001Call the May 5th, 2025 regular meeting of the Union County Board of Commissioners to order. At this time, I would like to recognize Vice Chair, Commissioner Brian Helms for the invocation. Thank you, Madam Chair. If you're so inclined, please join me in prayer. Dear heavenly father, Lord, we just want to thank you, Lord. Uh thank you for all the blessings that you've bestowed on uh not only our county, but our state and also our nation. Um Lord, as we uh progress through this meeting tonight, I pray for uh I pray that you grant this board guidance and also fortitude to not only do what's right, but do what's right when it's not easy. Um Lord, I also want to pray uh for your blessings upon Christina Helms and her family as she mourns the loss
002of her father. Lord, I ask these things in your name. Amen. Amen. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The next item on the agenda is informal comments from the community. Has anyone signed up to speak for informal comments? We do have a couple of people that have signed up. We will recognize the speakers for informal comments. 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 which they reside, if any. Each speaker will have three minutes to make remarks. A tone may sound at the conclusion of your remarks. A speaker may not yield any
003of 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. Restatements or repetitive comments by the same speaker whether at the same or separate meetings may be ruled out of order and terminated by the chair. Personal attacks will not be tolerated and speakers may leave written comments and or supporting documents if any with the clerk to the board. Okay, the first speaker we have signed up is Bryant Lindsay. Madam Chair, I appreciate the recognition. Uh I uh don't want to spend a lot of time on identifying me because the time is very limited. uh you have some identifying material about me uh with the information that I provided to you. I came to you uh I
004wanted to come very directly to the point. I think all of you are aware of America 250 uh and America 250NC. And um in in in North Carolina at this point, I think of the 100 counties about 77 of the counties have formed county committees and that, as you know, qualifies them for some funding from the state. At least it did initially. It's not clear, you know, whether money will be there, you know, for the duration, but those counties that signed up uh months ago each received $10,000 for signing up, which they could use for planning and then use that to qualify for additional fundings. I can't think of another county in the state that can benefit more with the with a revolutionary history that exists, you know, in this county named for, you know,
005President Monroe and including Waxaws, uh, which was part of the Battle of the Waxaws and and all of that ties into the Over Mountain Victory North Carolina state trail. And so that's what I wanted to bring to you briefly. If you will look at the map that I gave you, uh you will uh you'll see how it's marked the the the counties that are in are in the darker gray. The counties that are not yet in are in the lighter gray. And I circled for you on the on what you have. I didn't need to circle it for you. You know where it is. But I also indicated on some of nearby counties and other counties that we have appro that I have approached and I think almost all of those counties you know are
006either in or are coming in. For example, Rutherford County, you know, is is is now in it's not shown yet on the on the on the state's maps. uh Guilford County until recently and still is the largest county in the state that that has not yet joined. Uh but I have the assurance from their county manager that they will be in by July 4th and July 4th of course is a very important date. On that date, I will be up at not speaking, but I will be up at Mount at Thomas Jefferson's home, Montichello, and uh Ken Burns will be speaking that day, and I am fortunate enough to be there to listen to that. The second sheet you will see there is the is a template for how to pass you know what you
007need to have in a in in a I don't know if that that's the template and you'll see from the template that all you really need to do with that template and it's legal at that point is to put in the name of this county our county your county where where we plan for progress I I would I I like to stay after the meeting talk to anybody that would be willing to talk to me. Uh, and it'll get me back to Morgan a little bit later tonight. But I I would welcome the chance to talk to you about whether or not you could get me in before July 4th this year and whether or not it would be possible to announce to the legislaturators America's semi-quincentennial committee when they meet uh in May, I
008think on the 20th uh that you you're on track to to be in. In fact, you could have legislators there to speak to that point. I I'm sorry that I went over, but there's a lot of good things to talk about and you all are at the center of what could be done during all of America Nc. America America 250 NC. Thank you very much. Thank you for being here tonight. Thank you. Our next speaker is Richard Daunt. Good evening. I'm Richard Daunt from Waxaw. Uh I am a member of the Waxaw board of commissioners, but tonight I'm speaking personally, not for the board. On your agenda, you have a resolution to oppose North Carolina House Bill 765. I'm here to urge you to support that resolution. HB765 will decimate the ability of local governments
009to represent North Carolinians on issues of land use by assigning a minimum residential density of four houses per acre and by opening up members of local boards to personal liability if they have a fixed opinion that is not subject to change. There goes the First Amendment. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. This bill has a long list of issues. For the sake of time, I'll leave the details to your staff presentation. Contractors and realtors are over represented among the sponsors of this bill. And according to Port City Daily News, the primary sponsors have received large campaign contributions from homebuilder and realtor associations. Representative Mark Brody, $45,900. Representative Matthew Winslow, $25,150. Representative Jeff Zinger, $31,000. Representative Carla Cunningham, $29,900. This bill is touted as an affordable housing solution, but it will be much less
010affordable for people to own their own homes when the property taxes have to fund infrastructure that will be required to support a mountain of residential development. If this bill goes through, North Carolina will be the shame of the nation. No other state has gone this far with restricting local governments. In a recent revision of the bill, they reversed the downzoning prohibition that was passed in December's Senate Bill 382. Talk about lipstick on a pig. That's like a mugger saying, "Don't complain about losing your money. I gave you back your wallet." Thank you for your time. Are there any other speakers Are there any other speakers that have not signed up that are here and wish to speak tonight? Hearing none, we will now move to the next item on our agenda. Up next, we have
011item 251 185 recognition of the 2025 Union County or MissUN County Pageant winners. I will recognize Terry Connell Davis, Miss Union County Pageant Director for this item. Girls, come on. Want them to do like they did last time. That's your baby miss. As the girls are coming around, I just wanted to say thank you to the community, city and county, for all your support. We've really enjoyed bringing back this pageant. Um, the last time it was here was last year, then this year, but it hadn't been here for like 13 years. So, these girls have done a miraculous job already this year, and they are all service above self. So, um, just wave your hand when I call your name. Uh, Miss Union County 2025 is Shelby Simone. And uh, Miss Teen Union County is
012Cooper Diesson. And Miss Junior is Mackenzie Chapman. And Miss Pretine is Brooklyn Millis. And young Miss is Elen. There she is. And then Crosby Austin is little Miss. And then we have first runner up Stella Graznik is our toddler miss. There she is. Hey Stella. And then we have Sophie Ray Jackson is the baby miss with the beautiful shoes on. And we just want to say again, thank y'all for your support and the community support. And we have have girls here that just got off work, some that just ran the track meet. But hey, they are dependable and they're here and they're here for your service, too. So, if you guys need for us to be present at anything that you're having in the community, we'd love to help. Thank y'all. Thank [Applause] you. Three.
