001I now call the January 12th, 2026 regular meeting of the Union County Board of Commissioners to order. At this time, I would like to recognize Vice Chair Christina Helms for the invocation. >> And I would like to recognize one of my favorite pastors from Lee Park, Dr. Landon Kazai. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we are thankful to be here this evening and God, we are thankful for this group of commissioners and we are thankful for the way they serve this county. God, we recognize in any political discourse there can be disagreements from time, but Lord, let us all have agreement that they love this county and they are committed to serving it. Thereby they are in the positions that they are in and they have put themselves into and the people have elected them to.
002Father we pray for them tonight as they seek to make decisions that will have impact on this county for times to come and perhaps even years to come. Lord we pray that you give them the wisdom that they need. Um as your word tells us, we come before you to pray for them that we can all live those peaceful lives based upon the decisions that they make. Uh Lord, we pray they have that wisdom and God, we pray that you continue to give them their guidance. Lord, we are thankful for this great county. We are thankful for the beauty that we see uh throughout it. Um Lord, thank you for the way that you have blessed it and we pray that you would continue to do so. We ask this in the name of Jesus.
003Amen. Thank you guys. >> Thank you. >> 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. So, the next item on the agenda is informal comments from the community. Um, I've been given a speaker list and I don't so I don't show that anyone signed up tonight. Is there anyone from the audience that would like to offer informal comments? >> Seeing no speakers, >> sir. Can I make My name is Tom Caldwell. My law firm hired Lyn right out of high school. Lyn >> out of Wing University. out of Wing University and she's been a great employee of ours and a great employee of the
004county for many years. I just want to recognize Lyn. >> Thank you, sir. >> We agree wholeheartedly. Need to give her a raise. >> Thank you. Appreciate that. So the next item on our agenda is item 26-022, a public hearing for reszoning petition CZ-2025-00005 Garcia. I will now rec I will now open the public hearing and recognize Bjorn Hansen, senior planner for a brief for brief comments from county staff. Thank you Bujorn. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, manager Matthews. This is a conditional resoning called uh Garcia in recognition of the owners and applicant of this property. This is a conditional resoning. The site plan associated with it is um here. It's at the corner of Faith Church and Secret Shortcut. This is actually inside the town of Hembi Bridge. So, this is
005the first resoning we've actually taken through to a public hearing from the town of Hemi Bridge. And so we'll be referencing their plans as a part of this uh staff report. So the request is to reszone from R20 to light industrial with conditions. It's to allow a tow truck impound yard associated with the site plan that is presented. I'll note that there were uh trees that were cut down on the property in the last 18 months. And so one of the conditions is to uh coordinate with staff if this is approved to mitigate for all trees 12 inches in diameter that were um removed uh in the setback that is uh five-year vesting of the development rights and that it will meet all requirements of the unified development ordinance from the date of approval. So,
006existing conditions, uh, two-lane roads in both directions on the corner, and you can see the cleared conditions on the site. Um, there are, um, turn lanes at the intersection on Secret Shortcut, and, uh, this would get access from the side road. In terms of, uh, development in the area, uh, it's large lot residential in the immediate vicinity of this intersection. And there are subdivisions nearby. The Monroe Expressway is just to the east of this site. Terms of environmental features, there's no flood plane streams or wetlands on the site. It you can see in the aerial from a couple years ago, it was previously forested and you can see the picture on the left showing cleared trees. We don't know exactly where the property line is in relation to this picture on the left. So that's
007where we would coordinate with the urban forester to determine the specific trees that would have to be mitigated if this resoning were approved. Zoning in this area we're applying um R20 is the existing zoning. RA40 in Union County is immediately to the east and then you have Indian Trail and Lake Park to the southeast and southwest. Um the entire area within Hemi Bridge is zoned R20. Terms of transportation, uh, Secret Shortcut in this area carries nearly 10,000 cars per day. This count's several years old at this point. Uh, we don't have a traffic count on this section of Faith Church. The both roads are identified as future boulevards, but neither are funded for widening anytime in the coming decades in the Metropolitan Transportation Plan through uh the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization. Terms of land
008use maps, we're referencing two. The one on the right is the land use map that was developed by Union County staff for Hembi Bridge approximately nine years ago. It recommends and I've circled the area um that is within the resoning and this was identified as a rural center which is commercial which could be considered both uh industrial and retail and office uses. But because industrial is also called out as a a use in their land use map, we're we're referencing this as commercial only, meaning not residential or I'm sorry, not industrial. And then on the left side is a small area map that was developed uh about uh eight years ago with the town of Indian Trail. This was the secret shortcut small area plan. Portions of Hembi Bridge and the northern portion of it
009were also identified in the plan. Um but we kept consistent recommendations to what Hembi Bridge had already adopted. So you have a commercial and retail designation at that intersection as well which is not industrial. Terms of schools and utilities because this was commercial uni county public schools were not consulted and in terms of utilities there is uni county water adjacent to the site but no utilities are required because this is going to be an unmanned facility. terms of public feedback, community meeting was held in November. Uh there was actually two meetings that were held. The first one had one member of the public, but it was held the night before Thanksgiving. We recognized the inappropriate date for that. So the applicant um scheduled another one shortly thereafter on December 8th. 13 residents attended. They expressed
010concern over the trees that have been cut down, about the access onto the road and the incompatible uses uh with the existing nearby uses which were mainly large lot residential. Since that time, we've received over 30 emailed comments from residents uh in the immediate area. You've received several emails from Lynn with comments that have been received since this packet was put together. A lot of them were reiterating previous comments. And then in terms of municipal feedback, we always reach out to nearby municipalities. We reached out obviously to Hemi Bridge because it's within their jurisdiction. And then Indian Trail and Lake Park. Um each municipality provided comments which are in your agenda packet and they each opposed the proposed development. Um Indian Trails were the most detailed. They cited uh traffic inconsistency with adopted plans and
011the fact that trees had been removed on the site before there was a building permit. So in terms of the staff report recommendation, we always note positives and negatives. Uh the negatives are that the land use plan specifically calls for commercial. This is industrial. That the secret shortcut also um identifies this as commercial retail. That increased industrial uh resonings in the area could increase inest congestion on the roads. and that's a noted concern the comprehensive plan and that these would be in close proximity to residential uses uh which are identified as agricultural. So the positives is that if you were to interpret commercial as including industrial you could say it is consistent with those adopted plans and that it's it's not very large so it's not a huge impact on the immediate area and it's
012close to the Monroe Expressway. So, when you're talking about a tow truck and impound yard, you want to have access to the nearby transportation system to be able to serve um people who need tow truck services. So, this this would create additional business opportunities for um uni county residents and and services. So, that was a noted positive of the plan. However, weighing the positives and the negatives, we recommend denial. The land use board received this presentation at its December 16th meeting. It also recommended denial, citing in inconsistency with the adopted plans and with uh nearby development. So, I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. The applicant is also here to answer any questions you may have. Um if the if the applicant would like to make some comments, uh they're welcome to approach
013the lectern. They're good. >> All right. Um, any questions for Bejorn at this point? Okay. Uh, Mr. County Manager, has anyone signed up for the public hearing to provide comment? >> Okay. So, uh, we've got no speakers signed up for this public hearing. Um, are there any speakers that have not signed up to this point that would like to provide uh input or comments regarding this public hearing? Seeing none, I will now close the public hearing. Thank you, Bujorn. Next on our agenda is item 26-015, service award recognition. I will now recognize Julie Broom, human resources director for this item. Good evening, commissioners. Uh we have a short video for you this evening that's going to highlight our final service award ceremony that was held in December for 2025. We had about 17 employees that
