14] decisions every meeting on behalf of our

[47:17] citizens

[47:18] because we either have to unfunded

[47:21] mandates that are not relieved by the

[47:24] state or federal government. So, I just

[47:26] want to remind everybody of that. We

[47:28] take in account our citizens every day.

[47:31] We lowered the tax rate after the last

[47:33] reval. people still paid more in taxes

[47:36] because their values went up. Well, now

[47:38] that may be manipulated with a ballot

[47:41] initiative in November when Brad

[47:44] mentioned all of these various mandated

[47:48] responsibilities or otherwise

[47:49] responsibilities of county departments

[47:51] that we have to meet and that's our main

[47:54] revenue stream.

[47:56] So, I just want to remind everybody, I

[47:58] don't disagree with your heartburn, but

[48:01] there also are decisions we're elected

[48:03] to make uh informed decisions on behalf

[48:06] of our citizens because we're mandated

[48:08] to do it and we're obligated to do it.

[48:11] We don't have to by statute provide fire

[48:14] service in this county, but we do

[48:16] because it's the right thing to do for

[48:18] our citizens.

[48:20] We don't have to have libraries. We

[48:22] don't have to have recreation, but we we

[48:24] have these departments to give our

[48:26] citizens

[48:27] those resources. That's why we have the

[48:30] best damn county in the state and the

[48:32] best state in the country in my opinion

[48:34] because we try to make the best informed

[48:36] decisions we can. Are they perfect? No.

[48:40] But I think they're necessary. That's

[48:42] just me. Not criticizing what anybody

[48:45] said. Just want to remind everybody we

[48:47] make decisions every meeting to spend

[48:50] taxpayer dollars the most efficient way

[48:53] we have to. So my request would be if

[48:56] there's no other comments I'll make a

[48:58] motion for this if no one else has a

[48:59] comment.

[49:00] >> I'll just make a few just okay so I can

[49:02] » I'll just make a few just okay so I can

[49:02] >> just put a little bit of thought out

[49:04] » just put a little bit of thought out

[49:04] there as well. Um,

[49:07] number one, I want to say how heartfelt

[49:10] appreciative I am for our board

[49:13] to be able to sit here and have

[49:16] difficult conversations.

[49:18] To be able to

[49:21] speak from our heart and from our mind

[49:23] and we still walk out of here got each

[49:26] other's back no matter what.

[49:31] That speaks volumes of a board.

[49:36] I'm more concerned if you don't have a

[49:38] difference of opinion. I need a

[49:40] difference of opinion. That way, our

[49:43] citizens each have a voice.

[49:47] Whether they agree with yes or they

[49:50] agree with no.

[49:52] We all sit here and represent our

[49:55] population.

[49:57] We also represent our population

[49:59] respectfully.

[50:01] No matter what our decision is tonight,

[50:04] we will work together for the next

[50:05] decision because guess what? Ardell

[50:07] County is still growing. Ardell County

[50:10] still has needs. We can't just say, "Oh,

[50:12] it's too hard. We're not going to do

[50:14] it." We were elected to make those

[50:16] decisions.

[50:17] If you turn your back on the decisions

[50:19] and you turn your back on the people, we

[50:22] were elected to make the decisions.

[50:27] I will tell you as I visit schools,

[50:30] there is not a dollar amount you could

[50:32] put. The people in those schools are

[50:34] priceless. The students are priceless.

[50:36] Our teachers are priceless.

[50:40] But yet, you've got to put a price on

[50:42] projects.

[50:45] And how do you do that? You continue to

[50:48] have conversations. What you see here is

[50:50] a condensed version because our

[50:53] population doesn't want to spend the

[50:55] hours having to dig into the facts and

[50:57] the information. That's not their

[50:58] responsibility. That's our

[51:00] responsibility. It's yours. Yours your

[51:03] responsibility to give us the

[51:04] information. And thank you, Chairman

[51:06] Connley, for digging into this and

[51:08] bringing us back factual information

[51:10] because we have to make the decisions.

[51:14] We're not putting a price on people.

[51:16] We're not putting a price on our

[51:17] taxpayers.

[51:18] We are putting respect on all

[51:20] individuals involved in this project and

[51:22] I don't take it lightly. Do not take it

[51:25] lightly.

[51:26] I take this very seriously. And it's not

[51:29] that I was a sore athlete. Heaven forbid

[51:31] when I ran track back in the day. It's

[51:33] like I hopped over the holes on a track

[51:34] in South High School.

[51:37] >> Yeah. I mean, it was like you hear the

[51:39] » Yeah. I mean, it was like you hear the

[51:39] comments. It was fine for me back in my

[51:41] day. Yeah. I turned out all right. There

[51:44] wasn't much of a field. I remember when

[51:45] Broly Middle School had a barn for a

[51:48] gym. Do we want that for the kids? We

[51:51] want acceptable, decent facilities for

[51:55] our children.

[51:57] We want them to have opportunity.

[52:00] I will tell you the number of students

[52:02] that say, "I would do sports, but if I

[52:04] don't have a ride, I can't. I've got to

[52:06] get on the bus." Even if buses provide

[52:09] transportation, it gets so complicated.

[52:14] I want to be able to say that I've done

[52:17] my homework, done my research, done my

[52:19] thinking, done my prayers, done my

[52:21] thoughts, that I want every student that

[52:24] attends Weathers Creek High School to

[52:26] have the same opportunity that the other

[52:29] students have at the other high schools.

[52:32] Thank you.

[52:34] >> Anybody else?

[52:37] » Anybody else?

[52:37] >> Commissioner, have you got a motion?

[52:38] » Commissioner, have you got a motion?

[52:38] >> Mr. Chair, I'd like to make a motion

[52:40] » Mr. Chair, I'd like to make a motion

[52:40] that we approve the formal request from

[52:43] Ireland State Schools for the 20

[52:45] million. Um the I Central School Board

[52:50] of Education has approved a formal

[52:51] request for Ardal County Board of

[52:52] Commissioners for 20 million and county

[52:54] funding to complete phase two of

[52:56] Weathers Creek High School. The funding

[52:58] combined with the district's identified

[53:00] contribution per March's presentation

[53:03] and Montist attached letter outlining

[53:05] the scope adjustments and measures taken

[53:08] to achieve the savings for this project.

[53:11] It also would include uh the approval

[53:14] for the phase 2 funding including budget

[53:16] amendment number six and amended to the

[53:18] capital projects ordinance. And I'd like

[53:21] to make a motion as part of this motion

[53:23] for the appropriation to come from the

[53:26] future capital reserve fund balance to

[53:28] transfer to Weathers Creek Capital

[53:30] Project Fund to provide funding for

[53:31] athletics at Weathers Creek High School.

[53:36] >> Motion by Commissioner Halp. All in

[53:38] » Motion by Commissioner Halp. All in

[53:38] favor say I.

[53:39] >> I.

[53:40] » I.

[53:40] >> All oppose.

[53:41] » All oppose.

[53:42] >> No.

[53:43] » No.

[53:43] >> Motion passes 32.

[53:46] » Motion passes 32.

[53:46] County manager. Our next one.

[53:48] >> Thank you, Mr. Sherrick also has the

[53:50] » Thank you, Mr. Sherrick also has the

[53:50] next item and that's a request from

[53:52] Ardell Statesville Schools for I'm sorry

[53:54] um Miss Taylor has a budget amendment

[53:58] for you and she will give that to you.

[53:59] I'm sorry I forgot about that one. So um

[54:02] you referenced where the funding is

[54:04] coming from. Miss Taylor has the budget

[54:05] amendment and she will provide that for

[54:07] you for your packets. She worked a

[54:09] couple of different options but um is

[54:12] there anything that you need to say

[54:14] regarding that for the record?