013One, two, three. Thank you. Congratulations. Our next agenda item is 25-219 Hurricane Helen recognition. I want to recognize Andrew Ansley, emergency management director for this [Applause] item. Good afternoon, Madame Chair, Vice Chairman Helms, Commissioners, Manager Matthews, and leadership team. This agenda item is to recognize the agencies within Union County for answering the call for help during Hurricane Helen. As you know, Hurricane Helen struck western North Carolina with devastating effects, including loss of life, property, water systems, electrical service, internet, cellular, and radio infrastructure, as well as roadways, bridges, and catastrophic flooding from 30 in plus of rainfall in some areas. This storm is one of the largest mobilization of resources in North Carolina history. Traditionally, emergency management, the fire marshall's office, law enforcement, fire departments, and EMS have deployed into disaster areas. This storm is much
014more complex and destructive, requiring assistance from groups that have never deployed before. Union County answered the call in force. As you can tell, I brought an army with me tonight. Uh at the March 2025 North Carolina Emergency Management Association conference, Union County Emergency Management was presented with a North Carolina flag, which was flown over the Western Branch office in Hickory, North Carolina, and a certificate recognizing Union County's response in western North Carolina. Some if not all of the agencies are represented tonight. These include within Union County government, the sheriff's office, water, environmental health, social services, 911 communications, and public communications. Outside of county government includes Monroe Fire Department, Bakers Fire Department, Mineral Springs Fire Department, Wesley Chapel Fire Department, Stalin's Police, Monroe Police, Waxaw Police, Union EMS, and the town of Waxaw. And these folks
015are here in the audience. Most all of them are in the audience and we do have the award that we will bring up and I think we're going to try to get everybody in for a picture. [Applause] Okay. So, the rule is if you can't see me, I probably can't see you. So, try to stagger in between people's. Show your face. We're gonna do our best. Oh man. See if we could do another row. It I think we're going to need another row. We like the shortest people in the There you go. Yeah, short people. You know who you are. See who do we all got? We still got people funing. We need We have a little bit more space on this side. We can shift down a little bit. We got a bunch of
016people over here. Ashley, did I say we can get some people down in front, too, if you want to? Yeah, you can kneel. No, um I can get It's a tough one, guys. This is a tough one. This is a lot of people. Okay. Uh, no. I I mean I can see everybody, but Well, I can see most of you, I should say. Everyone smile. Three, two, one. I'm going to take a couple. Maybe if you want to shift around a little bit. All right, we'll run with it. All right. [Applause] Thank you. It's now time for consideration of the agenda and consent agenda. Are there any motions regarding requested revisions or amendments to either the consent agenda or the business agenda? Commissioner Helms, please. Um, thank you, Madam Chair. Um, I would like to
017make the motion that we move item 25-278, that's budget amendment, budget amendment, uh, Union County Sheriff's Office to business, please, for discussion. And madam chair, if the board please, I would like to offer u some brief changes as well. I would like to add one item entitled county funded lobbyist. This would be an action item. Another item, report from commissioner sides on the visit to Cabaris County Jail and Annex. I would also like to pull item 25215 the spra contract and with architect and engineer off the consent agenda to the business agenda and item 25-265 terminate relocking and controls off of consent to the business agenda. Can you give me the last two numbers again? I couldn't find them. Sure. Um the last two is the uh 25215 the SPRA contract architect and engineers for
018design and construction of the SPRA and 25265 uh terminate the relocking and controls item. Commissioner H. Madam Chair, thank you. Um, so it appears as though we've got two different motions here. So I made that motion for item 25278. Um, I think we should vote on these separately. Okay. If uh if the chair's Yeah. in agreement. Okay. Um, I have a motion to pull 25-278, a budget amendment. Um, all those in favor of um moving that to business say I. I. I. Okay. Um, we have a request to pull 25-265 the locking mechanisms off of consent to business. All those in favor say I. I. I. 25-215. Um, request to pull that off of consent and bring that to business. All those in favor say I. I. I. And then you had some other request.
019I'd requested two items be added. First to the business agenda. Item number one is countyfunded lobbyist. This would be an action item. Item two was report from Commissioner Sides on visit to the Cabaris County Jail and Annex. That is not an action item. That is for information only. Madam Chair, yes, Commissioner Helms. Um I'll be opposed to the motion to add items to our agenda tonight um for a couple of different reasons. Um first of all, um you know, we are down a member tonight. uh as Commissioner Christina Helms could not be here. Uh but second of all, um our this board has got certain rules and procedures and according to our rules and procedures, rule number nine, um subsection C states the following that the board is discouraged from adding items to the agenda
020the night of the meeting. However, the board may by majority vote add an item uh not on the agenda. So to me what this states is is that this action is possible for things that are um time is time is of the essence type type items. Um I would recommend that commissioner sides uh consider putting these items you know on the agenda through the process in in uh through our board uh rules and procedures where it allows for these items to be added uh a week in advance. Um because you know ultimately this is uh this these are things that this board has to prepare for um is things that you know we need more information on before we can vote um from an educated standpoint. And then the other thing is is I believe
021that this does a disservice to the people that we serve because other folks may be interested in being a part of that discussion and being here at our meetings and uh and ultimately they can't be if we add this stuff on last minute. So I'll be opposed to the additions. Okay. I would just add in response, I'll be glad to remove the action item, which is the county funded um lobbyist, but the other item is purely information from my visit to the Cabaris County Jail. And this information, I believe, is very relevant to our own jail issue and a potential opportunity to follow the path that Cabaris used very successfully some 20 years ago. So, this is only an information item. It would not require a vote or action. And I just wanted to frankly
022give you this report while it's still fresh in my mind. But uh I'll uh I'll lend to the uh majority if you decide not to and uh reschedule it for next time. Um Commissioner Sid, the packet went out on Wednesday and um I I regret that we did not know you were taking that field trip. Um, and it's kind of a surprise to me to add that now. Um, and I do think it's unfortunate that one of our commissioners is is not here tonight to to receive the information and staff has not um had an opportunity um you know to prepare for this either. So um I'm going to call a vote. Um, everyone in favor of adding um the fun, you don't have to vote. I'll I'll resend my request and I'll make it
023uh to the leadership in a timely fashion so that it can be discussed the next meeting, but I'll withdraw these two actions. Okay? And just for future reference, we um the chair and the vice chair meet with staff on Monday, Monday a late Monday afternoons. And that would be a great time to submit to the chair and the vice chair anything you would like to have on the agenda so that we can work with staff to put it on the agenda. And then of course when Miss Lynn uh sends out the packet on Wednesday, if there's anything that anyone would like to add or remove or uh move from consent to business, uh that between Wednesday and the weekend would be a great time to work with the chair and the vice chair to to
024change the agenda. Acknowledged. Okay. So, um we do have an amended agenda with three items that have been um pulled from consent. Um item 25265 regarding locking mechanisms 25215 um for architectural um information on page 10 25-278. A budget amendment change has been pulled from consent and moved from agenda. Move to the business agenda. All those in favor of the amended agenda say I. I. I. Very good. Okay. That brings us to the business agenda. Madam, the Yes. I I think you probably still do need to take action on approving the consent agenda even though it's been modified. And I'll defer to Jason if I'm incorrect. I I think the previous motions amended the agenda, moved it around a bit. Um and then uh the final action would be to approve the newly revised consent
025agenda specifically as opposed to the whole amendment as it got rearranged. We had a lot going on there. Madam Chair, I'll make that motion. I'll make the motion that we approve the consent agenda as amended. Okay. All those in favor say I. I. I. Okay. Okay. We are going to start with what we were planning to do on business first and that is 25-225 on the business agenda. The first item uh for Hurricane Helen waterway debris removal update. I want to recognize Andrew Ansley, emergency management director concerning this item. Good afternoon again. You should have a copy of these slides at your at your desk. So tonight is just to provide you just an update on uh some storm debris removal that's that's going on throughout the county. Uh as you know Hurricane Helen u
026the major disaster declaration Union County was added to that um a little bit late after the original uh counties of west western North Carolina were were a part of that uh roughly October of 24 for us for any given area. Uh there's an approval process that takes place between FEMA, the Army Corps of Engineers, Department of Environmental Quality, Wildlife Resources, Federal Federal Historic Preservation uh for temporary debris and disposal sites. Uh a right of entry agreement um has to take place in order for these debris contractors to to work on property. So they engage uh HOAs, private land owners, and municipalities during this process. And this is just an example. This is um um 12mi Creek outside of a neighborhood in Waxaw. And you can see the debris that's collected um not only from Haleem
027but likely from Florence all the way back to 2018 and tropical storms in between there. So a little bit about this program. FEMA task the Army Corps for coordinating the removal of this debris uh if it poses a threat to immediate life and safety uh which in our case is flooding. We're trying to reduce or eliminate flooding in a lot of areas. The projects have to be completed by June 1st, which is right around the corner. And the Army Corps determines what qualifies under this program for removal. There's no cost to the residents, uh, businesses or municipalities. So, last Thursday, we're in daily contact with the debris contractors andor the core. I made a request last Thursday for an extension um because the amount of debris that's in the county um they're not going to
028get done before uh June 1st. So, there is an army of vehicles, these dump trucks. Um you've probably seen up and down the roads throughout the county. There's probably 50 or more of these um vehicles. So, the way this works, Union County Emergency Management made the request to North Carolina uh who handed it off to FEMA. FEMA handed off to Army Army Corps and they oversee debris contractors that are from all over the country that are here. Um Michigan, Louisiana, Utah, um Arkansas, Alabama, they're everywhere, all over the county working. So, here's an example of the good work they're doing. This is Waxornian Trail right near Shannon Road. And as you know, Shannon Road has a lot of flooding. Um this is what the the view from the bridge looked like before. And this is
029what it looks like now. So they um we give them the original points um which roughly were about 87 to get them started. Once they get in that area, they will um walk by ground. They will fly drones and they will go north, south, east or west of that point and and determine debris and clean it as they go. Um meeting certain criteria which um really there's not a lot that disqualifies it. Um, this is by far the most comprehensive stream cleanout that has ever happened in this county. So, the locations um, and we we get the information about where debris is from, um, our knowledge from where it's flooded. We we've tracked flooded roads since Hurricane Florence. Uh we get it from neighborhoods, we get it from individuals, we get it from municipalities and
030we get it from um the debris contractors that have been surveying the county continuously. Uh not every location will qualify, but most all of them um have qualified so far. So they began their work March 29th um in the county. A little bit of statistics and this was as of last Friday. They have removed 150,000 cubic yards of debris so far. They have three what they call debris management sites. One of those is in Waxaw on Highway 75. One is on Jack Davis just off stack and then um a very visible one is up 601 North uh just past Sykes Mill on the right as you're going out of town. There are roughly 25 crews operating with 28 hauling vehicles that bring the debris. All the debris is mulched um and will um starting tomorrow.