014were recognized during this ceremony. That included seven five-year recipients, five 10-year recipients, three 20-year recipients, and two 25-year recipients. I just want to thank you for your continued support for the service award program and also extend our thanks to those employees that were recognized for their contributions, their dedication, and their service uh to Union County. Thank you. Good morning everyone. Welcome to our Q4 service awards ceremony. Today we are recognizing employees who are celebrating a milestone for November or excuse me um October, November and December. So congratulations to all of you. This has been different than anywhere I've ever worked. All the way up to the county manager. They genuinely care about the employees. They invest in the employees. They want to see the employees grow. Um, they give you opportunities to do that. And
015that's just been so different than what I'm used to. So, having somebody that wants to see you grow and gives you the tools makes you want to invest in yourself and and live up to that. Thank you for your dedication and your hard work and 20 years and I hope we have many, many more. >> In thinking about this moment, I was thinking about why we continue to have this event. Why does the management team uh support the the pomp and circumstance of this thing? Right? Yes, it's to to recognize years of service, dedication to public service, but I would argue and Brian says many times that it's a stories shared in this moment that these are inspirational stories, right? When we share about our colleagues with this group, we learn about each other. We're
016inspired to be our best selves. We're in we're inspired to perform at a very high level. >> I think it's a great um thing that the county does. It makes you feel like you're important and not just an employee. You're actually a part of a thing that is moving to get to a certain goal. I really feel like being involved with something and seeing other people receive awards for, you know, 25 years that makes you want to get that as well. I thank you for 20 years dedication and you make this place better for all of us and I look forward to continuations. Hopefully another 5 years, young man. >> Thank you. >> Yes, sir. >> 25 years is incredible. Uh that just speaks to Neil's work ethic and his loyalty and uh we're just
017so happy to have him part of our team and I joke with him that he's only halfway there because he can't leave until I retire and I've got quite a few more years. So hopefully in 20 25 years we're recognizing you for for 45 or 50 years of service. So Neil, again, thank you for all that you do. Congratulations. >> It's a career. Um it's not just a job. Things like this today encourage us to to want to strive to continue on. >> Public service is not just a job. It's a commitment. um you commit to coming here and making this community a better place to live, making Union County a better place to live. And and I appreciate the work that you do, the commitment that you have to this organization and to the
018people who are here in this community. I always love hearing the stories. I learn about you, what you do, your relationships with your co-workers. It is inspirational. So again, what you take away from this today is you are appreciated. the management team and I thank you for all the work that you do and I hope you have a great rest of your day. Thank you very much. Thank you, Julie and staff. Appreciate that. That really is a good program that you guys have and I've I know we've mentioned it many times up here on this board that many of us have had the opportunity to go there and be a part of that and hear some of those stories and um it's just a reminder that you know we do have a family atmosphere here
019and uh and it's a good culture and so that's a credit to all of our associates, our managers um and all of our staff. So thank you. Um it's now time for consideration to any changes to our agenda. If um if there is no um opposition um I would like to suspend rule 29 of our rules of of procedure related to resoning petition CZ-2025-005 this Garcia and two add consideration ation of resoning petition CZ2025005 Garcia to the business agenda for consideration of a decision concerning the resoning petition. Is there any discussion on that? Any opposition from the board? >> Where do you want to add that on business? >> Um we could add that as the very first item tonight. Mr. K, do we need a vote on that? If there's no objection, that's within
020your power to do as chair. >> Okay. Thanks, sir. Are there any other motions regarding requested revisions or amendments to either the consent agenda or the business agenda? All right. Um, is there a motion to approve the items listed on consent agenda? >> Motion to approve. >> All right. We have a motion. And all those in favor >> I cons. >> Thank you, sir. >> Okay. So, we are now at the business portion of our agenda. The first item of business tonight is item 26-26-031. That's minor subdivision discussion. I will now recognize Lee Jensen, planning director for this item. >> Mr. Mr. Chairman, pursuant to the placement on the business agenda, I think you have the uh resoning item as the first item on business. >> I'm sorry. Thank you, Mr. K. >> We almost
021let Lee get to the microphone. Well, well, you know what, Lee, I appreciate your eagerness. How's that? >> Okay, so my apologies then. Uh we will we will now um take item >> 26-022 and that is the reasonzoning >> petition Garcia. >> Mr. Chair. >> Yes. >> I'd like to make I'd like to make a motion, please. I'd like to make a motion that we deny the reszoning position CZ 2025-00005 um from Mr. Garcia and adopt the consistency and reasonableness statement for denial. >> Okay, we have a motion. Any discussion on that item or that motion? >> Seeing none. All those in favor of the motion say I. I. Those opposed? Zero four nothing. Okay. Now I will recognize Mr. Lee Jensen for our next item which is which is >> Yep. Thank you. Item
02226-031. I'll get the hang of this eventually. >> Thank you, sir. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, this is a uh discussion on on minor subdivisions. I think it was back in November during the public hearing for the rural land use plan. Uh, a little bit of discussion came up about minor subdivisions and and how we treat those and what they mean. Um, so I wanted to bring that back uh and and just talk a little bit about minor subdivisions and kind of hope answer some of those questions and receive any uh direction the board might might want to give. Um, it's kind of hit on four sections. Um, some definitions uh of of difference between major and minor subdivisions and some some exemptions. So, some things that may look and feel like subdivisions, but
023they're not they're not really subdivisions. Um, what's the difference? You know, it's the implications. What do you have to do if you're a major or a minor subdivision? Um, some data we pulled and uh some potential changes that that you could you could think about. Um, so we'll start um always start with definitions. It's a good place to start in the ordinance. Um, so what's the subdivision? This is a bunch of words. Um, but essentially anytime you divide land into two or more lots. So if you have a 5acre lot, you cut it into two two and a half acre pieces of property, that's a sub generally that's a subdivision. I'll get into some exemptions in a second, but that that's essentially what a subdivision is. Anytime you divide property, um, then you get into
024major minor. So, a minor subdivision is any subdivision that does not create uh more than eight lots out of a single tract. And there's an important date up there, Valentine's Day 1978. Um that's the date that some of the subdivision rules were adopted. Uh we have maps in our office that show what we call those uh parent parcels. And if you divide more than eight lots out of that parent tract, it's now a major subdivision. So, as long as you stay eight or less, it's a minor. Once you go over eight, it's a major subdivision. Then we have one caveat to that in the review and approval procedures for the county. Again, for minor subdivisions, um you can, you know, you use one set of approval procedures and it says as long as you don't
025create more than eight lots, blah blah blah. But then it adds something on to that at the end that says also that do not under the terms of this ordinance require the construction of new streets, public water, sewer facilities, sidewalks, any kind of infrastructure. So in this sense, if you even if you create, let's say you create five lots, but you build a street, well that's also a major subdivision. That that's kind of what what this means. So anytime, so if you build a new public street built to NC DOT standards or maybe you want to put in water and sewer for for this development, then then that's also a major. The these are kind of rare. You don't run into this too often, but I think we have on on occasion, but I thought
026that was important to kind of point out, too. Um, now we get into the um exempt uh subdivision. This comes from section 80 in or 80.060 in the ordinance, but these are also mostly from North Carolina general statute. So, so this is just a carryover, we put in the ordinance, but but it's a statute. So, there's some statutory exemptions. Um, first one there, anytime you recombine a lot. So, found a piece of property and Mr. Balkam, if you were my neighbor and I wanted to you wanted to buy a piece small piece of property for me, maybe you needed to build a storage building, I could sell you a small piece, you combine that into yours. As long as what was left over still met the requirements of the ordinance. So, we start with two
027lots, we end with two lots, both those two lots still meet the ordinance even though I'm taking a piece for mine, giving it to you. That's not a subdivision. That's just a recombination. So that's exempt. Um any division that's 10 acres or more. So um if you I used the proverbial 100 acre piece of property, if you had 100 acres, you're dividing into 10 10acre lots, that's exempt. You're still dividing property. It's still a subdivision. It's just exempt from the rules. Um, anytime you buy land, so if uh the county or the state wanted to buy land for a road or a rail corridor, a trail, um, something like that, um, those strips of property are not considered subdivisions. Um, fourth one's a little complicated. Uh, piece of property and single ownership, as long as
