Board of County Commissioners | Regular Meeting | May 4, 2026

001Mhm. >> Mhm. >> May 4th, 2026 regular meeting of the Union County Board of Commissioners to order. Uh, we will begin with the invocation. So, if you're so inclined, please join me in prayer. Dear heavenly Father, Lord, we just want to thank you, Lord, for all the blessings. Lord, all the blessings on our county. Uh, Lord, all of your blessings on our state and everything that you have blessed us with here in the United States as well, our country. Lord, as we uh, as we progress through our agenda tonight tonight, as as we do the business of the county, Lord, we ask that your will would done. Lord, we ask for your guidance, your wisdom in making these decisions. And Lord, we want to give you all the thanks and the glory and the honor,

002for it's in Jesus' name we do pray. Amen. Please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge 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. >> [clears throat] >> The next item on our agenda is consideration of appointment to fill the vacancy in the membership of the Union County Board of Commissioners. Before board discussion on this item, I would like to recognize Mark Pittman, chair of the Union County Republican Party, for comments on the Executive Committee's nomination nominee recommendation process. Welcome, Mark. Good evening, and thank you for the opportunity to be here with you all tonight. Um before I give our nomination to you all, I'd like to kind of walk through the

003approach that we took to make sure it's clear. On April 2nd, 2026, the Union County Republican Party was notified of a vacancy on the Board of Commissioners by the clerk to the board, per North Carolina General Statute 153A-27. Vacancies on the Board of County Commissioners, the Board of County Commissioners shall consult with the County Executive Committee of the appropriate political party. Being duly notified on April 3rd, 2026, the Union County Republican Party provided a notification to its role of the vacancy, called for a special meeting, and indicated within that notification that applicants who are interested in this position must be registered Republican as of January 3rd, 2026. They must send their bio, a photo, and resume to the chairman at uniongop.com and call or text the chairman to confirm receipt by April 12th, 2026 by

00411:59 p.m. Six well-qualified candidates submitted packages meeting that criteria. On April 17th 16th at 7:00 p.m., the special meeting was convened at Sun Valley High School. As special meeting chairman, I introduced our meeting officers and received the credentials report. Our credentials committee confirmed that we had a quorum of 42 eligible executive committee members that were present. Special meeting rules are required to conduct the meeting which were recommended by our rules committee and approved by the executive committee. The candidates were then introduced individually followed by a random draw establishing the order for presenting themselves to the executive committee. Each candidate was afforded 5 minutes to speak. Upon completion, we proceeded into a 30-minute question and answer session where each candidate was able to provide response to the questions of the executive committee members present. Our teller

005committee then provided ballots to the executive committee and we proceeded into the voting process. Before casting ballots, I explained specifically to all that were present holding that we were holding two votes. One for the short-term appointment recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners serving until December 7th, 2026. A candidate and two, a candidate to be placed on the ballot for the November general election serving from December 7th, 2026 to December 4th, 2028. As specified by the special meeting rules, the vote is to be conducted by a secret ballot and a clear majority reached. For the first vote vote on the appointment recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners, Earl Wedra received a majority vote. Therefore, the Union County Republican Party recommends Earl Wedra to the Union County Board of County Commissioners to fill the vacancy.

006For the second vote, placing a candidate on the ballot for the general election, Earl Wedra received a majority vote. Therefore, Earl Wedra is the Union County Republican Party nominee to be placed on the ballot for the November 2026 general election. All actions taken by the Union County Republican Party were consistent with our plan of organization and general statute 153A-27 and 163-106.1. Additionally, in preparation for the special meeting, I consulted with the NCGOP chief counsel who confirmed our approach was fully in alignment with the statute and the party plan of organization. Thank you for the opportunity to share our approach and provide our party's recommendation. Thank you, Mr. Pittman. Appreciate that and thank you for being here. Absolutely. Next, I'd like to recognize County Attorney Jason Kay for additional comments regarding the applicable legal issues involved

007with the appointment of a new commissioner. Mr. Kay. I'll be brief because I think it was largely covered by Mr. Pittman, but >> [clears throat] >> this county board's obligation when there is a a vacancy created on its membership is to appoint a new member. You have 60 days to make that appointment from the time of resignation or the when the vacancy occurs. >> [snorts] >> It is 153A-27 that governs. There is an obligation to consult with the local party of the person whose vacancy is being filled. That having been completed, Mr. Earl Wedra was recommended to this board. However, from a legal standpoint, you are not compelled to appoint the person who was recommended. You are not compelled to vote on the person who was recommended. However, obviously, we're taking that into due consideration

008this evening. Once that appointment is made, the person who serves as the appointed new member will serve until the first meeting in December of this year because of when that vacancy occurred, and then the rest of that term will be decided by the general election coming up in November of 2026. That is all I have to say. Turn it back over to you, Mr. Chair, to conduct the appointment process. Thank you, Mr. Kay. So with that board, [clears throat] we are at item 26257. That is consideration of appointment to fill the vacancy. And I will now accept nominations for filling the vacancy. Chairman Helms, I'd like to make a motion that we appoint Errol Wedra as our new county commissioner. Thank you, Madam Vice Chair. So we have a motion. Any discussion on the motion?

009So I I will just say this. First of all, Mr. Pittman, once again, thank you very much. I appreciate you being here, and thank you to the Union County Republican Party. I understand that the the process was a little a little different this time, and unfortunately, this board has been through this a couple of times already. But I want to I want to say thank you for the professionalism, and also the um the promptness that the party conducted the nomination process. And I'll say this too, that I'm going to be in favor of the motion tonight, and and I've known Errol Wedra now for a few years, and it's my my belief that Errol Wedra is a man of high character that values what makes Union County special. He's demonstrated a commitment to public service,

010thoughtful thoughtful decision-making, and also a willingness to learn. At a time when our county's facing significant challenges and pressures from growth and budget priorities, I think it's critical that we have a commissioner on this board who values long-term planning over short-term fixes. And I believe that Earl Wedgworth can approach these challenges with common sense, accountability, and also a focus on what's best for the community. The appointment tonight is also about trust. And it's not only the trust of this board, but the trust of the county. It's a trust that decisions will be made carefully, transparently, and also with integrity. And I believe that Earl Wedgworth is the right choice to uphold that standard. So, if there's no discussion, I'll call for the vote. All those in favor of the motion, say aye. Aye. No opposed.

011So, congratulations, uh Mr. Wedgworth. Welcome to our board. And because this appointment is effective immediately, we will ask that that you now come forward and take your oath of office, and join us here on the dais as a member of the Union County Board of Commissioners. >> [applause] [applause] >> Do you, Earl Johnston Wedgworth, solemnly swear that you will support and maintain the Constitution and laws of the United States, and the Constitution and laws of North Carolina. Not inconsistent with their will, >> [snorts] >> and that you will faithfully discharge the duties of your office as commissioner for the county of Union, so help you God. I do. You, Errol Joseph Wedra, solemnly and sincerely swear that you will support the Constitution of the United States. That you will be faithful and bear true allegiance

012to the state of North Carolina and to the constitutional powers and authorities which are or may be established for the government thereof, and that you endeavor to support, maintain, and defend the Constitution of said state, not inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States, to the best of your knowledge and ability, so help you God. I do. You, Errol Joseph Wedra, swear that you will well and truly and faithfully execute the duties of the office of commissioner for the county of Union according to the best of your skill and ability, according to the laws of North Carolina. I do. >> [applause] [applause] >> Congratulations, Commissioner Wedra. Thank you. All right. So, um the next item on our agenda is informal comments. And um Let's see. I'll now recognize the speakers sign up for informal comments.

013Um each speaker must address the board from the lectern and begin their remarks by giving their name, stating whether they are residents of Union County, and indicating the municipality within they within which they reside if any. Each speaker will have 3 minutes to make remarks. A tone may sound at the conclusion of your remarks. A speaker may not yield any of his or her time to another speaker. Speakers may not discuss matters which are the subject of public hearings, and they must be courteous in their language and presentation. Re-statements or repetitive comments by the same speaker, whether the same or separate uh whether the same or separate meetings may be ruled out of order and terminated by the chair. Personal attacks may uh will not be tolerated. Speakers may leave written comments and or supporting

014documents if any with the clerk to the board. The first speaker tonight is Michael Evola. Hi, good evening commissioners. Uh first just let me say congratulations, Mr. Wedra. Uh my name is Michael Evola and I'm a 20-year resident of Union County living in the town of Indian Trail. Um I would appreciate your consideration later this evening for appointment to the consolidated human services board. Uh through my professional experience, I've worked directly with individuals and families navigating difficult situations. Uh that work has given me a clear understanding and of the importance of operating efficient systems and ensuring resources are used where they have the greatest impact. Uh I currently serve as the community engagement manager for the Community Shelter of Union County. Uh previously, I was with the Union County Department of Social Services. I worked

015as a Medicaid eligibility specialist helping families access critical health care coverage while ensuring compliance with policy, uh program integrity, and responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars. Um at the state level, I currently serve as chair of both the North Carolina Statewide Independent Living Council and the North Carolina Council for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. In these roles, I oversee budgeting, policy direction, and a focus with a focus on good governance and community impact. Uh my work across Union County through nonprofits, local government, and community partnerships have reinforced my commitment to collaboration and to making the most of our existing resources to strengthen our community. Uh I'm someone who lives with a disability. 13 years ago, I had a brain tumor that took away my hearing completely on my right side here, so I'm half deaf.

016Um but I bring a perspective that emphasizes accessibility alongside effectiveness, ensuring services empower individuals towards independence and self-sufficiency. Um I respect the responsibility you carry to keep our county government efficient, accountable, and results-driven. Given my experience, I can contribute to delivering positive outcomes for Union County citizens, and I would welcome the opportunity to serve Union County in this capacity, so I would greatly appreciate your consideration tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Um so, our next speaker is Mr. Mark Russell. Good evening, commissioners. Uh my name is Mark Russell, resident of Union County, and I live in the town of Weddington. I'm here tonight with an update on the Flock license plate reader program and its compliance with state law. I spoke to you about this on March 16th. Uh first, the response from this county has

017been genuinely humbling. Uh Vice Chair Helms followed up with me personally. County Manager Matthews committed to working with the sheriff on compliance, and the chief deputy from the sheriff's office called me to hear my concerns first hand. The sheriff's office also adopted a written policy on license plate readers, policy 334, approved March 17th, one day after I stood here, and I'm grateful for that step. But I have reviewed that policy alongside the Flock contract and state law, and I want to be straightforward with you. The policy lists the nine areas the General Assembly requires, but rather than laying out how Union County governs this surveillance system, it states that all items are addressed in the Flock vendor contract and are incorporated by reference. So, that means the sheriff's office has outsourced its compliance with state

018law to an $8.4 billion tech company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The General Assembly did not write Article 3D so that a vendor could satisfy it with standard terms and conditions. Now, I've read that contract and it contains no training requirements for our deputies, no oversight structure, no annual audit, no data sharing rules, among other things. Now, I have sympathy for the position the the sheriff's office is in. They adopted this technology to fight crime. But if something goes wrong, whether a data breach or an unauthorized search, there is no written framework showing the sheriff's office was operating within the law. That is a liability for the sheriff's office and a liability for the county. The chief deputy told me the sheriff sets his own policies as long as they comply with state law, and that

019is exactly the standard I'm asking to be applied here. This um this board approved $288,000 for this program in December. Before the next appropriation, I think it is fair to ask whether the program has met the requirements the General Assembly established, and that is a stewardship question. I've provided I would like to provide the clerk with a comparison document showing each of the nine areas alongside what the policy and contract actually say. And so, my ask here remains the same, a substantive policy with Union County specific provisions, an annual effectiveness audit as the state requires, um before any future funding, and any future ALPR um items placed on the business agenda. Good governance protects everyone, protects the public, protects the deputies, and protects the good name of Union County. Thank you very much. Thank you,