031All of it will start being hauled to a a farm farm off of uh Morgan Mill Road. Right now there's 150 sites been identified. Roughly 73 of those have been approved for work. Uh the balance of those are in some various state of approval. This vehicle that you see in this picture, this is on the sewer rideway behind 12mm Creek um plant in Waxaw. This is one of the vehicles that they use to remove uh timber out of the waterway and load it on their trailer and and uh drive it to the to the site. They have a variety of equipment that they use um for this purpose. Uh in some counties, not ours, they even have a barge or two that gets on lakes and removes uh debris from the water. This is an
032example of Waxawall site. Um, and you can see the the amount of debris that has been pulled. And this site pulls debris from pretty much the Waxaw, Westy Chapel, Mineral Springs, Sandy Ridge, Cane Creek Park. We had a lot of debris moved out of Cane Creek Park. Um, the truck at the bottom there you can see is they they bring it in, offload it themselves, and then go back out. They work 12 hours a day, seven days a week. There's a close-up view. You don't realize how much debris is in the waterways in this county until these folks get out and start pulling it. Uh the blue circle was is a um monitoring station. So they have the army corps that monitors the load. So when the truck comes in, they make uh notation of
033the amount of debris in the trailer. They offload it and then the truck goes back by to ensure it's empty and then they go back and get another load. The red circle is one of the largest tracks that they make and you can see the difference between the debris and the size of that trackco. There's a lot of debris there. The bottom right hand corner, this is the mulching machine that's on 601 North. Like I said, uh it's a continuous operation 12 hours a day. his debris comes in, they're processing it into mulch and then hauling it to this farm on Morgan Mill Road. And that's it. I'm happy to answer any questions you have. Well, thank you for being here tonight. I've actually gotten a lot of phone calls about the um creeks and
034streams um being cleaned up. Some of the owners were a little bit confused, didn't know what was going on. Um but they were very happy um when they were informed the work that was being do um being done. I did receive a call a couple of weeks ago. So I'm very from um the mayor of Unionville, Randy Balkam. Um one of the streams actually flows through some of his property and he had the opportunity to meet um the company that was contracted. I believe they were from Maine um doing some of the work and he was extremely pleased with um the cleanup work this particular um contractor was doing. So, I'm happy to hear tonight that you have applied for an extension. Um, the conversation that he had with the main contractor was that in
035order to do this cleanup properly, um, was that they would not be done by June, just like you said in your presentation. Um, and they had communicated to him that they needed like 8 to 10 more weeks, possibly an August deadline. When you applied for an extension, what what did you request? I didn't I didn't request a timeline initially. I just see if they would entertain it. Um and I had a call with FEMA in the in the core today. Um nobody's committed to anything, but they realize that there's still areas in the county we had even touched. Um and with the 150 sites we have, only half of them being approved, there is a backlog in their approval process. So, um, and I too get phone calls. I get probably three to five a
036day from citizens. Um, and all of it is dispelling it being a scam. And if you think about, uh, a truck pulling up in your driveway with Michigan tags and says, "Here, sign this form. I'm representing FEMA." Uh, they're very skeptical about that. But once you walk them through all of that, um, you know, they all have the right to deny entry if they want to. Some have uh the vast majority of them have not. Um they all realize and and have been looking forward for this opportunity as well as I have for years that this bucket of money has never existed before. Right. Um so we're we are maximizing this every minute of the day. Um I devote 75% of my week to this now. Um because it's it's constant phone calls and collaboration.
037There's a one or two star general with the with the army that is the ultimate person. He will be coming here um and inspecting the site, but um we hope that they'll do the extension um on this cuz there's at least six months or more that they need to do. Okay. Wow. That's a lot longer than August. So, yes. Well, I would greatly appreciate if you stay in touch with us. you know, let the commissioners know or Brian Matthews know where where this goes with your request because I know um you know, out in the Unionville area and I'm sure in Wes, you know, Wesley Chapel, Waxaw, we saw the pictures. Um I've I've gotten calls. Is it Richardson? I've got I've got Richardson, Chinkapin, and then Crooked Creek. I've gotten phone calls. So, um,
038if you could please keep us updated if there's anything we can do to assist with your request. Um, we might do that if we need to. And then Congressman Mark Harris, you could put in a request with his office as well. So, I did get calls today that, um, areas that usually flood, this weekend's rain didn't have any flooding. Oh, wow. So, it's paying off. Okay. So, well, thank you very much. I think we do have another question. Okay. Um just trying to answer some of the phone calls that I've had. Sure. So you are only cleaning out the bed of the stream. Correct. You're No, sir. They they will do the waterway and then they will do u out 30 or 40 feet from that waterway. 30 or 40. So debris that floats in
039land that and settles on land as the water recedes, they're grabbing that all the way to the waterway. Not taking out any live vegetation. and you're only taking out what has there are some trees and and uh areas that they do have to cut to get the machinery in there, but that is something that I encourage the property owners as you have those conversations. If there's areas you don't want them in or don't want to cut, you need to let them know that. So, all those agreements between the contractors and the um private land owners is between those two. You know, the countyy's not involved in that part of it. Mhm. Um, but I do have those phone calls too that, hey, I don't want them cutting my walnut tree down and that kind of
040thing. And you know, that's just something for them that they need to make sure these debris guys know that when they're in there doing that work. Okay. Well, we're not clearing the flood planes. We're not clearing. No. All right. It's not there's not land. Now, there is land clearing going on. It's not from this purpose. There's some other land clearing going on unrelated to this, especially around the Waxaw area. Um, but no, they're not clearcutting people's. This is strictly for flood control. Correct. Correct. Nothing pertaining to the greenway trying to come through. Nothing pertaining to sewer. No, sir. No, I've had a lot of question, you know. I get them, too. Yes, sir. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Next on our agenda is 25-245 resolution to oppose House Bill 765. I want to recognize
041County Manager Brian Matthews regarding this item. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh previously, um we were made aware of a um a bill been introduced in the House and I believe there's a companion bill in the in the Senate. um different number. Um but the bill is is really an effort um in in our opinion uh to take away local government control especially when it comes to planning and development um and and the decisions made at the local level and um you know several our board members expressed concern with it and they wanted to have a discussion here about that uh potentially adopt a resolution in opposition to it and I can tell you that this is a statewide issue. This is not just unique to North Carolina, I mean to to Union County. It is
042statewide. Um there are a number of um I would say draft resolutions that are out there from different organizations opposing this. Um just to give you a little flavor for some of the issues we see with this. Um it requires minimum densities of at least four units per acre. Um again, that is a local decision. That's not a state decision, but this would make it a statewide requirement that no no less than four units per acre. Um it eliminates um design requirements for streets and how your streets could actually be designed to be um better maintained. Um it eliminates u public input. So right now we have the the means for when a development is going through a a resoning process, the public is allowed to speak, make comments about that. The board takes that
043information into consideration. Um this would take that away from the public. They would not be allowed to actually comment and decision would basically be taken out of the the board's hands. Um and it also requires that the process is expedited once an application is submitted. um there's a very quick time frame and if the local government doesn't meet that time frame, the application is deemed automatically approved. And so that's just a small um list of some of the issues with this legislation. Um this is uh something we've seen in the past. This is has been common that we've seen these um efforts to erode local government control. Um, so I I I did want to just tee that up a little bit so then the board could have some discussion and make a decision on
044where you wanted to move from that. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Thank you, Commissioner Helms. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, I I want to bring out a few provisions of this bill that will directly affect Union County. So, uh, this bill obviously addresses so many things. Um, and to county manager Matthew's point, um, that's exactly what it does is it takes away local, uh, development and planning authority from, uh, not only Union County, but every county and municipality in the state. So, the first thing that it it tries to tackle that really stood out to me that would uh, negatively affect our county is is the topic of density. And um what they've what our state legislature and the sponsors of this bill have done is they've made changes to a section called 160D-703.
