I'd like to call to order the Arredell
County Board of Commissioner 6 o'clock
regular meeting for Tuesday, August the
18th, 2026. At this time, I'd like to
ask Commissioner Halp to give the
invocation for the Board of
Commissioners as we seek guidance and
wisdom in the work we're about to do for
the citizens of Ardale County.
Lord, we come to you tonight asking for
wisdom and guidance, Lord, in all
decisions. We ask for prayers for our
students, parents, staff, and for a new
school year, Lord, and keep them safe
every day as they come and go for our
school and all the importance that they
provide for our communities. We ask for
prayers for our military, Lord, and our
first responders and their families,
Lord, for all that they do for our
country and our our municipalities and
our county and our state. Lord, prayers
for our president, our leaders to do
what's right for the American people.
Lord, keep them focused on that, Lord,
and help them to please you with all
their decisions. Lord, please bless the
United States as we are not perfect,
Lord, but we're still the best country
in the world, Lord. In Jesus name, we
come to you tonight. We we give you
praise and glory in all that you do. And
thank you for all our many blessings. In
Jesus name we pray. Amen.
>> Amen. At this time, I'd like to ask
» Amen. At this time, I'd like to ask
Commission uh Vice Chair Neer to lead us
in a pledge of
>> allegiance
to the flag of the United States of
America and to the republic for which it
stands, one nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice
for all.
» And turn it over to county manager for
adjustment to the agenda.
>> The only adjustment we have this evening
» The only adjustment we have this evening
is just to make sure that we received
another application for the Farmland
Preservation Board and that was added on
the table before you packet for
consideration.
>> Do we have a motion to approve the
» Do we have a motion to approve the
agenda?
>> Make a motion to approve.
» Make a motion to approve.
>> Motion by Commissioner Stout. All in
» Motion by Commissioner Stout. All in
favor say I.
>> I.
» I.
>> Any opposed? The agenda is approved. We
» Any opposed? The agenda is approved. We
do not have any special recognitions or
awards tonight, but we do have an
appointment before the board with the
Art of County Health Department. I'll
turn it to county manager to fire that
off.
>> Absolutely. Thank you. Um, this evening
» Absolutely. Thank you. Um, this evening
we do have a request from the health
department to present the 2025 state of
the county health report and Miss Indic
Savage is here to make this presentation
to the board.
check and make sure that we have to act
it out too.
>> I do have some booklets as well.
» I do have some booklets as well.
>> Oh, there there you go. Here we go.
» Oh, there there you go. Here we go.
Okay.
>> All right. So, good evening everyone. My
» All right. So, good evening everyone. My
name is Danica Savage. I am the health
promotion supervisor from the Iredell
County Health Department. So, this
evening I will be providing to you all
the 2025 state of the county health
report, also known as the Satch Report,
which shows the actual progress of our
community health assessment. So our top
three priorities for our 2020 health
assessment was chronic disease,
substance misuse, and mental health. And
with this initiative, we did collaborate
with several different organizations
throughout Ardell County to improve in
those areas.
All right. So for our first priority in
our initiative, mental health, this was
done by our own health department with
our opioid team. So we did have our
youth mental health first aid. So this
is done for our actual adults to help
them actually respond to an actual
crisis for our youth. So we did train 28
SRO's for our mindful Mondays. This was
done for our recreation center and we
had 384 children. So with this we
actually provided emotion emotional
regulation games like rock pain puzzles
and positive affirmations for them. For
our teens mental health first aid and
this is for our actual adolesccents
between the ages of 14 and 18. We teach
them how to actually respond to an
actual crisis. So in 2025 we did one
training. However, we had five students
and that number has incre increased this
year.
We did collaborate with Bwell Aredell
which is a suicide prevention coalition
in Ayardell County. So for them their
all their activities, events, trainings
held and material materials directed
were provided. It was a total of 3,000
people that they actually reached for
the 500 youth engaged. This is the
actual number of the youth that train
attended their trainings in their
programs and that was a total of 500 30
partner agencies and that included the
health department and 20 trainings held.
All right, for chronic disease our own
very own mental health well mobile unit
I'm sorry. So we are around the county.
We did a total of 139 blood pressure
checks last year and that number
definitely has tripled this year. Down
below we do have our healthy for life
that we have not yet started. This is
with the American Heart Association. So
this is actual training that's inerson
and virtually done. So it provides
education on physical well-being and
wellness.
All right. So we did collaborate with
Ardell health system with their diabetes
program. Their diabetes program is for
their type 2 diabetes and provides
improvement and education to those. So
it was a total of 65 people who actually
attended the program with 62 participant
participants actually maintaining their
type 2 diabetes levels. So for their
outreach and community engagement, this
includes educational trainings and
events. There were a total of 406
community members that actually attended
for substance misuse. We did collaborate
with Daki Ardo County Wellness Clinic in
the Statesville Police Department. So
these are very our own prevention
methods. So with the Aridell Statesville
Police Department, it was 100 a total of
154 pounds of unwanted med medications
for their drug t takeback program. So
for Daki, this included their 95 lock
boxes. For their fitnol strips, 341.
Again, these are prevention methods. And
then for our Arredell County Wellness
Clinic, there were 19 referrals for our
quit line program. And this included our
county employees,
our challenges.
So for 2025, we did have several
different challenges. Of course, our
measles outbreak with 24 cases and our
last reported case was February 21st,
2026. Our government shutdown which
affected the entire country, especially
the health department with our care
management program and access to mental
health care. So, here in Ardell County,
we do have our we do have behavioral
health Davis with 42 beds. However, we
do need more inpatient for mental health
as well as our substance abuse recovery
long-term treatment centers.
For our health trends for 2023, the
morbidity and mortality rates, there
were no significant changes from 2023
that remained pretty consistent. Opioid
overdoses still a high-risisk concern.
So, we still track those with NC detect.
And again, with our provider capacity,
that was our mental health and our
substance misuse treatment centers,
which is a need in Iridale County.
All right. For our new initiatives at
the health department, do we do have our
animated character, Globy. He is our
mood keeper for our youth. So, he
provides our youth emotional regulation
and teaches them how to recognize their
actual emotions and their actual
feelings.
All right. And for 2027, the community
health assessment is coming up. We will
continue to collaborate with several
different organizations and we will be
partnering with Duke Health on this
initiative. Thank you.
» Can I ask you a question?
>> Sure.
» Sure.
>> I see it says questions now.
» I see it says questions now.
>> Yes.
» Yes.
>> And if you're not able to answer, I'm
» And if you're not able to answer, I'm
sure you can like phone a friend or
reach out or follow back up. If you will
um think back to what is capable by the
the mobile health unit
>> when it's out and about in the community
» when it's out and about in the community
if someone comes in to have blood work
done is something say there go back to
the diabetes focus on that one on their
numbers
>> if they wonder if their sugar's high
» if they wonder if their sugar's high
whether they are diagnosed with diabetes
or if they're just the citizen that's
never had their blood check
>> is that something they can coordinate
» is that something they can coordinate
with the mobile health unit or do they
have to come in
>> that is something that they are able to
» that is something that they are able to
coordinate with the mobile So we do have
a lab team out there. So
>> that's essentially what I was wondering.
» that's essentially what I was wondering.
So that way folks sometimes are hesitant
to go.
>> They need to know,
» They need to know,
>> right? So we do have lab out there. So
» right? So we do have lab out there. So
yes, we they will get the help that they
need.
>> How long would they have to wait to have
» How long would they have to wait to have
results?
>> I'm not sure. It depends on the actual
» I'm not sure. It depends on the actual
what they're actually there for. You get
it done. Yes. Yes.
>> We do not turn anyone away.
» We do not turn anyone away.
>> Okay. Excellent. Thank you.
» Okay. Excellent. Thank you.
I think on your slide you kind of
alluded to this is
>> with the growth that we're seeing in
» with the growth that we're seeing in
this county.
>> Are you starting to see more folks with
» Are you starting to see more folks with
the health department because they are
having trouble getting in with a their
own provider?
>> Well, I would say that's everywhere. I
» Well, I would say that's everywhere. I
would say provider capacity, like I said
it before, that's a need in several
different counties. the health
department does provide you know that
access to individuals even those without
health insurance on a sliding scale. So
we do see a lot of different people with
that.
>> Are you are you hearing very much of
» Are you are you hearing very much of
folks kind of um
>> more migrating to the health department
» more migrating to the health department
instead of their primary care providers
>> because of capacity?
» because of capacity?
>> Um I wouldn't say that I'm hearing I
» Um I wouldn't say that I'm hearing I
would say that we we see more patients
um because of that. You know a lot of
people don't accept Medicaid so we do
see a lot of patients with Medicaid. Um,
so I I feel like we do maintain a good a
good bit of clients.
» Any other questions?