[54:22] Do I need to amend my motion?

[54:25] >> I I think the the funding is a little

[54:28] » I I think the the funding is a little

[54:28] >> it's a little different. So, do you mind

[54:30] » it's a little different. So, do you mind

[54:30] stepping to the podium? Let's just

[54:32] >> That's cleared up now.

[54:33] » That's cleared up now.

[54:33] >> Get that cleared up now.

[54:34] » Get that cleared up now.

[54:34] >> Let's do it now.

[54:34] » Let's do it now.

[54:34] >> Um before we move to the next item.

[54:41] So for for budget amendment number six

[54:44] for Weather's Creek um there we have in

[54:47] the general fund every year you know we

[54:49] budget for future capital projects.

[54:51] Anything that's not spent at the end of

[54:53] the year run rolls into that future

[54:54] capital reserve for so for Weathers

[54:57] Creek um in FY27 we have $16.3 million

[55:01] that's budgeted in the general fund.

[55:04] This budget amendment spends all of that

[55:07] 16.3 in the general fund and the

[55:09] remaining three 3,696,400

[55:13] will come from the future capital

[55:15] reserve. The future capital reserve

[55:17] estimated fund balance at the end of

[55:19] June was um 16,877,000.

[55:25] So appropriating $3.6 million reduces

[55:28] that down to $13.1 million. Um, so for

[55:32] Weathers Creek, the funds would come

[55:34] from what we have allocated in the

[55:36] future capital or in the capital project

[55:38] in the general fund with the three

[55:40] million also coming from the the fund

[55:43] balance.

[55:43] >> So, do I need to amend my motion to

[55:45] » So, do I need to amend my motion to

[55:45] include the wording as you mentioned?

[55:47] >> Yes.

[55:48] » Yes.

[55:48] >> So, move to amend my motion to add that

[55:51] » So, move to amend my motion to add that

[55:51] to it.

[55:55] » Okay. Motion by Commissioner Hal. All in

[55:58] favor say I. I.

[55:59] >> Any oppose?

[56:00] » Any oppose?

[56:00] >> Nay.

[56:02] » Nay.

[56:02] Motion passes 32.

[56:04] >> Thank you.

[56:05] » Thank you.

[56:05] >> Okay. So, the next item that we have is

[56:07] » Okay. So, the next item that we have is

[56:07] a request from Ireel Sexville Schools

[56:09] for approval of GMP3 for Parkertown

[56:12] Elementary School budget amendment

[56:14] number eight and amendment to the

[56:16] Parkertown capital project ordinance.

[56:18] Mr. Shin Carrick.

[56:19] >> Yes. Um, you know, this is we're using a

[56:22] » Yes. Um, you know, this is we're using a

[56:22] construction manager at risk uh you know

[56:25] project delivery for Parkertown

[56:26] Elementary School. You have previously

[56:30] approved GMP 1 and two. GMP one was for

[56:33] early procurement and doing some early

[56:35] site work. GMP2 was the big one which

[56:39] included most of the construction costs

[56:40] there. The last one here for um GMP3 is

[56:45] for off-site work and utility work. And

[56:48] so we um had that out to bid and uh

[56:54] received um a letter from the

[56:57] construction manager JM COPE with a

[57:01] total value of a guaranteed maximum

[57:03] price for the last bid package for 3

[57:06] million 3.6 million and some change

[57:08] there uh which includes as I had

[57:11] mentioned construction cost contingency

[57:12] bond insurance and the CER fee. Um so

[57:16] the total project um construction cost

[57:20] for the project is just over $41

[57:24] million.

[57:26] We have also kind of shored up our

[57:30] budget in there too looking at the soft

[57:32] cost associated with the project.

[57:35] You know these are going to be things um

[57:37] like FFN

[57:40] and other contingencies associated with

[57:42] the project. Um, and so we have an

[57:45] all-in budget of $52 million.

[57:51] There are we have identified

[57:53] close to

[57:56] four $4.8 million in reimburseables

[58:00] from the project. So there's a lot of

[58:04] DOT work required for this project. That

[58:06] intersection at Parkertown and 21.

[58:09] And quite honestly, we haven't even had

[58:12] got DOT to land on what that scope of of

[58:17] that intersection is going to look like.

[58:19] So, if you're not familiar, they they're

[58:21] a little slow to come back on some

[58:23] things. And so, that that part's been

[58:25] pretty tedious. We are working with the

[58:26] town of Troutman as well, too, as part

[58:28] of the intersection, bring water to the

[58:30] school site. And um so there's that

[58:35] portion of the project

[58:37] seems to be on schedule there, but

[58:39] there's a lot of permitting and things

[58:41] that need to happen with that part of

[58:43] the project as well too. So we do have

[58:45] some money kind of some some um money

[58:48] built into that that that reimbursement

[58:51] will not come right away. And even

[58:54] without the reimbursement, this GMP3 was

[58:57] very favorable for us. And so we're

[58:59] confident that there's going to be um

[59:03] you know some it'll just it'll work out

[59:06] favorably and and I my hope would be

[59:09] that we could earmark that money for

[59:11] this portion of the project or reimburse

[59:14] any of the money that you funded towards

[59:17] Weather's Creek for that

[59:20] too. So

[59:23] I'll take any questions you might have.

[59:24] >> Any questions from Mark?

[59:27] » Any questions from Mark?

[59:27] >> Do we have a motion?

[59:29] » Do we have a motion?

[59:29] Make a motion to approve.

[59:30] >> Make a motion. Motion by Commissioner

[59:32] » Make a motion. Motion by Commissioner

[59:32] Strat. All in favor say I. I.

[59:34] >> Any oppose? Motion carries. Five vote.

[59:37] » Any oppose? Motion carries. Five vote.

[59:37] >> Thank you very much, sir.

[59:42] » Now, administrative matters that we did

[59:44] at the pre-aggenda.

[59:45] >> That takes care of all of our um items

[59:49] » That takes care of all of our um items

[59:49] for the six o'clock. I'm going to go

[59:50] through and review all of the items that

[59:52] we reviewed at our four o'clock that the

[59:54] board placed on the consent agenda. We

[59:56] had a request from the health department

[59:58] for approval of budget amendment number

[1:00:00] four for the public health um

[1:00:02] infrastructure local workforce

[1:00:03] development grant in the amount of

[1:00:05] $14,283.

[1:00:08] There's a request from the library for

[1:00:09] approval of a 4-year agreement with bibl

[1:00:17] for a selfch checkout kiosk system and

[1:00:20] authorization for the county manager to

[1:00:21] execute the agreement. A request from

[1:00:24] solid waste for approval of budget

[1:00:25] amendment number seven to amend the

[1:00:27] solid waste capital project fund. Award

[1:00:30] a construction contract to SCS field

[1:00:33] services for the landfill gas expansion

[1:00:35] project and authorizing the county

[1:00:37] manager to execute the contract that um

[1:00:40] budget amendment in the amount of

[1:00:41] 1,871,968.

[1:00:46] We had a request from the purchasing

[1:00:48] division for approval of a professional

[1:00:50] architectural engineering services

[1:00:51] contract for the Arredell County

[1:00:53] government center south renovation

[1:00:55] project and authorizing the county

[1:00:57] manager to execute that agreement. The

[1:01:00] um contract is the amount of 337,378.

[1:01:05] A request from purchasing for approval

[1:01:06] of a lighting service and lease

[1:01:08] agreement with Duke Energy and

[1:01:10] authorization for the county manager to

[1:01:12] execute that agreement. And this is for

[1:01:14] lights at the fairgrounds.