045So that's general statute 160D-703 in regards to zoning districts. And this is on page 11 of the bill or at least the first version of the bill. Um and what it does is it's got point number two here. In a county with a population between 50,000 and 274,999, the sighting of no fewer than five dwelling units per acre. Now, um, Union County is going to fall under that category with our population. And under this provision, long-standing zonings of R40 or one house per acre would essentially be no more. Um, in addition, you know, this county or this is going to require our county to allow five houses per acre by right building. Um, which means that nothing's going to come to this board. We're not going to be conditionally reszoning by right building. Um, this
046would create obviously widespread highdensity residential development and strip the authority of this board to govern zoning. So, what effect does this have on farmland and agriculture in our county? How does this affect the critical services that our county offers? You know, we've talked about this time and time again that there's a cost to serve. Uh there's a cost to serve the residents of this county with services, you know, such as EMS, fire, deputies. Um and probably the most concerning aspect of this would be schools. And you know, we we're seeing this currently in our budget cycle that, you know, the voters of Union County just passed a bond a bond um that you know, I would argue that we probably need, but it's to complete the Forest Hills cluster and it also includes design work
047for Parkwood High School. And we're witnessing the effect of that as we develop our current budget. So, if this bill passes, if HB 765 passes, how many more schools will Union County need? and more importantly, what's that going to cost our taxpayers? In my opinion, this provision is a direct attack on the fabric and the character of our of our county. There's uh there's other provisions in there as well. There's other alterations uh for such as shared jurisdictions and uh the language that's been included in this bill, it say it states the following. It says the local government has the ability that has the ability to provide public water and sewer services shall have. Now that's shall that's not should could maybe you know is shall have planning and development regulation jurisdiction over the entire
048parcel. Now, we see this all the time, you know, where we have a resident who's applied for, you know, water services and perhaps the county doesn't have, you know, any um utility lines in that area. And so, the city of Monroe may pick up that customer because I mean, that's the making sure that we didn't have a fire alarm or something there. Um, but that that's common place and and we do that because well, obviously people need water, they need sewer services. Um but you know how does this affect you know what we do as far as planning and and zoning is concerned? Um I mean I if if that's the case, if this goes into effect, this probably creates one of the most confusing situations regarding planning and development I've ever seen. Um one
049of the more interesting aspects of this bill is it goes into voting and conflicts of interest. And I'll touch on this more here in a few minutes, but uh what it includes, it includes language um in general statute 160D-109 uh where it strikes old language and it adds in, you know, new language here. And some of this new language includes the following. Says number three, the member has a fixed opinion prior to the hearing on the matter that is not susceptible to change. And then number four, the member has an undisclosed expart communication about the matter. So how does this affect government the governing board and their their ability to vote? Um does the addition of three and four prohibit a board member who's previously made statements such as hey I don't support highdensity residential
050from voting? Certainly seems that way. How do candidates for local office even campaign? How do voters know where their elected officials and future candidates stand on the issues that the county faces? I suppose that the writers of this bill feel that we won't need to vote on any land use matters if this passes. Um, one of the more egregious um, actions of this bill is is that in 160D-108.1 under vested rights, it says or it actually strikes language regarding zoning action. And it puts this under a more widespread umbrella called land development regulation. And I'm certainly not an attorney uh, like Mr. K is up here. But you know, this was a little bit alarming to me because this board has recently made changes in regards to land development and subdivision ordinances. And to me,
051I'm of the opinion that this is a direct assault on our county's action previously in this year where we started requiring a 30% open space requirement for major subdivisions. The last point that I'll make on this is is this. Um, under 162A-901, water, sewer, and sewer plants. That is one of the most critical things that this board does is manage the utilities. In 162A-901, amendments to this section include the following. It says unless the public system does not have capacity to serve the proposed development or is under a moratorum precluding expansion imposed by general statute 160D-107 or by a state agency. A public system shall reserve necessary capacity for proposed development for 24 months from the date of the completed application for service commitment. If the public system lack, this is the most crucial part
052and this would affect every single rateayer in this county. If the public system lacks sufficient capacity to serve a proposed development, the public system shall within 90 days of notice of reservation denial to the applicant prepare a plan for expansion of the public system capacity. The plan shall include the estimated timeline, funding sources, and steps necessary to implement the plan to expand the public system capacity. during my time on this board since I was elected in 2022 and not long after um I was elected and also Commissioner Merrill was elected um Commissioner Stony Rushing, Commissioner Merrill and myself voted for a policy that would require a bond referendum for any new sewer plant built in this county. This policy puts the decision of future growth in the hands of the voters and not five commissioners.
053This provision of this bill undoes that policy and takes that right away from you, the public. Currently, Union County cannot reserve sewer capacity for certain types of development because it is viewed by state law as discriminatory. Since I've been on this board, Union County has repeatedly asked our state delegation for local legislation to allow us the ability to reserve sewer capacity for commercial and industrial development. Why? Because single family homes can be built so much faster than commercial and other projects that our county desperately needs. This is exactly why we're at 90% residential currently. The addition of this language will also force the county and ultimately the rateayer to fund sewer plant after sewer plant after sewer plant to accommodate residential development. In addition, can funding even be acquired in that time frame? Probably be
054a question for Beverly, but I would think that that's probably going to be a difficult task. Um, how much does the state want us to charge for utility rates? you know, when we when we were discussing site B, I mean, the the cost of site B and the effect on our utility rates was astronomical. And it was astronomical not for two years, but till the end of time. Um, you know, we're not currently on a sustainable trajectory with 90% residential. And this provision would leave us with nothing, no capacity for commercial, industrial, retail, or anything else that we need. residential construction would ultimately be subsidized by all of the rate payers for the profit of the developer. And what's what's your reward going to be for paying higher water and rate or water rates and
055sewer rates? Well, you won't get better water. Your your toilets are not going to flush better. Instead, you're going to get sit in traffic more traffic every single day on roads that are in need of repair because NC DOT can't fund the improvements. There's other things that this bill covers. It covers package plants. It opens the doors for package plants to be utilized like crazy in the state. Um, it also eliminates certain numbers of parking spaces for businesses. It limits the local government's ability to regulate sidewalks, borders, interior roads, and even driveways. But most importantly, and this is what really struck a nerve with me personally, it removes the ability of citizens to petition local government on land use decisions. So, what is HB765? Well, I mean, it's a homebuilder's bill is what it is.
