[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[1:08] We certainly want to thank everyone for coming tonight to
[1:14] have your input and be a
[1:16] part of government in Davie County. We appreciate you being here. We thank God
[1:21] every day for placing us in this great county and we just ask for your
[1:27] prayers tonight as we we do the business of the county. Now our
[1:32] invocation will be with Pastor Gary Marshall from Elbaville. Thank you sir.
[1:37] Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and our County Manager and all of us in attendance.
[1:44] I want to say how much I appreciate the opportunity to be here this evening, but need to ask me
[1:48] to share just a quick moment who I am.
[1:51] And basically I wear one hat and serve in a couple of different functions that is pastor
[1:56] of Elbeville Church from our faith community, which I love.
[2:00] Not quite a year there.
[2:01] My wife and I have had the privilege of serving.
[2:04] I'm born in Texas, raised in Iardale County,
[2:07] married in Davy County, been a resident for close to two years now,
[2:11] and I love this little county.
[2:13] A lot of good things.
[2:14] The other job that I carry also is pastoral in its sense,
[2:18] and that's with Partners Behavioral Health,
[2:20] and I'm the community engagement specialist for partners here in the county.
[2:24] I bring our providers of the county together
[2:27] so that we can know what kind of services we have in our mental health work,
[2:31] our recovery work, child work, whatever it may be, and of course that's an open
[2:36] invitation to anyone who'd like to be part of that collaborative so you can
[2:39] learn more about it and be part of networking with the many others who
[2:44] share here. Vanita always knows how to get in touch with me and you can
[2:48] reach out to her to get to me if you'd like. In regard to our opening prayer
[2:53] there's a beautiful little story that kind of says the prayer that I want
[2:57] to share this evening from 1 Kings chapter 3. King David, of course, had a son who had
[3:03] become king and that king's name was Solomon. One night King Solomon had a dream and in that
[3:09] dream God said to him, Ask me anything that you want. And King Solomon thought about it
[3:16] for a little bit and he looked at God and he said, God, you blessed my father David
[3:21] and now you've put me on the throne in his place and I'm but a child. I don't
[3:26] know even how to walk in and out of the door. But here I am his king setting his
[3:29] judge over these people. So the only thing that I know how to ask for tonight
[3:34] is wisdom. He said to God, give me the ability to discern between what is right,
[3:41] what is wrong, what is good, what is evil, what is good for the people and
[3:44] what is not. And so when he woke up the next day, he perceived that it was
[3:48] a dream. But he also perceived that God had actually spoken to him and God
[3:53] God spoke to his heart again and God said, you did not ask for riches.
[3:58] You did not ask for long life.
[4:00] You did not ask for me to annihilate your enemies, but you ask to be a wise ruler.
[4:07] And because this is your request, you will have that wisdom that you need.
[4:14] You will be the wisest of all the rulers.
[4:16] And then God said, and because you prayed such an unselfish prayer, I will also
[4:22] give you the riches and I will give you honor and I will help you be successful and God said
[4:28] as long as you honor me, I will make sure that you have a long life as a king. May we pray.
[4:36] Our father tonight, a simple prayer. None of us are smart enough to know how to take
[4:41] care of the lives of others. We do well enough to take care of our own lives one
[4:45] day at a time. But here we sit with opportunity tonight as pastors, as county leaders, others
[4:52] who are leaders in the community in many other ways, forms and fashions, and we all need wisdom
[4:58] that is above our own because every decision we make affects the lives of the people
[5:04] around us. Help us to be wise in our decisions and our choices. Help us to be godly in
[5:10] our lifestyles. And just thank you for loving us and blessing us to live in such
[5:14] such a beautiful, wonderful county in such a great land.
[5:18] In Jesus' name, amen.
[5:20] Amen.
[5:21] Thank you so much.
[5:22] Thank you, Pastor.
[5:25] Tonight, our Pledge of Allegiance
[5:27] will be led by Master Sergeant Jason Hutton.
[5:33] And we like to say a word or two about our vets to lead us.
[5:40] Master Sergeant Hutton enlisted in the United States
[5:43] Air Force in June 2000 as a security forces member. For just over 24 years
[5:50] Sergeant Hutton held many positions in the United States Air Force and North
[5:54] Carolina Air National Guard. His first deployment was in 2004 in support of
[5:59] Operation Enduring Freedom. In 2006 Sergeant Hutton retrained to become
[6:06] an airborne mission system specialist.
[6:11] From 2006 to 2009, he completed multiple deployments to Qatar, where he flew numerous missions
[6:18] over Iraq and Afghanistan, conducting surveillance, command and control operations.