» Make a motion to
>> All right. Thank you guys.
» All right. Thank you guys.
>> We got a motion on the floor.
» We got a motion on the floor.
>> Motion by Commissioner Stout. All in
» Motion by Commissioner Stout. All in
favor say I.
>> Any oppos?
» Any oppos?
>> You guys have a good evening.
» You guys have a good evening.
>> I'm feeling healthier already.
» I'm feeling healthier already.
positive energies.
>> We don't have any public hearings
» We don't have any public hearings
tonight, but I'll turn it over to the
manager to do our administrative matter.
>> Thank you, Chair Conley. Um, do you want
» Thank you, Chair Conley. Um, do you want
to go ahead and do the the two that we
reserve for the six? So, uh, the first
item under administrative matters for
the six o'clock meeting is a request
from Ardell six schools for approval of
phase 2 athletic funding for Weather
Creek High School, including budget
amendment number six and amendment to
the capital project ordinance. And Mr.
Mark Shanker is here to make his
presentation to the board. I will say
depending upon uh the board's decision,
Miss Taylor is um has various different
options for budget amendments. She's
she's been busy with budget amendments,
not knowing which
ago. So, um she actually will come and
tag team at the
» Yes. Uh good evening, uh
Chairman Connelly, members of the board.
Um I'm here on behalf of Irale
Statesville Schools, um to present to
you a request for funding, additional
funding for Weathers Creek High School,
uh to complete phase two of our school.
Um as you know, we're under construction
there and have been for quite some time.
Um, we've received
$130 million worth of funding from uh
the county to build this project. Um,
and you know, our intent is to try to
complete the project all together with
phase one and and open the school
together with both an athletics portion
of the field um to the to the the school
building side of the project. The
building part of the project is is
running as scheduled and um and we are
delivering a school to be opened in fall
of 2027. So this is our last school year
without the uh school. We're in the
middle of a redistricting process right
now and we hope to have that approved in
our next month in our board meeting
there. And so we've been looking at
different options. If you remember
originally um we were making a request
forundred
70 million or so for the project. 32
million I believe was the original uh
request there for phase two of the
project for athletics.
You know, we understand that that's uh
not going to be possible
with a with the constraints that you
have with budget. So, we we looked back
at it to see what we could eliminate.
Our goal all along was to try to provide
a full continuum of athletics, every
sport to all the students that attend
Weathers Creek High School. And when we
did that project, when we did that
exercise,
um, we were able to to eliminate some
things and and try to back into around a
$25 million construction project.
And then we've continued to sharpen the
pencil going back through to see what
was possible in the project to
eliminate. Understand that anytime you
do a project there are construction
costs but there are other costs
associated with the project with
permitting design fees. You know you
know misconception will be well we
already designed it. Well when you're
making the design modifications we are
to the field uh position of the field
and where certain things are located you
have to redesign these things. We've
looked at consolidating buildings
together and doing all of all of these
exercises together to try to drop into a
budget. So um the construction company
Monteth Construction has been helpful in
doing this exercise. They've spent hours
with their staff trying to come up with
different versions that that could back
into a budget that everyone was
satisfied with. The architect has been
very helpful and has put in a ton of
time for the project as well. Um, and so
the documents I shared with you is is
kind of I believe um an option for us to
do this project. And um and I'll kind of
talk through a little bit of what that
is. I have a a map up here that kind of
shows some of these ideas that we've
done. If you remember, the original plan
had the field oriented a different way.
We've we've looked at moving the field,
eliminating parking lots mostly uh for
grading purposes. The project has a
large uh it's sloped from the north end
to the south end of the property. So
having the fields positioned in the way
they were before would require a very
expensive retaining wall. So we looked
to move things up to avoid the that work
and avoid having to build a retaining
wall there. We eliminated some access
roads that went up to the back side of
the field. What's highlighted there in
green is a section of the road that we
would suggest would be done some of that
were to be done in gravel versus
pavement. On the football field itself,
we eliminated several of the buildings
to have one building. So, consolidating
a concession stand, eliminating a
concession stand and then consolidating
the concession stand into the
fieldhouse. It's much cheaper to build
one building than it is multiple
buildings. We reduce the capacity in the
in the uh stadium there with the number
of seats that we have in here to match
the same capacity that we have at South
Irale High School. on our baseball and
softball fields. They had uh bleachers
on the home side, on the on the I'm
sorry, the first base side, the third
base side, and behind home plate. And we
looked to eliminate both the ones on the
baselines just to have bleachers behind
home plate. Parking lots were eliminated
utilizing before the idea of the project
was we had a gate that would separate
athletics from the building side.
Eliminating the gate and utilizing
parking that's on the building side
allows us to not install all these
parking lots and saves lots of money in
parking. I'm sure you manage your county
budget here. You know what parking lots
cost. We also look to eliminate both
practice fields in this generation and
with the idea that we could install one
ourselves through our maintenance
department or through our capital funds
at a later date.
We would grade it so that a field was a
field kind of footprint was there for
one of the athletic fields, but then the
other field there actually a slope there
where that other there wouldn't be a
spot there for that other field. We'd
have to go in and grade some of that to
add the other practice field.
And so there are some other components
pieces in there. It's all kind of
outlined, I believe, in that letter that
Monteth has provided.
And all of these I will state is is
really just an an option. Um we can
really work with any budget the county
provides us. Um it is you know and this
is this exercise that we did was done
rather rather quickly. Um these are all
estimates. If you notice the one
document I provided you they have lots
of zeros because those are estimates
that you know we don't we're not really
tied to any of this. you know, our
request is to to receive funding for
this and then we could go back and
really decide how we're going to to
utilize that funding. Um, but this plan
right here, I think, is one um that we
would be very pleased with. I will also
point out, too, it does not have tennis
courts in there. We eliminated all six
tennis courts in this piece here. You
know, that's unfortunate, but that's a
it's a very expensive for the number of
participants that we have in tennis. Um,
and it's, you know, you'll spend
anywhere from half a million to a
million dollars instead in installing a
tennis court. I think one of the quotes
he had in here was $1.2 million for
tennis or, you know, for some high
schools that, you know, don't even have
a tennis team, have trouble fielding
tennis teams. We can look to add that at
a later date.
So, I know one popular question we
receive is if we were to do this, how
long it would take? We're kind of
working with a one-year um timeline. I
think 12 months of construction timeline
for it. So by the time we finish if um
funding was made available and we were
looking to um you know go through the
design and finalize the design finalize
you know how we were going to utilize
those funds it would be 12 months from
there. So you know I kind of say a day
for a day. The longer this is delayed
the longer it would take you know to
have it installed.
I believe you're going to have the best
price is the price that uh is today's
price and as we move further along this
if we were to defer this project I think
it becomes more expensive. How much more
expensive? I I'm not really sure. A lot
of the pricing that all the pricing that
we provide in here is based on the you
know construction consumer index um and
you know what we're seeing from we
haven't rebid the project but I think
once we rebid the project we'll be able
to kind of go through and and see you
know what our best prices in there and
what we can do um on any of it. So, this
scope right here, without the tennis
courts, without the practice fields, and
all of these modifications that we've
spoke about, brings a construction cost
of $22 million.
Um, we are estimating $2 million in soft
costs
um for a total project cost of $24
million.
We have saved money from phase one on
the project. We're running probably
about $1.5 million and what we call our
our kitty. We've eliminated things from
that project to try to save money there
to put towards phase two. We I think
we've done a really nice job not to
cheapen the building, but to find, you
know, savings where things might have
been unnecessary.
Um so, for example, you know, I I shared
this with the board last week. We found
$30,000 last week because the mezzanines
where the HVAC system is housed above in
these areas above the classroom space.
It's just mechanical equipment up there.
Those in the in the plans, they were set
to be to have painting up done up there.
A coat of primer and a coat of paint.
Eliminated that. You know, they could be
just regular masonry walls up there. We
saved a hund00 million by eliminating a
a hall of fame kind of corridor that
went towards the gym. Now we have a wall
of fame with just some casing and
trophies and things in there. So we've
looked to eliminate a lot of these
things through the project, saving about
1.5. We're comfortable with about 1.25
of that. Still want to leave something
in there. There is unforeseen things
that pop up from time to time. We also
have some allowance savings as well too.
You know, anytime you do a construction
project, you have little pots of money
for allowances. you have one for um you
know an allowance for electrical, an
allowance for all of these different
trades. And as the project gets further
along, you know, we're more and more
comfortable with utilizing the money
that's there in the allowances. This is
$250,000 towards allowances. There's
more than that in the allowances, but
this is the part I think we're we're
going to be comfortable dedicating
towards the project. A half a million
dollars of the project is going to be
reimbursed by NC DOT. This is not
something that you receive immediately,
but at some point we'll have a
reimbursement of $500,000. A lot of time
when we get those reimbursements,
they're, you know, returned back to the
school, but you know, that'll be your
choice there. But 500,000, you know, you
know, we kind of put in there as well.