056It's a homebuilder bill that destroys local government authority over zoning, density, and utilities and subsidizes residential development on the backs of the rateayers and the taxpayers. This bill is a developer's dream come true that sells out our county and our state for greed. Don't believe me? Let's look at the primary sponsors of HB765 and also the sub the subsequent secondary sponsors and what their occupation is according to the North Carolina General Assembly's website. It's not something that I made up. You can find this this is public information on the North Carolina General Assembly's website. The four primary sponsors, Jeff Zinger, Foresight County, he's a general contractor and developer. Union County's own Mark Brody. He is listed on the website as a contractor. Matthew Winslow, he represents Franklin Advance County. He's listed as a home builder.
057The fourth is Carla Cunningham from Meckllinmberg. She's a registered nurse. Other sponsors, well, we've got Jay Adams from Kataba. He's a commercial real estate broker. We've got Jerry Branson from Guilford. He owns Stout Trucking that also, you know, helps out with development. Uh we've got Aisha Dub from Meckllinburgg. She's a consultant. We've got Chris Humphrey from All State Insurance Agent or he's an all-state insurance agent. He represents Green Jones and Lenor. We've got Jake Johnson from um Henderson, McDow, and Poke and Rutherford. He's a real estate agent. We've got Grant Writers in here. Uh, we've got Dante Pitman from Nash and Wilson County. We've got Larry W. Pototts from Davidson. He's a real estate investor and a building contractor. We also have Charles Smith from Cumberland. He's an attorney. And then we've got Steve Tyson
058from Craraven. He's a realtor and a general contractor. We've got Shelley Willingham from Birdie and Edgecom and Martin and he's a real estate consultant. So, you do the math. There are 21 prime counting primary and secondary sponsors of this bill and at least twothirds of those sponsors have direct ties to real estate and development. Direct ties. Now, I'm sure that some of the sponsors and proponents will argue that this bill is intended to address an affordable housing crisis. They'll point to a housing gap based on a study by the North Carolina Chamber and State Associations uh representing homebuilders and real estate agents. So that's who commissioned the study. The study, in my opinion, this study is truly an example of a fox in the hen house type situation where the ones that will benefit the
059most get the results that they need. However, keep in mind that the market controls home prices and not state legislation. There is nothing in this bill that prevents or caps home values and prices. In fact, this this bill's density requirements alone will make it more profitable than ever to be a builder in North Carolina. All under the guise of affordable housing. But it's not just HB765 that we got to watch out for. There's another one out there in the Senate. It's called SB688. It's a similar bill. is making its way through the process currently and there's others. This board has stood strong in our promise for managed responsible growth and at every turn we have been met with state legislation such as this to usurp local control in favor of lobbyist groups campaign funding and
060the almighty dollar. These bills 765 and SB688 are a direct attack on the will of the people in Union County who elected us to do just that. In discussions with our state representatives today, um in fact, I've been told that there's going to be a new update to this bill that will exclude Union County and potentially restore the downzoning authority that the state took away from us in SB 382. However, even if this bill only affects a small number of counties, because what they're talking about is the sixth largest. We're currently number eight, I believe, in the state. I still remain in opposition of this because it removes local authority. It moves the needle away from the people. Furthermore, if this becomes law, even in a limited scope, I believe that this still poses a
061threat to the people of Union County. As a commissioner and a citizen of this county, I'm going to continue to oppose legislation such as this with every mean that I have, and I encourage all of our residents to do the same. I want to thank all the residents who have reached out to your state representatives on this. you know, is probably due to your efforts that we're seeing the revisions that we're currently being promised. But I would I would continue to encourage each and every one of you out there. Please reach out to your state delegation, reach out to your general assembly members, reach out to your state senators, reach out to the sponsors on this bill and let them know that you know what, Raleigh doesn't know what's best for Union County. These decisions
062should be left local. So, I'll be in support of the resolution tonight. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Commissioner Helms. I just want to make it very clear that, you know, this bill obviously is a statewide bill. It affects all 100 counties, but it has certainly hit the municipalities in Union County pretty hard. We've had several uh towns in Union County that have already approved um a resolution to oppose this bill. Um I believe Unionville has opposed with a resolution. Indian Trail um any anyone else you can think of? I know that several are considering it and some of them are going to be discussing this tomorrow. So some of the towns um have already had meetings and um passed their resolution to oppose this with more meetings to come. So the list is growing.
063So th this is not a county commissioner issue. This you know affects um our local municipalities and uh the towns that have elected their mayors and their town council or their town commissioners. um this has usurped their power too. So the people that you have elected to represent where you live, not just at the county level, but um is is taking uh decisions away from them as well. So, I think it's very important to know that um a lot of our Union County municipalities have either already approved um the resolution or they will be in the next week or two to oppose this. Um, I find it the in it very interesting that it has a stipulation in there that you can get anything done in 90 days when it comes to water and sewer
064because when the site B um was on our plate a couple of years ago when we first joined the board um you know my first question when I saw um you know House Bill 765 was okay well I learned it takes 10 to 15 years to build a sewer plant. So, how how does that fit in a 90-day time frame? And I think when we were looking at site B, we were looking in excess of, you know, um $200 million to start this plant, then another $150 million to pump it from A to B and or B to A and get it back. And um but then beyond that, are they telling the state that we no longer need DEEQ? Um because DEEQ is the application process to determine if you can even have a
065new sewer plant and they tell you what you can permit it for. Um, and are they going to get rid of the EPA and there's no longer going to be an environmental study because they're saying it has to be done in 90 days. So, I think there are a lot of problems um with this House bill and they're they're taking they're taking more away from from the 100 counties. They're taking um decisions m away from all of the towns across North Carolina, but apparently they have no respect for deeq or an environmental study. Um you know, we need to build houses, so just get it done. Um, but I don't know what how we're going to fund how we would fund an unfunded mandate or where are we going to get this $350 million from
066to begin a 10 to 15year project to build a new sewer plant so they can build these new homes. So, the entire thing just um does not make a lot of sense to me. And um and I would love to know where DEEQ um and uh the EPA where they all stand on this. Um and if you know if all of that's just going to be thrown out the window to build to build new homes. Um but you we're in a situation even with our schools. Um, the whole reason I'm even here today is because of the massive redistricting back in 2013 when almost 6,000 students were kicked out of their neighborhood home or their neighborhood schools and sent to like the third or fourth closest school from their home and then created like a
067four million a two or three million dollar deficit in bus transportation because now all of a sudden the buses we're hauling these kids farther away from their home and then our our rating on our bus transportation dropped in the state. So, we lost more funding on that. Um there was no sibling policy. So, brothers and sisters and poor moms and dads were having to drop their, you know, three kids or five kids off at three different schools because um you know, they couldn't stay together any longer. brothers and sisters, brothers and brothers could no longer play ball together. Um, and so, you know, so I think about redistricting and you know, what's that going to do and where are we going to get the hundreds of millions of dollars to build new elementary schools, land,
068middle schools, high schools? Um it it it just really boggles mind and I'm extremely disappointed that we have a representative from Union County that would sponsor this bill and be the spokesperson for Union County up in Raleigh. So it it's really a travesty and I will be supporting this resolution. Are there any other comments? Yes. U I'd like to add well not add to the resolution but I'd like to add if the resolution passes which I believe it will I would ask the manager signed by leadership if necessary to formally request our full legislative delegation to arrange an in-person on the record official meeting to explain their position on this legislation. Understanding that the legislature is s is in session, we will make all possible accommodations. I don't care if we got to meet on
069a Saturday afternoon, but I feel like if they are going to support such ridiculous legislation as this, then they need to have the stones to come in person and tell us why in front of the cameras. And so I would make uh this in addition to um request if this resolution does pass. And I can I can say this. I can say this. If any member of our delegation votes for this legislation, I will do everything in my power to see there is a candidate to oppose that legislature in the next primary election. Any other comments, questions? Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. And and I really need to give credit to you for some of the couple of the figures I'm going to bring forth. Um we the growth in our area has been tremendous