028you're not creating more than three lots, um, and the track to be divided is no greater than two acres. there's no rightaway dedication. And the third one there, that C is pretty important. So, it's still got to meet or exceed the requirements of the order. So, this one's actually kind of hard to do in Union County. That this doesn't come up a lot here because our our lot sizes are kind kind of big, but it is an exemption. It is in the state statute. So, I wanted to have it in there. Um, cemetery plots, those aren't considered subdivisions. Um, if you're creating lots to be occupied by substations, water towers, things that are kind of infrastructure related, self towers, um, quasi public type uses, those are not considered subdivisions. Um, seven is is kind of
029the same as uh, three. I don't know why it's in here twice, but it is in the in the state exemption twice. Um, track to be used for public street rightway. I guess it just calls out street rightaway. So that's the difference. And then the last one is um if you divide a tract uh that is based on a probated will or in accordance with um an estate secession and that's list the general statute there. That's also not considered a subdivision. So those are some exemptions. This doesn't necessarily mean that you get to build a house on these properties. So, we always tell people that, you know, if you come in to our office, we get a lot of people that come in that are, you know, they got a will and they say, "Well,
030you know, I want to give these certain lots to people." We always tell them, "Look, that's fine, but but come sit down with us and let's go through the ordinance to make sure that everything still meets the requirements." Because while you might could divide the property, it's a subdivision exemption. There's still development rules you have to meet. So if you don't have access, you don't have the right kind of access, you may get stuck in the future. So we kind of want those folks to want to make sure that they can still build on the property once they inherit it. Um, but again, the division is exempt. Um, what are the implications? So minor subdivision, it's a onestep review process. You bring in a final plat, water, environmental health. those three departments always every once
031in a while there's a weird situation and we need to send it to somebody else. Maybe there's a driveway that's going to cross a flood plane so it needs to go to storm water. Um there might be, you know, we might review it. There might be some comments that go back, but generally one-step review, it's approved, gets signed and recorded in a registered deeds. Usually about a two-eek process. Um major subdivisions a little more complicated. You have a sketch plan. So that comes in, gives us an idea of what you're going to do. We might give you some general comments on it, some, you know, things to think about. Then you get into a preliminary plan. I don't know why they call it a preliminary plan, but those are your construction documents. That is the
032big set, real thick thing that comes through that everybody's looking at. Um, water, storm water, NC do um that's where the rubber hits the road. So when the preliminary plan is approved, that allows con the construction of infrastructure to start. So that's generally when you see bulldozers out on a piece of property, you know, knocking down trees, grading, things like that. That's after that preliminary has been approved. That's when you also get into some of the vesting procedures. So once you start building, you kind of get into some, you know, if rules change after they start building, you can't apply new rules to that development. Um then final plat. So that's when you get recorded. That's when the developer wants to start selling lots. Um final plat you can only do that once either all
033the infrastructure has been installed and inspected and accepted by whoever is going to maintain it or they put up a performance guarantee. So that's a either cash or bond or something. They put that up with our office. has got to be equal to 125% of the cost of that infrastructure. Um, and you're going to go through several iterations of that. So, usually large developments don't have just one final plant. Usually there's several phases. So, you might get into a lot of back and forth. You might have phase one, then you get a performance guarantee for phase one, phase two. So, um, so you can have a lot. So, that's kind of the the difference in the review process. Um, and then what is what do you have to do in a in a major subdivision
034versus a minor? Minor is pretty straightforward. You don't really have to do anything other than meet the general requirements of lot size, uh, road frontage, um, setback, stuff like that. Major subdivisions, a lot more. So, this is just these are the main ones. Um, every once in a while there might be some more that that come into play, but generally street trees, um, sidewalks if if they're going to be required in that certain area. Sometimes they're not required. Storm water, uh, roadway design and construction standards if you're building streets. Um, open space standards in in rural areas. And I should have put cluster in in there, too, because there's also, uh, open space requirements in cluster subdivisions. Uh, TIA requirements. So, traffic impact analysis. Sometimes there's things that come out of that TIA that developer
035may have to do. Um, and then the swine and sunflower protection. If you have a subdivision that's large enough, we require you to do a sunflower survey, see if there's any sunflowers on the property. Yes, sir. >> And Lee, I'm sorry to stop you, but uh but just for a point of clarification, so the TIA, can you explain to the board in the audience who would require that? >> Yes. Um, so we're going to review it in our office and NC DOT is going to review it in in theirs. Our standards are a little bit higher than NC DOT. So, we're generally going to require a TIA sometimes when NC DOT is not. Um, and depending on what comes out of the TIA, it could be NC DOT enforcing it. It could be the county
036or it could be both. So, if there's things that they need to do such as a a turn lane, maybe they need to have a right in just right in right out access. Um, those are kind of the two major ones a lot of times that that we get. Um but that's the kind of things that we're looking at in TAS and >> and so depending on the impact of the major subdivision at that point then that would dictate obviously traffic mitigation. Yes sir. >> Whereas with minors though minor subdivision it's not even considered. >> No >> thank you. >> U so the next part is a little bit of data. Um I pulled it uh based on 2014 uh starting there. the the reason for that that's when the new um that's when our
037unified development ordinance went into effect. So I didn't want to pull anything before that because it's really apples and oranges. This is really looking at everything since the ordinance we use today has been in effect. So since 2014 and this is just minor subdivisions since that was what the discussion was around. Uh we've had about 1,200 minor subdivisions that have been processed. that's created about 3,200 lots. Um, and about 934 of those subdivisions created two lots or less. And then as you move up, there were more three lots than there were four lots, more four than there were five. So it kind of tapered off as you move toward eight lots. Um, so so the vast majority were were two lots or less, but there weren't as you moved up that did exist. There were
038subdivisions that created three, four, five, six, seven, eight lots. Um, you know, we didn't look at, you know, who who these lots were created for. Uh, you know, I didn't go through all 1,200 to to see if if they were developers or, you know, just simple homeowners giving a lot to to a kid. So, I don't I don't have that answer for you. But, but luckily, we did have this information. I would like to uh thank Bejorn. he put this together uh a number of years ago and so we track all these in a in a database uh that's pretty pretty easy to use. So that was very helpful. Um and now some potential changes. This isn't everything. This this isn't everything under the sun that you might could do. This was just some things
039that kind of popped in my head. Um, the first obvious thing that that that's there is you could modify the definition to allow more or less lots to be created through the minor subdivision process. Um, applicable standards can be modified. So, you could maybe add standards to a major or in a minor subdivision if you wanted to. Um or maybe in like a major subdivision, you know, this could be something that could be looked at in combination. If you lowered the number of minor subdivisions, like if you took, say you took minor subdivisions down to, you know, say six or five or something like that, you could also look at maybe a tiered approach to major subdivisions. Um like whereas tier one might be a, you know, a minimum lot size based on the current
040zoning because kind of the way we do things today. So you do it's RA40 minimum lot size of 40,000 square feet still have to meet all your applicable development standards the ones I showed you on the screen uh a few slides ago maybe a tier 2 you know slightly larger minimum lot size I don't just making stuff up here maybe two acre lots and maybe you could be exempt from some standards um and then a tier three significantly larger maybe four five acre lots and you could be exempt from maybe a lot of those standards um again that was just some kind of brainstorming sessions that that that that we had. It'd be developer choice. You you wouldn't it wouldn't be dictated. You have minimums which would be tier one. Everything else would be optional.