[6:25] In 2010, he was assigned to the 76th Airlift Squadron in Germany, supporting high-level
[6:33] civilian and military officials as they conducted diplomatic missions throughout
[6:38] Europe, Africa, and Southwest Asia. In 2013, he was assigned to the First Airborne
[6:46] Command and Control Squadron, conducting presidential support in nuclear
[6:51] deterrence operations. Finally, Master Sergeant Hutton moved to advance North
[6:56] Carolina and enlisted in the North Carolina Air National Guard in 2014.
[7:01] Sergeant Hutton has gained significant combat operations experience on five different aircraft
[7:08] types with 815 total sorties culminating in 3,238 flight hours, including 1,324 combat
[7:20] hours on 133 combat sorties while participating in operations Iraqi freedom, enduring freedom,
[7:29] Odyssey Dawn, Inherent Resolve, and Freedom Sentinel. He completed his military
[7:36] career on August 1, this retired, good for you, August 1, 2024. He has a master's
[7:44] degree from Liberty University and is currently working on attaining a career
[7:49] in aviation. Jason has been married for 24 years to his beautiful bride
[7:55] Pamela who is a Family Nurse Practitioner at Atrium Health One Health Urgent Care
[8:02] in Montsville. They have four children, Alexa who graduated from Appalachian
[8:07] State and is currently attending High Point University's PA program,
[8:12] Michaela who just graduated from Davey High and will be attending Southern
[8:18] Wesleyan University to play volleyball, Lily who attends William Ellis Middle
[8:23] School and Grayson who attends Shady Grave Elementary School. Thank you for your
[8:29] service and please lead us in the pledge. And if you want to say something when
[8:33] you're done please feel free. I pledge
[8:40] allegiance to the flag of the United
[8:43] States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
[8:54] just like to say thank you for inviting me and none of that stuff could have
[8:58] happened without my wife who couldn't be here because she's actually working but
[9:04] I've got my Kayla here for some moral support so just thank you for having me
[9:11] ethics
[9:17] and conflict disclosure so North Carolina General Statue 168-86 and
[9:25] the Davis County Board of Commissioners Code of Ethics adopted in December of
[9:29] 2019, I would ask each of you before you adopt the agenda.
[9:33] If there's any actual potential or perceived conflicts
[9:35] of interest, respect any matter on the proposed agenda,
[9:38] which will come for the board tonight for a vote.
[9:42] If so, please speak up and let the board know
[9:44] at this time before the agenda is adopted.
[9:47] Mr. Chair, seeing no one speak up,
[9:49] I conclude there's no actual potential
[9:50] or perceived conflicts of interest by any board member.
[9:55] Thank you.
[9:56] Now we'll adopt the agenda. I believe Ms. Finney has something she wants to thank
[10:03] you Mr. Chairman. I would like to make the motion that we adopt the agenda
[10:07] other than item 8 F the fire relief fund board. I would like for us to postpone
[10:15] that until next month because we have a little bit of confusion about the
[10:20] requirements from the state and I think it would be in the best interest
[10:24] for us to make sure we get those clarified and and perform this appointee correctly.
[10:32] Mr. Vogler,
[10:33] is that a is that a proper motion? It would be in the form of removing item 8f from the agenda.
[10:41] Yes, so you need a second on that.
[10:45] Mr. Rindiger seconds. Any other discussion?
[10:49] All in favor.
[10:54] So we've approved the agenda removing item 8f
[11:03] public comment.
[11:04] Before
[11:09] we start public comment, I'll go over your public comment rules that were adopted
[11:13] back in October of 2020 or at least a portion of those.
[11:17] Each person desiring to speak during the public comment section will sign up and will sign
[11:22] up sheet.
[11:23] She'll state your full name, the topic which he or she desires to speak.
[11:27] All speakers will be acknowledged by the board or by its designated order in the order
[11:32] in which their names appeared on the sheet.
[11:34] Each person is allowed three minutes or if you're speaking for a group, you're
[11:37] allowed five minutes. The speaker will be timed at the end of the three of the
[11:42] five minutes. If the speaker does not stop at their time, the speaker will be
[11:45] considered as interrupting or disrupting a meeting in the North Carolina General
[11:49] Statute 143-318.17. The speaker shall address the board as a whole,
[11:56] shall not ask any verbal exchanges from the board, and there should be no
[11:59] discussion between the speaker and members in the audience. All comments
[12:03] shall be in verbal form, and the speaker shall not be allowed to play
[12:06] or record any video devices during such public comment time.
[12:11] All speakers are expected to observe the decorum of the meeting and be respectful in their language
[12:15] and presentation and refrain from the use of any profanity or shouting or from making
[12:20] disclosures prohibited by the personnel act of respecting a county employee.
[12:25] All comments by speakers shall be limited to subjects which are within jurisdiction
[12:30] of the Davis County Board of County Commissioners or pertaining to matters upon which this
[12:34] board may act. Topics which would require the board to hold a closed session are not permitted
[12:40] as topics for public comment. You're to come to the podium make the announcement as to who,
[12:47] what your name is so that we have that on the record and then you'll make your comments
[12:52] from the podium itself. You're not to physically approach a board or staff members of the express
[12:57] invitation by the chair or by the designated presiding office of the board. All applause
[13:02] calls shall be held to the end of the comment period and there's a total of 30 minutes for
[13:07] public comment at each meeting that we have on the first Monday of the month.