We also receive somewhere around $2
million a year in lottery funds. So,
we're prepared um to put money into this
project toward from lottery. So, for
example, we can look at one of the maybe
baseball and softball fields and see if
we could utilize lottery funds to to pay
for those portions of the project. So,
that brings a total contribution to the
project from the district at $4 million.
Um, so if you take you do the math, 24
million total project cost, $4 million
from the district gives us an estimated
counting funding request of $20 million.
And so, you know, and I'm going to share
uh a little bit later about Parkertown
Elementary, which we are operating, you
know, within our budget there and things
are favorable on that project. You know,
that's another space there that I think
we could look at at some point, too, is
seeing, you know, is there savings that
we have from that portion of the project
to put back into this project. So there
are other opportunities I think along
the way and as as time goes on I think
it'll become more clear on exactly what
this may look like.
It's probably a lot of information. I'll
I'll take any questions you have.
>> Anybody got any questions for Mark?
» Anybody got any questions for Mark?
>> Simple one on the football field. Are
» Simple one on the football field. Are
you is it considered to be turf in this
estimate as well?
>> Yes. The field itself would be a very
» Yes. The field itself would be a very
similar product to to what we've done on
our other fields. South Irale High
School. They'll have their first home
football game on their on their turf
field on Friday night if you want to
come out for that. But that'll it'll be
a similar product to what we have at our
other ones. The track in this particular
estimate is looking at a different
version of track surface. And we're
still in conversations with geoaces that
provides our our track and fields there
to see is there another really good
track surface that may not be the the
Mondo system that we have on these
fields is top of the line across the the
country. I think they said that
something crazy I'll say the number
wrong but 80% of all world records are
set on the this particular track
surface. We can find a really good
surface. I just care about it lasting
long. Is it safe for kids and will it
last long? That's the kind of the the
way that I look at it. So, could we find
another product that could potentially
save us, you know, half a million
dollars? And I think that that's this is
that that is the product that would be
listed in this this so it's a very
similar but maybe not identical as far
as a track service.
» Any other questions?
I just want to say thank you to uh Mark
and and all of their staff and Monteth
Beth and I and Bert along with them had
had several meetings on behalf of our
board and staff um to try and
prioritize. We asked them, we t them
with coming back with the highest
priorities
for the athletic stuff in this phase
because of our um funding limitations we
have uh throughout the county, schools,
fires, all these things. And as Mark
mentioned, they they prioritize things
with where we think we can be today. Not
saying none of the other things are not
valued and important, but I think we had
to move these things forward if possible
uh without jeopardizing, you know, Mark
mentioned quality. When they did the
scope modifications and things, they
didn't jeopardize quality of product.
And I wanted to say thank you to all the
people that took part in that. And um it
was important to to do that. And I
think, you know, we've said it for many,
many years
um at other facilities and Mr. Norman
used to say all the time is, you know,
we can try to invest in athletics in the
county. Our jail is already at capacity.
We've got to try to give our kids an
outlet. And hopefully investing in
athletics gives them that ability. And
also hopefully the communities will use
these facilities. That's always been our
long-term plan. you know, when the
schools are not using these facilities,
the public can use them and bringing
economic impacts to our county. So, I
look at all this as a as a continued
investment.
So, I appreciate the work that's gone
into that from everyone.
>> I'd like to say just a couple things.
» I'd like to say just a couple things.
>> This thing when it was done, and I know
» This thing when it was done, and I know
I've hound this horn almost four years,
this this project was put out to the
voters for $80 million.
And fault lies on both sides on why it
was not jumped on and done. Morsel
jumped on theirs and got on theirs
pretty quick.
And if we approve anything tonight, we
cannot forget Morrisville graded has
needs as well. Big needs that they've
got as well. So we can't forget them
when it comes down if we make a decision
to do anything with this tonight. So, I
just want please let the board know
we've got to look at requests that
Morsel's got coming up in the next
fiscal year. They sent us some this year
and we told them no and they understood.
So, I think if we decide anything
tonight, we need to make sure that we we
give our due diligence to Mor School
District next fiscal year. Mark, I
appreciate everything you have done on
this project because it started out very
high and it went. everything you've
done, anytime I've dealt with you,
you've been very honest, very you do a
hell of a job. I'll just go ahead and
tell you right now. And Jeff, I'm saying
that here and you're happy your board's
here. Mark does a very good job and and
I appreciate I appreciate me being able
to call him, reach out to him and it's,
you know, we get the get the answers. I
go back to the rest of the board. The
board can call Mark and we value what
Mark says.
Please give him a good, you know, a good
thing or something, you know, something
on his door or something. But we go from
80 million, if we approve this tonight,
we will be at 150,924,615.
We're still 50 million shy of the $200
million request we got. So we're 159
150,924
615.
But with that comes the delay. This is
well before I got on the board. The
delay of bringing it to us thousands so
many days with time the voters passed it
to us to do something. The interest
rates went up tremendously our finance
directors here. So then we had to pay
you know bukoo of money extra on
financing.
So, just
I see it every day. I see what it is if
kids don't have an out. And I hope if
this passes tonight, I hope that we work
with our kids and we keep our kids busy
and keep them out of trouble. But we
know that's not going to happen in all
cases. But high school without sports is
just if it was an early college and I
still hope y'all sit down with Mos
Graded and I hope y'all sit down with
Mitchell and talk to them about early
college opportunities there because I
don't think you're going to get this
thing filled up anytime soon. I I really
don't u you know people hit at us about
the reval that come apart that that
we've done and you know we still get
hounded about that. kind of got hounded
the weekend over that, but they don't
understand the things that we're having
to do and we're trying to pay cash for
with elementary school. And I mean, the
other projects we got going on with the
courthouse expansion, the other projects
and stuff that we've tried to do, you
know, we got beat up for Jennings Park.
Now we get beat up for Jennings Park
because we didn't do enough for the
parking. So, we're having to adjust the
parking there. So, it's kind of dained
if you do and dained if you don't in
certain situations. But
I just going forward $20 million of
sports of a high school that could have
built back in the day what two and a
half elementaryaries way back not so far
back. I mean that could have easily
built. So but now elementaryaries are 50
$60 million. So if we do save money at
Parkertown, can we adjust that money
that we could pay back some of this 20
if we do invest the 20?
>> Yes.
» Yes.
>> Yeah. I'll share that in just a little
» Yeah. I'll share that in just a little
bit. We're seeing things are positive
there and I I'll probably
>> And please knock on wood. Please knock
» And please knock on wood. Please knock
on wood before you leave.
>> Um but yeah, I'm sure I can work with
» Um but yeah, I'm sure I can work with
Carolina. We can figure out how to make
that happen.
>> Well, I will interject just a little
» Well, I will interject just a little
bit. Parker Town, we're paying cash for.
>> So that is something that if there's
» So that is something that if there's
savings, that's just less cash we'll
have to front. So that's a benefit
because we're paying cash for that that
entire school.
>> Anybody got anything else?
» Anybody got anything else?
You know, I uh
I remember the uh the vote in 2020,
$80 million to build a school.
Most of the people sitting in this room
voting were not a part of any of
not in the same capacities not in
I was a voter.
That bond was presented
regardless what anyone says that $80
million going to build that school.
I'm not going to sit here and and let's
beat a dead horse. But the trigger
didn't get pulled. Action didn't take
place. Yes, there was things going on.
There was a change of of leadership
going on with Idol Statesville schools.
There was changes within the county.
There was uh COVID all the things. I
mean, you call it a perfect storm.
We've had folks who were a part of it
make statements such as didn't realize
it uh was going to ask for $80 million
when their names on the form that
requested it when it brought forward to
this board
in 2020 to be placed upon the
U. Um but then there their signatures on
it requesting the board at that time put
it out for the vote but denying
there's a lot of
misinformation,
a lot of convoluted information.
I've been labeled by some folks of
saying I'm anti-education and I'm anti-
athletics.
That is not true.
I played sports at Stacil Senior High.
Coached Jesse Jackson.
This was my position coach
played basketball.
My children came through this
space schools. I have grandchildren who
will come through Idle Space Schools.
But sitting here as a board member
and all the duties and responsibilities
that this board has, 28
county departments,
18 fire departments,
two rescue squads,
and countless other issues.
We're paying 52 million cash. When was
the last time you know that that was
done?
This board, this sitting board as it
appears in front of you, voted to give
an additional $50 million to this
project because of those issues.
There's going to be folks that voted for
me that will agree with what I say and
folks that won't. But I was voted
in and part of my thing was
accountability
and my belief
it should have went back to the people
and the people had the right to decide
to spend. We're if we go this we're
we're we're
going to be at what 70 almost 71 million
in addition to the 80 million that the
voters approved.