[1:01:16] a request from purchasing for approval

[1:01:18] of the declaration of surplus and

[1:01:21] donation of personal property to

[1:01:23] entities carrying out a public purpose

[1:01:25] and this is the donation of three

[1:01:27] surplus stair chairs and it is going to

[1:01:30] the Cleveland Cleveland County Volunteer

[1:01:32] Fire Department. a request from

[1:01:34] purchasing for consideration of an offer

[1:01:36] to purchase the Bluefield Road property

[1:01:38] by upset bid and the uh offer was in the

[1:01:42] amount of $1.1 million for 43 acres and

[1:01:45] the board agreed by consent to reject

[1:01:47] that offer. a request from from

[1:01:50] purchasing for approval of a resolution

[1:01:52] authorizing the sale of personal

[1:01:53] property by public auction. And this is

[1:01:57] um

[1:01:58] selling by public auction surplus

[1:02:00] vehicles that total over $30,000

[1:02:04] collectively, not individually. Request

[1:02:06] from finance for approval of budget

[1:02:08] amendment number five to transfer funds

[1:02:10] from the sheriff's office budget to the

[1:02:12] jail budget to cover increased jail

[1:02:15] medical expenses. These are residual

[1:02:17] funds that were saved in last year's

[1:02:19] budget that um was carried over and is

[1:02:22] now being transferred and put into the

[1:02:25] inmate medical line item. A request from

[1:02:28] administration for discussion and

[1:02:29] decision about fiscal year 2027 fire

[1:02:32] funding and approval of budget amendment

[1:02:34] number nine. The uh board agreed by

[1:02:37] consent to fund half of additional half

[1:02:41] of the staffing requests from the fire

[1:02:43] departments, the incounty departments

[1:02:45] and provide a 2% increase in operational

[1:02:48] funding and then an additional

[1:02:50] supplement for Lake Norman and South

[1:02:52] Aredell volunteer fire departments. The

[1:02:54] uh out of county departments are held

[1:02:56] flat

[1:02:58] and this appropriation will begin in the

[1:03:02] the funding that begins the end of this

[1:03:04] month. So

[1:03:04] >> question Do we need to add that to the

[1:03:06] » question Do we need to add that to the

[1:03:06] record that we got in between meetings

[1:03:08] or you already have that in there?

[1:03:10] >> Yes, that's in here for budget amendment

[1:03:11] » Yes, that's in here for budget amendment

[1:03:11] number nine. That would be Sorry to

[1:03:12] interrupt.

[1:03:13] >> No, no, no. You're good.

[1:03:14] » No, no, no. You're good.

[1:03:14] >> Um request from administration for appro

[1:03:17] » Um request from administration for appro

[1:03:17] approval of the minutes from the

[1:03:18] September 7th, 2021, September 21st,

[1:03:21] 2021, and August 4th, 2026 board of

[1:03:24] commissioner meetings in the North

[1:03:25] Carolina Cooperative Extension annual

[1:03:27] report to the people. And then finally,

[1:03:30] the request from tax administration for

[1:03:32] approval of the July 2026 releases and

[1:03:35] refunds. All of those items were agreed

[1:03:37] by the board to place on the consent

[1:03:39] agenda.

[1:03:40] >> Do we have a motion to approve the

[1:03:41] » Do we have a motion to approve the

[1:03:41] pre-aggenda consent administrative

[1:03:43] matters? Make a motion.

[1:03:44] >> Approve the consent agenda.

[1:03:46] » Approve the consent agenda.

[1:03:46] >> Motion by Vice Chair Neer. All in favor

[1:03:48] » Motion by Vice Chair Neer. All in favor

[1:03:48] say I. I.

[1:03:49] >> Any opposed? They are approved. And with

[1:03:51] » Any opposed? They are approved. And with

[1:03:51] that, I would like for us to if we could

[1:03:54] take a 10-minute break. If everybody's

[1:03:55] good, 10-minute recess, just take a

[1:03:57] 10-minute recess. Start back at in 10

[1:03:59] minutes. Thank you.

[1:15:28] Okay, we've been on a little bit of a

[1:15:30] break

[1:15:31] >> and also I need to turn it back over to

[1:15:33] » and also I need to turn it back over to

[1:15:33] Commissioner Hal. We got a little

[1:15:34] cleaning of the house here to do. Turn

[1:15:36] back over to Commissioner H for a

[1:15:37] second.

[1:15:40] >> Mr. Chairman, um we had a te technical

[1:15:43] » Mr. Chairman, um we had a te technical

[1:15:43] difficulty in my previous motion. So, I

[1:15:45] would like to make a motion that I

[1:15:46] rescend

[1:15:48] both my amendment and my original motion

[1:15:50] on Weathers Creek High School.

[1:15:55] » Okay. Motion to rescend by Commissioner

[1:15:57] Halp. All in favor say I.

[1:16:00] >> I.

[1:16:00] » I.

[1:16:00] >> Any oppose?

[1:16:03] » Any oppose?

[1:16:03] Passes.

[1:16:04] >> And do you have another new motion? My

[1:16:06] » And do you have another new motion? My

[1:16:06] new motion would include that we're

[1:16:08] making a motion to approve the Idaho

[1:16:09] State School Board of Education's formal

[1:16:11] request for $20 million

[1:16:14] uh to complete phase two of Weathers

[1:16:16] Creek High School. The funding combined

[1:16:18] with the district's identified

[1:16:20] contribution would allow the athletic

[1:16:21] facilities to be completed as part of

[1:16:23] overall Weathers Creek High School

[1:16:24] project. Per the attached letter Monteth

[1:16:27] outlines in the scope adjustments and

[1:16:29] the measures taken to achieve these

[1:16:30] savings along with idle states was

[1:16:32] identified approximately four million in

[1:16:35] possible contributions toward phase 2

[1:16:38] savings realized in phase one and other

[1:16:40] available district resources included

[1:16:42] also in my motion to approve U BA number

[1:16:46] six and amend the capital project

[1:16:50] ordinance transferring 16,33,600

[1:16:54] from

[1:16:56] future capital projects and

[1:16:58] appropriating 3,696400

[1:17:01] from future capital reserve fund

[1:17:03] balance.

[1:17:06] » Motion by Commissioner H. All in favor

[1:17:08] say I.

[1:17:09] >> I.

[1:17:10] » I.

[1:17:10] >> Any oppose?

[1:17:11] » Any oppose?

[1:17:11] >> No.

[1:17:12] » No.

[1:17:12] >> Passes 32.

[1:17:15] » Passes 32.

[1:17:15] >> So we're good now, right?

[1:17:16] » So we're good now, right?

[1:17:16] >> Yes. Thank you.

[1:17:18] » Yes. Thank you.

[1:17:18] >> We're sticklers for for technical

[1:17:20] » We're sticklers for for technical

[1:17:20] detail.

[1:17:20] >> Now's the time.

[1:17:21] » Now's the time.

[1:17:21] >> Sorry. Now's the time. brings us down to

[1:17:23] » Sorry. Now's the time. brings us down to

[1:17:23] the announcement of vacancies occurring

[1:17:24] on boards and commissions.

[1:17:27] And since the county manager has been

[1:17:28] busy trying to get this other stuff

[1:17:30] done, I'll announce these. We have six

[1:17:32] appointments on the adult care home

[1:17:34] advisory committee. We have three

[1:17:35] appointments on the Central Aging

[1:17:37] Advisory Committee, two appointments

[1:17:39] available on the Aarddale County JCPC,

[1:17:43] one appointment on the Morsel Board of

[1:17:44] Adjustment, ETJ, six appointments on the

[1:17:47] nursing home advisory committee, one

[1:17:50] appointment on the state planning board

[1:17:52] ETJ, and one alternate appointment on

[1:17:54] the Troutman Planning Board ETJ. If you

[1:17:56] are interested in uh applying for any of

[1:17:59] these, you can go to our website or you

[1:18:01] can contact our clerk to the board, John

[1:18:03] Bess. And now brings us down to the

[1:18:05] appointments of boards and commissions.