[13:14] With that said, Mr. Chair, we have only one individual who is signed up tonight.
[13:21] It's Frankie Vaughn for Westwood Village Learning Center.
[13:26] And if you can come forward.
[13:27] Come ahead, Ms. Vaughn.
[13:28] and I will say this. Ms. Vaughn asked us since we do not have any other folks
[13:34] speaking tonight if we would allow her between three and five minutes. She says
[13:42] she didn't know for sure she would go five but she probably would go over three
[13:46] and I think we're okay with that.
[13:50] Ms. Vaughn, it should be a timer on your screen there.
[13:54] Okay, thank you. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I'm here as the founder and
[13:58] representative of Westwood Village Learning Center. We are a 2e school and
[14:03] if you're not sure what that is that's trisceptional. Basically children with
[14:08] disabilities. We all know that Davie County has had tremendous grade.
[15:00] So, at the third week of school, she did not comply to slide down the slide correctly and
[15:07] did not follow directions and was removed from the playground. Unfortunately, forcibly, she
[15:12] was given a choice and put in the seclusion booth, which is a six-by-six padded area, which
[15:18] was necessary for safety. But due to that, it led to trauma. So, we were on an ADA waiting
[15:26] this for a year and a half. We were able to get in during her first grade and she was
[15:32] removed from school because we only had two choices, either modified day and 25 hours
[15:37] of ABA or homeschool. Well, unfortunately, she's not the child that we could homeschool.
[15:44] We would not get good fit. We beg, pleaded, and we did find an online school after therapists
[15:51] and assistive principles, and principles all wrote letters.
[15:54] Well, we were number 12 on a waiting list.
[15:57] We got up to number nine, and they moved up the list
[16:01] because of her disabilities.
[16:03] Thank goodness, she is now finished second grade
[16:05] and made 1B, in quote,
[16:08] a typical classroom online with an IEP.
[16:10] So that is the reason for needing more microschools.
[16:16] This micro school will have one to three teachers and 25 students total and we would like to
[16:26] continue with that and we're a little different. We have our curriculum but our school and hopefully
[16:33] many will follow in the county because this is a county wide problem. We are keeping it
[16:38] down to tuition that is affordable and they'll include all school supplies and lunches and what
[16:45] I beg the county to do is to continue on with what we are starting and let's help
[16:51] our children that are 2e because it is putting a burden on our public school
[16:55] systems and a lot of the community that is not realized what's needed and there
[17:01] is another school similar to what we're doing and their tuition is almost
[17:04] 38,000 a year and a parent can't afford that when it's not affordable
[17:08] we're not asking for any funding or anything like that we just want the
[17:12] community to know that when you have 1.5 million children in the public school
[17:18] system in North Carolina that have IEPs there's no way our current systems are
[17:23] handling that and we need to assist our teachers and that is 13 percent and this
[17:29] data is a little bit old it's not 100% current for North Carolina it's the
[17:33] latest that's been reported so again as you leave today please take time to
[17:38] think of how we can help our two each students and realize that just because
[17:42] they are learned differently does not mean they cannot learn and we just need
[17:48] to figure out a way to assist them more and get more teachers in or find
[17:53] alternatives and I do hope that everyone here will take the time to look at the
[17:58] PowerPoint presentation that was presented to you and go home and let
[18:02] people know that there is assistance out there because it's not widely known
[18:06] that there are some special schools for our students. Thank you very much for
[18:10] allowing me to present and I do have my three teachers with me today and they
[18:15] are retired. I didn't go out and start recruiting teachers. We have Sherry
[18:20] Yarborough which 34 years, Cindy Boo which specialized in EC with 24 years
[18:26] and then Kevin Miller which will be our IT specialist and instructor as a
[18:31] lateral entry. Thank you very much for your time commissioners. I think Karen
[18:37] sent us copies of the presentation she's talking about. So you should have
[18:44] that in your email.
[18:50] County manager report.
[18:52] Thank you, Mr Chairman. I have three things tonight. So I'll be quick. The
[18:56] first one on behalf of myself and thank you all. I'd like to
[19:01] congratulate Representative Julia Howard. She was just appointed to the senior
[19:06] chairman or one of the senior chairman of the North Carolina General
[19:11] Assembly's finance committee in the House of Representatives. So that's a big
[19:15] win for Davy County. They're not the ones that put the budget together, but
[19:19] they're the ones that get to spend the money after the facts. That's really
[19:22] good for us. I want to send a big thanks to the leadership of Zach
[19:26] Seaman, Clyde Scott, and Andy Revis for the work on the Farmington Road 158
[19:32] roundabout project. They started on time and they finished on time, so we were
[19:38] very happy to see that open up last week. I think there's still a little bit
[19:42] of landscaping to be done, but it's fully operational, so it's great when
[19:47] DOT allows Davey County folks to do some work. It gets done. And then
[19:53] And lastly, in two weeks on Thursday, August 22, we will start our first commission or
[20:01] work session.
