Board of County Commissioners | Regular Meeting | February 19, 2024

00119th 2024 regular meeting of the Union County Board of Commissioners to order I'll move that the board inter close I'm sorry at this time I will like to recognize commissioner David Williams for the invocation thank you Mr chairman for those so inclined please bow your heads in prayer Lord we humbly ask for your guidance grant us the wisdom to make decisions that will best serve our community and its citizens help us to listen with standing in Good Will to speak with charity and restraint and to seek The Truth May our deliberations be productive and our resolutions be fair Inspire us to work together in harmony even when there is honest disagreement remind us that our actions today will shape the future of our community bless our efforts with clear Insight our deliberations with wisdom and

002our work with Clarity and accuracy in and all our decisions with impartiality amen please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance IED to the of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all the next item on the agenda is informal comments from the community we will recognize the speaker signed up for informal comments each speaker must address the board from the lectum and begin their remarks by giving their name stating whether they are residents of Union County 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 of his or her time to another speaker speakers

003may not discuss matters which are subject to 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 speakers may leave written comments Andor supporting documents if any with the clerk to the board our first speaker is Fred alaza Fred alaza all right our next speaker is Sarah juel this right I stand right here right in front of this computer okay it's been a while since I've been up here was many many years ago but um my name is Sarah juel and I live in Weddington North Carolina and I'm speaking on behalf of the debate regarding fluoride um I feel very strongly

004that you should leave the fluoride in the water I've lived in Union County about 20 years and the first 10 years we lived in Indian Trail where the water was flu floridated or whatever it's the cor um correct term FL ated and my kids um have always been really privileged we go to the dentist twice a year we have dental insurance which I know a lot of people don't so they've always gone twice a year so we live there for 10 years they go to the dentist they have good dental care we do the fluoride we brush their teeth um even in Union County Schools I think my son is he's 22 I'm pretty sure we did um the swish program then so so we done that and then we go actually did Dr Meg

005lack's practice um she's been treating my daughter since she was three my daughter's 19 we do the fluoride when they're older and they have permanent teeth we seal their teeth they've had braces um proper Dental Care is extremely important for your presentation um your confidence I'm actually a physical therapist by trade I've had patients that needed knee Replacements hey their orthopedic surgeon couldn't do the surgery because their Dental Health wasn't appropriate um your dental health is really important my son he um just was accepted in medical school at the Brody school of medicine and he's actually been scribing for a couple years in cardiology and your dental health can affect your heart if you don't have good dental health so it's really important and when I left um Indian Trail after 10 years then we

006moved on to well for 10 years so then the prescription for my kids dentist was to do more fluorite because we're not getting it in our water every day and also for myself when I go to the dentist they want to know do you have well water do you have fluoridated water a lot of the people that think this is a medical Freedom issue they're talking about getting rid of fluoride and people in the other side of the county not where they live they live in waxa it doesn't even affect their water so I don't understand the debate on the floride if they're saying medical freedom but the people on this side of the county what is their medical Freedom maybe they want the fluoride my mom was born in 1945 in Germany she doesn't

007have any teeth anymore she didn't grow up on floridated she has Dentures um and so when I was a child she made sure I had good dental care it was extremely important to her so I really hope you keep the fluoride in the water where there is fluoride a lot of the county doesn't have fluoride so um I really hope you think about that because it's really important to your health it's not um this trend is not just here in Union County it's sort of an attack on science throughout the country and I really hope you think about the people in the county because a lot of people don't have the privilege to go to the dentist and the fluide is important so that's all I really hope you consider my opinion and um think

008about all the people in the county not just a small percentage of them because it is important thank [Applause] you our next speaker is Margaret Locker DDS MS I'm not okay hey I U my name is Dr mag Walker I am a board certified pediatric dentist and have lived in Union County since 19 91 with my husband Dr John me um we've taken care of people in uni County since 1991 and so we really care about the people here um the best available scientific evidence consistently has indicated that fluoridation of community community Water Supplies is safe and effective the possibility of any adverse health effects from continuous low-level consumption of fluoride has been and continues to be studied extensively of the thousands of credible scientific studies on floration none has shown health problems associated with