[1:18:07] And we have one tonight for farmland

[1:18:08] preservation board and we have one for

[1:18:11] the JCPC. And I'll turn it over to the

[1:18:13] manager to go over those.

[1:18:14] >> Thank you, Chair Connley. Um we do have

[1:18:17] » Thank you, Chair Connley. Um we do have

[1:18:17] uh as Chair Connley said, we do have an

[1:18:19] opening on the farmland preservation

[1:18:21] board. Mr. James Steele's been serving

[1:18:23] on that farmland preservation board and

[1:18:25] his term expired. He has submitted an

[1:18:28] application for reappointment. We did

[1:18:30] receive three other applications. Um,

[1:18:33] one was on the the table before you. So,

[1:18:35] we had uh William Johnson, Noah Clinden,

[1:18:38] and Nancy Keith that have also applied

[1:18:40] to serve on the Farmland Preservation

[1:18:42] Board.

[1:18:45] >> Do we have a motion?

[1:18:46] » Do we have a motion?

[1:18:46] >> I'd like to make a motion we approve

[1:18:47] » I'd like to make a motion we approve

[1:18:48] Nancy Keith Farmland Preservation

[1:18:49] Committee.

[1:18:51] All in favor say I.

[1:18:53] >> I.

[1:18:54] » I.

[1:18:54] >> Any oppose? Nancy Keith is approved for

[1:18:57] » Any oppose? Nancy Keith is approved for

[1:18:58] formal preservation. And our next one

[1:19:00] for our county JCPC.

[1:19:02] >> Yes. Uh Terry Johnson has been serving

[1:19:04] » Yes. Uh Terry Johnson has been serving

[1:19:04] on the JCPC board and her term has

[1:19:07] expired and Tom Morris has submitted the

[1:19:09] application to be considered to fill the

[1:19:11] vacancy. And that's the only application

[1:19:13] we've received on that one.

[1:19:14] >> Do we have a motion? Motion to appoint

[1:19:17] » Do we have a motion? Motion to appoint

[1:19:17] Tom Morris to the Idard County JCPC.

[1:19:21] >> Motion by Vice Chair Neater. All in

[1:19:23] » Motion by Vice Chair Neater. All in

[1:19:23] favor say I.

[1:19:24] >> Any opposed? He is approved.

[1:19:27] » Any opposed? He is approved.

[1:19:27] Going down our list of uh our agenda.

[1:19:30] Anybody have any unfinished business at

[1:19:33] the six o'clock

[1:19:35] brings us down to our public comment

[1:19:37] period. The board conducts a public

[1:19:39] comment period at its second regular

[1:19:41] meeting of each month. The purpose of

[1:19:43] the public comment period is to allow

[1:19:45] citizens to speak on matters related to

[1:19:47] county government. Each speaker that has

[1:19:49] signed up is allotted to three minutes

[1:19:51] and will be called to the podium by the

[1:19:53] chair in the order the names appear on

[1:19:55] the sign-in sheet. Please state your

[1:19:57] name and address before beginning your

[1:19:59] comments. Comments are to be directed to

[1:20:01] the board as a whole. Responses by the

[1:20:03] board are at their discretion, but the

[1:20:05] public comment period is not intended to

[1:20:07] be a question and answer period, but

[1:20:10] rather a time for the board to hear from

[1:20:12] the public and take such matters raised

[1:20:14] under advisement. Citizens will be

[1:20:17] expected to be civil in their language

[1:20:19] and presentation and not engage in

[1:20:20] slander or name calling. Citizens should

[1:20:23] not discuss any matters which are closed

[1:20:25] session matters including but not

[1:20:27] limited to limited to matters regarding

[1:20:30] personnel matters which are made

[1:20:32] confidential by law. Speakers who have

[1:20:34] prepared written remarks or supporting

[1:20:36] documents are encouraged to leave a copy

[1:20:38] of such remarks and documents with the

[1:20:40] clerk to the board. I will open up the

[1:20:42] public comment period and our first

[1:20:44] person signed up is Ken Jurnney and when

[1:20:47] you approach please state your name and

[1:20:48] your full address.

[1:21:00] My name is My name is Ken Journey. I

[1:21:01] live 148 West Tol Drive, Statesville.

[1:21:05] We're here to talk about fire

[1:21:06] departments and uh just like to say that

[1:21:09] uh Chairman Connley nailed it. 4:00

[1:21:12] session lets me know y'all are fully

[1:21:15] aware of the issues. I'm just not sure

[1:21:17] that the general public is. Uh some

[1:21:20] things that concerns me that I'm not

[1:21:22] sure the public is aware of is that we

[1:21:24] have $23 and half million dollars of

[1:21:26] fire fire tax revenue this year. That's

[1:21:28] $5 million short of what the fire

[1:21:30] departments have requested the funding.

[1:21:32] We're $30 million behind on apparatus

[1:21:34] replacement. We're having to replace

[1:21:36] volunteers with paid personnel and that

[1:21:39] is a huge increase in the budget. uh to

[1:21:43] maintain the low insurance rates, our

[1:21:45] fire departments have to respond four

[1:21:47] firefighters with one engine to all

[1:21:49] district building fire calls. And when

[1:21:53] you consider that the cost of four 247

[1:21:56] 365 firefighters cost about five to 10

[1:21:58] times more than those million-dollar

[1:22:00] fire engines, we're concerned about that

[1:22:01] cost. Fire engines are peanuts compared

[1:22:04] to the the boots on the ground. And our

[1:22:07] fire districts are so widely diverse. I

[1:22:09] think y'all know that a funding formula

[1:22:11] just doesn't work and annexation as

[1:22:14] chairman Connley mentioned that's

[1:22:16] decreasing the pot the budget and the

[1:22:20] big issue coming up in November is that

[1:22:22] vote that may limit how much we can

[1:22:24] increase taxes. So where's the money

[1:22:26] going to come from?

[1:22:28] We don't know how much money we're going

[1:22:29] to need to y'all do all these

[1:22:31] negotiations and finalize those. But

[1:22:34] we're going to need more funding

[1:22:35] primarily because this paid labor that

[1:22:37] trains it's through the tunnel and it's

[1:22:40] going to get even worse. So where do we

[1:22:44] come up with the money? You know, it's

[1:22:46] the tax increase, you know,

[1:22:50] or other sources. And I'm going to

[1:22:54] suggest one of the most common sense

[1:22:56] things I think we can do is insurance

[1:22:58] companies will pay for fire department

[1:23:01] responses to incidents. And that is a

[1:23:03] good way for us to recover some fun some

[1:23:05] some monies from people who don't pay

[1:23:07] any taxes here because a lot of these

[1:23:09] accidents on our major highways and

[1:23:10] interstates.