020Mr. Russell. Yeah, I was going to say, please leave that with staff. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Our last speaker tonight is Jen Sanders. Good evening, board. Uh congratulations to new council. Um and and and in that regard, I I just like to remind everyone, and you in particular, that um that now that you sit in that chair, that you are not a party member, but a community member, and that we will advocate for all of of Union County, not just a particular party. And that um I heard that you had high high character, you were willing to learn, trust, future growth, all these things that Commissioner Helms talked about, um which is wonderful, and we look forward to working with you across the board for everything. Um we have not always had a lot

021of transparency and work within the community or with this board, so I look forward to having open dialogue. Uh I want to talk about the homestead exemption, um that currently it's around $34,000 a year, and um that is really about our senior citizens, and how, you know, you don't have to pay taxes if you make a certain amount of money or below a certain amount of money. The issue though is most of our seniors are living um on on disabilities or social security, and they average around 60, 70,000 dollars a year, which sounds like a lot of money, but it actually isn't a lot of money, especially when, you know, the medium household is around 140,000 dollars here. So, um, I'm just wondering how that we are going to work within our senior citizens and

022within our communities that make a little less than what they should be doing to, um, survive in Union County. Um. And then, my final thing is, um, I want to know what this board is going to do about holding the state accountable for not passing a budget. We are getting ready to have a sit-down with UCPS with the budget for the schools. And as we know, last year it got a little chaotic. Um, we hope that you guys are have a great, um, ability to communicate without egos in that room, because our teachers and our students are the ones that are going to struggle the most. And so, I'm just going to ask that you guys, again, publicly hold the state accountable. Ask them to please pass a state budget. Please advocate for our teachers

023here in Union County. Understand that they're UCPS is one of our largest employers, and it's really important that we actually give them the support from our elected officials. Thank you. Okay, so that concludes our, uh, speaker list. Is there anyone from the audience who would like to, um, say any kind of comments? Okay. Seeing none, then we'll move on to our next item. Next item of business is staff recognition. And, uh, our first item is 26-173, and that is, uh, recognition of our 2026 Miss Union County pageant winners. And I will now recognize, uh, Terry Connell Davis, Miss Union County pageant director, to introduce our 2026 winners. Welcome. >> Thank you. Come on and come on up here. Are they usually do? Well, again, my name is Terry Connell Davis and I'm a proud Mimi

024uh excuse me, the director of uh >> [laughter] >> I'm proud Mimi, too. Um the director of the Miss Union County pageant and these girls are your twen- 2026 winners. And I will introduce the little ones and then the larger the older girls would like to introduce themselves. Azalea Lockhart is our Baby Miss. There she comes. Come on up. You go right through there. And Rylan Sky Sutton, right here, is our Toddler Miss. And then Rosabelle is our Petite Miss. This is her second time on our court. Uh Riley Polk is our Little Miss. Raise your hands, girls, when I call your name. And this is her second time on our court. And Haven Grace Sutton is our Young Miss. My name is Kinsley Wallace and I am the Miss Union County Pre-Teen 2026. I

025live in Wingate, North Carolina and I am enrolled in North Carolina Cyber Academy, which is a virtual school. Hi, my name is Devonte Pressman. I am Miss Teen Elite of Union County. I am a 16-year-old that goes to Audrey Kell High School. I'm going to be moving to Union County, so I'd love to get involved with the community. And yeah. Nice meeting you, guys. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Cameron Todd, your 2026 Miss Union County. I'm currently a senior at UNC Chapel Hill be graduating on Saturday with a bachelor's in human development and family science. Thank you. Thank you so much for having us, and if y'all need us anywhere in the county, JUST LET US KNOW. [applause] >> [applause] [applause] >> THANK YOU ALL. VERY GOOD JOB. OUR next item on the agenda

026is item 26-248, and that is recognize life save lifesaver award recipients. I'll now recognize our deputy county manager, Patrick Nolan, for brief comments concerning this item. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Always brief with me. Um Here to recognize uh two of our employees tonight, two of our public health nurses. On January 25th, 2026, while staffing the county's emergency shelter during winter storm Fern, nurses Megan Troll and Jennifer Gribbon demonstrated exceptional clinical skills, professionalism, and composure when a shelter client experienced life-threatening medical crisis. While conducting a routine intake assessment, the nurses quickly identified that the client's condition was rapidly declining. The individual became unresponsive and had shallow, irregular breathing. Without hesitation, Megan and Jennifer transitioned from assessment to life-saving care. They safely assisted the individual to the floor, ensured the airway was open, and immediately began resuscitative

027measures. Their rapid recognition of the situation paired with decisive action and seamless teamwork ensured that critical care was delivered without delay. Um we get to do these fairly often and it's it always amazes me how many opportunities our employees have to be put in a situation like this and without fail they always step up to it. We couldn't be more proud of them. So, if you'll help me uh recognize these two public HEALTH NURSES TONIGHT. >> [applause] [applause] [clears throat] >> NEXT UH ON OUR AGENDA IS ITEM 26-249 and that is uh recognize public communications team for earning numerous state awards. I will now recognize assistant county manager Clayton Boiner for brief comments concerning this item. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Brief. I might I might take a little bit longer. Um uh tonight it's my

028pleasure to recognize a team that does so much for the county. Uh it is truly difficult to quantify. Uh from social media to board meetings to press releases to websites, our branding, media relations, public records requests, ribbon cuttings, groundbreakings, and the list goes on and on. Uh and over the past few years, our public communications team has won numerous statewide, national, and international awards, and this year is no exception. This team won four excellence in public communication awards at the annual awards program through the North Carolina City and County Communicators. Uh first place in branding and logo for the Union County Economic Development logo, second place in the multi-platform campaign Foster the Future, the foster parent recruitment campaign in partnership with social services, uh third place in special programming, uh Women in Leadership Honoring Our

029County Commissioners for Women's History Month, and third place in crisis communications, uh the coordinated response following the Unionville tornado in March 2025. And in in addition to these awards, there is one more award that is uh very special for us. Uh our own Liz Cooper um was named the North Carolina Communicator of the Year. Um every single day, uh Liz shows up with incredible energy, work ethic, positivity, uh to make sure that every single message, press release, and story is delivered the right way with the right information at the right time to the right people. And and we just learned tonight that she got her uh credentialed public information officer recognition tonight. So, these awards are absolutely well-deserved and I would ask the whole team to come up right now and be recognized. >> [applause]

030[applause] [laughter] >> ALL RIGHT. >> [applause] >> YEAH, I'LL JUST MAKE A BRIEF COMMENT ON THAT THAT as I was reading over the agenda and looking over all the awards is very impressive, you know, what our communications team has been able to accomplish and you know, obviously the individual award there for our very own Liz Cooper. I think that you know, we all acknowledge the great job that you do and we are very lucky as an organization to have you. So So congratulations. Thank you for what you do. It [snorts] is now time for consideration [clears throat] to any changes to the agenda. Are there any motions regarding the requested revisions or amendments to either the consent or the business agenda? Chairman Helms, I'd like to amend the agenda. If we could please remove item

03126-255 compensation adjustment for the register of deeds and this was per the register of deeds request. Are there any additional changes to the consent agenda? All right. All those in favor of the motion to remove item 26-255 say I. I. Okay. Do we have a motion to approve the consent agenda as amended? So moved. So we have a motion. All those in favor say I. I. All right, so we are now at the business portion of our agenda. The first item of business is item 26 252 rezoning petition RZ-2026-004 McAlister. I will now recognize Lee Jenson, planning director, for brief comments concerning this item. And uh Lee, I halfway expect to see you wearing a crown, buddy. >> [laughter] >> Totally kidding. Welcome, Lee. Uh I appreciate that. >> [laughter] >> I will try to

032be brief as well. Uh this is the McAlister rezoning. Uh you had a public hearing on this item at your last meeting. Um just to refresh your memory real quickly, um this is on 601 South, um just a few miles outside of Monroe. Um the request is to rezone um from highway corridor with conditions to a light industrial district. Um as you're a member, the property was re-rezoned back in 2016. Um had a few restrictions on it um they they were in the form of conditions. Um it didn't allow off-premise signs, campgrounds, or RV parks, flea markets, or type three um mini storage. Um it's located on the west side of Pageland Highway, uh just south of Claude Austin Road. Um this is a straight rezoning, so there are no conditions. All those conditions would

033would would go away. Uh again, the zoning on the property uh currently is highway corridor conditional. That's the property you see um right there, where my mouse is kind of circling around. I mean, it's just to the north, you do see a couple of light industrial pieces. There's a um a light industrial piece that's been there for a while, and another one just to the north of that that um came to you probably last year, I I I believe. They reconfigured some property lines and consolidated some zoning and and wanted to have a conditional district for for light industrial. So, um it does fit in um with the uh some of the existing zoning in the area. And then the uh land use plan as part of the 2050 uh comprehensive the land use map

034as part of the comprehensive plan does designate this area um as a employment corridor. So, it is consistent with the adopted land use map. Um I'm not going to read over all this, but um both staff recommendation and planning land use sorry, land use board recommendation was to approve the the rezoning. Uh land use board was unanimous. Uh I'll be happy to answer any questions. Any questions for Lee? Uh Lee, I just want to verify something. Um so, this property was previously um highway corridor to accommodate the retail portion on that property, correct? Y- Y- yes, sir. It It was before 2016 and and I should have probably stated that. Before 2016, it was actually light industrial. Yeah. Um it was rezoned to highway corridor conditional back in 2016 to accommodate a retail component that

035that the applicant no longer wishes to to to do. Um so, they're they're asking simply to rezone it back to what it was prior to 2016. And prior to 2016, it had been rezoned. I I don't know how long, but it was a very long time that it had been re- that zoned light industrial prior to that. So, so essentially this request is basically putting it back to the previous zoning due to the fact that they don't anticipate retail. Correct. Okay. Thank you. I would like to make the motion if it's appropriate at this time. Yes, sir, Commissioner Baucom. All right. Um I would like to make the motion we adopt the ordinance approving revision to the official zoning map of Union County, North Carolina. And adopt a consistency and reasonableness statement for approval. Okay.