009the consumption of optimally FL floridated Water Public Health controversy sometimes exist regarding Public Health interventions in public health there can be tension between the public good and individual freedoms which I think somebody mentioned that that was the reason that they didn't want to have fluoride in the water because of individual freedoms because Public Health deals with populations it has all been impossible to resolve issues to achieve approval from 100% of individuals within the population when looking at fluoridation some individuals opposed to fluoridation are sincere in their beliefs others ignore what constitutes reputable scientific evidence as defined by the vast majority of the scientific community and choose instead to base their belief on personal opinions and studies with flawed methodology so like people that are not really looking at the science um as with any public

010health measure a community has the right and obligation to protect the Health and Welfare of its citizens even if it means overriding the individual objections of a few people and I think if we if we took a vote in Union County and people were informed on the topic I think the majority of people would want fluoride I work in three different practices we have one practice who is very anti-fluoride I mean a lot of the parents do not want fluoride and I respect their beliefs I I try to educate them on the benefits of fluoride but I don't shove fluoride down anyone's throat but I personally feel like if we take the fluoride out of the water in Union County the people that we're going to hurt are children who may or may not have

011access to dental care we're definitely going to hurt adults with disabilities that we're going to hear from a little bit later um about 95% of adults with disabilities do have dental decay a lot of them can't cooperate like they can't come in and lay down at my office so we have to take them to the O and put them to sleep for dental care this is super expensive right now I just asked my uh office manager today and she said the next appointment for an adult handicapped indiv idual to receive um Dental Care is in August and we are some of the only people that do this um more and more I don't know you guys probably don't even know this but corporate Dentistry is is becoming a big thing corporations are coming in and

012they're buying our practices they're they're taking them you know they're offering is plenty of money it's a free world I'm I'm not saying it's bad but what their bottom line is profit so my bottom line is taking care of people in my community and I've always done that and so I feel like if we remove fluoride we're really going to be hitting the most vulnerable in our community so what you can do if you don't want fluoride you don't have to get flored at my office I say that's fine I try to educate people but if they don't want to also just get a small you can get a cheap filter from Lowe's or Home Depot and install that so that's my thought and I take care of a lot of the people that really

013have terrible terrible dental health and if you had to sit in my office every day and see screaming four-year-olds getting teeth EX distracted it would be a very personal situation for you too so I hope you consider leaving the fluoride in the water for the most vulnerable of our population our next speaker is Scott Goodman um again my name is Scott Goodman I am not a resident Union County I live in meinberg county in Matthews I was the person who started that practice Meg talked about 38 years ago and we see I've always seen a number of infants children teenagers and adults with disabilities in the practice I'm not going to go to the benefit you've heard number of speakers talk about it but my concern is when people talk about Mass medication I uh

014went online and got your 2023 water quality report and you all have great water here and what was interesting was that you have on page five you have chlorine added to the water because you have to kill bacteria and that level is 2.1 parts per million which is three times the amount we're looking for fluoride to be in the water so the question comes in if someone says they don't want medication added do they want not having chlorine in the water and having bacteria and getting sick it's the same Health situation with fluoride in the water and when you look at him I'm sorry I'm going to bring this up because I'm really like chemistry a lot you look at a periodic table there's something on the left called halides and right above there is

015fluoride or Florine when it's by itself and chlorine right below so you're putting chlorine in the water already at a high level which is needed we're just asking that a little bit more to make it 7 parts per million so we get the full advantage for the children and the adults because when you have fluoridated water basically systemically it's only helps when the teeth are developing the first seven years of life when the enamal is forming except for the wisdom tee the rest of the time it's topical meaning when it gets on your teeth and I don't have enough time to go through the whole science about it it makes them stronger and prevents them from breaking down last thing I want to talk about is the economic costs Studies have been shown for every

016dollar you put in for Flor data water your citizens get $38 in return and less cost for dental care and this was done in the 80s or 90s and it's probably higher now at this time and actually Dr ler talked about talked about testing the water we test the walls in FL in in uh in in a lot of the counties around here when I did research fluoride research at Iowa City for my Masters on it we couldn't measure fluoride below three parts per million now the wells are can be measured anytime above 0.2 and we found number of Wells you couldn't see much in it but a number of them had 26 31 we had one at 6 the point being that it's it's in the water already we're just asking for a little