[1:23:13] As an example, our $19.5 million EMS

[1:23:16] budget, we recover about a third of that

[1:23:18] with ambulance transportation. We pay

[1:23:20] taxes for uh recreation facilities and

[1:23:23] we have to pay dues for using the Barry

[1:23:25] Springs Rec Center. uh

[1:23:29] insurance companies will pay and I've

[1:23:30] got a uh an outline of the uh some of

[1:23:33] the funds that they will pay. I think we

[1:23:35] should consider that going forward. If

[1:23:37] we could recover a third of our fire

[1:23:38] department budget, $24 million, we could

[1:23:41] recover $8 million. We probably going to

[1:23:44] need that on top of $24 million coming

[1:23:46] down. So, that's another way to get it

[1:23:48] from somebody other than just getting

[1:23:50] the tax paid the taxpayers. I'll use uh

[1:23:53] Lake Norman's uh fire district as an

[1:23:55] example. They your your figures show

[1:23:58] they provide 28% of the revenue but only

[1:24:01] 7% of the cost. So, you know, you know,

[1:24:04] I know the property valuation pays for

[1:24:06] everything, but there's a way to uh to

[1:24:08] spread that around. So, uh I s just

[1:24:12] suggest that you look at at that

[1:24:15] supplementary funding. And I'd like to

[1:24:18] suggest that you uh open up the fire

[1:24:20] department oversight committee again

[1:24:22] because I think that will improve uh all

[1:24:24] kinds of communications with the fire

[1:24:26] departments going forward.

[1:24:28] >> Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mr. J. Rhonda

[1:24:30] » Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mr. J. Rhonda

[1:24:30] Wall

[1:24:42] this down. Good evening, uh, Chairman

[1:24:45] Connelly and county commissioners. I

[1:24:47] come before you as a private Ardell

[1:24:50] resident. Um, I'll make this short and

[1:24:53] sweet. I want to thank you for the

[1:24:55] generous support of our students and

[1:24:57] schools by providing funding for

[1:24:59] Weathers Creek athletic facilities. Your

[1:25:02] investment will create opportunities for

[1:25:05] students to participate, compete, and

[1:25:07] build valuable skills both on and off

[1:25:09] the field. I sincerely appreciate your

[1:25:12] commitment to our schools and our

[1:25:14] community. Your support makes a

[1:25:16] meaningful diff difference and I'm

[1:25:18] grateful for your partnership.

[1:25:20] >> Good evening. Thank you so much.

[1:25:21] » Good evening. Thank you so much.

[1:25:22] >> Thank you.

[1:25:22] » Thank you.

[1:25:22] >> Thank you, brother.

[1:25:23] » Thank you, brother.

[1:25:23] >> Paula Mo

[1:25:54] Is this good volume? Can you hear it?

[1:25:57] >> Okay.

[1:25:58] » Okay.

[1:25:58] >> Just state your name and address,

[1:25:59] » Just state your name and address,

[1:25:59] please, ma'am.

[1:26:01] >> My name is Paula Mimna. I live at 260

[1:26:04] » My name is Paula Mimna. I live at 260

[1:26:04] Rivercliffe Drive, Stony Point

[1:26:08] in Iridel County.

[1:26:10] I'm concerned about the lack of

[1:26:12] transparency with the Iridel Statesville

[1:26:15] Schools budget. I sent a foyer request

[1:26:18] for the 2627 rep proposed budget for ISS

[1:26:23] on July 21st, 2026.

[1:26:26] Now, that's been over four weeks. I have

[1:26:30] not I submitted that request for

[1:26:32] expenditures of at least $1,000 or more,

[1:26:36] but I have received nothing. Um, the

[1:26:39] completed budget was due to the Iridell

[1:26:41] County Commissioners, that's you all, by

[1:26:44] May 15th. But I've checked with uh

[1:26:48] Scotty Brown. He said, "You don't have

[1:26:49] the budget. You don't have a copy of

[1:26:52] it." Um, I think that's a problem.

[1:26:54] According to policy code 8100, budget

[1:26:58] planning and adoption, that should have

[1:27:00] been done. So, um, the commissioners if

[1:27:03] they don't have a copy of it, it that

[1:27:06] just seems like a big problem to me.

[1:27:08] Now, the latest budget resolution is a

[1:27:11] very basic fivepage summary for 2526,

[1:27:15] not for the coming year. That's for last

[1:27:18] year. There's nothing on the on the

[1:27:21] internet for next year. Nothing.

[1:27:24] And a budget resolution is not the

[1:27:26] budget. It's just a very very small

[1:27:28] summary of it.

[1:27:31] So, um why should the county

[1:27:34] commissioners give money to a school

[1:27:35] board who won't submit a budget? That is

[1:27:38] in their um policy that they would

[1:27:40] submit the budget to you. And this is

[1:27:42] three months after the final deadline it

[1:27:45] was due yet. You don't have a budget.

[1:27:48] Now, Chairman Knight has usurped the

[1:27:50] authority of the school board and he has

[1:27:52] not followed the ISS policies. He failed

[1:27:55] to communicate with the rest of the

[1:27:57] board of the school board on many

[1:27:59] occasions. On in the August 10th

[1:28:01] meeting, Knight was asked if he thought

[1:28:03] it was correct to meet with the

[1:28:04] commissioners, but failed to communicate

[1:28:07] with the rest of the board when he was

[1:28:09] told that the commissioners would not

[1:28:11] give the 34 million, but instead 20

[1:28:14] million for the new athletic center at

[1:28:15] Weathers Creek High School. Now, the new

[1:28:18] figure was given, I believe, to Mr.

[1:28:20] Shinkerink. No, I'm saying that wrong.

[1:28:23] Shin Carrick, I'm sorry, Shing Carrick,

[1:28:25] who apparently made changes to the plans

[1:28:28] for the athletic field without

[1:28:29] consulting with the rest of the board.

[1:28:31] That's what was discussed at that board

[1:28:33] meeting on August 10th. It's unknown

[1:28:36] whether or not Shank Carrick dis

[1:28:39] consulted with Knight, but either way,

[1:28:41] it's against policy.

[1:28:44] The rest of the board was not notified

[1:28:46] about the change in the funding and the

[1:28:48] plans to the athletic the change to the

[1:28:50] athletic field at Weathers Creek until

[1:28:52] the Friday before the school board

[1:28:54] meeting August 10th. Now, that was 2

[1:28:56] weeks after that information had been um

[1:29:00] gotten by night, two weeks later.

[1:29:03] The chain of command for Ivale State

[1:29:05] Schools is as follows. The school board,

[1:29:09] not the chair. The school board as a

[1:29:11] whole is over the superintendent who's

[1:29:14] over the principles who are over the

[1:29:17] teachers. The school board is the

[1:29:20] governing body. No one person has

[1:29:23] control over the board. Knight stated

[1:29:26] that he has the right to represent the

[1:29:28] board by himself. And uh this is not

[1:29:32] true. According to the ISS policy 2100,

[1:29:36] Knight has said on several occasions he

[1:29:38] doesn't need to follow.

[1:29:40] >> I just have a little bit more.

[1:29:42] » I just have a little bit more.

[1:29:42] >> Okay. That he doesn't need to follow all

[1:29:44] » Okay. That he doesn't need to follow all

[1:29:44] of the ISS policies because the school

[1:29:46] board is self-governing.

[1:29:48] >> Paula, you use your time. I give you

[1:29:49] » Paula, you use your time. I give you

[1:29:49] over. Okay.

[1:29:50] >> All right.

[1:29:51] » All right.

[1:29:51] >> Sorry. I give you over.

[1:29:52] » Sorry. I give you over.

[1:29:52] >> Anybody else here would like to speak on

[1:29:53] » Anybody else here would like to speak on

[1:29:54] any matter?

[1:29:57] » Just come up. Announce your name and

[1:29:58] address.

[1:30:05] We were hiding it.