036Thank you, Mr. Thank you, Commissioner Balcom. So, we have a motion to approve. All those in favor of the motion, say I. I. Thank you, Lee. Next on our agenda is item 26-210, presentation Union County water capital program update. I'll now recognize uh John Schuteck, Union County water engineering director, concerning this item. Welcome, John. Chairman Howells, commissioners, uh welcome, Commissioner Wedra. Uh Manager Matthews and members of the management team, thank you for your time this evening. Uh tonight, I'm going to be talking about uh Union County water's capital improvement program. So, just to get you started, I'll give you a brief overview of the entire capital program, and then I'm going to talk about some specific projects as they relate to water or waste water, uh some of our renewal and replacement projects, as well

037as uh a couple of facilities projects that we have going on. And I'll wrap up tonight's presentation with uh a discussion on our Crooked Creek uh water reclamation facility. So, jumping right into things, uh our 15-year capital improvement program, as you can see, is fairly robust. Uh we have a total of 65 projects uh with an estimated cost of $845 over there on the on the right side of the chart, you can see about half that investment is in our water infrastructure, with about a quarter uh of the total expenditures uh both on on waste water and investing in our current system it through renewal and replacement. Uh we have a very small amount uh invested in facilities, which is exactly what you would expect. Uh we are utility, we deal in water and wastewater

038and taking care of those systems. Uh so we we don't build buildings too often. And you'll also note uh the status of the projects there. Roughly 40% of those are in the planning queue. Uh we generally have three buckets, planning, design, and construction. Uh about 40% of those are in the planning queue with uh about 30% each in design and construction. And that's typically how the process rolls. Uh we have projects that are stacked up in that queue for planning, then they roll through the design and construction phases. So starting off uh just talking some details about individual projects, I'm going to start on the water side. Uh if you all have any questions, please stop me at any time. I'm happy to discuss further uh and respond as I can. Uh if I don't

039have the information, I'll be happy to get it to you later. So starting off uh we have an improvement project to uh increase the capacity at our Catawba River Water Treatment Plant. This is going to bring the capacity from 40 to 56 million gallons a day. Uh as a reminder, we are partners with Lancaster Water and Sewer District uh in this endeavor. Uh so we share in those costs. And what you're seeing here is Union County share of the cost, which is about $115 million. So this is a substantial investment uh in that facility with the total program cost being about $230 million. Right now, we're in the planning phase uh and we're going to be moving into design uh and then rolling right into construction, and we expect to be complete in fiscal year

04030 uh with that expansion. And so And John, I I think it's probably worth mentioning too that you know, as far as the Catawba's concerned, you know, Lancaster is um is they're dealing with a lot with some very similar challenges as what Union County is right now with um uh with growth and demand on the water systems. So, Yes, that is that is correct. We expand the facilities to respond not only to current day demands, but to ensure that we can meet future demands. So, as we do that at our treatment plants, likewise, we have to make sure that we can convey that water from the treatment plants and get it out into our distribution system for our customers' use. Uh so, we do that uh through the capital plan by focusing on transmission mains.

041So, these are larger diameter pipelines. One of the projects we have uh in the design stage right now is uh in our 821 pressure zone. Um and this is a This is a good example of partnership because we're working with NCDOT uh to incorporate the improvements uh into their project. Uh we fund them entirely, but we do take advantage [clears throat] of those uh those synergies uh working with NCDOT uh particularly with uh right-of-way acquisition, easements, uh as well as kind of the common uh overlap of of construction activities. Uh so, we're not following immediately behind or going in immediately ahead of a roadway project. Uh this one this particular project will install roughly 4 miles of 36-in diameter waterline uh and about another mile and a half of 16-in waterline. Uh and this is

042in addition to the lines that will be relocated as part of the project, which are 12-in 24-in diameter. So, these are not small facilities that we're talking about. Uh partnering with DOT, we are tied to their project schedule, uh which is currently uh scheduled for completion in fiscal 32. Uh and our estimate of cost at this point is about $15.9 million. So, again, a pretty substantial investment in the water system. Similarly, in some of our other service zones, the 853 pressure zone, we have phase three of a series of of transmission main projects. Uh this one is installing roughly 3 miles of 16-in water line along Waxhaw-Indian Trail Road in between Potter and Old Monroe Road. Uh and this this project really addresses our ability to move that bulk water uh from our uh Watkins

043Road booster pump station up into the area where we have elevated along the Stallings Road corridor. Um and the transmission deficiencies and the the hydraulic constraints that were uh fixing with this were identified and and basically reaffirmed as part of our master planning effort uh that we just went through. Total investment of about $10.9 million, and we plan on finishing up here in the next couple of years in fiscal year 2028. And again, this is phase four of the same series of programs. Uh again, we're partnering with NCDOT to put a 16-in line, about 5 miles of it, uh in the Old Monroe Road corridor, partnering with NCDOT as part of their road widening project. Uh and again, this is a project that is going to address hydraulic and transmission uh deficiencies that we were

044uh we've previously identified and then reaffirmed as part of the 2025 uh water and wastewater master plan. Um presently in design with an estimated cost of $13.2 million. Again, tied to that NCDOT project completion date. Uh so, we're looking at fiscal 31 uh for this to be complete. And last but not least on the transmission main side, this is a project we have in active construction, uh actually planning on bringing the entire thing into service here by the end of this month. Uh it's a 24-in transmission main that goes from our Yadkin River water treatment plant uh down the kind of the Lawyers Road corridor uh, to Highway 74 in Wingate. Uh, this is almost 8 mi of piping uh, between the plant and and the town of Wingate uh, and also includes uh, pumping

045improvements and related electrical and controls uh, infrastructure at at the water treatment plant. Uh, so this provides the the primary backbone to feed that service area from the water treatment plant. Uh, total project cost of about 37 and 1/2 million dollars. Uh, the good news on that total uh, price there is that we were recipients of 35 million dollars in ARPA funds from the state. Uh, so uh, and I'm I'm proud to say that uh, we're going to uh, easily clear that expenditure deadline of of December 2026. Last but not least, oops. Uh, not only do we improve our plants and make sure that we can move that water around the system, but we also have to store it in the system. So, we have elevated storage facilities throughout our distribution system. Uh, and this

046helps us deal with peak day demands, fire flow needs, emergencies, things of that nature. Uh, so we do have a project underway to construct uh, an additional elevated storage tank to address uh, system storage deficiencies that were identified in the 2025 master plan. Uh, the tank site is is off of Old Monroe Road just south of Brandon Oaks Parkway. You can see it marked in the uh, uh, the graphic there with the big T. Uh, and we're also uh, making some improvements to our Walkers Road booster pump station. Uh, we have uh, some control deficiencies there, so we're going to be installing some variable frequency drives, help us control those motor speeds, be more efficient with our electrical use, uh, as well as replacing some aging uh, infrastructure uh, and putting putting in some new

047control valving. Uh, total project cost of about 17.2 million dollars and estimating to be complete in fiscal 29. Now, I I don't have slides for this, but we we are working on a couple of other elevated storage facilities. Uh, we're and they're on the same kind of track and timeline. Uh, both in our 935 zone, which is essentially Stallings. It's the the tank right behind Stallings Town Hall. Uh, that tank is right now at half a million gallons of capacity. The master plan identified the need for a million gallons. Uh, so we've been looking at how to best do that within the site that we have. Uh, and that's moving forward. Uh, project cost on that's about 5.6 million dollars and we have a similar effort in the Yadkin water treatment plant service area to

048build another million gallon storage tank. Uh, and that one's about 3.3 million dollars. >> say that was an addition? It's Yes, we have uh, currently >> Additional minute. Yes, additional. Currently the the Yadkin water treatment plant operates off the Highway 218 tank. Um, and that's its primary control. Uh, so when that tank level start starts to drop, that's when the pumps kick on at the water treatment plant and push more water out into the system. Um, so in order to make sure that for long-term operation and maintenance uh, needs, redundancy, those types of things that were we want to make sure we address. Uh, we're building another tank. So not only does it meet the storage requirement, but it also fulfills that that redundancy and and operational need that we have. And John, let let

049me ask a question here and um, um, County Manager Matthews, you may want to chime in on this too. But correct me if I'm wrong, but we looked at these elevated storage tanks not only for capacity issues, but also because of emergency response, right? So They they benefit both fire flow and pressure. Yeah, because I think when we looked at this a couple of years ago, the projections that we had uh, didn't look too good, especially in that regards. And so, that's one of the reasons why the county invested so heavily um in these storage tank projects. Here. 100% correct. Yes, sir. Thank you. All right. So, with that said, I'll I'll move on to our our wastewater projects. And I I should have said this at the beginning, but this is not a comprehensive

050listing of all of our projects. So, I don't have 65 slides, which I'm sure you're glad to hear. Um >> [laughter] >> but uh I I've got about six six in each category with the exception of the the facilities. So, um I'm trying to follow Patrick and Clayton's example of being brief. So, starting off again, these have kind of the same format, water and wastewater. We start off at the plants. Uh so, as you all know, we're we're working on an expansion to the 12-Mile Creek water reclamation facility. It's under active construction. Uh this is planned to be complete uh late next summer, so in fiscal year '28. Uh total project cost of about $56.4 million. Uh again, some good news here. We were the recipients of about $26 million in state funding for this.

051Uh so, we're able to mitigate some of the the impact to uh direct impact to our ratepayers. We're also working on our Grassy Branch water reclamation facility. This is a an expansion of this facility, bringing it from 50,000 gallons a day up to 120,000 gallons a day. So, this is a much smaller facility. It's what we call a package plant. Uh and we were experiencing continual issues uh not being able to meet our permit requirements. Uh such so to such an extent that we we entered into a consent order with the state in order to complete this upgrade. Uh one important detail to note here is that this doesn't really expand the capacity or the ability for the service area to grow. We're really just addressing the the needs of the system as they sit

052today. Um And again, this is under active construction. Uh the plant is actually going through startup right now. Uh so we're anticipating uh being able to close this out uh here in the next couple of months, which is great because we've got almost $10 million in ARPA funding assigned to this. So we definitely want to make sure that we're hitting that uh end of year expenditure deadline. And last but not least, uh I told you I was going to talk about the Crooked Creek plant. Uh I'll have a whole segment at the end, but uh we are doing work out there right now. Uh we have a project under design to address the effluent filter system. Uh and and quite honestly, we're we're doing this ahead of any major improvements out at that plant uh

053because the effluent filters simply don't work. Uh they have aged out of their useful life. Uh it's kind of like trying to repair a '70s Pinto. You can do it, but it's really hard uh and you're probably looking for parts on eBay. Um so we we've got a project underway just to replace that entire system. It's not an inexpensive endeavor. It's about $4 million. Uh uh and we anticipate being done with it uh in about another year, so in fiscal '28. All right. Um so just like we improve our plants uh on the water and wastewater side, uh on the water side we need to make sure that we get water out to the system. On the wastewater side, we need to make sure that we can get the wastewater to the facilities. So to

054do that, we focus on interceptor improvements. Uh one of the projects we have underway is the Crooked Creek interceptor. It's phase two of the overall program. Uh and this involves putting in roughly 3 miles of piping uh in between the Crooked Creek facility, which is located at Highway 74 uh and essentially Sardis Church Road, uh going up that Highway 74 corridor all the way up to Chestnut uh Parkway. Uh so upsizing that interceptor uh to accommodate both current and future growth. Uh total project cost of about $20.7 million under active construction right now. We've got $16 million in ARPA funding assigned to the project. Uh and so again, we are uh working diligently to close that project out and hit that expenditure deadline. We also have an interceptor project that we have in the design

055phase right now. Uh and this is the main corridor that feeds our 12-Mile Creek uh water reclamation facility. So just like we're expanding it, we're making sure that we can get that flow from the uh from the sources and the system to the plant. Uh this is a much bigger project than the Crooked Creek interceptor, about double the pipe length. Uh so it's about 30,000 ft of 30-in diameter pipes. It really is the backbone of that collection system. Uh and it's uh generally between Newtown Road uh and Providence Roads. Feeds feeds right into the uh into the 12-Mile plant. Uh total project cost of about $46.5 million. So again, not an inexpensive endeavor. Uh we're looking at being finished with that. Uh presently in the design stage, looking at finishing construction in fiscal '31. Now

056we don't just look at interceptors. Uh we also have pumping facilities and pressurized systems in our wastewater collection system. Uh so we have to address those needs as well. Uh the Forest Park Pump Station is one of those projects. Uh so we're essentially rehabbing this project or rehabbing the existing facility and making sure that the force main is appropriately sized to convey the design flow, uh as well as addressing some constraints in the gravity collection system that feed that facility. So again, we want to make sure we get the flow to the facility and that we can convey it from it. Total project cost of about 5 and 1/2 million dollars. Presently, we're in design and looking to uh be complete in fiscal 30. All right. Any questions on the wastewater side? I knew I