017bit to be done so and the last point I want to make is what business comes to you all asking you to do something to help the citizens that's going to make it less profitable for us for all the dentists coming in I ask you please I beg you I've worked in nonf florid communities please keep the fluoride in the water for the children and the adults of this good County thank you our next speaker is Melinda PL three minutes okay hey everybody I'm gonna get started I'm Melinda PL uh I live in Monroe as does my brother over here Jake and I've been working in the disability field for the last 28 years most of which have been for an organization that is a Lifeline to families and individuals I get the great privilege

018of learning about all the issues that Encompass a person with disabilities throughout out of life and I try to mitigate some of those issues for and with a family to make smooth a difficult path in addition I have to go home every night and do the same for my own family member this is Jake and he is okay with what I'm about to say Jake is 42 almost 43 years old and after a lot of work he is independent in his own community that said he has some challenges that most people don't realize and that's why we're here tonight even at 42 years old we have to discuss and manage oral hygiene and dental care for Jake constantly uh for lots of reasons oral hygiene is not a priority for my guy and it's extremely

019difficult to micromanage that for an otherwise independent man Jake's an adult and it's a full family effort to manage his dental health I rely on quality dental care for him at least 20 twice a year usually more and I can assure you that even with all the work we do on this Jake has significantly more dental decay than the average person and he's not alone you've heard the statistics there are hundreds of people people with disabilities children and adults about 4,500 in Union County it's a lot of people most of them are likely to be on Medicaid and when you have Medicaid it's very good to find good dental providers many of us seek out pediatric providers for our adult loved ones with special Health Care needs because they require Specialty Care thank goodness these

020pediatric providers like Dr locker and Goodman take on the extra load of caring for these patients most people with disabilities do not have that option and they're lucky to be able to go to a regular dentist twice a year there are a lot of different reasons for that to include the need for general anesthesia in a hospital in order to get a cleaning this is costly difficult to access and there are long waiting lists um as you've heard bigger entities are now buying out pediatric dental offices I know I know for people who and they do not have o privileges like our pediatric dentists I'm all finish I'm all finish this just makes it harder for people like Jake to access quality dental care you can wait many months for an appointment and then many

021anym to get a slot in the O and by that time a year has passed and the only option is for an oral surgeon to remove their teeth that's all Medicaid pays for but that's a story for another day lots of people disabilities simply forgo dental care because of lack of access everyone benefits and no one has harmed from fluoride in the water supply but most especially you would want that Frontline protection for our community's most vulnerable people you're only promising to in increase dental decay rates when you remove it and that is a public health issue that is very hard for me to swallow please vote no to remove the fluoride thank you for your time our next speaker is Norman Aly I'm Norman Aly I live in Union County uh formerly served on

022the city of Dober New Hampshire Water and Sewer Commission and I'm here to tell you why I believe water fluoridation is the biggest Public Health scam of the 20th century in the 1920s and 1930s the Alcoa the aluminum Corporation of America was discharging Florine gas into the air and dumping fluoride byproducts into the rivers as these products became a legal headache for Alcoa they hired a biochemist named Gerald Cox who claimed to show that fluoride in the diet of rats prevented Dental caries Alcoa claimed Cox had discovered a quote unquote new vitamin which could prevent cavities this quote unquote new vitamin was fluoride and Cox was among the first to suggest that it might be added to the public water supplies around the same time a US Public Health Dentist named h trendley g Dean

023was conducting surveys across the United States where high concentrations of fluoride caused Dental fosis modeling of the teeth he claimed he found an inverse relationship between fluoride in the water and the incidence of dental cavities that claim has been disputed and it's alleged that Dean had later admitted under oath that he cherry-picked the data from his surveys to get the results that he wanted um Dean's surveys led to the start of the first Trials of artificial water fluoridation in 1945 in the cities of Newberg and Kingston New York these studies happened to happened just happen to be monitored by Dr Harold Hodge Hodge was the chief toxicologist for the Manhattan Project and for those who may not know what that is that was the atomic bomb project the the bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima

024and Nagasaki the manhatt Manhattan Project was using fluoride in massive amounts to enrich uranium to construct the bombs and Hodge was hired and by the way he was a dentist it was hired because of his prior research on fluoride and dental fosis at the University of Rochester the Newberg Kingston trials and they going to tie this all together the Newberg Kingston trials were intended to span over 10 years however after five years Hodge and Cox published a paper in the Journal of the American Dental Association claiming that fluoride's only harm was modeling of the teeth the message to the public was clear fluide is safe so even children can drink it just Weeks Later the US Public Health Service officially endorsed fluoridation and now here's the shocking truth about Harold Hodge if you haven't heard