041Um and then the last bullet point down there is just that exempt subdivisions generally cannot be changed because they are statutory. So we can't we can't touch those. Any changes to that would require uh Raleigh. And with that, I'll be happy to answer any questions uh engage in discussion or receive any uh direction. >> Commissioner Balkan. >> Yes, Lee. And you you may have touched on this and so so if you did and I missed it, I apologize, but if there's a parcel of land that has a road that divides it, you get eight miners on one side of the road and eight on the other side of the road. >> That's That's correct. You're you're exactly right. And I you're right. I should I did not touch on it, but I should have. So,
042uh, when we're talking about a that definition of a, um, parent parcel, wherever that was, um, I don't remember where it was on the slideshow, but when we're talking about that February 14th, 1978 date, um, if you had a public road that split a piece of property, and that this is based on the definition of I think it's a lot in in the ordinance. If you had a road that divided a piece of property on that 1978 date, then each lot or each piece of property on either side of that road is a separate parent parcel. So, so yes, you're correct. You could essentially have eight lots on one side, eight lots on the other side. Yes. >> Any other questions for Lee? >> So, >> yes, sir. Commissioner Balkan. >> You can't hardly see
043him over here, can you? He's speaking in uh just the the sunflower situation. What is what is that all about? >> Um I believe I'm right on this. the uh so back back when the uh 12mi Creek uh plant was being expanded, not this past time, but the time before last, um we had a couple requirements that came down from I think Fish and Wildlife, uh because we have to get a permit from them. Um I may be wrong on my agency, but I I think that's right. They essentially wanted the county to adopt a couple of um environmental rules. One was the uh we have some buffers that exist in the 12mi Creek sewer service area. 100 I think it's 100 feet on um perennial streams and maybe 50 feet on intermittent streams. And
044then uh and it's just just in the 12mi Creek sewer service area. So, if you're in some other like Crooked Creek or if you're over on East Side, you don't have to worry about it. Um, and the other one was uh some some surveys for sunflowers. Uh, it it's got a pretty high threshold. I I think you have to I think it's a development. I think a subdivision has to have 50 lots or more to trigger that sunflower survey, but they have to hire somebody that's an expert, like an environmental scientist to go out in the field and walk this piece of property and see if there's any uh swine that says sunflowers on it. And if there are, there's a number of things they can do to they can protect them. They can mitigate
045them. Uh Cane Creek Park actually has they they were a receiving area for some of those. There's a large area out there uh of of sunflowers. Um it's rare that you find those on a development site. Um they typically grow. Actually, one of the biggest areas in Union County that you find them is along a public rideway. If you see some of those signs along the roads that say don't cut, that's a lot of times that's what that's for. Um they like they like the sun, their sunflowers. So if a um piece of property is wooded, they're a lot of times not going to grow in the woods. Uh if it's being farmed, if it's farm field, it's it's dead because pest being sprayed with pesticides and or not pesticides, but uh herbicides. >> Yeah.
046>> Good. >> One point. Yes, sir. um sitting on with on the a advisory board. I know the number eight being eight being the number that u qualifies as a major subdivision. the a the members of the a advisory board. I'd say the general consensus is that's a little that's high, especially considering that there's a road split in the parcel that's 16 being that we're in a county that's already 90% residential and the farmland as farmland loss goes we're number 13 >> in the nation. >> So I would like for that number to be looked at. I don't know what the proper channels proper way to do this, but I would like for us to look at that number. >> So, I'll speak the proper channels are if the board has a number in mind
047that they would like to propose, you could do that here today. You could do that at a future meeting. Um, there is no right or wrong number. Whether it's two or three or 10 or whatever, that's what the this board feels is comfortable. So from a staff's perspective, you we don't really have a recommendation one way or the other, whether it's two or or four or five or six. It's what you feel comfortable with defining it as a minor subdivision. Once you give direction that, hey, you'd like to see a change in those uh in the definition. The staff would then write that up, take that to the land use board for a recommendation, and then a required public hearing would have to be scheduled and held. and then the bo board would take um
048make a decision on that text change. Um and so that process can you know it can move as quickly as we can meeting all of our notice requirements. Um Lee, if you could go back to Thank you, Mr. County Manager. If you could go back to the one slide there that shows the uh the numbers of the I think it was the minor subdivisions. >> That one. >> Uh yes, sir. That's it. So, in what we've studied since 2014, according to this, we've got about 934 of the minor subdivisions that consisted of two or less lots. Correct. Is that correct? >> Okay. >> So, that's out of >> 1,200. >> So, I think that a big concern of this board was is um well, two really twofold. So, as we've been looking at our uh
049rural land use plan that was uh that was developed and discussed, I think maybe at our last meeting or meeting before, um there was a couple of things that stood out to us as a board and and uh and certainly to me personally and uh to Commissioner Balkam's point. You know, the loss of our farmland and our open space is certainly at the top of that list. Um but also the the sheer number of of minor minor subdivisions and there seems to be a lot of a lot of play a lot of wiggle room so to speak as Commissioner Balk was pointing out and and how you pointed out with uh a road divided dividing a parcel where it creates two parent parcels. So, the other concern there is I I don't think that well
050I can say that at least personally I don't and I don't think there's any member of this board that wants to see any of our longtime residents not be able to subdivide to like their family members. Um you know so that's a very common practice and and uh and certainly we want to allow you know those um those land owners uh the opportunity you know to do that. So, if I'm reading this correctly, um it appears as though we're not, how can I put this? If we would, if we looked at say a number like three, okay, for example, or four, um then from what I see here on the numbers, that's not going to have a huge negative impact on the folks that we want to make sure that they have that option. Am
051I reading that correctly here? >> Yeah. I you know the you know the the hard part of that is to know you know you're always going to get you know you're probably going to get a family member who's going to want to cut out three or four or five lots but but those are probably rare. Um >> so yes, I would say that the vast majority of folks that are you know just want to give a kid a lot are probably fall in that you know you know three or four less uh category. So um so if we wanted to change the the number the line of delineation there if you will. So if we if we wanted to proceed with that and direct staff at this point and maybe this is a more of
052a question for our county manager um if the board felt comfortable with saying something like perhaps a major subdivision would be defined as anything as four lots or more. Um and we had consensus on that tonight. So the process would be just for clarification that at that point we would direct staff to bring back the text amendment and then um you staff would take that to the land use board. The land use board would provide their recommendation and then at a future meeting we would have a public hearing and then potentially could take action. >> Absolutely. And as far as timing goes, if the board would give that direction tonight, obviously we would look at uh the notice requirements, um I think cursory Lee and I talked about it. Um we believe you could still
053get this on the uh the meeting for the land use board in January. Is that right? We we could because we we I think back in the fall when we adopted our uh land use board schedule, we we anticipated the board meeting on the regular schedule in January. So, you would have moved the MLK to our land use board date. So, we went ahead and moved our date to whatever that next Tuesday is, the 27th or something like that. Yeah. So, >> so we have a we have a land use board meeting on the 27th. >> Right. So I think con, you know, just looking at it from, you know, what we we viewed, we could get that on the land use board's meeting for January, which would be the 27th. Uh, and then conceivably
054have that for a public hearing at our first meeting in February. Um, and again, it would require us to move, you know, quickly, but I believe we could get that accomplished if the board were to give us direction tonight. Any other questions for Mr. Jensen? Um, no, not necessarily any questions, but I I like your number of three fourth um would qualify the as a major subdivision. So whatever I need to do going forward to say I would love to see it studied from that perspective. Mr. K, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that that if we're going to make a motion here, then the motion should include that we direct staff to uh bring back a draft text amendment change. Um to Mr. Balkam's point point if he was comfortable with doing