[20:02] These will take place during the morning, starting at 9 a.m.
[20:05] This is an opportunity for you all to hear new ideas coming from staff and to give us
[20:11] direction on what you would like to see moving forward in the county.
[20:15] These meetings will be open to the public, but as our attorney stated before, just
[20:21] want to be clear that public comment will still be reserved for the first
[20:24] meeting of each month so we will have an agenda out here shortly but moving
[20:30] forward we're going to move to two meetings a month and that's all I have
[20:37] any questions or comments all right consent agenda we have a motion have
[20:49] a question please if you want to do the motion first but and I maybe should
[20:53] brought this up at the beginning of the meeting, but this is in reference to item C for the
[20:58] Davie County Ban Booster's refund. When we look at the invoice, the invoice just says
[21:03] it's for the amphitheater, a damage deposit, gated mission fee, and special event permit.
[21:10] But then the refund calculation is non-refundable according to policy. That's understandable.
[21:20] but it says the staff hours on there, but the the atomization is different.
[21:25] My understanding is there was really no staff involved in that event, so I
[21:29] question that, but at the very least the refundable damage deposit should be
[21:35] returned unless there was damage. So that would it bring the number to 530 as
[21:41] opposed to 460.
[21:45] I'd really like for us to refund the entire amount to them,
[21:48] but if that if that's policy that's policy but I think we at least need to have
[21:53] the math correct and that if that's a refundable deposit then they should get
[21:57] it it should be refunded so we want to correct we want to correct that to 530
[22:03] someone if somebody wants to check behind me and see what
[22:10] I pass it to the
[22:12] money person is it a set is it the 70 are you just saying add the $70 I think
[22:20] add the $70 back to that at least. I get you to $5.30.
[22:29] Erin says she thinks that's already been
[22:31] refunded the $70 as.
[22:36] Well it's not included on this so if it has it wasn't taken off that total
[22:41] because it's showing total rental fee of $10.80 and then at the refund calculation that $10.80
[22:47] is still showing so if he if he has then this whole number is incorrect. Yeah I'd have to
[22:52] double check. I think I think Karen is correct in what my memory serves me
[22:59] correctly in my conversation with Paul Moore about this really truly in terms
[23:04] of a refund you all can approve it as it is or contingent upon that additional
[23:09] money's being refunded as well. If it's already been refunded to still get them
[23:13] to the grand total if it's the amount you want to include then that's the
[23:20] it.
[23:22] Are we clear on that amendment? Okay. All right. Miss Finney, did you make a motion?
[23:30] Um, I had it, I didn't, but I will. I will make the motion to approve the consent agenda
[23:35] with that change. We have a second. Second. Mr. Born-Depster, any other questions? Okay.
[23:44] All in favor.
[23:51] Okay. Now, under old business resolution for the, did you approve the
[23:57] overall consent agenda to with that. Yes. Okay. Yes. I thought she was making a
[24:01] motion just to amend that. Are we proper? I think she intended to with that
[24:08] child. Okay. Sounds good. All right.
[24:13] All right. Old business resolution for
[24:16] contract execution of the Davie County Custodial Services. Ryan, did you
[24:20] want to anything to say no at this point it's part of our RFP that we put in
[24:30] the middle part of April we open bids on May 16th for custodial services at
[24:37] this point we would need to make a decision whether we want to move forward
[24:41] with those bids or look or pursue other options for custodial services moving
[24:46] forward. Okay, all right. Do we have any comments at this point?
[24:57] I think the only
[24:58] comment I'd like to make is there's been some rumors swirling around that we were
[25:04] thinking about not taking the contract and getting two or three three people to
[25:09] clean the whole county and I just want to address that that's not been in
[25:15] discussion. However, what has been under consideration is looking at possibly
[25:23] bringing the cleaning in-house. It's not been any discussion or anything about
[25:30] trying to bid it in such a manner that would allow a local vendor to get it
[25:38] over somebody else because those rules are pretty, you know, the statute's
[25:43] pretty clear about that so but we've I have looked at several counties some of
[25:51] like size some larger most of them nearby counties that have been working
[25:58] towards phasing their cleaning back to an in-house product for lots of reasons
[26:05] you basically have more control and end up overall with a better product now
[26:12] let me be fair that it's not like I've had people knocking down my door saying
[26:17] that they think the cleaners are bad or this is in fear or that but I think a
[26:23] lot of it really boils down to like having an open discussion to see what
[26:28] what we really need cleaners to do. Post COVID and with this great with all
[26:35] the stuff that happens online there's lots of offices where you know you're
[26:39] not needing tons of cleaning every day so when you look at bids and look at what's
[26:46] being done I go back and I have talked a few department heads and different
[26:50] people that they're not really complaining about it but it's like the
[26:55] cleaners come in and they they might work on a building like this for a
[26:59] couple hours or they might come in and vacuum a few swipes take out the
[27:04] trash and whatever and then I think so I think it's really boiled down to
[27:08] nobody's really complaining but they've just kind of assumed these responsibilities.