[1:30:12] » Michael Cuban 125 Huntington Place in

[1:30:14] Morsville. Thank you for your

[1:30:16] deliberations tonight on your very

[1:30:18] difficult decision to fund the high

[1:30:19] school athletic facilities. I draw your

[1:30:21] attention to the colorful diagram and to

[1:30:24] the mont documents you were given for

[1:30:26] this briefing. Um the vice chair vice

[1:30:30] madam chair said it is our

[1:30:32] responsibility paraphrasing as elected

[1:30:34] officials to dig into the facts and to

[1:30:36] make decisions for those that elected to

[1:30:38] us. All these documents that you

[1:30:40] received in your package I didn't get

[1:30:42] until Friday and I spent many hours on

[1:30:46] Saturday before a board meeting on the

[1:30:47] following Monday to look at all this.

[1:30:50] You've heard a lot of you've heard a lot

[1:30:52] of discussion about we we reviewed this,

[1:30:55] we reviewed that, we we cut the scope,

[1:30:57] we changed things. Well, the we in that

[1:31:01] sentence is not the is not me and it

[1:31:04] wasn't other members on the board. We

[1:31:06] were not involved in the decision-making

[1:31:08] process on any of this and chairman

[1:31:11] Halp, you know, don't judge me by my

[1:31:13] actions until you look at my options.

[1:31:16] Well, I had no options. I wasn't

[1:31:18] involved in the decision-making process

[1:31:21] on any of this and neither were my

[1:31:23] fellow board members. Now, I visited the

[1:31:26] school recently and it's a first rate.

[1:31:27] It's going to be a first rate school.

[1:31:29] It's going to be the gem of our county

[1:31:32] and we only have one chance to do this

[1:31:35] right. And it is my opinion that

[1:31:39] building the school in the manner that

[1:31:41] was briefed to you tonight isn't going

[1:31:43] to do that. We should be we should be

[1:31:46] building the school. Well, this is what

[1:31:48] the public decided on before my time and

[1:31:51] before many of yours, right? This is

[1:31:53] what was decided. And if we're not going

[1:31:55] to build this, we should take it back to

[1:31:57] the people as two of the board members

[1:31:59] tonight discussed.

[1:32:05] You already have twothirds of the money.

[1:32:11] So, I'm asking you, the three members

[1:32:14] who voted in favor of the motions, to

[1:32:16] reconsider the motion

[1:32:19] and perhaps do something like a phased

[1:32:21] approach to build as designed. This is

[1:32:24] what we designed or what was designed. I

[1:32:27] didn't design it, but build this as

[1:32:29] design and make this the hallmark of our

[1:32:32] county, something we're going to be

[1:32:34] really proud of and not look like a

[1:32:36] half-finished high school

[1:32:39] because this is not what we want in our

[1:32:40] county.

[1:32:42] And finally, for example, if you're a

[1:32:45] tennis player and you come to this

[1:32:47] school with no tennis courts, you can't

[1:32:49] go to another school to play tennis. You

[1:32:52] can't do it.

[1:32:54] And then finally, I would just suggest

[1:32:56] to you is I I know board members across

[1:32:58] the state and they regularly meet with

[1:33:01] their county commissioners sometimes

[1:33:02] twice a year or at least once a year and

[1:33:05] I would recommend that we do that

[1:33:07] because there's more topics to discuss

[1:33:09] just than money. It's just everything

[1:33:11] that's going on in the county and

[1:33:12] growth. So I would highly suggest

[1:33:15] recommend that you do that going in the

[1:33:16] future. So I'd ask that you reconsider

[1:33:18] the motion. Thank you.

[1:33:20] >> Anyone else?

[1:33:22] » Anyone else?

[1:33:22] Hearing none. See none, I'll close the

[1:33:23] public comment period

[1:33:26] >> and commissioner updates. I'll start

[1:33:28] » and commissioner updates. I'll start

[1:33:28] back here. Commissioner, have you got

[1:33:29] anything?

[1:33:30] >> Yes. I would just say that um

[1:33:35] » Yes. I would just say that um

[1:33:35] we never get the school budget. To

[1:33:37] respond to Paula briefly, we fund the

[1:33:40] schools based on a formula we had agreed

[1:33:42] on in previous years past or and

[1:33:44] >> we do get the budget.

[1:33:45] » we do get the budget.

[1:33:45] >> We do get the budget, but we we fund on

[1:33:48] » We do get the budget, but we we fund on

[1:33:48] a formula. But as far as the complaints,

[1:33:51] they need to go to the school board. But

[1:33:53] the schools audited annually. We're

[1:33:54] audited annually. So the schools are

[1:33:57] spending the money where they say

[1:33:58] they're spending it.

[1:34:00] Um I understand Mike's thing with the

[1:34:03] scope. We'd love to be able to do the

[1:34:05] original scope. We're having to make

[1:34:07] adjustments as I mentioned based on all

[1:34:09] the other obligations, responsibilities

[1:34:11] we have. Hopefully in the future,

[1:34:13] whether it be us and collaborating with

[1:34:16] the schools, can can complete a portion

[1:34:19] of that scope. I still think it's going

[1:34:20] to be a wonderful uh investment for our

[1:34:25] county. Um I'm very disappointed that a

[1:34:29] school board member would come in here

[1:34:30] and say that it's not what we want for

[1:34:33] our county.

[1:34:35] And I mentioned in my comments that the

[1:34:37] public entrust us to make decisions

[1:34:39] every day on their behalf based on the

[1:34:42] information that we have at the time and

[1:34:44] adjustments and scopes that we may have

[1:34:46] to make. Um

[1:34:49] the meetings that have been had with

[1:34:51] representative from the school district

[1:34:52] elected and staff and Monteth were to

[1:34:56] adjust the scope and get to a budget we

[1:34:59] could afford. And if my memory reflects

[1:35:02] correctly, it was a vote of 7 to1 to

[1:35:05] recommend $20 million funding for this

[1:35:08] project to do this phase with the

[1:35:11] adjusted scopes. While I respect both of

[1:35:14] their

[1:35:15] um frustrations potentially with

[1:35:18] information and their internal

[1:35:20] processes, I would encourage them to

[1:35:21] deal with that internally. Um, but I

[1:35:24] still would hope that they would be

[1:35:26] appreciative of our investment of tax

[1:35:28] dollars into this project because I

[1:35:30] still think it's a great investment for

[1:35:32] our teachers, our staff, and our

[1:35:34] students. And um

[1:35:39] that that right there is very important

[1:35:41] to me. And our board functions

[1:35:46] at the highest integrity we can. While

[1:35:48] we disagree sometimes, we do that

[1:35:50] respectfully and try to be very factual

[1:35:52] in what we do

[1:35:54] uh to the public. I think the public,

[1:35:57] they elect us to make their lives

[1:36:00] better.

[1:36:02] And I don't care if you're Democrat or

[1:36:05] Republican. Our goal is to raise the

[1:36:07] tide because that's raising all ships.

[1:36:10] Okay? And we don't ask people when they

[1:36:13] call us to help us if they're Democrat

[1:36:14] or Republican. we make the best

[1:36:16] decisions in real time that we can based

[1:36:18] on the options we have as Mr. Kubernet

[1:36:20] mentioned. I understand there's internal

[1:36:23] strikes and frustrations.

[1:36:25] Um but they need to handle that

[1:36:27] internally, but um I'm very proud of our

[1:36:31] board and I'm very proud of our county

[1:36:33] with the investments we make on behalf

[1:36:35] of our citizens. I don't think that we

[1:36:38] waste money. We uh make investments and

[1:36:41] decisions on spending based on our

[1:36:43] options before us every day. and we can

[1:36:45] live with those and defend those in my

[1:36:47] opinion. Um I will be at uh the NCAACCC

[1:36:52] starting tomorrow for the rest of the

[1:36:54] week representing all of you and our

[1:36:56] county. And um I wanted to also

[1:37:01] uh thank you for all of your comments

[1:37:03] and considerations tonight. As Melissa

[1:37:05] mentioned, we don't always agree, but we

[1:37:09] do the best we can and we have opinions

[1:37:11] and frustrations that we deal with. And

[1:37:14] all of those are respected and that's

[1:37:16] all I have.