057blew right through that. All right. R&R projects, uh renewal and replacement. We have a lot of infrastructure out there. Uh so, one of the big focuses of the utility is on maintaining and operating what we have. Uh and we do that in a variety of ways. Uh we have uh standing programs that address certain facilities. One of those are our uh kind of smaller pump stations. I talked about Forest Park. That's a That's a bit of a larger facility. Uh it it serves a uh a large area uh essentially in that 74 corridor including things like the Atrium Health facility. Uh and and the northern portion of that that 74 corridor. These pump stations that we deal with on the rehab side generally serve much smaller areas. Uh but what we do is we go

058through and we assess the condition, uh look at the things that are kind of the smoking guns. What's the worst of the worst? What do we need to address? Uh and then we prioritize those improvements, package them up into one big project so we get some efficiencies of scale, uh and put it out to bid. Uh with this particular rehab project, we're touching seven different facilities. Uh and these are all over the county. We have a couple in the old Sycamore neighborhood. Uh we have four in the Indian Trail area, uh which are Green Meadows and the Three Suburban Estates pump stations there. And then we have one in Waxhaw, which is the Magnolia Ridge pump station. We're essentially repairing uh and replacing mechanical and electrical equipment with these improvements. Uh about 3.7 million dollars

059completing uh here in the coming fiscal year. So, it'll take us about a year to construct all of this. So, John, this is not a complete uh a complete replacement of these seven pump stations, correct? >> It is >> This is This is just a rehab Yes. of certain components. Yes. So, if one station might need new pumps, one station might need some uh some electrical equipment. It just varies site to site, but that's why I say we do an assessment, kind of identify the worst of the worst, bring those up as the top priorities, and then package them together. So, again, we're getting that efficiency of scale with the contractor. Yeah, so the reason why I ask is because I mean, obviously, pump stations can get pretty pretty expensive. Um They can. Yeah. Um

060so, what what would you say the average cost of replacement would be for just a I know it's probably kind of difficult for you to put a number on it, but any guess if we had to you replace one of these pump stations? Completely replace it. I I understand the question. I understand why you're asking it, but I'm not going to hazard a guess because the quite honestly, the range is wide. It It depends on the facility, what you're working with. Um so, there's a lot of factors to that, but generally speaking, you are not incorrect in saying these are not inexpensive facilities. So, if you have to replace them, yes. If you're doing a complete replacement, it's a big deal. Yeah, it >> If you've got a regional station, >> it's going to cost

061a lot more than if it's just a station that, you know, a pump station that handles like a neighborhood or two. So, it really depends on the size and the complexity of it. Um it could be, you know, a couple of million right up to 10 or 15 million. Just kind of And that's just a rough number. It could could be more. Just really depends on the size and the complexity of it. What's the average lifespan of these pump stations? And John will tell you the same thing. It depends on the components. So, components each have a lifespan themselves. Electrical will have a much lower component time lifespan. It might be, you know, a 7 to 10 year. Pumps might last you 20 years. So, it really depends on the different component and how old

062it is. The wet well usually will last quite some time before you have to do any work on that. So, again, I think I might have answered that somewhat correctly. You absolutely did, which makes me feel good because when we say these things, it means the managers listen. >> [laughter] >> Um So, with with pump stations, so Manager Matthews is absolutely correct. So, you first and foremost, you have the structural components. So, that's the wet well, the valve vault, the the concrete boxes you see in the images here. Those are going to last 50 years. I mean, they're they're long-term structures. Uh when you're talking about the mechanical equipment, you're generally talking about a 10 10 to 15 year life cycle. So, these are the valves in the valve vault, the pumps in the wet

063well, things of that nature. Uh and then you're talking and then the other category would be let's say electrical and control systems. Those tend to have a shorter lifespan just because of the environment that they operate in. They're outside all the time and you know, the the use on them is is pretty demanding. So, when you're when you're looking at lifespan, you generally break it down into those three categories. Very expensive and clear as mud. I got you, John. Thanks, sir. You are welcome. Uh so, uh Chairman Holmes, to your point, we will have the opportunity to understand what more of a full replacement cost is because our our friends out at JARS, they are serviced by a pump station today. Uh and unfortunately, we ran into some mechanical failures and our operations staff got

064out there to take a look at it. And when they did, they realized that hey, maybe this is something that that the engineers should look at because we're pretty sure a pump replacement isn't going to do it. And they were absolutely right. This station needs a lot more love than just some mechanical equipment replacement. So right now we do have a project underway that that's going to essentially replace the entire pump station. At this point we only have about $300,000 allocated towards it and we're going to determine what that replacement cost is going to be here in the coming months. So be happy to share that with information with you when we get it. So we don't just deal with pumping systems. We also have a vast collection system network out there. Uh Unfortunately, not

065all of it operates exactly the way we would like it to. And one of the legacy systems that we deal with is what we refer to as our STEG system. And that stands for septic tank and effluent gravity systems. And what this is is it's basically a hybrid approach. You have a a septic tank that deals with solid waste and then you have small diameter, which is 4-in piping, that conveys the liquid waste stream. Now these systems work just fine but they're they're not terribly long-lived. And they certainly don't meet current collection system standards. So we're working on replacing these systems not just in Waxhaw but throughout the county. Uh Specifically in Waxhaw, we have project underway to address this the system there. And as you can see on the graphic uh the system exists

066both north and south of Main Street. Presently we've got the north side under construction. That's about a $5.4 million effort and we'll be undertaking the south side as a separate project which will have its own construction funding which we haven't determined what that's going to be. We haven't gotten bids back yet. But we do have about a million and a half dollars in DEQ funding uh to help us offset this cost. So, as I said, uh this septic tank effluent gravity system doesn't just exist in Waxhaw. It's much more prevalent in the Indian Trail and Stallings neighborhoods. Uh as you can see on the graphic, those uh those neighborhoods highlighted in blue is where this exists. Um the the last slide had about 11,000 ft of that 4-in piping. This area has got about six

067times that. Uh so, much more expansive. Um and to date, uh well, we're taking a programmatic approach to it number one. We're not trying to trying to replace everything all at once. We're going neighborhood by neighborhood, so it's a multi-year effort to deal with this. Um have about 9.3 million dollars allocated towards this effort, and we anticipating anticipate having all the replacements done uh by fiscal year 2030. Uh we've already completed work in in three neighborhoods, and we're continuing on the roll on through them. So, uh we don't just deal with water and wastewater infrastructure on the R&R side. Some of our projects are more technologically related, uh which is what our AMI program is. Uh and this was a switch that the county made from automated meter reading to automated metering infrastructure. Uh so,

068automated meter reading is somebody driving by in a truck, and they're getting reads from a radio transmitter that was located in the water meter uh box. In this case, uh what you're what we're doing is we're collecting all of that information uh kind of on a regional basis. It's automated. Uh so, it goes to a a central location, and then that data is transmitted uh to Union County. Uh so, it's it it's a very different way of monitoring our water system, uh and it has a lot of benefits for the utility. Uh so, we've spent a a number of years going through kind of the the planning and assessment, uh business case analysis, going through the project planning, and then getting to implementation. But, some of the benefits that we see from a project like

069this are the fact that we're able to our customers are able to see basically real-time usage. So, instead of a single data point when you get your bill from the old way of doing it with with an AMR system, now we have multiple data points every single day. So, if somebody has a problem at their home on the customer side of the meter, they're able to actually see that. So, they can react more quickly, and they're not coming back to us after they get their bill that shows that they had a huge leak and now they've got a $500 water bill or whatever it may be, and we're having to deal with it after the fact. So, it's better for the customer, and it's better for the for the utility because we're aware of these

070problems up front, and we're dealing with them in more real-time situations rather than as a lag. Um These are not inexpensive, as you can see. We invested about $18.2 million in this project, and we're wrapping up this year. One of the big accomplishments with this that I'm really proud that we were able to coordinate was as we rolled through implementation, we were able to replace all of the meters at Union County Public Schools over the week of spring break. So, we did not impact their operations one iota with this project. So, we say 99% complete. We have kind of a I say a handful of our larger meters that need to be replaced, but we're going to be closing this one out here in the next couple of months. So, we also have water line

071infrastructure that we invest in on the R&R side. So, again, in the town of Waxhaw, we're doing some water line replacements there. About 11,000 ft of what I would say are undersized cast iron material water lines in the downtown area. And this is one of those projects where we we coordinate closely with not only the town, but residents and businesses because as you all know, downtown Waxhaw is a fairly congested highly traveled area. So we want to make sure that we're executing the work in a way where we minimize that disruption and at the end of the day we've delivered a project that everybody's happy with. About a $3.4 million effort and we'll be wrapping that up later this year. All right. So that's the that's the R&R side. Speed round on that. Questions, comments,

072concerns? Any questions for John? All right. All right, thank you John. Facilities projects. All right. >> Round two. Yeah, just got a couple of these. So first and foremost, we are working presently working to expand the operations center. This is a major expansion. So we're we're actually constructing about 20,000 square feet of new building as well as renovating about 2,200 square feet of the existing facility. And this is going to allow all of Union County water staff to be in one location. So presently we have our operations staff out of at the Gold Mine location and we have our other functions in the government center. So by getting all of us out there frees up a lot of space in the government center for other uses. We're at about the 60% design stage with the

073construction manager presently awaiting an updated cost estimate, but uh we're holding right now at about 14 and a half million dollars and looking to be complete by fiscal 28. I kind of joke about this because we had to lease some space and that lease is up in February of 2028, so the building's going to be done before then. Uh And last but not least, we are doing some some building work out at our Crooked Creek facility. This is a much needed relatively small building addition that we're putting up out there. This is This really addresses um administrative space needs, so we have offices, some flex space, as well as adding some much-needed storage space at this facility. The The Crooked Creek facility really serves as a staging area for our three package plants, Tallwood, Crooked

074Excuse me, Tallwood, Grassy Branch, and Old Sycamore, and we simply don't have sufficient storage space to house the equipment and and the parts that we need there for those those three remote facilities. So, definitely a much-needed project, about fairly small expenditure, about 1.3 million dollars, and we'll be wrapping that up here in the next year. All right. So, next segment of this is on the Crooked Creek water reclamation facility. So, John, I'm going to tee this up for John cuz I am the one that actually asked staff to put together some information for this. So, so as the board is aware, you had made a decision that we would not move forward with a site B project that was proposed by previous board, and that is certainly, you know, understandable. What my goal here is

075to make sure that we are all on the same page, we all understand where we're going and what our options are for the future. And and I'm And that's what I wanted to outline with this. Crooked Creek is a very small plant, 1.9 million gallons. >> [clears throat] >> It is, if you look at your your agenda tonight, There's actually a little component in there that tells you about where we stand. We're roughly 88% of the plant with permitted and actual flows. About 60 some percent of actual flows. But you have to take into consideration the permitted flows because that's ultimately what will flow through the plant. Um the the issue is going to be that if you saw there was a project called the Crooked Creek Interceptor project. When that comes online, that is

076going to make flow much easier to get to that plant. And there are a number of projects that are sort of on hold and waiting to flow to the plant through that. So you will see that 88% number go up significantly in the next I'd say 6 months to a year or so. Again, it's hard to say exactly when that time is going to happen cuz it really depends on when Crooked Creek Interceptor is finished. And when all that flow starts to come through and as new projects are approved. So there will come a time where we will meet you know a not meet we will have a number that exceeds what we can really permit in that plant. Um someone asked me the question once well like well when do you stop issuing permits?