[27:12] So if we're going to be assuming all these responsibilities it's thought it
[27:16] might be a good time to look at how practical it might be to bring it back
[27:23] in and look at the duties of it because it's a fairly large expenditure for
[27:28] something that it that's somewhat hard to control and it's kind of like a an
[27:33] Amoeba out there so I'll just say that at this point.
[27:38] Just a quick question to
[27:40] you because you have studied this a little bit. You used you looked at counties
[27:45] that were like size like maybe even similar in population and am I correct
[27:55] in that several of those counties do it in-house. Correct. Contract. There's a
[28:02] One county that does it's 50-50, but the feedback they're getting is they're moving back towards more in-house
[28:09] No counties that try have tried it both ways
[28:13] But they're happier with the product. They're happier with the pride that the
[28:18] People take about it being their building their county that kind of thing and that's the comments that I've gotten
[28:26] Several times. This is not just some random
[28:30] conversation I've had with one or two people. I think I'm up to about six
[28:34] counties at this point and you know there's always good bad and different
[28:41] there's good excuses either way but I think and this is not about them
[28:45] necessarily to try to save money it's about you know getting the best
[28:50] possible product that you can have.
[28:57] I will say in some cases a couple of
[28:59] counties have actually saved money by doing that. Other comments? I will say I
[29:07] actually have asked about breaking the buildings down and different things like
[29:11] that along this long discussion not in a group but in individual pieces because
[29:16] we are trying to find the best way to handle this situation. It has been
[29:22] costing us a ton of money to do cleaning and I personally would like
[29:26] for that money to be spent in Davy County either with a Davy County business or our own Davy County
[29:33] employees. I do like Brent's. I appreciate Brent investigating the other counties that he's had
[29:40] the time to contact because I do really like that idea. I think if we have our own employees
[29:45] doing the job I agree with him that it would be a better job. And anytime we keep taxpayer
[29:52] dollars in taxpayer pockets we're being financially responsible.
[30:00] I mean, I certainly support the concept of whatever makes the most sense, is it a high
[30:04] burner, is it in house or whatever. I guess my question from a logistics standpoint is,
[30:09] we have put this bid out and it's out there. What is the shelf life on this bid that's
[30:14] out there?
[30:18] Equal question. I'm not really sure if there's an end date once you collect
[30:24] the bid. There's no actual end date on those. However, we have a contract and I think
[30:30] rad back in the back can can address that with regards to any extensions under
[30:38] our current contract is it good through the end of September I believe is that
[30:42] correct or is it good through the end of August thinking we got a second
[30:48] extension through the end of September but I extended our current cleaning
[30:55] contract through the month of August through the month of August month of
[30:58] August barring what's made decision here tonight I would not see that
[31:03] extension extending further past October or August 31st
[31:10] of
[31:17] the comments so if we
[31:23] were going to pursue something other than what we have on before us that's
[31:29] gonna take some time so how much time do we think we would need to bet that along
[31:37] with what Terry's saying is this something that they would be willing to
[31:40] were new for like a one-year term, something like that.
[31:46] What kind of feedback or can you give us feedback on that?
[31:51] I've not looked at extending past these couple months
[31:54] barring that we've got bids on the table.
[31:57] I would say that moving past August 31st,
[32:02] you're going to see a, not a retaliation,
[32:06] but a say, we've got bids on the table.
[32:09] We'll cancel those bids.
[32:10] We'll give you a new offer.
[32:12] But the contracts for how many years?
[32:15] The initial RFP was for three years with two-year extension,
[32:19] so a total of five if we wish to max out at five,
[32:22] but it was an initial term of three years.
[32:24] I think you're asking, would it
[32:29] be possible to get that three-year period reduced
[32:32] to give us time to think about this?
[32:36] I would refer to add on how that's
[32:38] Got an RFP that had the terms of the RFP itself, and that was, when was that opened up?
[32:49] In May, so we're now into August, so you know, at this point in time we would have to reject
[32:58] that bid and go back out for new bids, what we'd have to do.
[33:03] We can't change the terms of the offer itself that we made.
[33:08] I'm
[33:14] just asking, so the bid process is that rigid.
[33:17] If you go out for three years, it's three years,
[33:19] no matter if either both parties agree
[33:21] to shorten it to one in this example.