[1:37:16] >> You got your list for the NCAACCC?

[1:37:18] » You got your list for the NCAACCC?

[1:37:18] >> I got my list.

[1:37:19] » I got my list.

[1:37:19] >> Got your list. There's quite a few of

[1:37:20] » Got your list. There's quite a few of

[1:37:20] them this time. I will be brief. I'm

[1:37:21] assuming it's next in my direction on

[1:37:23] updates this evening. Um really the only

[1:37:26] thing I wanted to bring up this evening

[1:37:27] is conversations are are constantly

[1:37:29] evolving in the community. But this one

[1:37:31] is about Fifth Street Ministries. And I

[1:37:33] was speaking with Todd Fowler. He is the

[1:37:35] director of philanthropy out at Fifth

[1:37:38] Street. and he said, "A lot of times

[1:37:39] folks forget that it's more than just a

[1:37:42] shelter and a community kitchen, but it

[1:37:44] also touches lives from veterans, moms,

[1:37:47] kids with the partnership with my

[1:37:49] sister's house and various other things,

[1:37:51] too. So, um, he's recently begun working

[1:37:54] there in this role and

[1:37:58] he's got an interesting background, but

[1:38:00] what he also says when he talks about

[1:38:02] these things is the partnerships we have

[1:38:04] within the county with the nonprofits

[1:38:07] coming together to be the solution to

[1:38:09] take care of a lot of things that people

[1:38:11] don't want to talk about. The

[1:38:12] challenging situation um because it does

[1:38:14] exist in all counties, but they're

[1:38:16] working hard there at Fifth Street to

[1:38:17] address some of these concerns. So, with

[1:38:20] that, I'll just pass it on down the

[1:38:21] line.

[1:38:22] >> Commissioner Stra,

[1:38:25] » Commissioner Stra,

[1:38:25] >> you know, I have uh

[1:38:29] » you know, I have uh

[1:38:30] had the opportunity to do some very fun,

[1:38:33] exciting, challenging

[1:38:37] endeavors in my life.

[1:38:42] My 21-year military career, my time as

[1:38:44] the director for veteran services,

[1:38:50] I think I realized

[1:38:53] pretty young on even in my military

[1:38:55] career was my obligation to my fellow

[1:38:59] man.

[1:39:03] But I will tell you for folks that that

[1:39:05] sit out there,

[1:39:08] um I love the folks that uh say

[1:39:11] something about running for public

[1:39:12] office and they'll say something to the

[1:39:14] effect of they don't want me down there.

[1:39:17] um

[1:39:19] the decisions that have to be made. I go

[1:39:23] back to the same decision Commissioner

[1:39:25] Brown mentioned when we voted for the 50

[1:39:28] million. I felt bad that night. I can

[1:39:31] tell you I don't feel any equally better

[1:39:34] tonight saying no.

[1:39:37] It's a very difficult process.

[1:39:43] Commissioner Neers

[1:39:47] comment. Thank you.

[1:39:53] I am proud.

[1:39:57] Even in the decisions that are

[1:39:58] uncomfortable, where we disagree, I'm

[1:40:02] proud to serve beside each and every one

[1:40:05] of you.

[1:40:09] We all see the need the the how long

[1:40:13] we've sat here and and had to uh

[1:40:16] deliberate over the fire service.

[1:40:19] How long we've had to deliberate over

[1:40:21] schools in one year. In addition to in

[1:40:24] addition to the normal operating and

[1:40:27] capital we spent in one year we laid out

[1:40:32] the people gave the 80 million. So I'm

[1:40:34] not taking taking that. But 50 million

[1:40:36] plus the 52 million 102 million 103

[1:40:41] because it's

[1:40:42] 21

[1:40:44] almost

[1:40:47] million dollars. In addition

[1:40:50] to that um

[1:40:53] this this board is dedicated to

[1:40:56] education.

[1:40:59] In a perfect world would I love to say

[1:41:01] build it all.

[1:41:06] But I can tell you I've had folks call

[1:41:09] me and say, "Brad, you're missing the

[1:41:10] mark." But I've had equally or more call

[1:41:14] me and say, "Thank you for trying to

[1:41:17] hold accountable

[1:41:19] my taxpayer dollars, what I was given

[1:41:23] the presentation

[1:41:24] >> to vote on.

[1:41:26] » to vote on.

[1:41:26] Thank you for for for being my voice. So

[1:41:30] to those of you that I've disappointed,

[1:41:33] I'm I'm sorry.

[1:41:35] Um I have to go with my gut as each of

[1:41:38] you make decisions in your daily lives

[1:41:41] as that you make on your school board or

[1:41:44] on any your church board, wherever it

[1:41:46] is. Decisions sometimes are

[1:41:48] uncomfortable.

[1:41:49] And I have to stand with my convictions

[1:41:54] regardless of sometimes of my

[1:41:59] even the desire to want to go there. I

[1:42:02] have to listen to the people who sent me

[1:42:04] here.

[1:42:06] So I thank each of you. I challenge

[1:42:11] every board in this county

[1:42:14] to conduct itself in the manner this

[1:42:17] board does.

[1:42:19] in its

[1:42:21] interaction with each other.

[1:42:26] » Brown,

[1:42:27] >> thank you. You know, it's uh like I

[1:42:30] » thank you. You know, it's uh like I

[1:42:30] said, it's not easy. I'm I'm glad we're

[1:42:31] getting athletics. I just in my heart I

[1:42:34] couldn't vote for it. Sorry. I just

[1:42:36] that's just where I have been since we

[1:42:39] started this school deal. But as I was

[1:42:41] telling uh Miss Neer a little bit ago,

[1:42:45] if we were all the same, you wouldn't

[1:42:47] need but one commissioner up here. We're

[1:42:49] not. But we do agree to disagree. And

[1:42:53] we'll be back here in two weeks and

[1:42:55] we'll agree to disagree again. It's not

[1:42:57] a problem. We don't fight much.

[1:43:00] We might argue sometimes, but you know,

[1:43:04] we're doing a good job and and and it is

[1:43:07] what it is. I want to see things, you

[1:43:10] know, I want to see our kids have what

[1:43:12] they need. I'm not for Taj Mahal. I can

[1:43:15] tell you this school is going to be the

[1:43:17] most beautiful school. And you know, as

[1:43:20] as Miss Nether and I both went South

[1:43:22] Idle, graduated South a couple years

[1:43:24] ago, and it uh and and you know, it was

[1:43:28] it great school then, great school now,

[1:43:30] and now we're building a we're building

[1:43:32] a school that's unbelievable. As Mr.

[1:43:35] Kumnick said a while ago, it's it's

[1:43:36] something to be proud of. It really is.

[1:43:38] But we're going to have people that say,

[1:43:41] "Well, my kid wants to go there and he

[1:43:43] can't go there." You know, we can never

[1:43:45] please everybody. It just ain't going to

[1:43:47] happen. And and you know, a lot of

[1:43:48] people called me when we did the 50 and

[1:43:50] they chewed my rear big time. And I

[1:43:52] said, "Well, you know, I bit that one

[1:43:54] and and I went home and I didn't sleep.