077And and so really the state statutes are are almost kind of I would say they're behind the times because they only address actual flows. They don't really take into consideration when you have permits that aren't flowing yet. And so at at current what we would likely do is continue to issue permits until we get to approximately 99%. Um now my intentions are to contact the state and say, "What are you going to do when our plant starts getting permitted to that level, are you guys going to stop issuing permits? Are you going to tell us we need to issue permits at a, you know, lesser rate? Uh, and that's my goal is to get some clarification from them. But, but right now it is unclear as to how we handle permitting that plant. Um, because

078right now there are no plans to expand that plant. Uh, it is what it is. So, I asked staff to look at what other options are there to expand the plant. Not because I want to convince the board to expand the plant, only because I want you to understand what is available, what your options are, and what you may or may not want to do for the future. So, John, I'm going to turn it over to you, let you sort of go over the technical side of it, and I'll probably interject some stuff here and there. Thank you. Sounds good. All right. So, uh, just to >> [clears throat] >> kind of frame up uh, what we're talking about. Um, this this first graphic here, uh, shows you one, the service area, that's the shaded

079area on the map. Uh, you can see the location of the Crooked Creek facility there as the the red block. Um, if you can, uh, see where my mouse is is circling right there. Uh, and again, that's generally located at 74 and Sardis Church Road. Uh, you can see the couple of projects that I've talked about previously, the Crooked Creek Interceptor, which is highlighted in dark green. Uh, and then the Forest Park pump station, uh, and force main project. Uh, this is the location of the, uh, the pump station itself, and this is where the the force main will be coming to. So, it actually discharges into that Crooked Creek Interceptor project. Uh, we we noted the location of the Atrium Health facility, that's right here. Um, as well as, uh, where the plant discharges

080today. Uh, because the plant does not discharge where it sits on, uh, on this branch of the Crooked Creek on the South Fork. It actually pumps the effluent discharge all the way down to the North Fork of the Crooked Creek right to to this location here, which is coincident with our Poplar Road pump station facility. So, just wanted to give you some context as to where things sit and kind of what the lay of the land is. As as Manager Matthews noted, this is really just a summary of where we are today. So, these are the flows that that staff report to the board on a monthly basis. The numbers you see here are current through the end of March. So again, the facility is is permitted to 1.9. When you look at the actual

081flows to the plant, those are presently at 1.2 or about 64% of the total plant capacity. When you consider our permitted and obligated flows of almost half a million gallons, that brings that up to almost 1.7 million gallons or about 88% of the total plant capacity. And as Manager Matthews noted, these these aren't in isolation. You know, things keep happening. So, we do have projects that are in the kind of in the pipeline to come to fruition. So, when you look at at what's stacked up in in the review queue, you've got about another 450,000 gallons. So, at at some point we're going to we're going to run into something where uh we we exceed the plant's capacity. Project's going to come through and there's there's not going to be available flow. So. Now, little

082history about the Crooked Creek facility. It was first put into operation back in 1991. We expanded it in '97. It's had various upgrades, rehab projects over the years. 2004, 2019, 2020, and 2022. In addition to the present work that we're doing on the filter system and the building improvements that are ongoing right now. Uh so as Manager Matthews indicated, uh he had asked staff to take a look at this facility uh and see basically to determine a couple of things. Uh one, what do we need to do to this plant to keep it running uh for the foreseeable future? And for the foreseeable future, you know, that that's at least 20 years. Um and then what options are out there if we chose to expand the plant. Uh so that that's really what I'm going

083to be walking through here in the next few slides. So first off, the existing facility. Uh you can see the layout of it in the graphic there. I'm not going to bore you with a discussion of of the the wastewater treatment process, but the bullets on the on the left side of the slide are really what's important. Um because first and foremost, we do not have nutrient limits on our permit. And when I say nutrient limits, that means NCDEQ does not have a discharge uh limit on either nitrogen or phosphorus at that facility at this point in time. Okay? So when we talk about nutrients, those are the two we talk about, nitrogen and phosphorus. Uh phosphorus is regulated at the 12-mile facility right now. Um and our it's a good thing because our existing

084treatment process is not built to deal with that because when the plant was constructed and even today, those permit limits were not in place. Um as I noted, our uh we do have the administrative building improvements as well as the filter replacement project underway as those filters uh reach the end of their useful life. Uh and the solids handling facilities, uh so as part of the wastewater treatment process, raw wastewater comes in and at the end of the process, you're left with two products. One is is a solids product which has to be disposed of, and the other is effluent, which is basically clean water that's returned to the environment. So, it's discharged to a receiving stream. Uh we currently have a plan or a study underway to determine what to do with that solid

085material because the regulations and rules are changing and we need to have a unified approach across the county system uh to make sure that we're we're doing that one efficiently and economically uh and meeting all regulatory requirements. So, whatever happen whatever the outcomes are from the biosolids master plan, obviously we're going to impact this facility and what we do there. So, just some some key points there. Um Now, when we looked at continued operations, uh first and foremost, it addresses all the rehabilitation needs across all the plant processes and systems. Uh and this includes changing the treatment process to address nutrient limits uh because the the nutrient limits, while not in place today, we fully expect NCDEQ to come out with uh with those requirements. Okay? So, we're going to have to meet the regulatory

086requirements. Um The layout that's shown here, uh you'll see uh two of the rectangles there on kind of the left side of the graphic uh that are that are labeled uh biological nutrient removal or BNR tanks. Two of them are solid lines. That is the bare minimum of what you need to keep the plant running at 1.9 MGD. That third one on the bottom is shown in a dashed line. That would be a third tank we would construct for redundancy, but it's not required for the capacity. Um And I I did want to mention at this point that NCDEQ will not permit a plant expansion unless we change the discharge point. >> [clears throat] >> And that's because of limitations on the receiving stream. So, it's it's just another regulatory requirement that we have to

087contend with. So, clear as mud. All right. So, this is this is the part that uh that isn't a whole lot of fun. Uh but, the continued operations of the plant, just maintaining it, replacing the systems as needed. Uh you can see over in the chart, you've got uh the item uh that we're contending with, uh and then the total cost there on the right side of the column. Uh so, that's $78.6 million uh that is in today's dollars, so it's 2026 dollars. Uh and these are all-in costs, so it includes permitting, all the professional services, and construction costs. Um this does not provide any additional treatment capacity to the plant. You're still getting the same 1.9 MGD out of the plant. Uh and also, it's important to understand that this doesn't happen in a

088year. In order to do all of this work, it's going to take many years. Uh it depends on how you package up the the projects, the delivery method that you choose. Uh there's a lot of variability there, but it's going to take a long time. Uh so, it can be anywhere from 8 to 13 years. Questions on that? Any? All right. So, the second path that we could go down with the facility is to expand it. And there's a couple of options here. Uh one, you stay within the existing property. Or number two, you get a little more capacity out of it, but you've got to acquire uh the trade-off is acquiring adjacent property. So, we looked at both of those options. The first one I'll go through is expanding within the existing site. So,

089again, you can see here in the graphic, uh what's shown in blue is is done as part of um just keeping the facility in operation. So, we'd be touching these systems anyway. Uh and you'll see everything that's in orange is what's required uh to move the facility to that 2.4 MGD. So, the the previous slide that I showed you where it had the the two BNR tanks that were solid with the third one for redundancy, now you need all three for treatment. Okay, so there's no redundancy in the in the in the footprint here. Um and and really this is this is the best we can do on the site that we have because you you simply physically cannot construct any more capacity. You don't have the footprint for it. Oops. And again, as as

090I mentioned before, NCDQ will not allow us to expand the plant unless we change that discharge point. Um so, and we we also need to look at what that flow rate is through the existing pipeline. Uh so, going to 2.4 MGD, what we would have to do is extend the existing force main. We could utilize the portion of it as shown up to this point right here if you can see my mouse. This 20-in line could remain in service, but we have to construct a 30-in extension all the way to the new discharge location. And this discharge location is what we had originally pursued as part of the site B effort. So, we we don't know if that's still valid today, but we would have to go back to NCDQ. That location at Crooked Creek

091and I see Fairview there, was that years ago referred to as site A? The discharge location? Yeah, because I remember one of the options if we were to continue with site B, we would have to pump it up to site A. And I just remember it being near Fairview. >> That that is correct. In order to discharge, you'd have to discharge at that point. When we approached DEQ, they would not agree to a discharge any closer. So, yes, ma'am, that is closer or at the site A. Yes, ma'am. Which was approved by DEQ for permits when site B was not. They gave us a a I don't know how you put it. They didn't give us a permit. They gave us essentially a discharge saying that yes, it could be discharged at. What John is

092saying is that we'd still have to go back and confirm that, but yes, ma'am, it was approved at that time for a discharge. So, if memory serves me correctly, this was long before Brian and I were on the board, but if my memory is correct, that community community between Union View and Fairview was very against site A. They were against a wastewater treatment plant being built on site A. Yes, ma'am. That is correct. Okay. All right. So, um again, in in all of the options for expansion, we assume that that discharge location that's that's shown. We had to assume something. We need to know what we're building. So, we we did make that assumption, but again, we would need to confirm that with NCDEQ if if this were the direction that we were to move.

093So, when when you look at all of this to expand that plant and get that additional 500,000 gallons of treatment, all-in all-in cost in today's dollars is about 174.6 million dollars. And again, those are all-in costs, so permitting, professional services, and construction. What this equates to is about $349 a gallon for that capacity, which is pretty expensive. I I did note that the 12-mile expansion that we have underway right now is about $38 a gallon, so it is significantly more expensive. Um and the other thing to keep in mind here is that uh expanding the Crooked Creek facility was not contemplated as part of the last master planning effort. So, if there are improvements to the collection system in order to get more flow to that plant, we don't know what those are. Okay, we

094haven't studied it, we haven't evaluated it. So, those costs, if any, are not included here. Yes. So, John, the $349 $349 per gallon most of that's going to Well, a lot of that, a big chunk of that's going to be the 8 miles that's going to have to be um piped so that we can discharge the effluent. Correct uh correct? Is that a pretty safe assumption? Yeah, for the for the treatment facility itself, you're looking at about $113.2 million. You've got another roughly 61 and 1/2 million dollars uh that's going to be tied up in those conveyance improvements. So, it's it's not an inexpensive endeavor. Really puts the And and I've got a table at the end that that shows all the costs. So, we'll we can talk more about that in a minute. Okay.