[33:24] Yes, because at that point in time,
[33:26] you may have others that bid on it that said,
[33:28] well, I want to one year, I'll do something different.
[33:31] Yeah, and I had actually asked Ed about terms
[33:36] within the contract about employing citizens
[33:39] from Davy County, that type of thing.
[33:41] You know, it was indicated to me, we can't even change that.
[33:45] You know, once it's out, it's locked.
[33:48] The issue would be then, I'm not even sure,
[33:54] in the show if I'd leave that to you,
[33:59] that we could table this to the September meeting
[34:04] with the contract running out in August.
[34:08] I mean, you could always table it, but at that point in time, you're without cleaners.
[34:18] Well, I only thought on this is that, you know,
[34:25] I hate to be wed to three years, and
[34:27] that's all I would say about that part, you know.
[34:33] And I will say this just because I don't want folks to think we have asked about
[34:40] this, Brad not to you personally, but we have asked about the specifics of this
[34:48] well in front of that may RFP and we just have not gotten adequate answers and so I
[35:02] think we've come to a point where you know we're kind of back in a corner here
[35:06] but I want folks to know this is something that we have questioned that we have literally
[35:12] been asking questions about for a long time and unfortunately we've allowed ourselves
[35:19] to get in in this situation.
[35:23] I like based on what I've heard about the inquiries that Mr. Shove has done in other
[35:30] counties. I like the idea of bringing this cleaning in house. I really do. I'm
[35:37] going to leave it to the wisdom of the board here as to what you think we
[35:42] might possibly be able to do in terms of getting something set up. Mr. Show, if
[35:47] you've done a lot of investigating in this, I would think that since you're
[35:53] retired now, maybe you can get with Brad and Brian starting in the morning
[35:58] and see if there's anything that we can do. We've talked about this briefly in the
[36:05] last 30 days and it's been indicated that the ramp up would be such that it may
[36:13] take just a little while to hire people, supplies, those types of things. So my only
[36:23] question goes back to what I said while ago, you know, short of saying we're
[36:28] committing to three years, what other options do we have or do we have any
[36:33] options? I'm asking that for the whole board to add to whoever. If we reject the
[36:40] bid and reissue it, can we reissue it for just a year and not have
[36:46] consequences? If you reject the bid, you reject the bid. If you then want to
[36:52] go out to for a new bid you can put in there anything you want because it's a
[36:56] brand new bid at that point in time. Whether it's for a year or you know
[37:02] whatever terms you want to put in there.
[37:07] Would it take us a year or two to wrap
[37:09] this up and get it done? I don't think so but that's not my level of
[37:15] expertise. I mean I would think 90 days you know would be.
[37:23] The biggest
[37:23] The biggest challenge you're going to run into if you do any type of hybrid situation is employing people.
[37:31] We would also have to look at the supplies and equipment that the current vendor already supplies and has on hand.
[37:39] If we were to do a hybrid model, there could be a possibility of having to pay for that equipment as well, or some equipment.
[37:46] So that would take time.
[37:48] If we reject the bids, we could probably do a short period.
[37:52] I don't think there's a requirement on how long the bids would have to be open or out
[37:56] there.
[37:56] No, I mean, if you cancel the bids tonight, you know, we would work through what you
[38:01] want to see in the cleaning contract, advertise seven to ten days, open the bids, it would
[38:08] be on September, maybe October's meeting, but again, August 31st, we have no cleaning
[38:15] in-house.
[38:15] As long as employees, staff know that, and we're not getting bombarded with work orders,
[38:22] that can be done.
[38:23] But just know that moving from a year-to-year contract on such a large contract involves
[38:27] a lot of employees and money, how much are you going to stick your neck out on line
[38:34] this year, not knowing you're getting it next year.
[38:35] So that's the reason those type of contracts are spread out over three and five years.
[38:40] They can staff, have the equipment, have the supplies built up, going year to year, you
[38:46] know, firm A may get it this year, firm B next year, you potentially see a price increase.
[38:55] The people that we have now, have they already been in for the three years plus the two
[38:59] years extension?
[39:01] Yeah, they're in five years and two months.
[39:06] The original contract ended on June 30th.
[39:08] I
[39:16] think what I would really like to see, because I think things decisions probably need to be, you know, a little more deliberate and well thought out is what I'm trying to get across as I'd like.
[39:29] I don't want to be trapped in three years, but I don't want to fly by the seat of our pants either.
[39:34] And I mean, my suggestion, if we could make it happen, would be to go ahead and try to get basically a year long or whatever that would fill the term out.
[39:45] and then spend the time researching, vetting, talking about looking at if this is a practical
[39:56] solution. So you're asking well why is he bringing it up now? I'm bringing it up now
[40:00] because I don't want to be having this same conversation three, four, five years from now.