055that. Um where it would define a major subdivision as a subdivision a subdivision consisting of four lots or more um and then direct staff to um take the necessary steps to take or to ensure that we can have a public hearing sometime in February. Is that correct? >> That's correct. Yes. >> Mr. Welcome. Am I interpreting where you're going with that correctly or? >> Yes, sir. Yes, sir. >> Did you say four or three? >> I said the four would be >> three. Correct. Correct. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, um, so is that your motion, Commissioner Balk? >> Yes, that is my motion. >> I'm sorry. >> That's okay. Um, all right. So, we've got a motion on the floor. Any discussion on that motion? I I'll just say this that uh that
056I I think that Commissioner Balkam is um is right. I I agree with that. Um you know, one thing that I pointed out uh and thank you Lee for um for offering some explanation there is the traffic mitigation. Uh we're seeing a lot of um of cases where we've got uh you know minor subdivisions taking place or or being built there on major well I call them major but they're probably more like secondary roads but you're getting a lot of traffic. Um and so you know with with or as we study our rural land use plan uh we're going to have opportunity to implement certain recommendations and certain strategies there. And so I think it makes a lot of sense for us if we're going to make a change. I think it makes a lot
057of sense for us to make that change tonight. Um so that as we adopt our rural land use plan that that can be applied to the major subdivisions. So I'll be in support. Um if there's Mr. Balkan. Yeah. Commissioner Balk. >> Yeah. Yes. Just one more comment. I know this is a very basic comment but I do want everyone to understand this only applies to what's an unincorporated Union County. >> Correct. >> The municipalities have their own zoning. So, this only applies to unincorporated Union County. Yeah. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, Commissioner Balkam. If there's uh no other questions, no other discussion, uh we have a motion on the floor. All those in favor of the motion say I. >> I. >> None opposed. >> Thank you, Lee. Appreciate it. >> Thank
058you. Okay. So, um our next items on the agenda are item number 26059. That's the affirmation of appointment of the chair and the vice chair of school leaison. And um and if there's no objection, I I would actually like to to take the the next two items on the agenda. So that would be items number 26-059 as well as items 26 054. Um I would like to take both of these items together. Um as um as the next two items both relate to school discussions. That is if there's no objections, we can take both of these items um for discussion and potential action. Okay. No objection. All right. So item um 26-059, the affirmation of appointment of the chair and the vice chair of school leaison. Mr. K, you're all decked out in red there.
059Were you going to tee this one up? >> I can. Yes, I would be delighted to. Um, both of these uh items pertain to matters involving the school board. If you wish to take them up together, then uh any appropriate motion or discussion for that matter would be to uh take the action requested in those two items. Uh if someone was going to make a motion to do that and then whatever discussion, debate or vote you wish to have following that. >> Yeah. suit. >> Yes, sir. >> So, I think what what you might have been uh getting at is how we handled the whole liaison in the past and and my my recollection is that you know the the chair and the vice chair served that role um in the past. Um but it's
060really a function of what is the board's preference on who is selected as the liaison. Um it it I think it stem from the fact that often the school board would have their chair and their vice chair also serve as a liaison. So I think that's how that sort of morphed into who was selected uh to serve that role. Again, there's no mandatory reason why it has to be one person or another. I think that's just kind of how it's how it's been over the last >> Yeah, that following up on the the manager's point and I appreciate you getting us started down a path there. Um historically my understanding is that there was a period of time when we had no liaison at all. Uh then we had some pretty rough seas in terms
061of our relationship with the school board uh back a number of years ago and for many years in a row uh it had always been the the chair and the vice chair and that's what we did this last year as well. It has been the chair and vice chair. But this is a discretionary appointment. There's nothing that binds you to do it any one particular way. That's just historically the the way that it had been done in the past and and has been done this last year. But with the change of chair and vice chair, we're just reaffirming that that is what you wish to do or if it's not what you wish to do, you can do something else. >> Yeah. And I think traditionally um it's been listed on our documents as the
062chair and the vice chair. Is that correct, Mr. K? >> That is correct. So therefore, whoever occupies either one of those um officer positions on our board will just automatically assume the liaison. >> That's right. It's not technically phrased as an exeicio position, but that's kind of how we've treated it. >> I just want to speak up. Um, so historically is probably not a good word to use to describe um, you know, chair and vice chair because I remember back in 2014 um, Stony Rushing was a liaison to the board and he was not the chair or the vice chair. And I think it was somewhere around 2018 um maybe when former commissioner Jerry Simpson spoke with a school board member and they decided to um to change course and go with chair and vice
063chair. So um the chair and the vice chair is a relatively new um liaison thing that we have used over the over recent years but um saying that historically this is how it's been done I would I would say is not not accurate. >> I I think that label is is fine. You can use historical or I'm I'm sure there were circumstances around all of those. The larger point that I think both the manager and I were making is that there's nothing that binds you to do it any certain way. >> Thank you Mr. K. Appreciate that. All right. So it's really the pleasure of the board. So if the board wants to u make sure that going forward that the chair and the vice chair are the liaison then uh is a motion then
064required Mr. K? uh given that you've combined uh those two motions together into one, uh you can uh address them uh together in in one motion if that's if that's the board's will. >> So um >> we've never voted on that before. We went um back through the minutes of last year in December and traditionally we have done what we're doing now in December, but we didn't do it this in 2024, no 2025, excuse me. We did not do anything in December 2025, but in December of 2024, we did take formal action to approve the chair and the vice chair, who at that time was uh Chair Merrill and Vice Chair Helms. But we did not look further back than that to take a look. >> Okay. So, um what what I would prefer to
065do um my opinion on this matter is is that I think that we should um as a standing practice have the chair and the vice chair as a school leaison. Um the other item, the FY27 budget discussions with Union County Public Schools, assuming that that's the pleasure of the board. Now, um I I think that and the reason why I asked for this to be on there was essentially just to get, you know, somewhat agreement from the board or direction from the board. Um you know, obviously, uh we've we've got a a new fiscal year ahead of us. Um we have had some challenges there with the board of education of late. Um my preference would be for whoever the school liaison are selected uh to go ahead and begin those budget discussions as soon
066as possible with their liaison. So I I'm simply asking that um that what we do here is we consider that uh we take action to uh as a standing practice have the chair and the vice chair as the school board liaison and then simply head nods would be sufficient I believe that we're all in agreement that the sooner we that we can start that that line of communication and the better off we're going to be. >> Yes. >> Okay. So um Mr. Okay. Is a motion in order then for the other item? >> Uh if if the board is ready, the motion would be to approve the action requested in those two agenda items. >> Okay. So, I'll make that motion. I'll make the motion that we approve the action requested for items uh 26
06726-059 as well as 26-054. Any discussion on the motion? All those in favor? I. >> Our next item is item 26019. That's appointment of an ETJ member to the city of Monroe's planning board. So the uh the current term for this position is expiring. The position was advertised in accordance with the board's rules um of procedure. Pamela Duda, who currently serves in this position, has applied for reappoint. No other applications were received. I will now entertain a motion for nominations to this board. >> Mr. Chair, >> yes. I'd like to make a motion that we appra approve Pamela Duda for the ETJ member to the city council Monroe Planning Board. >> Okay. So, we have a motion on the floor. Any discussion on that motion? >> All those in favor say I. >> Thank you.