095All right. So, uh next option is if we considered purchasing uh the adjacent property. Uh so, this this gets you out of the footprint constraint that we have today, allows you uh kind of a larger expansion increment, uh and this could be done in phases. Um the initial phase with the footprint that's shown here would get you to a total of 3.8 million gallons of treatment capacity, which is double what the plant is today. Um you know, the downside to that is we we would have to acquire the adjacent property. Uh, the the three properties that are highlighted in orange there, uh, that you can see, uh, the the one on the far right, uh, today is a storage or laydown area. Uh, and then you the one on the far left is is is

096occupied by a construction company, uh, and the one in the middle is a specialty vehicle uh, business uh, that deals with medical transport and accessibility. Uh, so they outfit vehicles for that. Um, all the property is zoned HC. Uh, so it's highway corridor, which means it's kind of the spectrum of of kind of commercial and light industrial uses. Uh, similar to the rezoning request you heard earlier. Um, uh, one thing I will note here is that the footprint for the treatment, uh, expansion here, uh, does assume that we would ultimately go to 6 million gallons a day. Uh, so depending on whatever decision is made, obviously we would be right-sizing things for the direction provided. And again, uh, assuming that discharge location that NC DEQ had had previously, uh, indicated would be acceptable, that that's

097the discharge point uh, that we're looking at here as well. Uh, in this particular case, we would not be able to utilize the existing 20-in pipeline. Uh, it's simply not uh, not capable of conveying that volume of flow. So we would need to construct, uh, a an entirely new force main from the existing Cricket Creek plant all the way to the new discharge location. Uh, so that that increases the total length of that that force main to 11.4 miles as opposed to the 8 and 1/2 that it was previously. Uh, just again, uh, would have to confirm that discharge location with NC DEQ. Now, if you if you look at what the footprint would be like going to a 6 million gallon a day facility, really what you're doing is you're just mirroring that that

098initial footprint. Uh that was shown for the 3.8 MGD to put it as simply as I as I possibly can. It does encroach on one of the other properties there. However, again, we would be looking at at right-sizing this and making sure that if this were the direction to move forward with, we would only be acquiring the property that we actually need. Again, looking at the the routing of of the effluent force main, in this case, we would also, again, assuming that same discharge location, we would be constructing a a 30-in pipeline from the plant all the way to the discharge location in a addition to utilizing the 20-in line and constructing a 30-in extension of that line. So, you're you're doing the the thing you needed to do for the 2.4 MGD expansion and

099the thing you needed to do for the 3.8 million gallon expansion. So, this results in almost 20 miles of pipeline that you need to put in into the ground. Oops. And again, not not the most fun slide I've ever had to put together, but uh going to going to 3.8 million gallons a day all-in cost is is 265.3 million dollars. If you were to construct a 6 million gallon expansion all at once, that would be 403.5 million dollars. This does not mean that if you built the 3.8 million gallon expansion at 265.3, it would be another 403.5. These are all in costs uh considering that you would build that all at once. So, it's not stepped. Does that make sense? Okay. Um so when you look at this, uh you are driving down that that

100per gallon cost. Uh so, if you expand to the 3.8, uh you're looking at $140 a gallon. Uh if you expand uh to 6 MGD, uh that's your most efficient uh increment in this case, that gets you to $98 a gallon. Uh and again, just to reiterate, any improvements to the collection and conveyance system that may be required to make use of that additional capacity, they're not known and they're not included in the cost. So, we would have to assess what that is and then determine those costs. Uh and again, just as a reminder, 12-Mile Creek uh facility, that expansion was $38 a gallon. So, I told you I had a table at the end. Uh so, I I summarized everything here uh for you to take a look at. Uh you can see the

101the dollars per gallon. Uh and what we also did was we took a look at um the Charlotte water project where they're expanding their Stowe facility, and that's a significant increment, right? They're expanding their plant capacity by 15 million gallons. It's a very expensive project. It's $625 million, uh but it results in a in a cost per gallon that's about $42. Uh when you look at the 12-Mile uh Creek expansion, not just the 7 and 1/2 to 9, but going back to where we built a lot of the infrastructure in the 6 to 7 and 1/2 MGD expansion, our total cost there is about $39 a gallon. So, that tells me that what Charlotte's doing and what Union County's done uh for those specific sites are comparable on a per gallon basis. Um getting back

102to the effluent force main because there is a significant cost in that pipeline, uh when you strip those costs out, uh if you were to go to 2.4 mgd and compare that on a per gallon basis, that would drop from 349 to 226. And when you're looking at the 3.8 million gallon expansion, that drops down from 140 to 91. Expanding to six, it would go from 98 to 61. So, even at the most economical increment of expanding to six mgd, it's still 50% more than what we're seeing as far as the market conditions that the Stow plant's being constructed under and the 12-mile expansions were constructed under. So, my goal here was not to influence you guys to to approve and do anything with this wastewater treatment plant. It's merely to give you arm you

103with information when people are challenging you about what you your plans are with Crooked Creek. Because, honestly, there is no good answer for that. If you built something at site B, as I think we remember, that was almost 500 million. If you did that, you can see that if you expanded Crooked Creek to 6 million gallons, that's 400 plus million. Anything less than that is anywhere from 100 million right up to 400 million. There is no good answer or no good solution. And so, ultimately, the the answer from this board may be that we're we're done. That that plant is as large as it'll ever get. There's no more capacity that we're going to flow to it. And that is certainly fine. But I want you armed with information when people come to you, cuz

104they will. When when we have to say no, cuz there will come a time when we have to turn a project down cuz we don't have flow. There will be someone in front of you asking you why, what the issues are, what are you what are you faced with. Um, if you have any questions for us, please don't hesitate. Again, this is just meant to educate you and give you information so that you're you're prepared when folks start uh having questions. Thank you very much. All right. So >> Mr. Merrell. Sorry. >> Mr. Holmes, um one of the things that I would like to um comment with the county manager's comments. A lot of people do have questions about that expansion and you know, what happened to site B and and then the community um

105was not supportive of using the site A. Um and all of this happened with prior boards. Um but what the community doesn't realize and you touched on it earlier tonight, you know, we were told 3 years ago that project for site B would take, you know, 13 to 15 years. Um and I'm not sure one question um so even if we were to make an you know, a decision tonight or or this year, you know, these projects do not happen quickly. >> It's It's 8 to It's 8 to 10 plus years. And I think you had even suggested 13 years earlier in um your presentation. Yes, when when dealing with the rehab of the existing facility, it was depending on how you sequence things, it was an 8 to 13 year range. >> So, you

106know, it's just really really important for the community to know that not only is this expansion going to you know, allow for the construction of a lot of new homes, new residential [snorts] construction in the county, but this will take many, many years to go online. Um So, you know, just wanted to reiterate and add on to what you were saying. And I just want to confirm, so the the pro- the options that you showed us tonight for Crooked Creek Mhm. the discharge would be for both options, site A. Is that general location? >> general location. >> Yes, ma'am. We still would have to go to NCDOQ NCDOQ DEQ and get an official approval. But right now, it would be in that general location. Okay. And the last question I would have, um I just

107want an update. Did we ever get an environmental study complete from site B? I'm not sure I don't I know what you mean by environmental study. >> DEQ came to us and said site B, you know, we had moved forward to get the analysis complete for site B. And they came back to us and said that it's not a viable location for a discharge. My question tonight is, have have we ever gotten um cuz the other component to that was an environmental study. Was that ever done or did have you received that? >> No, ma'am. So, um my understanding, make sure I'm clear, uh when the board was considering or looking at site B, um we were told by NCDOQ NCDOQ cannot say that. Uh [laughter] that a discharge, as you said, at site B

108was not possible. And that we would be required to pump that discharge to closer to site A, really essentially almost where 601 sort of crosses. Um they came back and said they would accept a discharge at the time near that site A location. And therefore, if you were to build site B, you would have to pump that effluent there. That's essentially about as far as we went with that. We we didn't do any additional analysis because once the board learned of that plus the estimated cost, because I want to say my my um my recollection is to pump that would have been 130 plus million dollars just to pump to that. And then the the board was like, we don't really need to study that anymore. So, I think that's the limit of where we

109went. >> Okay. That That brings my memory up to speed. I I think you're absolutely correct. Thank you. And I think too it's probably good to point out that the the values that we were just talking about in regards to site B close to 500 million dollars, but that was what? 2 years ago? Couple of years ago, yes. >> So, we're probably looking at I would be more. 550-ish? 600? So, okay. Well, John, thank you. Um thank you uh Brian for the information. Y'all did my work for me here on this slide, you know, because that the the key takeaways uh you know, again, the collection system improvements aren't included. As you all all are aware, uh we've got to go back to NCDEQ for approvals uh for the discharge location uh and permitting uh

110any expansion there. And it it takes a long time to do this stuff. And in regards to the approvals there, um so I I know that we had some brief discussion about that location in the general area of site A. Um but now that's not that's not a done deal, right? >> Absolutely not. And that was what John was was pointing out is that that number one, that was several years ago. Number two, that wasn't an official permit for a discharge. That was just sort of a nod of the head and I yep, it could meet these requirements. Here's some potential discharge limits, but that wasn't an official discharge permit. So, we'd have to go through that whole process and DEQ could say no. Uh and and that's what we don't know. If you said

111you wanted to do this today, we could actually get an answer that that um that stream has already gotten additional flow to it from other other entities. Sorry, you guys can't have any discharge. So, yeah. And I think that that's fair to point out though that the answer to all of this may be no anyway if we don't get a discharge permit. Absolutely. So, so we we might be looking at numbers just to look at numbers tonight because it might be a moot point. You're 100% correct. Yes, sir. All right. Thank you. Fair enough. And most importantly, I I have to touch on this. So, please bear with me. Um Chairman Helms, I think you had noted at one of the last meetings that about the employee service awards that I may not have looked

112so excited to receive this particular t-shirt. Um and it couldn't be farther from the truth. Because again, as as Manager Matthews has said things and they they they parrot what staff tell them. It's it it makes you feel good. Uh so, apparently I say something often enough that it not only stuck in somebody's head, but it made it onto a t-shirt. So, whatever you think about capital programs, the one thing you've got to remember is that with enough time and enough money, we can build anything that you want. So, That That absolutely true, John. >> [laughter] >> Any questions for John? All right. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you, John. Appreciate it. Great presentation. All right. So, our next item on the agenda is item 26-246. That's the FY 2027 capital improvement

113project review. I'll now recognize Jason May, not Jason K. Um budget and grants management director uh concerning this item. Hopefully, you have much better news for us, uh Mr. May. It's half as small as That's That's true. Yeah. But, you know, on that note though, I will say, I mean, there are a ton of projects going on right now. Um and they're in some, you know, some form of design or uh construction. And so, it's a busy time for our staff, no doubt about it. Thank you, Chairman. >> [clears throat] >> Distinguished members of the board, I'm going to try to get through this a little bit faster. I have 15 slides, so I'm going to try to get through this relatively quickly. We're going to uh go through the general fund CIP. It's a

114little less complicated than our friends in UC Water have. And really, uh a word to describe this is maintenance. Um we're completing routine maintenance is what we are trying to do. Again, I've got uh 10 agenda items, 15 slides. I'll try to make this as quick and as painless as we can. First off, the reason why we do this, this is a GFOA best practice. Um it's a planning process. Um this isn't just a one-year process, but we're looking out 5 years in advance. As master planning and comprehensive plans that our colleagues in different departments are doing tries to be brought into this. It's multi-year capital planning, so it's not just one year. You'll pass one year of the CIP. This is a planning document for the next 5 years. It allows our friends in

115finance to help with the capital asset management. And again, it's for this evening is to be able to communicate capital improvement strategies that we are looking at taking on not just this year, but into the future. Get to the nitty-gritty here. We're looking at just less than 7.3 million dollars in capital. We've got a small amount of critical infrastructure, some major capital related to the food innovation center. We've got some repair and replacement and operating capital. Then we work with our community, with our partners in public service public safety partner agencies, emergency management, parks and development, and parks development and review, IT security and management, planning and zoning, South Piedmont. We've got our revenue sources down there at the bottom. Again, we are using some unassigned fund balance, some unassigned fund balance from our general

116fund debt, and then unallocated CIP funds that you all put in place this this earlier this evening. A little bit about the different groups of capital. So, major capital is generally those capital projects that are over a half a million dollars. Critical infrastructure is generally related to critical facilities that target those repair and replacements and improvements to those assets. Facilities repair and renovation is 200-500. And then operating capital is generally a little bit lower than the $200,000 mark. These are generally small equipment, small office renovations, not quite to the same level of complexity as our major capital projects. When we look at our county facilities, again, maintenance is the the key word here about 1.5 million dollars in repair and renovation projects. We have about $425,000 in operating capital. We do have a U C