[40:04] That's why it's being brought up now.
[40:13] Well the only, as Mr. Vogler has already said,
[40:16] The only way to do that is to kill the current bids.
[40:21] We
[40:24] have a motion before us, though a motion has not
[40:28] been made in terms of the current executing.
[40:34] And what this does is to allow negotiation
[40:38] in terms of the contract.
[40:39] But the
[40:43] floor is open.
[40:50] I would have some concern about that.
[40:52] And I see that doing to a one-year provision might be the only way out of this to protect
[40:59] the county, but I would be concerned about going to a one-year bid.
[41:02] I think it would have a chilling effect on the particular or the possible vendors for
[41:12] just a year, but I could be convinced otherwise.
[41:15] That is a concern.
[41:17] I think that's a valid question.
[41:19] So I guess the question goes back to what would prohibit
[41:22] the current group we have from wanting
[41:25] to continue to do this for another year?
[41:31] I mean, it'd just be a matter of asking them
[41:34] to extend the existing three-year contract that's
[41:40] been extended twice, extended a third time.
[41:43] I think you still have to reject the bids that you
[41:45] have on hand, but you would be asking them
[41:48] to do a third extension of the existing contract.
[41:52] Is that something we would absolutely
[41:53] need to do for a year, or if it could be done in 90 days,
[41:57] would we just do that?
[41:59] It'd be up to the contractor or existing contractor
[42:03] how long they would want to go out for.
[42:05] I'll tell you what, a thought here, just a thought,
[42:11] would be to table this and have discussions to see, and Mr. Schoff would leave you to talk to
[42:23] Brian and Brad in terms of having discussions with the current vendor as to what level of
[42:29] flexibility they have.
[42:33] I mean, that's a thought.
[42:35] Well, Mr. Chairman, we're going out to August 26th.
[42:38] We're about to say we've got another meeting this month starting on August 22nd.
[42:43] Yeah, we could have a report back at that time.
[42:45] Yeah.
[42:46] Okay.
[42:46] So that gives us a couple of weeks here at least to have that conversation, okay?
[42:52] All right.
[42:52] I feel, because even if it caused us a little bit more for a year, if we're going to
[42:57] save in the long run, just depending on what they say.
[43:02] My recommendation, if you plan on moving it to that second meeting in August, it's perfectly
[43:07] fine.
[43:08] But if you're still thinking of changing the terms of the initial RFP, I would cancel
[43:13] all bids tonight.
[43:16] Because even if it's the second meeting, you decide, well, we don't want a three-year
[43:19] contract, the bids are no good.
[43:26] That way, I mean, everybody's kind of on the hook, we're already out 140-some days
[43:31] from bid opening.
[43:31] If you're thinking about changing the terms at all, I'd recommend cancelling all bids
[43:38] tonight.
[43:40] Just thought.
[43:41] Well,
[43:44] wouldn't it be premature to cancel that bid, not knowing whether we could go
[43:50] an additional 30 days, 60 days, 90 days?
[43:56] Well, the bid's based on a three-year contract with options for unit two one-year periods.
[44:04] And if you're not going to be doing that anyway, then canceling the bid itself doesn't hurt you at that point in time.
[44:14] And because you know you're not going to enter into a contract for three years anyway.
[44:20] If you are thinking that you might would still enter into a contract for three years, then at that point in time it maybe would behoove you not to cancel the bid.
[44:29] and now and then make a decision on August 22nd as far as what to do.
[44:38] I mean the board
[44:41] I think that's a logical thing to do here because I know we have some thoughts and ideas here
[44:49] and and and we've been talking about this but we haven't had questions answered like they
[44:57] should have been. We have been talking about
[45:00] I think we may get to a point, though, where we feel like if there is no level of flexibility
[45:09] and the annual contract potentially could be astronomical, that we may be forced into a
[45:18] situation to have to go with the current bids.
[45:23] But I'm open to.
[45:28] And I would think that the other thing that you might want to do would be to have Brad talk with the individuals
[45:36] that are the lowest responsible bidder and see if they are willing to extend their current contract
[45:45] for an additional year or not, or extend it for six months or not.
[45:49] They may come back and say no, we're not going to extend it period or they may come back and say
[45:55] Yeah, we'll extend it based upon what y'all might do on August 22nd
[46:00] You know, you don't know and yes
[46:05] So in that case we would need a motion to table this to our August
[46:11] 22nd meeting I
[46:13] Wouldn't make that motion
[46:15] One dexter makes the motion
[46:17] Do we do we have a second second show makes the second any other comments?