[1:43:56] I'm going to go home tonight and you

[1:43:57] know, I'm going to get chewed from

[1:43:59] people say, "Why didn't you vote for

[1:44:00] it?" But I'm going to sleep better

[1:44:02] tonight knowing that I voted no and

[1:44:04] you're still getting what you want. I

[1:44:06] mean, you're getting athletes. The kids

[1:44:07] are getting athletics. And I really

[1:44:09] truly hope that that uh you know, we get

[1:44:12] this finished with that amount of money,

[1:44:14] you know, because it's going to be a bad

[1:44:17] day if somebody comes back and said we

[1:44:18] need five more million dollars. But

[1:44:21] anyway, I yield back to you, sir.

[1:44:24] >> Okay. The biggest thing, and I think I

[1:44:25] » Okay. The biggest thing, and I think I

[1:44:25] can speak on behalf of the entire board,

[1:44:27] the biggest thing we have is so many

[1:44:28] funding needs that we have.

[1:44:30] >> Yes.

[1:44:30] » Yes.

[1:44:30] >> We get hit by every angle imaginable.

[1:44:34] » We get hit by every angle imaginable.

[1:44:34] Towns and cities don't have to provide

[1:44:36] all the services that we have to

[1:44:37] provide.

[1:44:40] And it's hard for the five of us to sit

[1:44:41] here and read an agenda item or read

[1:44:43] something in an article that a town or

[1:44:45] city's approved a big a big group of

[1:44:48] developments or apartment complexes and

[1:44:51] this and that. And we're all sitting

[1:44:52] here scratching our head wondering how

[1:44:53] many kids are going to be going to a

[1:44:54] school. Are we going to have to do

[1:44:55] another school?

[1:44:57] And it's hard for us to sit here and to

[1:44:59] be responsible for putting the the uh

[1:45:03] coal in the train to make it go. We

[1:45:05] don't know how much to get. We don't

[1:45:07] know how much. We don't know anything.

[1:45:09] And it's hard for us to sit here knowing

[1:45:11] that we got mandated services we have to

[1:45:14] provide and then we got what we call

[1:45:15] optional services that we provide. And

[1:45:18] we don't want to cut anything, but this

[1:45:20] fire department thing and and I know I

[1:45:22] waited up into the four o'clock hour.

[1:45:24] It's concerning, but at the same time,

[1:45:27] we have put our money where its mouth is

[1:45:31] when it comes down to fire departments.

[1:45:33] And I covered that at the four o'clock

[1:45:35] time period that we talked about. We've

[1:45:37] increased fire funding from fiscal year

[1:45:40] 22 to fiscal year 26 just to what the

[1:45:43] departments actually get for operating

[1:45:44] and everything 46 and a half%.

[1:45:47] That's kind of unheard of.

[1:45:50] Uh you know our problem lies is we only

[1:45:52] grew our all county nine which needs to

[1:45:56] be called an unincorporated nine. I

[1:45:57] think we need to change that name

[1:45:58] officially. If we need to have an

[1:46:00] ordinance or something I think we can

[1:46:02] make that happen. to get rolling.

[1:46:04] >> He probably uh it only increased by

[1:46:06] » He probably uh it only increased by

[1:46:06] $185,585,

[1:46:09] but we decided to go ahead and help out

[1:46:11] the fire departments and do half of

[1:46:12] their initial staffing request, do 2%

[1:46:15] operational, give South Ardol Fire

[1:46:17] Department a bump in their supplement,

[1:46:20] and to go ahead and staff that

[1:46:21] additional crew at Lake Norman Fire

[1:46:23] Department, which they desperately need.

[1:46:26] And it's like I said at the four

[1:46:27] o'clock, everybody says, "Well, they're

[1:46:29] right out there next to Morrisville."

[1:46:30] But they're out there basically kind of

[1:46:31] on an island by theirel. So if they get

[1:46:33] in trouble with all the road

[1:46:34] construction going on, with everything

[1:46:35] going on. So it's been the the privy of

[1:46:38] this board to make sure that we know

[1:46:40] that from the goal with Blake Norman. I

[1:46:42] mean, we've all discussed that for a

[1:46:44] long long time. So it's just it's just

[1:46:47] hard for us to sit here and to look at

[1:46:49] the growth that we got experiencing. And

[1:46:51] if you go out here and you poll the

[1:46:52] people, you actually poll the people and

[1:46:55] you ask them, "Are you happy with the

[1:46:56] amount of growth you're seeing in this

[1:46:57] county,

[1:47:00] they're not happy, but we don't control

[1:47:03] that. We only control what's out in the

[1:47:05] county. I think our land use plan is is

[1:47:07] very good. We just kind of revamped it

[1:47:10] not long ago. you know, we had to make

[1:47:12] make some tweaks from here to here to

[1:47:14] there to make some changes and stuff,

[1:47:16] but you know, our decisions we take

[1:47:19] here, we take those decisions home and

[1:47:22] we sleep on those decisions and we make

[1:47:25] our decisions and we act civilized.

[1:47:30] I mean, we do we act civilized in the

[1:47:32] decisions we have to make. We have to

[1:47:33] make some hard ones.

[1:47:34] >> Some very, very hard ones because we are

[1:47:37] » Some very, very hard ones because we are

[1:47:37] the five up here that makes a

[1:47:39] determination of how much money the tax

[1:47:42] collector goes out here and takes

[1:47:44] basically out of your pocket.

[1:47:48] School boards don't do that. Moral

[1:47:50] Graded does for their little amount of

[1:47:51] money they get. And with that said,

[1:47:54] since we've stepped up to the plate and

[1:47:55] we've helped out Ardell Statesville

[1:47:57] schools on the high school by making the

[1:47:59] bridge a long time ago of amount of

[1:48:02] money that we didn't want to all make,

[1:48:04] but we made it. And then again today, we

[1:48:07] cannot forget Morsel Graded School

[1:48:08] District. So next fiscal year, we cannot

[1:48:12] forget Morsville graded school district.

[1:48:14] As soon as that bond got passed, they

[1:48:16] stepped up on it and they got it done.

[1:48:19] They got in it.

[1:48:22] Boom. In it. So,

[1:48:25] anybody got anything else? Any new

[1:48:27] business? County manager report?

[1:48:31] >> You don't have anything at all?

[1:48:33] » You don't have anything at all?

[1:48:33] >> Okay. We did have a close session this

[1:48:36] » Okay. We did have a close session this

[1:48:36] afternoon in regards to attorney client

[1:48:39] in accordance general statute 143 31811

[1:48:42] A3 with nothing to report on that. We

[1:48:44] had another close session item, economic

[1:48:47] development in accordance to North

[1:48:48] Carolina General Statute 143 31811 A4

[1:48:51] and I think we have a motion to go with

[1:48:53] that one.

[1:48:53] >> I do, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to make a

[1:48:55] » I do, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to make a

[1:48:55] motion to call for a public hearing on

[1:48:57] September 15th for possible economic

[1:48:59] development incentive for project lead.

[1:49:04] » Motion by Commissioner Halp. All in

[1:49:06] favor say I.

[1:49:07] >> I.

[1:49:07] » I.

[1:49:07] >> Any opposed? Motion approves 50. Brings

[1:49:11] » Any opposed? Motion approves 50. Brings

[1:49:11] us down to the end of tonight's meeting.

[1:49:13] Do we have a motion to adjurnn?

[1:49:14] >> Make a motion we adjourn.

[1:49:15] » Make a motion we adjourn.

[1:49:15] >> Scotty was fast on that one. Motion by

[1:49:17] » Scotty was fast on that one. Motion by

[1:49:17] Commissioner Brown. All in favor say I.

[1:49:20] >> I.

[1:49:20] » I.

[1:49:20] >> Any oppose? We are journ

Board of Commissioners Regular - Aug 18 2026

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