You know, George Washington didn't cut
down the cherry tree, I don't think. I
think he cut down the money tree.
Um,
I understand and I get the value, but I
also get and understand
living to your obligation to your word.
And I do not think that the people of
Arle County,
the voters of our county, and I'm not
blaming again. I want to go back and
state the majority of the people
inherited
this issue.
The taxpayers inherited it.
The school board and this board
inherited the the the responsibility of
trying to
make sense of it.
I was a taxpayer before I came here and
I'll be a taxpayer in December.
I'm supportive of the schools. Dr.
James, Mark, I am 100% behind the
schools,
but I'm of the beliefs this has to go
back to the people. And
so I I personally can't support
with Brad, you know, the last time we
voted
a little bit and I said, "Boy,
That's a hard one to swallow. It was a
hard one to swallow. But after we did
the bond, we argued
figure it out. And we got together, we
figured out, hey, we can make this
payment. We can do this. And we did it.
I didn't sleep at night. That's probably
the worst worst decision I've made since
I've been on the board that I had to do
that. We did it. But it bothered me now.
And when I did that, I said, "Okay,
guys, I'm gonna do it." I told this I'm
going to do it. I'm done.
So, I made my decision
and I'm not against
so you know I see what it does for this
county but I'm like Brad
we're almost double what bond was and I
owe it to the people of this county to
ask their that's my I'm spending $70
million of taxpayers money and and I
don't have that right, not me. So the
people of this county, it's their money.
So So I'm standing.
>> Any other discussion?
» Any other discussion?
>> I got some comments.
» I got some comments.
>> I am on I was on the board when this
» I am on I was on the board when this
passed and I was on the board when we
did a bond in 2020.
and what we took to the people in 2020.
At that time, you could build this
school for the proposed amount that was
on the bond. The perfect storm, as Brad
said, happened. I don't disagree with
any of your heartburn for it. However,
as they've had changes of things at the
school, we had changes after COVID. The
state made revenues available for
capital in the state of North Carolina,
tier three counties. were one of 20. If
you started a project and broke ground,
you were not eligible to receive any of
that capital money. 95% of the tax
dollars in this state come from tier
three counties and it's redistributed to
the other 80 tier one and two counties.
So, I just wanted to clarify we had that
was one of the reasons we had to wait
because we did our due diligence for the
taxpayers of the county. If we could
have got state capital money that was
made available, we wouldn't have had to
pull out that 50 million Scotty's
talking about, but we had 50 million
approved at the time from Katherryn
Truit and Governor and at the time
Governor Cooper denied that because
we're a Republican county. We were going
to get 10 million a year for five years.
That didn't happen either because of
politics.
So, we did the best we could trying to
look out and do our due diligence for
the taxpayers. Yes, there were
challenges for the timing of everything.
All of your heartburn is right as far as
interest rates, all those things.
I don't disagree with that. We learned
from that. Next time, you just got to
pull the trigger and move on. But I feel
like for the taxpayers, for the record,
they needed to know some of the delay
was trying to get their taxpayer dollars
coming back to Ireland County that was
made available by the legislature and
tier three counties got none. Okay. So,
that was part of our due diligence. And
if you started the project, why you
couldn't continue to apply for the
project is beyond me. It's another dumb
legislative
uh part of the legislation.
And so
everything you've said I I don't
disagree with. I have heartburn as well.
However,
we voted to spend 65 or more million
dollars on a courthouse edition that we
need because we've got to get the jail
population down. If we don't provide
athletics or alternatives for our kids
in this county, we're going to add on to
the jail. And the jail's going to cost
you more per square foot than this
school. So when we go to the people,
with all due respect, and ask for what
we need, if the voters turn it down, it
don't take away my mandated
responsibility or our mandated
responsibility to build the school. We
can go ask for their permission and
approval, but if they deny it, we still
got to build it. It just presents
problems on how we get the money. And
we've done a great job of paying cash as
we go. We've put a lot of county
projects on hold to pri for
prioritization of mandated things.
Sometimes we have the the public elects
us to make informed decisions on their
behalf because we know all the details
and facts they may not know like the
courthouse, the challenges, the fire
departments. We're stretching a dollar
getting great service from our people to
do fire and rescue service in the county
when we know the challenges they face
for personnel. We fight it every day
with staffing for paramedics and
everyone. The jail, the hell they put
put up with in the jail every day. Guys,
if people come in here to tomorrow, if
an inspector comes in here tomorrow and
says, "Add on to the jail." You got to
add on to the jail. A judge can call the
manager over there and demand we add on
to the courthouse whether we want to do
it or not. The state mandates us to
build schools, adequate facilities.
We have gone back and adjusted the scope
without jeopardizing the quality to do
what I think is the right thing to do is
to give this high school athletic
facilities
to provide that experience for our
community, our kids. I think it's the
right thing to do. Does it hurt? Yes, it
hurts. But to that other point, we make
decisions every meeting on behalf of our
citizens
because we either have to unfunded
mandates that are not relieved by the
state or federal government. So, I just
want to remind everybody of that. We
take in account our citizens every day.
We lowered the tax rate after the last
reval. people still paid more in taxes
because their values went up. Well, now
that may be manipulated with a ballot
initiative in November when Brad
mentioned all of these various mandated
responsibilities or otherwise
responsibilities of county departments
that we have to meet and that's our main
revenue stream.
So, I just want to remind everybody, I
don't disagree with your heartburn, but
there also are decisions we're elected
to make uh informed decisions on behalf
of our citizens because we're mandated
to do it and we're obligated to do it.
We don't have to by statute provide fire
service in this county, but we do
because it's the right thing to do for
our citizens.
We don't have to have libraries. We
don't have to have recreation, but we we
have these departments to give our
citizens
those resources. That's why we have the
best damn county in the state and the
best state in the country in my opinion
because we try to make the best informed
decisions we can. Are they perfect? No.
But I think they're necessary. That's
just me. Not criticizing what anybody
said. Just want to remind everybody we
make decisions every meeting to spend
taxpayer dollars the most efficient way
we have to. So my request would be if
there's no other comments I'll make a
motion for this if no one else has a
comment.
>> I'll just make a few just okay so I can
» I'll just make a few just okay so I can
>> just put a little bit of thought out
» just put a little bit of thought out
there as well. Um,
number one, I want to say how heartfelt
appreciative I am for our board
to be able to sit here and have
difficult conversations.
To be able to
speak from our heart and from our mind
and we still walk out of here got each
other's back no matter what.
That speaks volumes of a board.
I'm more concerned if you don't have a
difference of opinion. I need a
difference of opinion. That way, our
citizens each have a voice.
Whether they agree with yes or they
agree with no.
We all sit here and represent our
population.
We also represent our population
respectfully.
No matter what our decision is tonight,
we will work together for the next
decision because guess what? Ardell
County is still growing. Ardell County
still has needs. We can't just say, "Oh,
it's too hard. We're not going to do
it." We were elected to make those
decisions.
If you turn your back on the decisions
and you turn your back on the people, we
were elected to make the decisions.
I will tell you as I visit schools,
there is not a dollar amount you could
put. The people in those schools are
priceless. The students are priceless.
Our teachers are priceless.
But yet, you've got to put a price on
projects.
And how do you do that? You continue to
have conversations. What you see here is
a condensed version because our
population doesn't want to spend the
hours having to dig into the facts and
the information. That's not their
responsibility. That's our
responsibility. It's yours. Yours your
responsibility to give us the
information. And thank you, Chairman
Connley, for digging into this and
bringing us back factual information
because we have to make the decisions.
We're not putting a price on people.
We're not putting a price on our
taxpayers.
We are putting respect on all
individuals involved in this project and
I don't take it lightly. Do not take it
lightly.
I take this very seriously. And it's not
that I was a sore athlete. Heaven forbid
when I ran track back in the day. It's
like I hopped over the holes on a track
in South High School.
>> Yeah. I mean, it was like you hear the
» Yeah. I mean, it was like you hear the
comments. It was fine for me back in my
day. Yeah. I turned out all right. There
wasn't much of a field. I remember when
Broly Middle School had a barn for a
gym. Do we want that for the kids? We
want acceptable, decent facilities for
our children.
We want them to have opportunity.
I will tell you the number of students
that say, "I would do sports, but if I
don't have a ride, I can't. I've got to
get on the bus." Even if buses provide
transportation, it gets so complicated.
I want to be able to say that I've done
my homework, done my research, done my
thinking, done my prayers, done my
thoughts, that I want every student that
attends Weathers Creek High School to
have the same opportunity that the other
students have at the other high schools.
Thank you.
>> Anybody else?
» Anybody else?
>> Commissioner, have you got a motion?