117food innovation center. There's an equipment allocation in this about half a million dollars and then we have one last of the fueling stations that we are going to be completing in FY2027. All of that together comes to about 2.7 million and you can see in the out years as well, we've got those additional projects laid out. We turn to our public safety colleagues. We are continuing the $300,000 a year in self-contained breathing apparatus for our friends in VFD. Union EMS is continuing to replace ambulances, support vehicles and keeping up with technology. We're looking to be able to continue that funding not just this year but out into the future as well. We talked to our friends in emergency management. We are in the radio replacement maintenance mode at this point. We'll note that the radio

118towers at Southwest Union and the bi-directional at UCPS, both of those projects are on hold at this moment. Looking to be able to find whether or not additional placement for the the radio tower and those antennas can be found. Turning to parks and rec, we're looking at about $350,000. Again, this is for repair and replacement. Parks and recs has a number of different facilities, road improvements, things of that nature is what we are looking at taking care of within this particular area. Our IT capital improvements has a little bit more information. It's a little bit more technical. Again though, maintenance. When you're looking at the UPS infrastructure upgrades, this is something we're planning for the next 7 to 9 years and news for you when we get done with this, we'll most likely have to

119go back again and replace the ones that we just replaced 10 years ago. Capital is a very cyclical process. The pictometry is something or other that we do on an annual basis. Again, this is news not just by our friends in IT, by tax, emergency management, planning, you see water and building code improvements. And again, the audio-visual equipment, this is a 5-year cycle and again, not to to belabor the point, but after that 5 years, we'll most likely have to come back in and replace some of that again because these are IT audio-visual generally has a lifespan of maybe 5 to 7 years. Think about your your last time you bought a laptop is generally out of date within about 5 years. When we turn to our security and risk management, we are in the

120process right now of working with our friends in that department to outfit some of their personnel before the next couple of years. And in lieu of that, they are not taking a capital improvement allocation. So, we're looking to be able to both increase their personnel, but their operating. They are a new department. We want to be able to get an understanding of both what is currently on the ground and where we're going to. So, you won't see capital improvement allocations for that in 2027 nor in 2028. We look in 2029 to be able to bring that back. There are current and previous years allocations within the CIP. So, this group does have funding. It's just not new funding coming in this year. Looking at our friends in planning, we usually keep about 300,000 a year

121set aside for our critical infrastructure program. Again, you can see some of those projects that are on the list. I believe that this is going to take a little bit of time to be able to get to a place where we have the matching dollars to be able to take on the next critical infrastructure. Whoops. Jumped a little bit too fast. South Piedmont, again, I believe management and management at South Piedmont are looking at some of the individual requests that I believe that came at the last meeting and made. Um but for right now, our ongoing capital maintenance that we provide is about 375,000 each year. And so, you'll see that both in 2027 and the outyears as well. And finally wrapping up, we have our UCPS Board of Education adopted this CIP request. This

122is their operating capital. So this is what we do with a pay-go process. This was adopted on the 14th of this month. And you can see it's just short of 21 million. It's a slight increase over last year's. I think last year was a little bit closer to the 20 million. So it's a little couple hundred thousand dollars more than last year's. With that, I will try to answer any questions or we can try to bring back any information if anybody would like any additional information. Any questions from the board? Thank you, Mr. May. Try to be short and sweet. All right. So our next item is item 26-253. This is our FY 2027 health plan changes. I'll now recognize our county manager, Brian Matthews, for comments regarding this item. All right. Let me see

123if I can find that. I have this. Which? This one over here? Oh, I see it. You get one of those, too. I still health plan. Very good. Thank you. Uh from McKinney. First off, I want to say thank you for your patience with um you know, John and and and all of the the report for our capital for water. There's a lot going on. $845 million over the next 15 years. We think it's important to kind of keep you up to date on that. And also and Commissioner Merrill had actually be the one who brought this to our attention, is that let let our public know that we're doing stuff. That we're out there making improvements to the system. We're working on projects all the time. I think people sometimes think that we've just

124shut down, and that's not the truth. We're making improvements to our water and our waste water, and and I and I and I want folks to know that we're doing that kind of work out there. So, I appreciate that update. Um one of the things I also wanted to do, and I'm I'm not I'm not going to take a lot of your time, but we are uh going to have some uh health plan changes for this upcoming fiscal year. And I know that those changes are are significant, and employees are going to be faced with some choices and some some expensive uh decisions that they have to make when selecting a plan and selecting options. And I just wanted to give an update to the board and sort of go over sort of some of

125the things that we're dealing with. So, um first off, I want to go to this slide cuz I want to talk about really what's happening. What's driving the changes that we have as far as our our health plan. Union County is self-insured. What that means is we don't have an insurance company that we pay premiums to. We pay We pay all the claims. We have a an administrator who administrates our plans, but we play pay 100% of the claims that come in. Uh sometimes uh those claims are are uh within budget, and we're fine. We don't have any issues. That's not the case this year. Uh and there are a number of reasons driving that. Um number one, uh we got a surprise from our previous uh administrator, uh and I think that's one of

126the reasons why we we got rid of them, is they were under reporting our claims. Uh we were unaware of some of some claims we should have been paying, and they were with withholding or not with They were slow to actually process other claims. So, by the time we got in and figured out what was going on, we were five or six million dollars in the hole for claims that we did not budget for and did not know that we had to actually pay. Put that in perspective, six million dollars is one penny on your tax rate. That is significant. And unfortunately, we had to make some difficult decisions about our plan and that affects all of our employees and their dependents that are on our plan. So, as I said, we're facing a you

127know, a shortfall between five and seven million dollars. Um that has nothing to do with what we changed the plan from previously. We would be 10 or more million dollars behind had we not changed the plan that we have. So, it really had nothing to do with the change in the plans and the change in that structure. It really has to do with health care costs. Our costs are going up in this country, gas, utilities, groceries, health care is no different. And also, a big driver of that is we have an increase in chronic health conditions with our employees and an aging employee population. We want our staff to use our health care, but unfortunately, that comes with a price. And it's gotten extremely expensive. Um we have a number of claims that are hundreds

128of thousands of dollars, some over a million dollars for just one individual. Uh to again, put this in perspective, 20% of our employees and their dependents make up 80% of our actual health care health care costs. That is pretty typical in the the world of health insurance. You the healthier individuals generally subsidized individuals who are less healthy. Um but unfortunately, with rising health care cost and the fact that we are having such large claims, we've had to make some uh adjustments to our um to way we collect funds and way we cover our health care costs. So, what are we doing? I want to go back up to this one. So, what's changing? We are going to number one um have two different plans, a core plan. When we say core plan, that means that

129the cost for that plan are somewhat similar to what they were under our previous plan, not the same benefits costs. They went up slightly, so you'll see core plan employee costs went up $40 went up to $40, $6 employee spouse, some changes, but not drastic changes when it comes to that plan. That plan, however, does have significant changes for your out-of-pocket expenses. Those deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses are higher in that core plan. The buy-up plan is more similar to the current insurance plan that we have. Um there is an increase in your deductibles. Uh did go up from 250 and 500 to 400 and 800. Um but that plan as a whole is similar to the plan that we currently have. However, you see a significant increase on the premiums that the employee would have

130to pay for themselves, as well as their children, their spouse, their family, significant. Um what we did add this year are co-pays. Now, co-pays are a way to help employees predict their costs. So, when you go to the doctor for a traditional doctor's visit, you pay that co-pay. If there is some treatment that you have to have beyond that, then there may be some additional cost. But if you go to the I'll give an example, you go to the doctor because you stepped on a rusty nail and you want a tetanus shot, you're going to pay the copay. That's what you'll pay. If you go to the doctor and he sends you for some lab results, you're going to pay those lab results as well as the copay because that's a treatment and you've got

131to cover those additional costs. That was a way to help sort of offset some of the cost of the employees are going to see. Copays do not go towards your deductible. They only go to your total out of out of pocket uh costs. So, anyway, that's a change. What's not changed? I'm sorry, let me talk about another change. I I don't want to miss one is we are having to discontinue coverage for GLP-1s with the exception of that is directly for diabetes treatment. Um the fact is that cost is un- it's just not sustainable. We were spending several million dollars covering that cost uh and that's just we cannot sustain that, unfortunately. That is not un- uh that is not um untypical or of the the nation. A lot of companies and a lot of

132jurisdictions are not covering that drug uh or those drugs. So, unfortunately, I know that is a a difficult for many of our employees um that can certainly affect them with their health as well as their lifestyle. Um we are certainly looking for avenues or ways that we can help assist them where we can, but that was just a decision we had to make to help reduce some of our cost. What's not changing? We're not changing the network. It's Blue Cross Blue Shield is staying that way. We're not changing our dental benefits. Um our voluntary benefits really are not changing. Uh so, you're getting all those same things for voluntary benefits, and we still do have the employee clinic. I will say that the clinic had some bumps in the road in the beginning. There certainly

133were. We are working with Atrium to help smooth that out. There have been improvements made. It is better. Won't say it's perfect, but it's better. And we're always looking for ways to improve that and what can we do to improve that? Again, the good news about the clinic is everyone who's an employee and all their dependents that are on our plan can use that clinic. It's not just for some of the employees like our previous Marathon. That was only for those employees that signed up for that. This is actually open to all employees. So, those are the things that are changing. We're currently in our open enrollment May 1st through May 29th. So, employees will have to make decisions on, you know, which plans they want to go with, how they want to handle their

134flex spending accounts, with whether they want any voluntary benefits or anything that we may have. I did want to just, you know, point out and this is in your packets. If you try to compare where we are to other jurisdictions, with the the plans that we are providing for employees, we're pretty comparable to other jurisdictions. When you look at the deductibles, you look at the co-pays, they're they're in some cases we're actually better than they are. Now, if you look at the out-of-pocket expenses, in some cases, we're higher than they are. In some cases, we're lower. Really depends on the jurisdiction and what you're facing. What we tried to accomplish here is we were not trying to make the employees pay for all $6 million of that deficit out of premiums. We had to look

135for sort of a hybrid approach. So, we're collecting a portion of this from premiums. We're making up for a portion of that $6 million deficit in premiums. And the balance of it is being made up with plan changes to the plan. Higher deductibles, higher out-of-pocket expenses, so that unfortunately those individual employees will have more that comes out of their pocket. But that means that's less that actually has to be covered by the plan itself. Um that's not an easy um ask for our staff. It isn't. Um but overall, uh I I don't think that we could have asked the employees to pay premiums to cover the $6 million deficit. That would have been way too much, honestly. There's just one more comparison here. This is just to show you what what we compare to Stanley

136County Schools, Gaston County. Um I I recognize that this is not good news uh for our staff. Um but I do want to say that um we are always looking for ways to make it better where we can. And here in Union County, our benefits are important. Uh we've done a lot for our staff when it came to compensation. Uh we will continue to do what we can for compensation for staff. But with rising health care costs, we just have to find a way to be more frugal with those dollars. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have, but I just wanted to provide you with sort of an update with that information as far as our changes to our health plan. Any questions for our county manager? Mr. Monroe. So, this last screen

137that you provided is very fascinating um comparing the Union County, the new rates for the two [snorts] the two options that employees have to Stanley County Schools and Gaston County. Did you have any numbers to compare to Union County public schools or That was not included on here. Now, my understanding is they are they are through the state, and so Okay. I would guess the Stanley County schools is probably very similar because they're probably on the state, if I had to guess. Um so, I'm I'm making an assumption there. I didn't get I didn't collect this data, but I'm going to assume that came straight off of the the state's um insurance. So, I'm just going to make um a statement that you know, anytime you get a increase to to your bill, and for

138me in particular, I like to complain about Aqua. Aqua sewer. Yes. But, um you know, so I am extremely, you know, um I understand why employees would be shocked at this, and I have fielded um some phone calls and some anonymous mail to my home. Um but, I will say that this plan um even though it's an increase um compared to the private sector, and for example, what my husband's employer is off- offering, um you know, our copay is 5,000 per person in our household. So, I just wanted to verify on this core plan that um the deductible is $5,000. Is it 10,000 for an entire family, or is it >> That deductible is 5,000 is the family. So, it's $2,500 for the individual. It is a total of 5,000 for the family. So, like

139for my family, the the deductible would be 20,000 for four for fam- four family members. No, it would be 5,000. No, no, no, no. I'm not talking about Union County. >> Oh, you're talking about under your under your private sector. That sounds like that's what it would be. I don't know your plan. >> so that's why, you know, I looked at this and I was like, "Sign me up." Yeah. Um you know, but there's a big difference between an elected official and an employee. So, you know, I do understand that this would be an enormous sticker shock for someone, but I just want to encourage our employees that in the private sector, it could be doubled. It is. And uh yeah, and Christina Hale >> who has to pay for it. It is >> Yes.