025in 1999 the Pitzer prize winning book The plutonium files by Eileen wilsom documented haj's involvement in human experiments while working on the bomb project in which unsuspecting subjects were injected with uranium and plutonium this is the same guy who stood at the black for in 1957 and said I see no reason to delay water fluoridation in 1950 fluide was thought to act systemically and pre pre- eruptives before a child's teeth came in today it's widely understood that it acts topically and that its effect is post eruptive the justification for fluoridation given 70 years ago is Antiquated wrong and promoted by individuals who had a clear conflict of interest and in the case of Mr hodj a history of secret and unethical human experiments unknowingly uh subjecting subjects to uranium and plutonium fluide and as a

026water and sewer commissioner I I always wondered or former Water and Sewer commissioner why is this the only additive that targets the user everything else we do to our our water put in our water is for the water or the system it is force medication and let me also say there's never been a single randomized double blind study that I know of showing that water fluoridation CA reduces cavities and the FDA never approved the fluoride tablets given to children who live in these uh unfluoridated communities Mr Ally yes thank you your time up thank you our next speaker is Thomas Pitman good evening um my name is Thomas Pitman I live in Indian Tri and I'm a pediatrician at a clinic in Wesley Chapel I came here to explain why I support keeping fluoride in

027the water supply Dental Cavs are the most common chronic disease of childhood they're painful expensive to fix but study have shown that they have broader implications for a child's health they can impact a child's nutrition lead to school absences and can affect appearance which has negative effects on a child's self-esteem obviously there are many things a person has to do to protect their teeth but one highly effective Ive way is by consuming fluoridated water the reason we first started using fluoride to to prevent cavities is because communities that naturally had higher higher amounts of fluoride in their water were found to have lower rates of cavities the goal of fluoridation programs is to raise the level of fluoride found naturally in water to a level that protects teeth this process is very effective studies show

028that a 25% decrease in Dental cavities in communities that use fluoridated water it's also safe a review of literature that was last updated in 2013 showed no evidence of side effects other than the risk of staining teeth if fluoride levels are too high which is unlikely in a well-regulated supplementation program specific concerns that I've heard raised regarding floridated water include lower intelligence increased risk of cancer increased risk of fracture or osteoporosis and allergic reactions the review specifically found no evidence to link fluoride with any of those conditions I also want to emphasize that adding fluoride to our water is similar to how we add iodine to to prevent thyroid disease folate to bread and cereal to prevent spinal cord disease in infants and all three of these Public Health initiatives have been effective in decreasing

029disease burden um and while we have developed other sources of fluoride that can help prevent Dental cavities this actually hasn't eliminated the benefit of fluoride in drinking water in 2011 the City of Calgary in Canada decided to remove fluoride from their water and a study performed after this showed that rates of dental disease were significantly higher than in Edmonton Canada where they kept the floride in the water Calgary is now restarting their fluoridation program um now separately as a citizen I'd not necessarily as a doctor I'd also add that there's an important economic consideration to fluoridation there have been studies done on the cost effectiveness of fluoridating water which have demonstrated that for every dollar spent on a fluoridation program the community can expect to save in the range of 20 to $38 uh and

030as a parent I can tell you there are other sources of topical fluoride but they're not always the most Pleasant to apply for unwilling children thank you our next speaker is Allison uh McMahan or McMahon Allison McMahan all right next speaker is Harold Schumacher convention in town good evening Commissioners uh the last meeting uh someone had mentioned that they couldn't understand why we would stop listening to the opinions of Health experts and uh I disagree with that I don't think we should listen to anyone's opinion on this uh we have proven science to guide us on this issue so let's look at some science being a a visual person here I've got some visual aids I've got a tablespoon and a baby spoon there the tablespoon represents the probable fatal dose of fluoride one tablespoon