068>> Next on our agenda is item 26-046, appointments to the land use board. There are two vacancies on this board. First vacancy is for the unexpired term of regular member and the second vacancy is for an alternate member. These vacancies have been advertised in accordance with the board's rules of procedure. Um I will first entertain a motion for nominations to the unexpired term of a regular member with a term expiring on June 30th, 2026. >> Yes, Commissioner Balkan. I make a motion. Uh we see Andrew Medlin as in the U voting chair >> unexpired term >> for for the unexpired >> unexpired term. I'm sorry. I served on the land use board one time. We had a voting chair and alternate so I just call him voting chair. So >> okay >> for the unexpired
069term. I'm sorry. >> All right. Thank you, Commissioner Balkan. So we have a motion on the floor. All those in favor of that motion say I. >> I'll now entertain a motion for nominations for the term of alternate member with the term expiring on June 30th, 2028. >> Mr. Commissioner Balk. >> Yes, sir. I would like to recommend Richard Marshfield for this position. Okay. So, we have a motion on the floor. Any discussion on that motion? All those in favor say I. >> I. All right. >> All right. So, our next item on the agenda is item 26-007. That's the FY2025 annual comprehensive financial report. I will now recognize uh Beverly LS, finance director, to introduce this item. Good evening, commissioners and management team. Um, tonight I have with me um our partner from Cherry
070Beckard, our audit firm, who actually did our audit this year, who will do a presentation on our audit results. And then following his presentation, I will do a a brief highlight of the financials and where we ended up at. We'll really get into a lot more details on those as we go through the budget process this year. Um, but Dan Gogerty is here and I'd like um to introduce him to you all and he'll go through the audit with you guys. >> Thank you very much. Uh, thank you for having me this evening to be able to talk about the process of our audit and our overall results. It's a large document, 250 plus pages. And so it's good for us to be able to summarize for you at least here not from maybe all
071the financial aspects what Beverly will go over in a little bit. But just from a standpoint of our audit approach and what we found uh just always like to rec uh look at our staff and and and recognize them for their work and getting the audit complete. A lot of that was uh held by Stephanie Rosinski as the manager, Chris Manessi as the senior, and Robert Levis as the uh key staff on this engagement. Um, some of them returning and some of them uh have been working on the county audit for the last two to three years. Uh, as part of our audit, we are to perform an audit in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards. We're also to perform audit with in accordance with government auditing standards. That's all in which to form an
072opinion, reasonable assurance that the financial statements of the county are free from any material misstatement. Uh we also perform an audit for the county as it relates to your federal and and state dollars. Uh we review uh grants of a certain dollar threshold on a rotational basis as it relates uh to that. And I'll I'll speak on a further slide and what grants we had looked at this year. Um, and I'm happy to say we issued an unmodified opinion on the financial statements back in November. So, November 6 is the date we issued the financial statements for the county. Uh, we are still working on completing the federal and state single audit compliance. Uh, in previous years, the uh, office of management and budget at the federal level had released the report that we use
073to do our testing back in May. Usually, that was not released until a day before Thanksgiving this year. Um so which set back the process of completing that those procedures. Uh we're working on completing those procedures and hoping to complete in the next week or week and a half uh and get that completely issued uh along with your financial statements. This slide is a long way of just saying that while we look at internal controls as relates your financial reporting and your single audit, uh we do not provide an opinion on the effectiveness of those internal controls at At times we may have control findings. Uh control findings can be where a control is either lacking or or or non-existent or uh is not working properly. Uh if we find any of those, we might
074deem them to be a material weakness or significant deficiency. A material weakness being that a material error can go undetected or has gone undetected as a part of our audit. Um significant deficiency being one less than a material weakness, but still important enough for us to make you aware of. I'm happy to say we did not identify any material weaknesses as it relates to your financial statement audit and there were no reported certificate deficiencies. In terms of the the grants I spoke about earlier, these are the grants that we look at at the county this past year. Medicaid has to be looked at every year based on the high-risisk designation that the federal level uh designates that program. We also looked at your coronavirus state local fiscal recovery funds, the ARPA funds. Uh we looked
075at your community development block grants, your federal transit funds, uh your public lottery, uh which we look at almost every year, DSS crosscutting as well, and then that special appropriations for the barn project uh for the state level for corrected and uncorrected misstatements. If we find any misstatements uh as a result of our audit procedures, we need to make you aware of those and what uh adjustments were made by management or that were required to be made by management. the all these uh bullet points relate to the same issue and that relates to the opioid settlement agreement. Uh back when the state had uh negotiated the settlement agreement on behalf of all counties across uh North Carolina and they provided those funding uh to you all, you were reporting that as the funding was received.
076Um what ended up happening is the state said that this was considered an exchange transaction between you and those of the litigants and so basically you should have reported the whole entire amount upon uh receiving it. So this uh 13.9 million is now been recorded as a receivable uh on your books and records. It has it's a revenue at your governmentwide level but it's not going to be received until 2039 in full. We uh even though this was a large amount, we did not consider this to be a material weakness in your controls because the information that was provided by the state of the transaction led you to uh record it originally as a non-exchange transaction and we felt that was appropriate based on the information that was received. Based on the future information you
077received, we believe now the county has has adjusted that appropriately. There was one uncorrected misstatement. This has to do with accounts payable, a search for unrecorded liabilities and recording those liabilities uh in your general special revenue fund which has a pretty small materiality threshold. And so this amount was not considered material overall, but it was considered a pass adjustment that we proposed to uh record to not record this as a payable that was recorded as a payable. The next few slides are are preprinted information that we need to do on a year-to-year basis. So, I'll go through these fairly quickly, but um these are things we've discussed with you in the past in previous audits. Note one is where your significant accounting policies lie. You did adopt a new accounting standard for compensated absences which
078created a new uh threshold for how you record your sick leave acrual with your compensated absences. uh based on how you adopted that standard, there was no uh significant adjustment to uh net position related party uh transactions. We noted no related parties as a part of our our testing that were not already made aware to us by management and no issues with any related party or any arms lane transactions during the year. No significant or unusual items noted as part of our audit. So nothing kind of outside the normal course of business of the county that we uh came about. Uh county estimates are critical to any of the financial statements that are presented. Uh the biggest of which are those related to your allowance doubtful accounts, fair value of investments, and then your pension
079and oped uh other post-employment benefit liabilities and how the actuarial assumptions are used to calculate those liabilities. We noted no issues with management's uh key assumptions and factors used in determining those estimates. And we noted that uh the o overall it was no management bias as it relates to those estimates. Financial statements disclosure are clear, neutral and consistent. Uh nonattest services. So a test being audit services. So no uh non- audit services was the preparation of the data collection form. Uh this is what we do for all our clients. is required for us to do this. This is how we communicate with the federal government on what federal grants we've audited during the current year. But management takes responsibility for review of that information and and ultimately accepts responsibility for the information being presented accurately.