» Commissioner, have you got a motion?
>> Mr. Chair, I'd like to make a motion
» Mr. Chair, I'd like to make a motion
that we approve the formal request from
Ireland State Schools for the 20
million. Um the I Central School Board
of Education has approved a formal
request for Ardal County Board of
Commissioners for 20 million and county
funding to complete phase two of
Weathers Creek High School. The funding
combined with the district's identified
contribution per March's presentation
and Montist attached letter outlining
the scope adjustments and measures taken
to achieve the savings for this project.
It also would include uh the approval
for the phase 2 funding including budget
amendment number six and amended to the
capital projects ordinance. And I'd like
to make a motion as part of this motion
for the appropriation to come from the
future capital reserve fund balance to
transfer to Weathers Creek Capital
Project Fund to provide funding for
athletics at Weathers Creek High School.
>> Motion by Commissioner Halp. All in
» Motion by Commissioner Halp. All in
favor say I.
>> I.
» I.
>> All oppose.
» All oppose.
>> No.
» No.
>> Motion passes 32.
» Motion passes 32.
County manager. Our next one.
>> Thank you, Mr. Sherrick also has the
» Thank you, Mr. Sherrick also has the
next item and that's a request from
Ardell Statesville Schools for I'm sorry
um Miss Taylor has a budget amendment
for you and she will give that to you.
I'm sorry I forgot about that one. So um
you referenced where the funding is
coming from. Miss Taylor has the budget
amendment and she will provide that for
you for your packets. She worked a
couple of different options but um is
there anything that you need to say
regarding that for the record?
Do I need to amend my motion?
>> I I think the the funding is a little
» I I think the the funding is a little
>> it's a little different. So, do you mind
» it's a little different. So, do you mind
stepping to the podium? Let's just
>> That's cleared up now.
» That's cleared up now.
>> Get that cleared up now.
» Get that cleared up now.
>> Let's do it now.
» Let's do it now.
>> Um before we move to the next item.
So for for budget amendment number six
for Weather's Creek um there we have in
the general fund every year you know we
budget for future capital projects.
Anything that's not spent at the end of
the year run rolls into that future
capital reserve for so for Weathers
Creek um in FY27 we have $16.3 million
that's budgeted in the general fund.
This budget amendment spends all of that
16.3 in the general fund and the
remaining three 3,696,400
will come from the future capital
reserve. The future capital reserve
estimated fund balance at the end of
June was um 16,877,000.
So appropriating $3.6 million reduces
that down to $13.1 million. Um, so for
Weathers Creek, the funds would come
from what we have allocated in the
future capital or in the capital project
in the general fund with the three
million also coming from the the fund
balance.
>> So, do I need to amend my motion to
» So, do I need to amend my motion to
include the wording as you mentioned?
>> Yes.
» Yes.
>> So, move to amend my motion to add that
» So, move to amend my motion to add that
to it.
» Okay. Motion by Commissioner Hal. All in
favor say I. I.
>> Any oppose?
» Any oppose?
>> Nay.
» Nay.
Motion passes 32.
>> Thank you.
» Thank you.
>> Okay. So, the next item that we have is
» Okay. So, the next item that we have is
a request from Ireel Sexville Schools
for approval of GMP3 for Parkertown
Elementary School budget amendment
number eight and amendment to the
Parkertown capital project ordinance.
Mr. Shin Carrick.
>> Yes. Um, you know, this is we're using a
» Yes. Um, you know, this is we're using a
construction manager at risk uh you know
project delivery for Parkertown
Elementary School. You have previously
approved GMP 1 and two. GMP one was for
early procurement and doing some early
site work. GMP2 was the big one which
included most of the construction costs
there. The last one here for um GMP3 is
for off-site work and utility work. And
so we um had that out to bid and uh
received um a letter from the
construction manager JM COPE with a
total value of a guaranteed maximum
price for the last bid package for 3
million 3.6 million and some change
there uh which includes as I had
mentioned construction cost contingency
bond insurance and the CER fee. Um so
the total project um construction cost
for the project is just over $41
million.
We have also kind of shored up our
budget in there too looking at the soft
cost associated with the project.
You know these are going to be things um
like FFN
and other contingencies associated with
the project. Um, and so we have an
all-in budget of $52 million.
There are we have identified
close to
four $4.8 million in reimburseables
from the project. So there's a lot of
DOT work required for this project. That
intersection at Parkertown and 21.
And quite honestly, we haven't even had
got DOT to land on what that scope of of
that intersection is going to look like.
So, if you're not familiar, they they're
a little slow to come back on some
things. And so, that that part's been
pretty tedious. We are working with the
town of Troutman as well, too, as part
of the intersection, bring water to the
school site. And um so there's that
portion of the project
seems to be on schedule there, but
there's a lot of permitting and things
that need to happen with that part of
the project as well too. So we do have
some money kind of some some um money
built into that that that reimbursement
will not come right away. And even
without the reimbursement, this GMP3 was
very favorable for us. And so we're
confident that there's going to be um
you know some it'll just it'll work out
favorably and and I my hope would be
that we could earmark that money for
this portion of the project or reimburse
any of the money that you funded towards
Weather's Creek for that
too. So
I'll take any questions you might have.
>> Any questions from Mark?
» Any questions from Mark?
>> Do we have a motion?
» Do we have a motion?
Make a motion to approve.
>> Make a motion. Motion by Commissioner
» Make a motion. Motion by Commissioner
Strat. All in favor say I. I.
>> Any oppose? Motion carries. Five vote.
» Any oppose? Motion carries. Five vote.
>> Thank you very much, sir.
» Now, administrative matters that we did
at the pre-aggenda.
>> That takes care of all of our um items
» That takes care of all of our um items
for the six o'clock. I'm going to go
through and review all of the items that
we reviewed at our four o'clock that the
board placed on the consent agenda. We
had a request from the health department
for approval of budget amendment number
four for the public health um
infrastructure local workforce
development grant in the amount of
$14,283.
There's a request from the library for
approval of a 4-year agreement with bibl
for a selfch checkout kiosk system and
authorization for the county manager to
execute the agreement. A request from
solid waste for approval of budget
amendment number seven to amend the
solid waste capital project fund. Award
a construction contract to SCS field
services for the landfill gas expansion
project and authorizing the county
manager to execute the contract that um
budget amendment in the amount of
1,871,968.
We had a request from the purchasing
division for approval of a professional
architectural engineering services
contract for the Arredell County
government center south renovation
project and authorizing the county
manager to execute that agreement. The
um contract is the amount of 337,378.
A request from purchasing for approval
of a lighting service and lease
agreement with Duke Energy and
authorization for the county manager to
execute that agreement. And this is for
lights at the fairgrounds.
a request from purchasing for approval
of the declaration of surplus and
donation of personal property to
entities carrying out a public purpose
and this is the donation of three
surplus stair chairs and it is going to
the Cleveland Cleveland County Volunteer
Fire Department. a request from
purchasing for consideration of an offer
to purchase the Bluefield Road property
by upset bid and the uh offer was in the
amount of $1.1 million for 43 acres and
the board agreed by consent to reject
that offer. a request from from
purchasing for approval of a resolution
authorizing the sale of personal
property by public auction. And this is
um
selling by public auction surplus
vehicles that total over $30,000
collectively, not individually. Request
from finance for approval of budget
amendment number five to transfer funds
from the sheriff's office budget to the
jail budget to cover increased jail
medical expenses. These are residual
funds that were saved in last year's
budget that um was carried over and is
now being transferred and put into the
inmate medical line item. A request from
administration for discussion and
decision about fiscal year 2027 fire
funding and approval of budget amendment
number nine. The uh board agreed by
consent to fund half of additional half
of the staffing requests from the fire
departments, the incounty departments
and provide a 2% increase in operational
funding and then an additional
supplement for Lake Norman and South
Aredell volunteer fire departments. The
uh out of county departments are held
flat
and this appropriation will begin in the
the funding that begins the end of this
month. So
>> question Do we need to add that to the
» question Do we need to add that to the
record that we got in between meetings
or you already have that in there?
>> Yes, that's in here for budget amendment
» Yes, that's in here for budget amendment
number nine. That would be Sorry to
interrupt.
>> No, no, no. You're good.
» No, no, no. You're good.
>> Um request from administration for appro
» Um request from administration for appro
approval of the minutes from the
September 7th, 2021, September 21st,
2021, and August 4th, 2026 board of
commissioner meetings in the North
Carolina Cooperative Extension annual
report to the people. And then finally,
the request from tax administration for
approval of the July 2026 releases and
refunds. All of those items were agreed
by the board to place on the consent
agenda.
>> Do we have a motion to approve the
» Do we have a motion to approve the
pre-aggenda consent administrative
matters? Make a motion.
>> Approve the consent agenda.