031the uh the baby spoon there uh that represents uh the probable fatal dose of arsenic which is just a few drops um I think you'd agree with me that neither of those should be called safe no toxicologist or chemist would ever say either of these is safe all you could ethically say is that you if you greatly dilute it it becomes less dangerous it is never safe but we don't just put fluid in the water like the dentists use in their office we put in hydros silic acid the distributor for the product used by Union County is univer Solutions univore lists a range of arsenic of 10 parts per million to 50 parts per million on the on the product specifications for their hydrofor acid so let me give you a visual representation of hydrlc

032acid there you go combination of both of those um this is important there's no dentist in this room in this state or in this country that would ever use hydroscopic they would never do it you've never done it and you never would no toothpaste manufacturer would ever use hydrophilic acid in their toothpaste it's toxic waste there's there's there's laws against that it doesn't exist won't it can't be used in a in a consumer product what we're exposing here is a Titanic ship of Lies some dentists the CDC the media they've invested too much into this Titanic lie to admit their wrong they will go down with the ship before they come clean fortunately we have a board that is willing to carry the people of Union County on their backs off this ship to waiting

033lifeboats hopefully tonight it'll be all five of you that leave this sinking ship the national toxicology program report confirming the 55 studies that show fluoride exposure is tied to lower IQ among children was blocked from release by assistant Health and Human Services director Rachel lvin a court later ordered that report to be released and you can now read it for yourself you have a choice to make of who you stand with do you stand with the people or do you stand with the assistant Health and Human Services director Rachel Levin I hope tonight all of you will stand with the people and stand with science and stand with common sense thank you very much our next speaker is Kevin Reed hi my name is Kevin Reed and I live in Union County I do not

034consent to be medically treated by fluoride through water or any other means the only right thing to do with this ordinance is to pass it thank you our next speaker is Maria Reid good evening I'm Maria Maria Reed and I live in Union County the Food and Drug Administration classifies fluoridated toothpaste as an over-the-counter drug but fluoride free toothpaste as a personal care product this makes me conclude that fluoridated water is medicated water water that contains a drug there is a big difference in adding nutrients to foods such as iron V vitamin D folic acid iodine to salt versus adding fluoride uh because fluoride is not a nutrient the body does not need fluoride it's different it's not a nutrient people who do not want food with uh added supplements can seek out foods without

035them it's much more difficult to avoid tap water fluoride removing systems are not cheap at all no you can't buy them at lows for five bucks or even 50 bucks I already pay for my tap water I don't have to pay additionally to remove the fluoride that I don't want it it's important to note that dentists are not qualified to give recommendations when it comes to anything else in the body but teeth they're not qualified to make claims such as fluoride in low doses is safe dentists are not toxicologists the national toxicology program has stated there are no safe levels of fluoride in drinking water there is evidence that that the Center for Disease Control and National Institute of Health acted to prevent the release of the review report on fluorides toxicity made by the

036national toxicology program this evidence was released as part of the ongoing lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency none of this information is mentioned by the mainstream media nor dentists not surprisingly since 2010 274 communities have rejected water fluoridation the latest in USA was was Charlesburg City Council of Alabama which discontinued the fluoridation of city water on October 17 2023 questions to the board members can any of you provide the public with the document that shows number one you were given authority to make medical decisions on behalf of all Union County residents number two you were informed you informed each resident the risks and side effects of floridated water and number three you were given consent from each resident to be medically treated do you have these documents you are informed that voting against the ordinance

037opposes medical freedom and violates the right of informed consent please make it right and pass the ordinance thank you very much our next speaker is Fred geris evening board members my name is Fred gtis I'm uh living in Charlotte mecklinburg County and as a retired chemical engineer trained in the scientific method I'm going to help you sort out the science and the political science associated with this terrible public policy the gold standard of fluoride fluoridated water research is the Lotus report that was University of Manchester pulled 17 million records out of um nationalized Health Care in England from that they pull the cohort of all those people who were exposed to fluoridated water and then they pulled another cohort of those people who did not get sered floridated water but used floridated toothpaste when they

038compared the dental records of all these 17 million people uh from the period of 2010 to 2020 they discovered that there was a statistically 3% Improvement in experience of cavities in the group that had been exposed to fluoridated water 3% okay and then they also found that the cohort that did not get fluoridated water but used floridated toothpaste had the same exact identical 3% savings now similarly at the same time there was a report done in Canada which showed that male children exposed to fluorides In Utero showed about a 3% net loss in IQ those are valid statistical studies they're peer reviewed they're accepted Nationwide worldwide which is why about half the countries in Europe have permanently banned fluoridation the EPA has chosen to ignore that and on the advice of private interest groups who