070and the way it stands right now, get my notes here. North Carolina is number two in the nation of loss of farmland. Union County is number 13 among the counties in the nation loss of farmland. That that's to me that's very troubling. We have farmers that are that are out there bidding, fighting, trying to trying to get land, trying to make a living. So that that sets up issues. And we we also have this stubborn fact that we've been told that a healthy county will be 65% residential, 35% commercial, industrial retail. We're currently today 90% residential. So we're what will HP765 do to that number, due to that percentage? In my opinion, it would it would blow it off the charts. Um, so in my opinion, these decisions on zoning need to be made as
071close to the people as possible. The people who are going to be affected, the local boards need to be making this decision. These decisions do not need to come from the state level. I had a conversation with the with the representative today. These decisions do not need to be coming from the state level. They need to be taken care of at home close to the people. I believe in small government. So, and I live, we mentioned, we mentioned representative, representative Broaddy of District 55. I live in that district. It is primarily rural agricultural and it's people who I know best and that their main concern, their main conversation when they talk to me, anything political is Clancy the housing is going crazy. We're having to sit at intersections a long time. We're having to try
072to to jet out, you know, whenever we get a chance to pull out from stop signs. Something needs to be done. We need to pump the brakes. And I fully agree with that. So I I will be 100% in support of this resolution to oppose HB765 and it's especially in its current form and even in the form when it is revised where it affects only the six counties because those people need to be able to take care of things at home just as we do. So that's all I have. Thank you. I do want to say that um Representative Dinar did call me today and others today and he um was working very hard in Raleigh um to have Union County excluded from this. Um I don't know if he's going to be successful or
073unsuccessful, but I know that he's being pressured really hard um to get behind this bill. But um what he told me today and I believe others is um Union County would have to be um removed from this bill in order for him to support it. So I think it's going to go back in committee. There are going to be some other um changes. Um but I I would encourage everyone uh to be following House Bill 765 and to see who votes for it. Um so um we have we've had comments. Um yes. Is anyone aware of any comments by our governor either in support or against this legislation as he stated that if this legislation follows through he would veto it or does he support it? I do not know. Madam Chair, Commissioner Helms. Um
074Commissioner says it's my understanding that our governor is in support of u uh House Bill 765. Um, so I I can't point to a news article or a source, but I have heard that uh Governor Stein would support this action in its present form. Correct. And that would make sense if if the if they're saying it's for affordable housing and high density. That that would make sense that he would support it. Um, do we have a motion? Have you made a formal motion? I I will we we do not currently have a motion, but I will make that motion to uh uh to adopt the resolution in opposition to provisions of House Bill 765 that eliminate important current rights of local citizens to petition their local government regarding community issues. Okay, we've talked plenty. All
075those in favor of the resolution say I. I. I. Thank you everyone. Okay, next is item 252, appointments to boards and committees. There are two boards with vacancies for consideration this evening. These vacancies have been advertised in accordance with board rules and procedures. Applications have been received and information regarding the vacant positions can be found in the background provided for this item. First is the home and community community care block grant advisory committee. I will now entertain a motion for a nomination to this committee. Commissioner Helms. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um I'll make the motion that we appoint Kathleen Deansky to the Home and Community Care Block Grant Advisory Committee. All those in favor say I. I. I. The second board with vacancies for consideration this evening is the Consolidated Human Services Board. There are
076seven total vacancies on this board. I will now entertain a motion for nominations to this board. Commissioner Helms. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um so I believe that we've got two folks that we can um appoint tonight. So we've got I'll make the motion that we appoint Eric J. Claflin to fill the vacant uh community- based organization representative position and then also and if we need to separate these then we can we can do it together. Okay. I also make the motion then to appoint Matthew Childs to fill the vacant psychologist position on that board. Okay. All those in favor of those two appointment recommendations say I. I. Okay. Very good. Okay, that brings us back to the three items that we move from consent to business and commissioner sides. I'm going to start with 25-265,
077the locking mechanisms. Oh, I will be brief in my questions if if uh the county manager could give us a little background on the reasoning behind the um addition here to delete that project. Certainly. So part of the challenge with um doing a wholesale renovations to um those sales is relocating the inmates in order to actually accommodate that. So you can't relocate one or two inmates at a time. You actually have to do a block at a time. A block is typically somewhere between 45 and 50. And there's more than that. The sheriff's, you know, can certainly correct me on my numbers, but it's a larger number and we don't have the space to relocate those individuals, those inmates, and we're finding it difficult to find areas where we could potentially contract with another um
078county to put those inmates. Um mainly because they don't have the staffing to be able to handle that many at one time. Um understanding that we just can't make it work. Um, logistically, it's not that it's not a need, it's just that we can accommodate it. So, we're going to just uh do the best we can, patch it up as best we can, and uh work the system the way it is. Could you uh along these same lines, could you address because there was some action on a potential contract with Cabaris County's Sheriff's Department to utilize their current vacant annex, which has a total of 96 units. Could you address why um that contract opportunity is where it stands and if uh not feasible uh why if you could could you address that? Sure. And
079and again I'll invite the sheriff and his staff to comment if I if I say anything that's not correct. Um my understanding is the sheriff's office did reach out to Cabaris County. Uh we already do send a small number of inmates there, 7 to 12 or so um that we do and we pay for those inmates to be there. Um our staff did approach uh the the Cabaris County folks, ask if that was possible. Their response was they did not have the staffing level to be able to handle that many um uh inmates. It would require new attention detention officers. Um the what I understand the concern is is that it would not be feasible for Cabaris County to hire temporary detention officers. It's already difficult enough to hire detention officers full-time. Temporary would be
080even more of a challenge, which would likely mean that we would have to hire detention officers to then turn around and send to Cabaris County. And that's not necessarily, you know, good for us on our end. That's certainly not sustainable. No. And so I think that what basically at this point in time the contract is really at a standstill or an impass because we we just can't make it work at this point. I think this is an issue that this board is going to have to address. We have engaged a consultant to give us figures which I think are going to be some real sticker shock. But this issue is not going away. Having personally had the opportunity to visit inside the jail, I can tell my colleagues that there are currently, and I won't
081say the number, and I certainly won't say the location, but there are cells in our jail that can be popped open with a pocket comb. Now, I don't have to tell you that's not exactly what jail cells are for. So, we have a jail that is deteriorating and right down the road or up the road in Cabaris County, they have an annex that's sitting empty. Um, apparently be because detention officers do not grow on trees. As you can imagine, there is a certain kind of person that is willing to do that kind of work of which I myself never considered, frankly. And but we are going to as with many other issues, we are going to be confronting the needs of law enforcement in hiring sufficient officers, not just detention officers, but also patrol officers
082to maintain the level of public safety that our citizens have come to enjoy. We not so long ago, we remember a neighborhood up in Weddington was there were some was a serious breakin. Turned out to be part of a gang. Those are not going away. Charlotte is a major human trafficking hub. That is not going away. Fentanyl, other drugs brought in from where? who knows where are not going away. So the issue of resources needed by law enforcement as well as infrastructure such as repairs or major changes or upgrades or replacement of our jail is an issue that is going to be front and center very soon. and serious decisions will need to be made and serious investments will be required. And it is a issue of public safety which I'm sure everyone on this
083board can agree is of our highest concern. So, I will uh look for opportunities, brainstorming with staff or what have you that we can address this potential opportunity with space. We know where the space is. It's up in Cabaris County. The problem is we like you mentioned, we can't just send some of our guests up there unsupervised and Cabaris County has their hands full already. So, and you can't go to a temp service and hire detention officers to work a six-month or whatever schedule. So, this is going to take some serious work to address this, but addressed it must be. So, um, if appropriate, unfortunately, I will, uh, offer the motion to follow up on this and, uh, hopefully only temporarily, uh, put a hold or cancellation of this project. Commissioner Helms. Um, Madam Ch,