[46:24] Just a question but Brad you I mean as part of this delay we'll call you are going to reach out to
[46:33] current vendor and see what our options are outside the three-year bid as to a one-year
[46:44] contracts just to extend extension of the current until you make a decision I
[46:49] will reach out to them for that I feel that's within legal right but to reach
[46:54] out further them for what they would do for a one-year term I'll be at your on
[46:58] the table I'm not gonna make that move right. Mr. Shove will you do this will
[47:02] you kind of take responsibility to get with Brad and Brian and have
[47:07] discussion about this or follow up on this? I will but the condition as far as
[47:14] this goes is I don't visualize this being something that we if even if all the
[47:20] stars align that you can get half you know she can make it happen in a two
[47:24] three month period so. And Brad is correct from the stand from a legal
[47:29] standpoint that with these bids still on the table right now where we've
[47:35] just table it until August 22nd.
[47:38] He cannot legally go back to them, say, will you change it?
[47:42] Your bid to a one year contract, he's correct on that.
[47:46] But he could say, would you be willing to extend
[47:51] your current contract for an additional six months
[47:55] or 12 months?
[47:56] Yeah, that's what I'm asking.
[47:58] In order for him to ask for the year,
[48:00] we'd have to reject tonight so he could start
[48:03] a new conversation, correct?
[48:04] if you were looking at a new contract is extend what they've already got would
[48:12] be the kind of the best of both worlds at the point. Okay. Good brand. All in
[48:18] favor.
[48:22] Thank you.
[48:26] Any new business.
[48:30] Mr. Comments, Mr. Pointexter. It's always
[48:34] nice to look out to see a big crowd of smiling faces out here. Thank y'all for
[48:39] coming out tonight. I hope to come out next month and enjoy the rest of the
[48:43] summer because school will be in session by the time we come back again for a
[48:47] regular meeting. Thank you.
[48:53] Thank you. Always good to see room full or close to
[48:59] a room full but school is starting. Summer is flown by and next time we
[49:05] meet we will have got to watch some football so I'm excited about that but
[49:10] anyway please come back next month and we always appreciate your input. Appreciate
[49:16] everybody coming out tonight as we deliberate these items.
[49:23] He may smack me
[49:25] for this but I'm gonna have to lift up appreciate John being out here tonight
[49:29] coming he's you know it you when you work with somebody for 20 years and you
[49:35] don't them and going through some personal issues and health issues the
[49:41] just appreciate the dedication that I know John's had and how he's wanted to be
[49:46] here at work and that that means a lot and that does need to get recognized
[49:50] because so often you got people you're worried about when you're dealing with
[49:54] HR and stuff they're trying to kind of build the system whatever milk it for
[49:59] all it's worth and you know this is a good example John set so I had to say
[50:04] that thank you
[50:08] thank you all for coming tonight I just want to thank
[50:12] Gary I know he's not here for his wonderful remarks in the opening I
[50:18] really appreciate what he shared with us that was that was a great way to start
[50:21] the meeting and how impressive was Master Sergeant Jason Hutton know how
[50:25] blessed we are to have people like that who served our country and who
[50:29] choose here to be here to live but I'm looking forward to our additional
[50:35] meetings I think just we've started a little bit tonight we're to get a
[50:39] deeper into our work and try to pick through our budget and our items to try
[50:46] to save all the money we can for the citizens because in this day and time
[50:49] I think that's very crucial and and I think that we're making some asking
[50:56] some good questions and looking in some good directions but thank you all for
[51:00] being here. All right we are going to go into closed session and let me
[51:07] read these tormenting paragraphs here. There's two of them this week, believe it
[51:13] or not, this month. A closed session pursuant to North Carolina General
[51:18] Statute 143-318.11A3 to consult with an attorney employed or retained by the
[51:26] public body in order to preserve the attorney-client privilege between the
[51:30] attorney and the public body, which privilege is hereby acknowledged. The
[51:35] The public body may consider and give instructions to an attorney concerning the handling or settlement
[51:41] of acclaimed judicial action, mediation, arbitration, or administrative procedure.
[51:48] Item B, closed session pursuant to North Carolina General Statute 143-318.11A6 to consider
[51:59] Consider the qualifications, competence, performance, character, fitness, conditions of appointment
[52:05] or conditions of initial employment of an individual, public officer or employee or
[52:13] prospective public officer or employee or to hear or investigate a complaint, charge
[52:19] or grievance by or against an individual, public officer or employee.
[52:25] Do I have a motion to go into closed session?
[52:28] I moved.
[52:29] Mr. Poindexter, I believe.
[52:31] Ms. Finney-Second is all in favor.
[52:33] We are now in closed session.
[52:35] We'll be back shortly.
[53:09] All
[53:14] right, do we have a motion to go back into open session?
[53:18] Mr. Poindexter, do we have a second?
[53:21] Second.
[53:21] Ms. Feeney, all in favor?
[53:24] I have a motion to adjourn.
[53:27] Mr. Poindexter?
[53:28] Second.
[53:29] Ms. Feeney, all in favor?
[53:31] We stand adjourned.
[53:33] Thank you all.
[53:35] Zeta, is there any way I can...