039have money interests involved have continued to support this policy and in fact they use something called the ba Basque study which was done in the Basque region of Spain but that particular report did not use fluoridated water as a source instead they examined the fluoride levels in the urine of pregnant women and they later correlated this to the IQ test of the children as they reached age six or seven and the results of that study were actually the same as the Lotus report until some adjustments were made to how the urine samples were handled involving some dilution factors and some other questionable practices the net result of which showed much greater Improvement in the dental performance of fluoridated water however that same report also showed that there was a 15 to 8 28 point increase

040in the IQ of males exposed in utero that is biologically impossible so that report is discredited and in fact the author of that report was invited to testify at the EPA trial going on in north in California where the EPA is being pressured to treat fluorides under the toxic substances Control Act which it falls under but the EPA refuses to process it by that Logistics they're going to lose that lawsuit in a couple of weeks but meanwhile the important thing that I want you to be aware of Mr Curtis your time is up this is very important I would like to go on for a moment sir your time's up thank you thank you too the next speaker is Lisa Laney Please be aware also that teeth mineralized between the ages of gtis your time's

041up thank you and that Mr gtis your time's up you're causing a disturbance I'm going to have you removed and or arrested please leave the meeting thank you our next speaker is Lisa Laney good evening my name is Lisa Laney and I live in meinberg County I've worked at Pediatric Dentistry of Matthews for 24 years I'm here tonight to tell you how I feel about the importance of fluoride in our water um I was raised in New Salem um an area of Union County that does not have florid in water I was brought up on well water while I was a child every time I went to the dentist I had a cavity I was terrified of the dentist after becoming an adult and moving to mecklinburg County I no longer have any dental problems

042I do not believe I've had a cavity since I have started drinking the water of meberg County that is floridated I now then I went to dental school and I work for Pediatric Dentistry of Matthews and I see as a dental professional the children for 24 years I have seen parents that do not want their child to have fluoride the uptick of cavities to those children are very high the ones that have fluoride in their water toothpaste and dental treatments their cavities are very minimal I see it every day I don't have an extensive education on fluoride I'm not a scientist I'm not a doctor i a dental professional that has worked in the program for 24 years and I'm telling you now having fluoride does help prevent dental decay um please please do not

043remove fluoride from the water of Union County for the benefit of our children and our adults and I just have one more thing to say if the people really don't want floride in their water they can go and buy a a reverse osmosis water treatment for their home that will completely take out all fluoride out of their water but for the underprivileged children whose parents may not brush their teeth or help them get to a den Den I beg you this is the only way that they will get some dental help at home thank you our next speaker is Dr Amanda Stanford hello thank you um I'm a resident of Indian Trail and have been for 9 years um this is a political dog whistle and it's embarrassing the fact that this has been exactly

044like an episode of Parks and reck is a joke and it's not a funny one we've now wasted three sessions on an issue that is clearly meant to take things away from us divide us and distract us from issues that some of us would rather not know about some of us are angry about these things about fluoride and some of you would rather not talk about issues like the school Voucher Program which again takes tax money away from public schools and gives it to private and now apparently religious ones you know who has religious schools paid for by the government Morocco Egypt I know because I've taught English there I've seen it is that what we are now we give money to religious schools some of you don't want us talking about the fact that

045our state legislature is using the courts to tipe $ 1.7 billion doar that should have gone to the public school system a long time ago and isn't that time inconvenience for school vouchers by the way a billion dollars going to unregulated religious schools and again is that what we are a country that lets elected officials openly cheat our kids out of schooling by continuously appealing the Leandra ruling even though it's been a settled case for a decade that $73 million for Union County Alone by the way you you have sway you have sway Commissioners with our state officials that you aren't using and by wasting our time on this fluoride circus you're helping them tie up that money by dividing Us in Union County even further and by the way our County sewer system is

046still failing and has been since Todd Johnson sat in those chairs some of your voters might be fooled by this whole fluoride circus but many of us are not and many of us are on the fence about a lot of things and we are choosing sides and it might not be the ones you want so please stop taking things away stop trying to divide us for political gain and start holding our state politicians to account for Union County because we have things that we need to talk about that are very important for our County that actually do influence us because a lot of the people that have spoken tonight don't actually live in the parts of the county that the water will even affect thank you our next speaker is Jeff Gates uh my name