084I was just going to ask um, Commissioner Sides, could you could you clarify the motion here? Are you are you making the motion to um approve this item? Yes, sir. Thank you. Um reluctantly and unfortunately due to circumstances at least temporarily beyond our control, it it appears we can't just leave these contractors in a holding pattern. We have to have to give them some kind of indication and it's obviously uh apparently it can't be go right now. Yes. Um thank you, Madam Chair. So a question to staff then you know with this item I if if we terminate the contract that we have uh been working on for quite some time with this um we're we're going to realize some sort of credit. Correct. Do we have any idea about the monetary value of that
085credit at this point? Uh it may be early in the stages here but uh just wanted to get an idea. Chris, do you have an idea how much that would be? Yeah, I'll um I'll lead the board with a good note on the project um in that um they did accomplish some work at the judicial center that was much needed and so um it did correct some outstanding issues there. Um, so there has been we've we've paid uh completed work to date and they have stored materials that we're going to negotiate whether it can be returned and see a significant return on that or not um or it becomes ours and we keep it and it's mostly locks and so we would have locks um in hand or on hand to do any repairs that
086are absolutely needed. Um, but I would estimate that it's a total contract of about $3 million and I think $2 million is what we would probably realize somewhere in that range. We haven't finished any of the negotiations yet, though. Gotcha. Thank you, Chris. Okay. So, we have a motion to authorize the county manager to terminate the agreement um if deemed in the best interest of the county. That's your motion. Unfortunately. Okay. All those in favor say I. I. Okay. The next item, Commissioner Sides, was 2515. Um, that was a contract for architectural and engineering services for South Pedmont Regional Autopsy Center. I uh again had a few questions and it's very helpful to me to learn about the the process in undertaking a project such as this which I'm I'm glad to see is moving
087along. Could you help me with the process of selection of the design and and contract and build at risk firm? How that's you know what the criteria are and then I understand it was narrowed down to a top three what criteria you use to go from there and and go over the timelines again for the project. Yeah, I I don't have the criteria exact criteria but I can kind of summarize it fine. Um so the process is an RFQ goes out of course open to anybody and everybody. Um those submissions are received by our procurement department. Um we have an evaluation committee that's assigned to each one of these projects. The evaluation committee in this case was myself uh Clayton Voyer and the Union County project manager. Um they are um all those proposals are
088evaluated um and scored and criteria are specialized experience um experience in uh similar projects. um their history with uh any financial issues andor litigation uh and just the quality of the the uh submission are some of the kind of major uh criteria that yeah you look at and so all the firms are scored and we make decisions based on how close the scoring is and usually with guidance from procurement on how many that we bring in or we short list and we bring him for interviews at the interview. Um, and then in this case we interviewed three I think was it four? I think it was four in this case. Okay, let me verify that. Yeah, four firms were shortlisted because there were really close scores. Um, there wasn't really a separation between three and
089four. So, we interviewed four. the committee scores based on some of those similar um criteria um and we get a little more information about uh specialization and in this case specialization is very important uh on this project. So again, they're scored and the lowest I mean the highest score we start negotiations. If negotiations are successful, then we go with that firm. If not, then we move to number two. Is u a timeline in other words a comp, you know, the their asurances of a of a more prompt timeline of completion. one of the criteria you're looking at. Um staffing resources are a part of the equation. We don't um you know it can a schedule can be somewhat um considered a part of product. So um they're not allowed to give any product whether that's
090design schedules cost estimates any of those things can't be part of their submission uh in their request for qualification. So it that um presenting a schedule could be considered product. You you probably don't have this readily at hand. And I don't suppose there are a whole lot of autopsy centers built in the state. So it's going to be pretty hard to get somebody I would think that's actually built one. But uh specialized knowledge as far as any kind of medical facility or lab or toxicology lab or anything like that. Do you recall off the top of your head what the particular experience of the uh winning candidate was from a a experience in this in this area was? Okay. So, uh anytime you're selecting a designer, you usually have a team. Um usually the architect
091of record, which is going to be CPL in this case, they actually have autopsy experience, autopsy center experience. Bingo. I can't remember how many it was. Clayton, do you recall how many? I think there were a couple in North Carolina. Um, but the um what we call or what they will be calling the uh medical examiner examiner professional uh is called MWL, a firm called MWL, and they if there's been an autopsy center built almost in America, then they've been a part of it. Okay. Um so they're also equipment experts as well. And um you know they're one of the strengths of their presentation was being able to guide and inform um owners who maybe don't have a lot of experience with autopsy centers uh in medical equipment selection um and pricing and things like
092that. I'm sure that scored very high to have very relevant experience like that. It sure did. Could could you go over the timelines again for uh design and and construction? Yes. So design. Um, all right. So this contract is for advanced planning and conceptual design. Um, interestingly enough, we've got two projects that potentially are going to, um, I'm going to say be colllocated to a certain degree. Maybe it's roads, maybe it's utilities, uh, with the potential new jail. So, we actually have one of our subconultants, we requested little who was hired to do the jail, um, include the same civil designer so that we can coordinate because this project is tracking ahead of the the jail at this point. Um, so we'll, you know, have some, I guess, some effort as we get into design
093to making sure we accommodate anything that happens on the jail side. Um, as best we can. We're not going to know, you know, everything at that point. Um but the timeline is anywhere from 9 to 15 months typically. I think it's going to drag to the probably 13 14 uh in this case because we have limited knowledge as a county on building autopsy centers. So it's going to take a little more work I think to get all the players at the table understanding what discover work is going to be. Construction, what's your timeline for? Yeah, construction I'm going to say is going to be a a 14-month window around about depending on when we start. You know, if you start in the winter, site work gets delayed. Mhm. So, I always kind of lean towards
09414 in case you start in the winter. Okay. And what's the name of the firm again? CPL. Okay. I'll make the appropriate motion to um approve CPL for the initial design work. Yes, sir. Architecture services. Uh Commissioner sides services. Yes. Uh if if if it would be okay with you. There's a recommended action there for that item. If if you could uh motion to approve that recommended action just so we make sure we get it just right. Motion to approve recommended action. Okay. All those in favor of the recommended action say I. I. Okay. Let's see. We got us something else. Okay, that takes care of that one. The last one we pulled was 25-278. I will um hand this one to Commissioner Helms. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, I wanted to pull this from
095consent just um really for the purpose of of discussion here. So, as I understand it, uh, this item, the budget amendment is to transfer, uh, $900,000. Um, and this is coming from capital to operational. Is that correct, Mr. Manager? Okay. Um, you know, obviously, you know, our our sheriff's office is is very critical and important to what we have here in Union County. And so, um, I I don't want to necessarily impede anything that they have or a need that they have here. However, I I would request that this board be given more information um perhaps maybe at a u at at a future meeting regarding, you know, the purpose of this transfer and and uh and why we're why we're in the situation where we need to transfer capital to operating, if that makes
096sense. Certainly. Um, if the board wouldn't mind considering this, um, at this point in time, um, if we were not to move forward with the agenda item and had to wait two weeks or so, um, they would, the, uh, sheriff's office would be in an operational issue. Um, they would not necessarily be able to approve contracts, make payments. there are things they wouldn't be able to do because we're sort of we're actually at a at a point where their funding can't sustain that. So, I would ask the board, I understand you'd like some additional information, if you wouldn't mind at least authorizing a smaller amount until we can bring you back the additional information that you need. I would recommend at least $150,000 for this two-week period for us to be able to again pay
097some of the payments, pay some of the overtime that that that is due um and and certainly do the operations while we bring to the board the details and specifics of what exactly um we're having to face here with these um with these funds. And that would be my request. And and I appreciate that. Appreciate the information. I, you know, obviously we're we're not talking about small sum money here um with $900,000 and and I think that more importantly, you know, if we if we have an issue, and I think this is kind of what I'm looking for, but if we have an issue uh where we have a funding gap or we have some kind of problem that needs to be taken care of, um then, you know, again, I'd like more information on
098that. maybe staff could bring us back um you know any problems that have been identified and and potential solutions for that. Um I I mean personally I'm okay with authorizing a smaller amount and if if we feel confident that $150,000 can suffice until u you know perhaps our next meeting where we can get more information and and approve the remaining deficit then then I would be okay with that action as well. So, um, so I I would like to, um, address, you know, $900,000. So, when I hear you, um, requesting $150,000 to tie them over until another meeting, which is two weeks. That does concern me that is the sheriff's department out of money that we would have to make a motion tonight to to approve 150,000 to tie them over for two weeks. Um