» Approve the consent agenda.
>> Motion by Vice Chair Neer. All in favor
» Motion by Vice Chair Neer. All in favor
say I. I.
>> Any opposed? They are approved. And with
» Any opposed? They are approved. And with
that, I would like for us to if we could
take a 10-minute break. If everybody's
good, 10-minute recess, just take a
10-minute recess. Start back at in 10
minutes. Thank you.
Okay, we've been on a little bit of a
break
>> and also I need to turn it back over to
» and also I need to turn it back over to
Commissioner Hal. We got a little
cleaning of the house here to do. Turn
back over to Commissioner H for a
second.
>> Mr. Chairman, um we had a te technical
» Mr. Chairman, um we had a te technical
difficulty in my previous motion. So, I
would like to make a motion that I
rescend
both my amendment and my original motion
on Weathers Creek High School.
» Okay. Motion to rescend by Commissioner
Halp. All in favor say I.
>> I.
» I.
>> Any oppose?
» Any oppose?
Passes.
>> And do you have another new motion? My
» And do you have another new motion? My
new motion would include that we're
making a motion to approve the Idaho
State School Board of Education's formal
request for $20 million
uh to complete phase two of Weathers
Creek High School. The funding combined
with the district's identified
contribution would allow the athletic
facilities to be completed as part of
overall Weathers Creek High School
project. Per the attached letter Monteth
outlines in the scope adjustments and
the measures taken to achieve these
savings along with idle states was
identified approximately four million in
possible contributions toward phase 2
savings realized in phase one and other
available district resources included
also in my motion to approve U BA number
six and amend the capital project
ordinance transferring 16,33,600
from
future capital projects and
appropriating 3,696400
from future capital reserve fund
balance.
» Motion by Commissioner H. All in favor
say I.
>> I.
» I.
>> Any oppose?
» Any oppose?
>> No.
» No.
>> Passes 32.
» Passes 32.
>> So we're good now, right?
» So we're good now, right?
>> Yes. Thank you.
» Yes. Thank you.
>> We're sticklers for for technical
» We're sticklers for for technical
detail.
>> Now's the time.
» Now's the time.
>> Sorry. Now's the time. brings us down to
» Sorry. Now's the time. brings us down to
the announcement of vacancies occurring
on boards and commissions.
And since the county manager has been
busy trying to get this other stuff
done, I'll announce these. We have six
appointments on the adult care home
advisory committee. We have three
appointments on the Central Aging
Advisory Committee, two appointments
available on the Aarddale County JCPC,
one appointment on the Morsel Board of
Adjustment, ETJ, six appointments on the
nursing home advisory committee, one
appointment on the state planning board
ETJ, and one alternate appointment on
the Troutman Planning Board ETJ. If you
are interested in uh applying for any of
these, you can go to our website or you
can contact our clerk to the board, John
Bess. And now brings us down to the
appointments of boards and commissions.
And we have one tonight for farmland
preservation board and we have one for
the JCPC. And I'll turn it over to the
manager to go over those.
>> Thank you, Chair Connley. Um we do have
» Thank you, Chair Connley. Um we do have
uh as Chair Connley said, we do have an
opening on the farmland preservation
board. Mr. James Steele's been serving
on that farmland preservation board and
his term expired. He has submitted an
application for reappointment. We did
receive three other applications. Um,
one was on the the table before you. So,
we had uh William Johnson, Noah Clinden,
and Nancy Keith that have also applied
to serve on the Farmland Preservation
Board.
>> Do we have a motion?
» Do we have a motion?
>> I'd like to make a motion we approve
» I'd like to make a motion we approve
Nancy Keith Farmland Preservation
Committee.
All in favor say I.
>> I.
» I.
>> Any oppose? Nancy Keith is approved for
» Any oppose? Nancy Keith is approved for
formal preservation. And our next one
for our county JCPC.
>> Yes. Uh Terry Johnson has been serving
» Yes. Uh Terry Johnson has been serving
on the JCPC board and her term has
expired and Tom Morris has submitted the
application to be considered to fill the
vacancy. And that's the only application
we've received on that one.
>> Do we have a motion? Motion to appoint
» Do we have a motion? Motion to appoint
Tom Morris to the Idard County JCPC.
>> Motion by Vice Chair Neater. All in
» Motion by Vice Chair Neater. All in
favor say I.
>> Any opposed? He is approved.
» Any opposed? He is approved.
Going down our list of uh our agenda.
Anybody have any unfinished business at
the six o'clock
brings us down to our public comment
period. The board conducts a public
comment period at its second regular
meeting of each month. The purpose of
the public comment period is to allow
citizens to speak on matters related to
county government. Each speaker that has
signed up is allotted to three minutes
and will be called to the podium by the
chair in the order the names appear on
the sign-in sheet. Please state your
name and address before beginning your
comments. Comments are to be directed to
the board as a whole. Responses by the
board are at their discretion, but the
public comment period is not intended to
be a question and answer period, but
rather a time for the board to hear from
the public and take such matters raised
under advisement. Citizens will be
expected to be civil in their language
and presentation and not engage in
slander or name calling. Citizens should
not discuss any matters which are closed
session matters including but not
limited to limited to matters regarding
personnel matters which are made
confidential by law. Speakers who have
prepared written remarks or supporting
documents are encouraged to leave a copy
of such remarks and documents with the
clerk to the board. I will open up the
public comment period and our first
person signed up is Ken Jurnney and when
you approach please state your name and
your full address.
My name is My name is Ken Journey. I
live 148 West Tol Drive, Statesville.
We're here to talk about fire
departments and uh just like to say that
uh Chairman Connley nailed it. 4:00
session lets me know y'all are fully
aware of the issues. I'm just not sure
that the general public is. Uh some
things that concerns me that I'm not
sure the public is aware of is that we
have $23 and half million dollars of
fire fire tax revenue this year. That's
$5 million short of what the fire
departments have requested the funding.
We're $30 million behind on apparatus
replacement. We're having to replace
volunteers with paid personnel and that
is a huge increase in the budget. uh to
maintain the low insurance rates, our
fire departments have to respond four
firefighters with one engine to all
district building fire calls. And when
you consider that the cost of four 247
365 firefighters cost about five to 10
times more than those million-dollar
fire engines, we're concerned about that
cost. Fire engines are peanuts compared
to the the boots on the ground. And our
fire districts are so widely diverse. I
think y'all know that a funding formula
just doesn't work and annexation as
chairman Connley mentioned that's
decreasing the pot the budget and the
big issue coming up in November is that
vote that may limit how much we can
increase taxes. So where's the money
going to come from?
We don't know how much money we're going
to need to y'all do all these
negotiations and finalize those. But
we're going to need more funding
primarily because this paid labor that
trains it's through the tunnel and it's
going to get even worse. So where do we
come up with the money? You know, it's
the tax increase, you know,
or other sources. And I'm going to
suggest one of the most common sense
things I think we can do is insurance
companies will pay for fire department
responses to incidents. And that is a
good way for us to recover some fun some
some monies from people who don't pay
any taxes here because a lot of these
accidents on our major highways and
interstates.
As an example, our $19.5 million EMS
budget, we recover about a third of that
with ambulance transportation. We pay
taxes for uh recreation facilities and
we have to pay dues for using the Barry
Springs Rec Center. uh
insurance companies will pay and I've
got a uh an outline of the uh some of
the funds that they will pay. I think we
should consider that going forward. If
we could recover a third of our fire
department budget, $24 million, we could
recover $8 million. We probably going to
need that on top of $24 million coming
down. So, that's another way to get it
from somebody other than just getting
the tax paid the taxpayers. I'll use uh
Lake Norman's uh fire district as an
example. They your your figures show
they provide 28% of the revenue but only
7% of the cost. So, you know, you know,
I know the property valuation pays for
everything, but there's a way to uh to
spread that around. So, uh I s just
suggest that you look at at that
supplementary funding. And I'd like to
suggest that you uh open up the fire
department oversight committee again
because I think that will improve uh all
kinds of communications with the fire
departments going forward.
>> Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mr. J. Rhonda
» Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mr. J. Rhonda
Wall
this down. Good evening, uh, Chairman
Connelly and county commissioners. I
come before you as a private Ardell
resident. Um, I'll make this short and
sweet. I want to thank you for the
generous support of our students and
schools by providing funding for
Weathers Creek athletic facilities. Your
investment will create opportunities for
students to participate, compete, and
build valuable skills both on and off
the field. I sincerely appreciate your
commitment to our schools and our
community. Your support makes a
meaningful diff difference and I'm
grateful for your partnership.
>> Good evening. Thank you so much.
» Good evening. Thank you so much.
>> Thank you.
» Thank you.
>> Thank you, brother.
» Thank you, brother.
>> Paula Mo
Is this good volume? Can you hear it?