047is Jeff Gates I live in Indian Trail and there's been a lot of discussion about the fluoride and for 70 years now or so it's been in the water and I'm feeling it's helping with people one of the things that the dentist is going to say after a child has a candy bar has a diet has a cocacola brush your teeth well the kids don't always do that do they brush their teeth do they floss as well as they should we have an an item here that will actually help with the dental because I see it around the county people that have not the best teeth I wish I had better teeth I wish I flossed better I wish I brushed better things that I didn't do that I think the Floy is going to

048help I would hate to see it taken away um for the folks that don't want it in the water they can they can buy their their systems they can buy a a system at Home Depot or Lowe's or Amazon one of these one of these dispensers you know they can bring it to their house they get clean water from these and it's tested by Deer Park or wherever they buy the water from it's something that they can do if they don't want the fluoride buy this bring it back to your house but don't take the fluoride out of the water that's all I'm saying thank you our next speaker figes Abigail pru good evening I am a resident of Union County and I live in waxa I'm here tonight I'm here tonight to present the

049board with evidence that fluoride is a known neurotoxin in the scientific community and to present a study which has found that fluoride in public drinking water can cause significant IQ damage to just dating children when consumed by pregnant mothers a study has found that very low levels of fluoride levels much lower than those found in communities where government agencies deliberately add fluoride to their drinking water can impair brain development of a gestating child in fact fluoride has been found to cause more damage to pregnant women and their growing babies than lead Mercury or arsenic the study found that pregnant women with a urine urin fluoride concentration of2 mg per liter was enough to lower the child's IQ by one whole point pregnant women living in fluoridated communities were found to have four to five times

050as much fluoride in their urine it is estimated that more than 72% of public drinking water systems in America are fluoridated thus millions of pregnant women are currently being exposed to levels of fluoride that have the potential to low their lower their children's IQ by at least four to six points the loss of a single IQ point for an individual child may seem imperceptible to some but the societal cost of millions of children losing five IQ points or more is enormous a loss of even one IQ Point translates to a 2% reduction in lifetime economic productivity or roughly $20,000 in American money not to mention the additional educational cost required for children with lower IQs even if we take moral and philosophical questions about protecting children out of this discussion how long can our society

051bear the cost of knowingly lowering our population's IQ in research studies a benchmark dose is used to identify a dose or concentration that would likely cause a defined amount of harm in this case the loss of one IQ Point what makes this so significant is that the Benchmark dose methodology is part of the US Environmental Protection agency's risk assessment methodology and the authors of this study used a one point IQ drop as the adverse effect amount because the EPA itself has used the same level of IQ loss in their own risk assessments and has recommended use of such levels if the EPA applied a standard safety margin for fluoride being consumed by pregnant women they would conclude that any amount of urine fluoride concentration above 2. milligrams per liter is unsafe and unacceptable the standard

052would be 35 times lower than what the American Dental Association and Centers for Disease Control and prevention recommend for fluoridated communities Dr Bruce lanfier who has a masters of public health degree is a physician clinical scientist and an award-winning researcher who was known for his research on environmental neurotoxins in his article titled it is time to Pro to protect kids developing brains from fluoride he States given the evidence that fluoride is toxic to the developing brain it is time for health organizations and Regulatory bodies to review their recommendations and regulations to ensure they protect pregnant women and their children we can act now by recommending that pregnant women and infants reduce their fluoride intake or stop it completely M PR your time's up thank you very much are there any other speakers who have not

053signed up who wish to speak all right seeing none we'll move on to the next item on the agenda next on the agenda is item 24103 recognized Lifesaver Award recipient I will Rec recogniz Deputy County manager Patrick nym for this a thank you Mr chair tonight it's my honor to recognize Sheriff Deputy Christopher Byam um for the Lifesaver Award I'd like to invite uh Deputy Byam Lieutenant May and Sheriff Eddie Cathy up to the podium if you would well just yes sir uh just going to read a a little bit about uh Deputy byram's heroic acts on January 31st during the school lunch hour a student frantically approached Byam pointing to his throat bym immediately realized the student was choking and using his training began performing a domino thrust which successfully removed the food blockage