099so and you know Commissioner Sides I think you'll appreciate this from our comments earlier in the meeting. This was not on the agenda a week ago when Commissioner Helms and I met with you and set the agenda. That's right. So when we got the agenda and started, you know, reading through our packets over the weekend, um, you know, the need to move 900 almost a million dollars from one fund to the other was startling because we had not discussed it when we set when we set the agenda. Um, and we didn't even hear about it until late today. you know, how did this show up on the agenda? And then there's there has also been a concern that, you know, when we're talking about capital or CIP, we oftent times refer to that as one-time
100money. And this is a request to move on money from capital over to personnel, which is ongoing. Um, so I think that is why we would like to have some more information um because it showed up in consent um and we know knew nothing about it when we set the agenda. So it was kind of a surprise and you know if there is a funding problem um we we need to understand you know how how we got to $900,000 for personnel commissioner sides. Um I'm assuming that the $900,000 you're proposing is to finish out the fiscal year. So, it's a combination and you know, if I say this wrong, I can be corrected. It is to finish out the rest of the fiscal year, but it's also to basically reimburse for ex what we've already
101covered out of operational dollars um that were available. So, the the sheriff's office um utilized some of their operational dollars in order to accommodate some of these personnel costs. This would help to actually put that back in their operational budget so that they could again operate because there are other things they pay for like ammunition, fueling, all kinds of things while we get the board the additional information you've asked. This is related to a number of things um overtime. Oh, I was just going to say o due to due to shortages in personnel that causing over undue or unanticipated overtime might be a source of this. Sure. So o overtime is certainly a function of this. Um the class and comp is a function of this because again there were additional u costs that were
102not necessarily built into their budget that have had to be accommodated for. um they realized a significant number of um payouts. When I say payouts, there were um deputies and staffing that retired or left service. Um they are they um they are they qualify for a payout. Um those were un unanticipated. There was significant amount of that that um that they had to address. So there are a number of different items that really sort of the perfect storm all sort of hit all at one time which generated this uh unfortunate large number. Um but I would love to be able to um and I I apologize for the late delay on this. Um, I was not aware that this was a crisis is the wrong word, but this is a an issue where they could
103not make some of their normal payments without having some additional cash funding until last week. And so, we talked about it. I understood they had a major dilemma um and that we really needed the board to put some funding aside to be able to allow them to continue to operate. So, um, we are happy to provide you additional detail. Certainly can do that by u the 19th. Um, and would ask that the board just set aside some smaller amount while we bring you greater detail on this. Sure. 150 is enough. I mean, they would always ask for they would always ask for more, but to the next meeting. I I I think 150,000 will will certainly cover it. if if if not I mean no one has said that they couldn't make it work for
104the next two weeks. Um I'm sure thank you. Um so so Brian you know again we want to make sure that our bills are paid right and so um you know if that's 150,000 then then so be it. I I think that the bigger issue is is that, you know, we just don't want to have, you know, requests for budget transfers or budget amendments of 900 of this magnitude in the future. Yes, sir. Um, now let me ask you this. We just got done talking, you know, Chris just told us about um the lock project there at the jail and the potential credit that we can get, you know, from termination of that contract. So, would that kind of help us out in this situation here? Is that money that is that dollars that could
105be uh applied to potentially fund that that deficit at least one time? Right. Absolutely. The the funds that were intended to cover this are capital funds within the sheriff's budget. So projects that that either A are completed and there was a surplus left over or B they're not going to finish that project. They're not going to do it. Those dollars are what we're going to use to fund this. Now, to the chair to the, you know, the the chair's point, those are capital dollars which are meant to be one-time expenditures and not an ongoing expense. Um, however, um, the sheriff does not generate really a significant amount of revenue. He is he's not a revenue generator. So, the funds are going to have to come from somewhere. Um and fortunately we were able to identify
106some projects and savings within his budget in the capital side to be able to accommodate this. I will say and we will talk about this more on the 19th to give you more detail. It is a bit of an a little bit of an anomaly. I think some of it is the fact that overtime is getting um is is growing because again we're that they have overtime budget. they have issues where they have to deal with overtime. But part of this has to do with the class and comp and how that affected the budget. And I and I want to make sure the board understands this. I don't see that in the future we will have this very same issue to deal with. We may very well have to address that over time has to
107grow, but it may not be that it's to this level because there were, as I said, a perfect storm. All these things sort of happening at one time that created the deficit that we have. But I want to be able to lay that all out for you so you can see it clearly, understand where it's coming from, where it's going. I think part of the concern and I I appreciate all of the um you know explanations uh for overtime, the class and comp retirees, the payouts. I think um you know some of the information we're going to be wanting to see is what was the overtime budget because I assume that's all been used. It's exhausted. So, we're not just talking about $900,000. We're talking about the needed $900,000 to get us to June 30
108and paying in the rears for overtime and and what has already been used or exhausted in the overtime in addition to the 900,000. So, it's actually a lot higher than this. Um, so I think that's the kind of information we would really like to see and I would like to know what kind of um CIP projects were pulled um to get to get to this. So um so would you like to make a motion? Yeah. Let me see if I can craft this. Uh M Mr. K, you might have to help me out with this one. Um, so I'll make the motion to approve a budget amendment for the Union County Sheriff's Office in the amount of $150,000 in available CIP funding uh to Union County Sheriff's Office personnel. Um and then part two of
109that motion would be to direct staff to bring us back additional information um regarding um you know potential uh budget deficit and also solutions uh you know for this issue in the future to be considered at our next meeting. Is that we good there? Thank you Mr. K. Good job. All those in favor say I. That takes care of all the things we pulled from consent. I will now recognize um I want to recognize the county manager for comments. I have no comments. Thank you very much. Okay. Um we'll stay at this end of the dis. Um Commissioner Sides. No comments tonight. Commissioner Helms. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um just want to thank my colleagues on the board for supporting that resolution against um HB765. Um also want to uh again mentioned that uh that
110Commissioner Christina Helms um is obviously not with us tonight uh due to the passing of her father. Um our thoughts and prayers are with her family um as they grieve that loss. Um, you know, we've got Mother's Day coming up and, uh, I just want to wish all the, uh, the mothers out there a happy Mother's Day. Uh, we are blessed to have each and every one of you. Um, other than that, just like to say thank you for everybody for being here. Thank you to our speakers. You know, we had Commissioner uh, Richard Dump from Waxaw here. Um, you know, certainly appreciate, you know, his comments as well as yours, sir. Really appreciate you being here with us as well. Um, and with that, I'll say uh thank you and good night, Commissioner Malcolm.
111Yes, thank you. Um, I would I would also like to extend my condolences to Commissioner Christina Helms and to her and her family and just encourage everyone to be careful on the way home. So, I have known Christina Helms for oh my goodness, 10 or 12 years. Um we served together on um the board of education. She served eight years. I served eight years. And um we've had a lot of conversations over the past few weeks. Um she has worked very very hard and been very strong helping take care of her father and um her mother who was um her her dad's caretaker. Um, so I would like to, you know, recognize her dad, um, Michael Bird. Um, he went by Mike. Um, um, Mike and Christina's mother have celebrated 55 years of marriage together.
112Um, Elizabeth, we just want, um, Christina and her mom and her siblings, Patricia and Mickey, to know that they are in our thoughts and prayers. and um and they are so proud of um her dad. Um he was a Navy veteran. He served um in Vietnam and he after service he uh went to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and um other than loving golf, he loved to cheer um for Tennessee. So, I just want to say how much we miss Christina um being here tonight and we look forward to her returning, but I told her today it was way more important for her to um be with her family. her son flew in from Florida um and he and Austin got to see his grandpa um before he passed and um he got to
113be here with Christina and Darren and Elizabeth and um his aunt and uncle and I know that was um comforting for Christina to have Austin here um because he had um he's a golf pro so he has uh had a very special relationship ship um with his um grandpa um who loved golf. He was so proud of Austin. Um so I am going to say go big orange for Mike. Um because Christina says that would make him very happy. So that's how we're going to end the meeting tonight is for Mike. Go big orange. Um so I am going to make a motion to adjourn and all those in favor say I. I. I. Good night everyone.