>> Okay.
» Okay.
>> Just state your name and address,
» Just state your name and address,
please, ma'am.
>> My name is Paula Mimna. I live at 260
» My name is Paula Mimna. I live at 260
Rivercliffe Drive, Stony Point
in Iridel County.
I'm concerned about the lack of
transparency with the Iridel Statesville
Schools budget. I sent a foyer request
for the 2627 rep proposed budget for ISS
on July 21st, 2026.
Now, that's been over four weeks. I have
not I submitted that request for
expenditures of at least $1,000 or more,
but I have received nothing. Um, the
completed budget was due to the Iridell
County Commissioners, that's you all, by
May 15th. But I've checked with uh
Scotty Brown. He said, "You don't have
the budget. You don't have a copy of
it." Um, I think that's a problem.
According to policy code 8100, budget
planning and adoption, that should have
been done. So, um, the commissioners if
they don't have a copy of it, it that
just seems like a big problem to me.
Now, the latest budget resolution is a
very basic fivepage summary for 2526,
not for the coming year. That's for last
year. There's nothing on the on the
internet for next year. Nothing.
And a budget resolution is not the
budget. It's just a very very small
summary of it.
So, um why should the county
commissioners give money to a school
board who won't submit a budget? That is
in their um policy that they would
submit the budget to you. And this is
three months after the final deadline it
was due yet. You don't have a budget.
Now, Chairman Knight has usurped the
authority of the school board and he has
not followed the ISS policies. He failed
to communicate with the rest of the
board of the school board on many
occasions. On in the August 10th
meeting, Knight was asked if he thought
it was correct to meet with the
commissioners, but failed to communicate
with the rest of the board when he was
told that the commissioners would not
give the 34 million, but instead 20
million for the new athletic center at
Weathers Creek High School. Now, the new
figure was given, I believe, to Mr.
Shinkerink. No, I'm saying that wrong.
Shin Carrick, I'm sorry, Shing Carrick,
who apparently made changes to the plans
for the athletic field without
consulting with the rest of the board.
That's what was discussed at that board
meeting on August 10th. It's unknown
whether or not Shank Carrick dis
consulted with Knight, but either way,
it's against policy.
The rest of the board was not notified
about the change in the funding and the
plans to the athletic the change to the
athletic field at Weathers Creek until
the Friday before the school board
meeting August 10th. Now, that was 2
weeks after that information had been um
gotten by night, two weeks later.
The chain of command for Ivale State
Schools is as follows. The school board,
not the chair. The school board as a
whole is over the superintendent who's
over the principles who are over the
teachers. The school board is the
governing body. No one person has
control over the board. Knight stated
that he has the right to represent the
board by himself. And uh this is not
true. According to the ISS policy 2100,
Knight has said on several occasions he
doesn't need to follow.
>> I just have a little bit more.
» I just have a little bit more.
>> Okay. That he doesn't need to follow all
» Okay. That he doesn't need to follow all
of the ISS policies because the school
board is self-governing.
>> Paula, you use your time. I give you
» Paula, you use your time. I give you
over. Okay.
>> All right.
» All right.
>> Sorry. I give you over.
» Sorry. I give you over.
>> Anybody else here would like to speak on
» Anybody else here would like to speak on
any matter?
» Just come up. Announce your name and
address.
We were hiding it.
» Michael Cuban 125 Huntington Place in
Morsville. Thank you for your
deliberations tonight on your very
difficult decision to fund the high
school athletic facilities. I draw your
attention to the colorful diagram and to
the mont documents you were given for
this briefing. Um the vice chair vice
madam chair said it is our
responsibility paraphrasing as elected
officials to dig into the facts and to
make decisions for those that elected to
us. All these documents that you
received in your package I didn't get
until Friday and I spent many hours on
Saturday before a board meeting on the
following Monday to look at all this.
You've heard a lot of you've heard a lot
of discussion about we we reviewed this,
we reviewed that, we we cut the scope,
we changed things. Well, the we in that
sentence is not the is not me and it
wasn't other members on the board. We
were not involved in the decision-making
process on any of this and chairman
Halp, you know, don't judge me by my
actions until you look at my options.
Well, I had no options. I wasn't
involved in the decision-making process
on any of this and neither were my
fellow board members. Now, I visited the
school recently and it's a first rate.
It's going to be a first rate school.
It's going to be the gem of our county
and we only have one chance to do this
right. And it is my opinion that
building the school in the manner that
was briefed to you tonight isn't going
to do that. We should be we should be
building the school. Well, this is what
the public decided on before my time and
before many of yours, right? This is
what was decided. And if we're not going
to build this, we should take it back to
the people as two of the board members
tonight discussed.
You already have twothirds of the money.
So, I'm asking you, the three members
who voted in favor of the motions, to
reconsider the motion
and perhaps do something like a phased
approach to build as designed. This is
what we designed or what was designed. I
didn't design it, but build this as
design and make this the hallmark of our
county, something we're going to be
really proud of and not look like a
half-finished high school
because this is not what we want in our
county.
And finally, for example, if you're a
tennis player and you come to this
school with no tennis courts, you can't
go to another school to play tennis. You
can't do it.
And then finally, I would just suggest
to you is I I know board members across
the state and they regularly meet with
their county commissioners sometimes
twice a year or at least once a year and
I would recommend that we do that
because there's more topics to discuss
just than money. It's just everything
that's going on in the county and
growth. So I would highly suggest
recommend that you do that going in the
future. So I'd ask that you reconsider
the motion. Thank you.
>> Anyone else?
» Anyone else?
Hearing none. See none, I'll close the
public comment period
>> and commissioner updates. I'll start
» and commissioner updates. I'll start
back here. Commissioner, have you got
anything?
>> Yes. I would just say that um
» Yes. I would just say that um
we never get the school budget. To
respond to Paula briefly, we fund the
schools based on a formula we had agreed
on in previous years past or and
>> we do get the budget.
» we do get the budget.
>> We do get the budget, but we we fund on
» We do get the budget, but we we fund on
a formula. But as far as the complaints,
they need to go to the school board. But
the schools audited annually. We're
audited annually. So the schools are
spending the money where they say
they're spending it.
Um I understand Mike's thing with the
scope. We'd love to be able to do the
original scope. We're having to make
adjustments as I mentioned based on all
the other obligations, responsibilities
we have. Hopefully in the future,
whether it be us and collaborating with
the schools, can can complete a portion
of that scope. I still think it's going
to be a wonderful uh investment for our
county. Um I'm very disappointed that a
school board member would come in here
and say that it's not what we want for
our county.
And I mentioned in my comments that the
public entrust us to make decisions
every day on their behalf based on the
information that we have at the time and
adjustments and scopes that we may have
to make. Um
the meetings that have been had with
representative from the school district
elected and staff and Monteth were to
adjust the scope and get to a budget we
could afford. And if my memory reflects
correctly, it was a vote of 7 to1 to
recommend $20 million funding for this
project to do this phase with the
adjusted scopes. While I respect both of
their
um frustrations potentially with
information and their internal
processes, I would encourage them to
deal with that internally. Um, but I
still would hope that they would be
appreciative of our investment of tax
dollars into this project because I
still think it's a great investment for
our teachers, our staff, and our
students. And um
that that right there is very important
to me. And our board functions
at the highest integrity we can. While
we disagree sometimes, we do that
respectfully and try to be very factual
in what we do
uh to the public. I think the public,
they elect us to make their lives
better.
And I don't care if you're Democrat or
Republican. Our goal is to raise the
tide because that's raising all ships.
Okay? And we don't ask people when they
call us to help us if they're Democrat
or Republican. we make the best
decisions in real time that we can based
on the options we have as Mr. Kubernet
mentioned. I understand there's internal
strikes and frustrations.
Um but they need to handle that
internally, but um I'm very proud of our
board and I'm very proud of our county
with the investments we make on behalf
of our citizens. I don't think that we
waste money. We uh make investments and
decisions on spending based on our
options before us every day. and we can
live with those and defend those in my
opinion. Um I will be at uh the NCAACCC
starting tomorrow for the rest of the
week representing all of you and our
county. And um I wanted to also
uh thank you for all of your comments
and considerations tonight. As Melissa
mentioned, we don't always agree, but we
do the best we can and we have opinions
and frustrations that we deal with. And
all of those are respected and that's
all I have.
>> You got your list for the NCAACCC?
» You got your list for the NCAACCC?
>> I got my list.
» I got my list.