080And we noted no issues with any independence considerations as it relates to our audit. No difficulties encountered, no disagreements with management, no auditor consultations. nothing outside of our engagement team that we needed to consult with other uh members of our firm on. Uh no, the manage representation letter was dated back on November 6th, the date of the financial statements were issued. No management consultation, so no shopping for an opinion on any accounting treatment with other auditors or other accountants. No other findings or issues noted. Uh no fraud or legal acts as a daily presentation. and the going concern. There were no events or conditions that created a going concern that needed to be evaluated as part of the audit process. This slide is a long way of just saying when we look at the financial
081statements as a whole, the annual comprehensive financial report, we give an opinion on your financial statements and notes. Everything that precedes it and and follows it is is information that we either give an in relation to opinion or we give uh no opinion uh at all. That includes your management discussion, analysis, and statistical tables and your require supplement information where we read the information for inconsistencies, but we do not provide an opinion. And then your budgetary to actual schedules and combining and individual fund statements, we do make sure that they are materially uh correct as it relates to the front statements that have been audited. There are two new gazs that will be applicable to the county next year. uh 103 will be just changes a little bit in how the presentation of your management
082discussion analysis looks and then also there will be some uh uh discussion about budget to uh changes whether it be uh amended to original budget or actuals to uh the final budget uh discussed in the required supplement information and then also just how your business type activities uh are defining your operating and non-operating activity as well as subsidies and 104 will be minim minimal impact to the county, but really just your capital asset roll forward descriptions will change a little bit. As part of our audit, we uh entered data into the local government commission portal that and then they uh feed back to us if there's any financial performance indicators of concern that we need to address with you at this meeting. Happy to say there's no financial performance indicators of concern that came up
083as part of that process. Uh couple of those that are listed here. Budget tax levies have not more than 3% uncollected. I have a positive general fund total fund balance. No uh pre no issues with any of the pre- audit process or and you have a process in place to avoid any pervasive budget issues. You have no let late debt service payments or de uh covenant compliance issues and no statutory violations as it relates to the financial statements. So with that, I'll open up if anyone has Any questions? >> Any questions for Dan before he leaves? >> Okay. >> Thank you, Dan. Appreciate that. >> Um just a brief overview um this afternoon that I'll go through on our actual financial statements results. I'll again keep this brief because we'll go through this in more
084detail through the budget process as far as fund balance and our intended uses for that. But I did want to take the opportunity to say thank you to my staff, to the entire county staff that's involved in the audit process. It takes a team effort for sure. It also takes a lot of collaboration between other county departments and the management team and you as chair and vice chair also doing your interviews with the auditors. We appreciate your help throughout that process. Um so to begin with uh we'll look at our governmentwide financial statements which is full approval which means everything baked in all together governmental business type activities and all those long-term liabilities that we have to account for um only at the end of the year. We don't have to budget for those but
085we do have to account for those. And then we'll look at the general fund section separately which you're most familiar with as we go through the budget process. And then we'll also look at the water and sewer fund um financial ending results. Um we didn't want to go through all of our funds because we have a lot um but we wanted to hit on the major highlights for you tonight. So this first slide here has a lot of numbers on it. So this is our net position statement um the snapshot at the end of the year for 2025 compared to 2024. So anything that shows up in the governmental activities lines is everything except for our water and sewer enterprise fund and our solid waste fund. So governmental activities accounts for everything else. Again, business
086type is recording the assets and liabilities only for water and sewer and only for solid waste. Um I'm going to talk about in totals for this slide here. So, our assets and deferred outflows exceeded our liabilities, which is our payments due, and deferred inflows by $413 million. So, this was actually a decrease from the prior year of around $22 million. And I'll go into the major highlights of those changes on the next slide. And I did want to point out, as I point out, each year in our governmental activities, we always have a negative ending net position balance. And this is really due to the fact that the county issues all the debt for schools in South Pedmont Community College, but we don't get the benefit of carrying their assets on our books. We get
087the benefit of paying their debt service payments. Um just in total assets, now the county um has $1.8 billion in assets that we maintain each year and our total liabilities are around 1.1 million. um that doesn't include our deferred outflows or res or inflows of resources which are really attributable to all those long-term liabilities we have to account for for OPED separation allowance and retirement um and some deferred inflows for debt service related items as well. So is there any questions about the major overall picture before we move forward? So the major changes that we saw from the prior year in our assets were really um in cash and investments. We had a decrease of around $93 million. This is to be expected as you were spending down bond proceeds from previously issued bonds. Um
088which was really attributable mainly to the Forest Hills High School project and the East Elementary School project that was underway during FY25. Um compared to the prior year, most of that construction took place during FY25. And we also are now spending down a good chunk of our ARPA funds compared to what we have been in prior years since we actually have the construction up and going for the Crooked Creek project. As our auditor mentioned before, we had to book the accounts receivable for the opioid settlement in full. This year we added $15 million um into our accounts receivable balance mainly due to that opioid settlement that goes through 2039 um to recognize that as he said as a exchange transaction which really meant we gave up our right to go back and go back after
089those pharmaceutical companies through that settlement that we entered into with the state. We also recorded $14 million in really accounts receivable which is due from other governments. So this is really attributable to the state grant funds that we were awarded for water and sewer projects. So we are spending that money down but we have to turn that in for reimbursement to the state. So this is really just a time different from when we actually spent the expenditures until we actually receive those funds back in the following fiscal year which could be delayed about a month or so before we get that funding back. But we are on a regular schedule with that now, receiving funds regularly throughout the construction process for those particular projects. For our capital assets, we we added $45 million to the
090overall county assets. And this is really mainly due to ongoing water and sewer projects as well as donated assets from developers for those water and sewer lines once we take over those lines for subdivisions. our deferred outflow of resources decreased by $23 million. So this is really related to OPED and if you're not familiar with what OPEB is, that is the other postemployment benefits for health care for our retirees once they are eligible for those benefits after retirement. And also pension, this is our share of our retirement pension through the state for our employees and the separation allowance. The liabilities changes that we saw that were major was the net o net oped liability increased by $9.6 million. So every year we have the actuarial consultant redo our study to determine if our liability goes
091down or goes up and they look at all the changes of assumptions in the economy. They look at inflation. They look at medical care costs. They look at um our interest rates in the market. And as you know those are coming down. So as those come down our rate of return on our trust goes down and then our liability goes up. The majority of this change for this particular year is our change in benefits. If you do recall last fiscal year you made as a board the change to our plan to actually add back in employees who have 20 years of service to receive health care benefits once they retire. So, the combination really of those changes of assumption of adding those employees back into the plan as well as that long-term rate of return
092knowing that interest rates are going down in the market is really attributing to this change in our liability. We saw just a small change in our local government retirement pitch and liability. Again, this is only our proportionate share of the overall um state local government retirement plan for all employees. We saw a decrease in our long-term liabilities of around $57 million. This is really attributable to us paying down principal debt service payments during FY25. We actually did not issue any new debt in FY25. We didn't issue the new school debt or South Pemont until July. So, that won't be added on until fiscal year 26. Um, and then we saw an increase in our deferred inflow of resources. Again, this is related to those long-term liabilities for OPED pension and separation allowance. I know that's
093a lot to absorb, so I'm going to stop and ask if you have any questions before we move forward. >> Uh Beverly, I've got one question going back to the capital assets. >> Yes. >> Um the note here is mainly due to ongoing water and sewer projects. So, um you I'm just assuming that you know capital would include um you know improvements there with like Crooked Creek with the expansion at 12 mile. >> Yes. >> Um the the transmission lines that we're doing. >> Uh would that also I guess the question is would that also include like some of the smaller projects that we've approved such as the short water line extension program? >> So a capital asset definition for the county is anything that has a value over $10,000. So, if we buy a
094vehicle, it's a capital asset. If we buy a piece of equipment, a lawnmower for parks and recreation, it's over $10,000. That gets added into our overall fixed asset values and then depreciates out over time. >> Gotcha. Thank you. >> Yes. Any more questions? So, now we'll move on. We're going to focus on our general funds. And when I say funds for us, as you're aware, we have all the budgetary funds broken out, but state statute says you can only have one general fund that you report to the state and you report in your financial statements. So these are all the funds combined right now that we will be that I'm talking about with this particular screen. So for actual revenues for the general funds together, we collected about $46 million. Our revenues exceeded our budget
095estimates by 13.1 million. The majority of those categories that we excelled in, if you will, is in investment earnings. We saw a great return on our investments this past year compared to budget because the market is so uncertain. We don't try to account for what we think we're going to maximize on those returns. And also in our tax collections, we saw an increase in the motor vehicle tax values in collections compared to really what we thought when we did the budget estimates back in May of 2024 for 2025. So, um, that's really where the majority of the excess revenue came from. And for our actual expenditures, we spent $380 million, which was under budget by about 13.9. Um, and a lot of that is attributable to attrition and vacancies and a lot of the programs
096and human services not spending a 100% of their expenses for the year. For our other financing sources category for expenditures, um, we spent $27 million. This really includes all the transfers out of the general fund. So when you approve funding for any capital improvement projects or the volunteer fire departments for the county funding portion that gets categorized as other financing sources and sent out to those other funds as an actual funding source. Um so overall from the prior year we experienced a decrease in fund balance of about $1.9 million. Um, and over to the right is just a small chart showing where we were at in 2021 compared to where we ended up in 2025. Um, this next slide here just shows as a percentage where our revenues come from. Um, which is no surprise.