140So, you know, I So, with that being said, I just want to commend our staff for doing such a great job to try and, you know, keep this as low as you possibly could for as long as you possibly could. Um and then the other thing that really stood out to me was um free generic prescriptions. In the private sector, it's about $10, you know, [snorts] for a generic per prescription. So, again, um I understand that this is more than what we're used to. >> Yes, ma'am. But this is a really good plan. Um and my husband's been with his employer um 30 years and and it's a great company, but this is this is a good plan. >> [laughter] >> So, thank you very much. >> Certainly. And and and I appreciate that, Commissioner

141Marrow. And again, and I I recognize it when the employees are used to something and they see something significantly different, it it's hard to look past what you see in front of you and I get that. Um we're we're trying to, you know, educate our our folks as to the challenges that we faced. Um they weren't aware that we're facing a $6 million deficit. Um it it's unfortunately that we are, but we are. And I don't think we're done. I think there's going to be another deficit that we're going to have to deal with next year. One of your agenda items was a we replenished our health care fund with $7.5 million. That's because we had to pay out claims that we didn't think we were going to have to pay out. Well, when you

142use all that money, you have to replace it so that you have it for the next round of of claims that we have to cover. So, hopefully, you know, we can right-size this. Hopefully, our claims will come back down and be more reasonable. Um it that is really a function of the health of our staff. And and again, it it's just a matter of what we're faced with. There's a lot more, I think, cancer diagnoses. There's a lot more treatments out there that are available, and that's great, but they're expensive. When they're expensive, then we have to pay for them. So. I will also say that, you know, given given what we know is going on in the private sector, [snorts] if you worked outside of a government function, um where the taxpayers are are

143helping to subsidize, you know, this wonderful plan, [snorts] um I think we need to really have, you know, exercise gratitude and um be thoughtful of the families that are getting those diagnoses, that, you know, our team, Union County, is supporting those families who got really, really bad news. >> Absolutely. And um like you said, th- this is a self- funded insurance plan, and um you know, sometimes the grass isn't always greener on the other side. So, we need to, you know, count our blessings when we can and we need to pray for the families that got those diagnoses. That's right. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Um look, I'll just say this, you know, I've I've been with >> [clears throat] >> the company that I'm currently employed with for for almost 30 years

144and um and I remember the days when insurance was free. Yes. Tho- those days were a long time ago. Um and and you know, again, I'm not not going to make light of what we're facing here. That's not my intention. Uh but what I will say is is that insurance costs have skyrocketed everywhere. Um so so so it's not just a a Union County issue. Um it's it's an issue for for all of us. Uh whether you're employed with Union County or if you're in the private sector um insurance is expensive and and those benefits are sometimes costly. So, thank you for the update. Um any other Okay, no other questions. >> [clears throat] >> Okay, so the next item on our agenda is item 26-238, appointment to the Consolidated Human Services Board. There are

14511 vacancies on this board. One of which is the other person role. After the Consolidated Human Services Board considered applicants for the other person vacancy and voted to recommend individuals for appointment we we received three applications for appointment to the one vacant other person role. Is there a motion for nomination for this position? Chairman Helms, I'd like to make a motion that we appoint Ben Mount as the appointee to the health health service board. Human service board, pardon me. Thank you, Madam Vice Chair. So, we have a motion to appoint Ben Mount to the other person role. Any discussion on that motion? All right. All those in favor of the motion, say aye. Aye. All right. >> [sighs and gasps] >> Um Okay, so the next item of business is item 26-245, and that is

146appointment of Union County Board of Commissioners representative to the vacant position on the Monroe Union County Economic Development Commission Board of Directors. Uh Commissioner Size's resignation and um unfortunate passing has left an opening there. Um Uh so, we need to appoint a new representative for that position on the Board of Directors. Is there a motion or nomination? I would like to make a motion to appoint Earl Wedbra to the Economic Board. Okay. Just throwing you right in there, Commissioner Wedbra. >> [laughter] >> Welcome aboard. All right. So, we have a uh motion. Any discussion on that motion? Commissioner Wedbra, any discussion? No, sir. No, sir. >> [laughter] >> All right. All right. Well, all those in favor of the motion, say aye. Aye. Congratulations, Commissioner Wedbra. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. >> [laughter] >> All right.

147So, um okay. So, this So, we now get to comments. So, our next item is comments. And I'll recognize our county manager for his comments tonight. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I I just have a couple of things. First off, um I mentioned this previously, but um we have uh been notified that the the region has declared a stage two for for drought in our Catawba area. We will be doing the same making a declaration of a stage two on May the 15th. I will be here on the 18th and give you sort of an update of what that means. There are more significant changes to a stage two. You have some rate changes that will affect our customers, but I'll have that information for you on the 18th. So that you'll you'll see

148it. You'll have it in case any customers do call you. But I just wanted to make you aware of that. And then also I did want to point out that you know one of our our speakers earlier mentioned about the homestead rules. That is not dictated by the the county. That is actually a state function. I certainly understand and appreciate that. We support changes to those income levels, but that is a state decision, not a county decision. We are working with our you know our county association on things that we think could be positive and that's one of the items we we talked to the General Assembly about is changing those rules for homestead. So I just want to make that clear. Thank you, sir. It's now time for commissioner comments and Mr. Wedger, why

149don't you start us off tonight? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd just like to start by saying that um no one can replace Gary Sides. He was a champion for those without a voice if you knew him. We can only hope to honor his legacy by continuing to ensure that every citizen is seen, heard, and treated with dignity. Thank you for allowing me the privilege to serve the people of Union County and the honor to serve this board and with the dedicated staff here in Union County. And Uh home everyone and God bless. Thank you, Commissioner Wedra. Commissioner Balcom. >> [clears throat] >> Thank you. Thank you, Chairman Hale. Uh I just would like to thank the staff for all the hard work. It's just just incredible the stuff y'all bring together. Sometimes it's a little

150bit overwhelming, to be honest. Uh Congratulations to all our award winners. Um congratulate Mr. Wedra and tell you I look forward to serving with you on this board. Thank you, sir. I think you're a good fit and a good choice. And I was just thinking we've had a fun and exciting evening here this this evening. So, everyone just be careful on the way home. Thank you, Commissioner Balcom. Commissioner Merrill. Okay. Well, um for May, I want to wish Commissioner Christina Helms a happy birthday coming up. We got to enjoy her favorite um meal, Mexican, tonight uh during closed session. And I I am officially um about ready to bust out of this dress. I ate so much. So, um happy birthday. Um we wish you the many, many more. >> Thank you. And for the

151month of May, um it is military appreciation month. And so, um given the world climate and the fact that a young um Merrill from our household is serving our country and so many more from Union County doing great, great things to um take care of our country, I want everyone to remember our military. I'm stealing Commissioner Helms's thunder tonight cuz she usually does such a great job recognizing our military. But, please um think of our service members um during the month of May. And all stuff also it is false foster care month and we have an enormous need um for foster home families um for uh special children in Union County that need a loving caring home to open their doors. So um I want to recognize um all of our foster families that have

152opened their doors to take care of children. Um but in the month of May we just really want to show um some extra love um to those children and families and if um and if you're an empty nester right now um and and you're um you've got empty bedrooms, if you would please pray about it and think it think about opening your doors to um a special child that needs a loving home. Um I want to welcome Commissioner Errol Whedon to the board. Um I have admired you for the past couple of years and all the work you have done um in our communities and our surrounding communities and it is an extreme pleasure um to see you and your family here tonight. So we look forward to working with you. Thank you. Vice Chair

153Helms. Thank you, sir. Um I'd like to reiterate what um County Manager Matthews stated in regards to the homestead. Um those that did not listen to our last meeting, there was a resolution that we passed and sent to the state in regards to seniors, um disabled vets, um like Miss Merrill touched on, you know, I have a very soft spot soft spot for our uh military personnel. Um so please go and those that were confused about what we were requesting, it is in the meeting minutes and please go read the resolution that because of I think it confused a few people. Um congratulations to Liz and her team. We are so proud of y'all. Y'all always do such amazing work. So, thank y'all for everything that you do. Um please continue to pray for rain

154for our county. Um we're very appreciative what the Lord has already sent us, but um as you can see that we are going to continue restraints coming soon and um so continue to pray for rain for um not only us, but quite a bit of the Southeast is in a drought. So, this area really does need quite a bit of rainfall. And finally, I'd like to welcome officially Commissioner Wedra and um welcome you to the board and um you're going to feel like you're drinking from a fire hydrant quite often. There's still times that I feel like, oh Lord. Um >> [laughter] >> and um so we're all here for you. Staff is amazing to go and ask questions and they're always willing to help. So, when in doubt, ask and um so um We've

155all been there. Yeah, exactly. >> [laughter] >> And um to Sue and the family, um we appreciate you sharing him with us. So, thank you very much. Y'all have a great evening. All right. Well, I think we had a little bit of everything in this meeting tonight. We We had We had water, sewer. We We had pageant winners. So, >> [laughter] >> um yeah, thank thank you to uh to all of our ladies that um that were pageant winners that were here with us tonight. Um thank you, of course, to all of our speakers that we heard from. Um you know, I agree with uh well, with Vice Chairman Helms that um well, I mean, obviously, we're thankful for the rain that we got, but we definitely need more. Um so, uh one thing I'll

156mention uh many of you, I think, were under the impression that there was going to be a uh joint meeting this coming week with not only our board, but also the Board of Education. Um that meeting has been canceled uh at their request and we're going to continue to work with our educational partners uh to try to schedule a joint meeting uh in the near future, but for now, it at least uh has been canceled. So, want to make everybody aware of that. We remain committed to uh to to holding a joint meeting whenever it's convenient for the Board of Education. Commissioner Wedra congratulations. Um uh you know, listen, I I think that we're all excited to work with you. I know you're going to be a great member of this board um and just

157want to welcome you. Welcome to the board. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yeah, and I'm ready to get work to work with you. So all right, so once again, thank you to all of our staff members. Liz, thank you so much uh for all of your work. Congratulations on your award and also for your team. So, I mean, you've got a great team there. And I think that our staff in general, uh we've got a great team here at Union County. So um again, thank you to uh to all the staff members. You know, guys, many people don't see this, but we have I mean, we've got packets of information here, okay? And so and so, you know, when when comments are made about us being a little overwhelmed um that's true. Yeah, that's true because,

158you know, we were looking at uh I think the water and sewer packet and I couldn't even tell you how many pages are there, but it's a lot. So, um so, yeah, and staff has had together and they put a lot of effort into to sure that we have this information. So, thank you once again to staff. Um and so with that, I think that uh wish everybody a good night and I'll make the motion to adjourn the um the regular meeting. So, motion to adjourn. All those in favor? I.