>> Got your list. There's quite a few of
» Got your list. There's quite a few of
them this time. I will be brief. I'm
assuming it's next in my direction on
updates this evening. Um really the only
thing I wanted to bring up this evening
is conversations are are constantly
evolving in the community. But this one
is about Fifth Street Ministries. And I
was speaking with Todd Fowler. He is the
director of philanthropy out at Fifth
Street. and he said, "A lot of times
folks forget that it's more than just a
shelter and a community kitchen, but it
also touches lives from veterans, moms,
kids with the partnership with my
sister's house and various other things,
too. So, um, he's recently begun working
there in this role and
he's got an interesting background, but
what he also says when he talks about
these things is the partnerships we have
within the county with the nonprofits
coming together to be the solution to
take care of a lot of things that people
don't want to talk about. The
challenging situation um because it does
exist in all counties, but they're
working hard there at Fifth Street to
address some of these concerns. So, with
that, I'll just pass it on down the
line.
>> Commissioner Stra,
» Commissioner Stra,
>> you know, I have uh
» you know, I have uh
had the opportunity to do some very fun,
exciting, challenging
endeavors in my life.
My 21-year military career, my time as
the director for veteran services,
I think I realized
pretty young on even in my military
career was my obligation to my fellow
man.
But I will tell you for folks that that
sit out there,
um I love the folks that uh say
something about running for public
office and they'll say something to the
effect of they don't want me down there.
um
the decisions that have to be made. I go
back to the same decision Commissioner
Brown mentioned when we voted for the 50
million. I felt bad that night. I can
tell you I don't feel any equally better
tonight saying no.
It's a very difficult process.
Commissioner Neers
comment. Thank you.
I am proud.
Even in the decisions that are
uncomfortable, where we disagree, I'm
proud to serve beside each and every one
of you.
We all see the need the the how long
we've sat here and and had to uh
deliberate over the fire service.
How long we've had to deliberate over
schools in one year. In addition to in
addition to the normal operating and
capital we spent in one year we laid out
the people gave the 80 million. So I'm
not taking taking that. But 50 million
plus the 52 million 102 million 103
because it's
21
almost
million dollars. In addition
to that um
this this board is dedicated to
education.
In a perfect world would I love to say
build it all.
But I can tell you I've had folks call
me and say, "Brad, you're missing the
mark." But I've had equally or more call
me and say, "Thank you for trying to
hold accountable
my taxpayer dollars, what I was given
the presentation
>> to vote on.
» to vote on.
Thank you for for for being my voice. So
to those of you that I've disappointed,
I'm I'm sorry.
Um I have to go with my gut as each of
you make decisions in your daily lives
as that you make on your school board or
on any your church board, wherever it
is. Decisions sometimes are
uncomfortable.
And I have to stand with my convictions
regardless of sometimes of my
even the desire to want to go there. I
have to listen to the people who sent me
here.
So I thank each of you. I challenge
every board in this county
to conduct itself in the manner this
board does.
in its
interaction with each other.
» Brown,
>> thank you. You know, it's uh like I
» thank you. You know, it's uh like I
said, it's not easy. I'm I'm glad we're
getting athletics. I just in my heart I
couldn't vote for it. Sorry. I just
that's just where I have been since we
started this school deal. But as I was
telling uh Miss Neer a little bit ago,
if we were all the same, you wouldn't
need but one commissioner up here. We're
not. But we do agree to disagree. And
we'll be back here in two weeks and
we'll agree to disagree again. It's not
a problem. We don't fight much.
We might argue sometimes, but you know,
we're doing a good job and and and it is
what it is. I want to see things, you
know, I want to see our kids have what
they need. I'm not for Taj Mahal. I can
tell you this school is going to be the
most beautiful school. And you know, as
as Miss Nether and I both went South
Idle, graduated South a couple years
ago, and it uh and and you know, it was
it great school then, great school now,
and now we're building a we're building
a school that's unbelievable. As Mr.
Kumnick said a while ago, it's it's
something to be proud of. It really is.
But we're going to have people that say,
"Well, my kid wants to go there and he
can't go there." You know, we can never
please everybody. It just ain't going to
happen. And and you know, a lot of
people called me when we did the 50 and
they chewed my rear big time. And I
said, "Well, you know, I bit that one
and and I went home and I didn't sleep.
I'm going to go home tonight and you
know, I'm going to get chewed from
people say, "Why didn't you vote for
it?" But I'm going to sleep better
tonight knowing that I voted no and
you're still getting what you want. I
mean, you're getting athletes. The kids
are getting athletics. And I really
truly hope that that uh you know, we get
this finished with that amount of money,
you know, because it's going to be a bad
day if somebody comes back and said we
need five more million dollars. But
anyway, I yield back to you, sir.
>> Okay. The biggest thing, and I think I
» Okay. The biggest thing, and I think I
can speak on behalf of the entire board,
the biggest thing we have is so many
funding needs that we have.
>> Yes.
» Yes.
>> We get hit by every angle imaginable.
» We get hit by every angle imaginable.
Towns and cities don't have to provide
all the services that we have to
provide.
And it's hard for the five of us to sit
here and read an agenda item or read
something in an article that a town or
city's approved a big a big group of
developments or apartment complexes and
this and that. And we're all sitting
here scratching our head wondering how
many kids are going to be going to a
school. Are we going to have to do
another school?
And it's hard for us to sit here and to
be responsible for putting the the uh
coal in the train to make it go. We
don't know how much to get. We don't
know how much. We don't know anything.
And it's hard for us to sit here knowing
that we got mandated services we have to
provide and then we got what we call
optional services that we provide. And
we don't want to cut anything, but this
fire department thing and and I know I
waited up into the four o'clock hour.
It's concerning, but at the same time,
we have put our money where its mouth is
when it comes down to fire departments.
And I covered that at the four o'clock
time period that we talked about. We've
increased fire funding from fiscal year
22 to fiscal year 26 just to what the
departments actually get for operating
and everything 46 and a half%.
That's kind of unheard of.
Uh you know our problem lies is we only
grew our all county nine which needs to
be called an unincorporated nine. I
think we need to change that name
officially. If we need to have an
ordinance or something I think we can
make that happen. to get rolling.
>> He probably uh it only increased by
» He probably uh it only increased by
$185,585,
but we decided to go ahead and help out
the fire departments and do half of
their initial staffing request, do 2%
operational, give South Ardol Fire
Department a bump in their supplement,
and to go ahead and staff that
additional crew at Lake Norman Fire
Department, which they desperately need.
And it's like I said at the four
o'clock, everybody says, "Well, they're
right out there next to Morrisville."
But they're out there basically kind of
on an island by theirel. So if they get
in trouble with all the road
construction going on, with everything
going on. So it's been the the privy of
this board to make sure that we know
that from the goal with Blake Norman. I
mean, we've all discussed that for a
long long time. So it's just it's just
hard for us to sit here and to look at
the growth that we got experiencing. And
if you go out here and you poll the
people, you actually poll the people and
you ask them, "Are you happy with the
amount of growth you're seeing in this
county,
they're not happy, but we don't control
that. We only control what's out in the
county. I think our land use plan is is
very good. We just kind of revamped it
not long ago. you know, we had to make
make some tweaks from here to here to
there to make some changes and stuff,
but you know, our decisions we take
here, we take those decisions home and
we sleep on those decisions and we make
our decisions and we act civilized.
I mean, we do we act civilized in the
decisions we have to make. We have to
make some hard ones.
>> Some very, very hard ones because we are
» Some very, very hard ones because we are
the five up here that makes a
determination of how much money the tax
collector goes out here and takes
basically out of your pocket.
School boards don't do that. Moral
Graded does for their little amount of
money they get. And with that said,
since we've stepped up to the plate and
we've helped out Ardell Statesville
schools on the high school by making the
bridge a long time ago of amount of
money that we didn't want to all make,
but we made it. And then again today, we
cannot forget Morsel Graded School
District. So next fiscal year, we cannot
forget Morsville graded school district.
As soon as that bond got passed, they
stepped up on it and they got it done.
They got in it.
Boom. In it. So,
anybody got anything else? Any new
business? County manager report?
>> You don't have anything at all?
» You don't have anything at all?
>> Okay. We did have a close session this
» Okay. We did have a close session this
afternoon in regards to attorney client
in accordance general statute 143 31811
A3 with nothing to report on that. We
had another close session item, economic
development in accordance to North
Carolina General Statute 143 31811 A4
and I think we have a motion to go with
that one.
>> I do, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to make a
» I do, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to make a
motion to call for a public hearing on
September 15th for possible economic
development incentive for project lead.
» Motion by Commissioner Halp. All in
favor say I.
>> I.
» I.
>> Any opposed? Motion approves 50. Brings
» Any opposed? Motion approves 50. Brings
us down to the end of tonight's meeting.
Do we have a motion to adjurnn?
>> Make a motion we adjourn.
» Make a motion we adjourn.
>> Scotty was fast on that one. Motion by
» Scotty was fast on that one. Motion by
Commissioner Brown. All in favor say I.
>> I.
» I.
>> Any oppose? We are journ