097The majority of our revenues are from property taxes and sales tax followed by intergovernmental receipts which is federal and state grants or any funds that we receive from other municipalities or governmental jurisdictions. So this next slide um shows our expenditures. Um the majority of our expenditures are going towards education for 35% followed by public safety at 20% and then our debt and leases and subscriptionbased IT service arrangements at 15%. And then our human services at 16%. Um, so this really indicates that we operate on a lean budget for general overall county government. About 9% of our expenditures go towards that. Are there any questions about um the general fund before we move on to fund balance? No. So this is where we ended up. This is a slide showing um the individual funds that we
098talk about during budget time and then the total general funds combined. Um just to go over the fund balance categories for education awareness. Um as we go through the audit, we have to break down fund balance into different categories based on the Gazsby standards and GAP standards for governmental accounting. So we start with non-spendable, which is the most restricted, meaning you can't spend it at all. This is really related to things such as inventory that we have in stock or any prepaid expenses that's been paid in advance of the end of the fiscal year. Um the only prepaid expenses we really have is postage for our postage machines until we actually use it. Um the second um category is restricted fund balance. So this is restricted by an outside entity or a state statute. So
099the state statute requires any accounts receivable balances that we record those as restricted as well as any federal state grants that we may have received in advance of actual expenditures. Those are considered restricted assets that we have as well. Your committed fund balance is the board's policy for the 20% of expenditures that we hold back in the case of a rainy day or emergency. We would be able to pull from. Um following that is your assigned fund balance. This is funding that you as a board have taken action on either through the budget process or a budget amendment that was done after fiscal year end. that becomes assigned fund balance and is not available to use as you enter into the next budget cycle. And then the question that we get the most about from
100um the management team and the commission is what is our unassigned balance? What do we have available that we can use for one-time items within our policy or to pay down debt service? So, as you can see for all the general funds combined, there's about $22.5 million of unassigned fund balance. That of course includes the education debt fund and education budgetary funds added together. Um I would note that in your consent agenda tonight, you adopted two budget amendments, one for the land easement program and one for the tuition reimbursement program. So as you do that, that decreases this value based on the date the financial statements were done. Um, and those numbers will be updated as we go through the budget process to determine how we best utilize those funding sources. Any questions about the
101fund balance for the general funds? Okay. So for the water and sewer fund, they had operating revenues of about $85 million and their operating expenditures of around $87 million, pointing out that this does include the depreciation expenses for assets for around $35 million. Their nonoperating revenues that they collected this year was around $25 million. And I did want to point out their nonoperating revenue includes their state grant funding for those projects that are ongoing that we are getting reimbured for with state grant funds. Um they saw an increase in their net position of around $64 million. Again, this is really attributable to them increasing their assets and those donated assets that they receive from developers. And this is just a snapshot of their full acrruel accounting basis. Um, as you saw for our governmentwide, um,
102going back to 2021, just for comparison, um, and I'll be glad to answer any questions you may have about any of their financials, if any. One question we normally get is how much did we get in system development fees? um we got about $1.5 million in 2025 and the donated assets were around $22 million. So that's $22 million of assets that we now take over to maintain and operate. So that's all I have for you all unless you have any further questions for me tonight. Any questions for Beverly? >> I did just want to point out that the um presentations that were attached to the online agenda that went out last week, this presentation had a few minor changes to it. So, if someone's following along at home, this will be updated tonight. So, >>
103thank you all. >> Thank you, Beverly. Um just want to say thank you um you know, all for all that you do, for all that uh that our staff does, you know, to compile these these figures. Um, you guys do a great job for us and certainly appreciate your efforts. >> All right, so that brings us to the end of our business agenda. Um, I will now recognize our county manager for county manager comments. >> I have no comments. Thank you, sir. >> Okay, we'll start over here with Commissioner Balkam. Um, unless you want to let the guy dressed in red, you know, speak for you. >> It's very kind of you. I would just say go Indiana Hooers. >> We We were joking. >> We've only got to do this like once in 120
104years. And frankly, I just don't even know how to act. I'm not sure if you're supposed to like keep it behind and be cool or if you're supposed to show out. I chose the other option. >> Mr. Balkan. Yes, sir. U just appreciate every everyone coming out. Appreciate all the work the staff does. Lord, I would never want to have to put all those numbers in categories. Um so, and just just like to encourage everyone to be careful on the way home. >> Commissioner Merrill, >> just want to wish everyone a happy new year and I look forward to seeing what's on the next agenda. Vice Chair Helms. >> Thank you. Um well, happy new year to everyone. I'd like to start off by thanking um Dr. Landon Kazai for coming out from Lee Park
105and doing our opening prayer. Um he's one of my favorites. Um got to know Landon when my son was in youth at Lee Park. So, he's been a part of the Helms's household for quite some time. Um, congratulations to all those employees that were recognized for the Q4 uh for their time with Union County. Um, great job to Miss Liles as always. She does a fabulous job, her and her team and Lee for coming out and giving us the information on the subdivision. Um, and I'd like to thank Mr. K for bringing his jacket tonight. And I understand there's another jacket that is lying in the wait. So, if Indiana wins, um, I'm giving the other jacket the official invite to come to the next meeting. >> Oh, there's plenty to go in the jacket
106game. I've got >> Okay. >> Bubbles. >> And thank everybody for coming out tonight. >> Thank you. Yeah. So, I'll just say that I'm I'm rooting for Indiana and I'm not even Indiana fan just to see what Mr. Kay is going to wear next. So, uh, so yeah, I I couldn't tell earlier if he was if he lost the bet or won the bet. I I think that he won the bet. So, um, so once again, I just want to thank our staff, uh, for all the effort that you put into our meetings. Um, thank uh, all of you that were in attendance tonight. Certainly appreciate you guys being here, taking time out of your day to join us. Um, yeah, I'll echo Commissioner Balkam's comments. you know, just want to uh to wish everyone
107a new year and also a safe travels home. So, with that, that concludes um our meeting for tonight and um and I will make a motion to adjourn. All those in favor of the motion say I. >> I. >> Thank you.