054in the students Airway Byron and several other staff members continued to check on the student who was fully recovered uh in 2022 Byron was given the ucps resource office of the year he was also given the CC McGee school resource officer of the year that same year so we couldn't be more proud of our Deputy we we appreciate you being in the right time at the right place and can't thank you enough for your life-saving effort so thank you very [Applause] [Music] [Applause] much leave the next item on the agenda is consideration of the agenda and consent agenda before we do that is if there's no objection we need to make a couple of adjustments to the agenda first if there's no objection we're going to remove item 2458 UC water CIP Workshop followup from

055the agenda due to the county manager being unable to attend the meeting this evening second we need to add one item to the consent agenda which is an authorization for consent judgment and settlement agreement and other documents related to the condemn ation judicial matter captioned Union County versus Joyce long Thomas and husband Norman C Thomas and truest Bank the material term of this settlement is total compensation from Union County for the property owner in the amount of $99,000 in settlement of the value of the County's property interest acquisition the action uh requested for approval is as follows number one authorize the county attorney attorneys for the county to negotiate and execute a consent judgment and settlement agreement substantially consistent with this agenda item and to authorize the County Attorney to execute any documents necessary to

056effectuate the terms of a consent judgment and settlement agreement substantially consistent with this item agenda pursuant to the property settlement documentation or document if there are no objections to this agenda to these agenda adjustments I'll ask if there are any other revisions requested to the agenda I just want to make a motion to accept consent agenda as amended all right any discussion on the revisions all right uh commissioner Helms has made a motion to approve the uh consent agent uh agenda as was modified all in favor I I all oppos all right we're now at the business portion of our agenda for the first item of business is item 2492 Union County code Amendment prohibition of fluoride and Union County Water Treatment systems I will recognize Deputy County manager Patrick nylon for this item thank

057you chair the proposed amendment would be an amendment to division one of Article 2 of chapter 34 of Union County code the amendment would prohibit the introduction or depositing of fluoride or any chemical that contains fluoride into water at water treatment plants and water treatment system which Union County owns this item was heard by the board at the last meeting but because the vote was not un unanimous it has to come back before the board for consideration all right any discussion commissioner Richard Helms yeah I think uh I think we need to acknowledge um I've heard from a number uh Medical Specialists uh our dentists were here today last last week we heard from uh a professor from East Carolina uh so I will not I will be objec in removing that uh we've had

058a lot of U told about a lot of internet that said uh this is what uh what evils there is on fluide but yet we hear from our medical professionals and the benefits that they have now I can tell you my children had the blessing of growing up with fluoride their water and it has done that they have very little uh Dental issues and uh you know it was talked about we we're making decisions for other people but a lot of our underprivileged don't have an opportunity or don't take the opportunity to bring their voice to let us hear them and uh so that you [Applause] know I think that I think that's key uh I think the history in the United States of putting fluide in at a minimum uh has made our young

059people's life uh healthier and more pleasant I can tell you that I grew up on a well and uh my dental problems uh kind of stopped once I got living on the water that was flated so I will not be supporting a re resolution to remove the fluoride and I'd ask my peers to do the same any further discussion Mr chairman commissioner Williams thank you Mr chairman at this point I think uh a motion would be appropriate and then we can have further discussion uh I would like to move uh the adoption of uh the ordinance amending division one of article two of chapter 34 of the Union County code and uh furthermore some uh uh to add some additional discussion um one of the speakers tonight had mentioned other chemicals that are added to

060the water and how uh you know know adding fluoride is uh is the same as adding chlorine or other chemicals to the water uh and it's true we do add other chemicals to the water there's no doubt about that uh but I I have to disagree that it's the same uh the chlorine that we add to the water the chloramine in some cases that we add to the water there are a number of chemicals that that get added to the water uh but those chemicals are added uh to treat the water itself uh to make it safe to drink uh in some cases to remove or address odor concerns or or drinkability you know none of those other chemicals are added to the water uh to treat us uh fluoride is the one exception fluoride

061is added to the water to treat us and I think that should give us pause it gives me pause uh and I'm somebody who you know I don't think this has to be a a fluoride versus anti fluoride uh kind of debate I mean I I believe I embrace uh the topical benefits of using fluoride in the mouth um you know it seems like for me this the issue is really one of medical freedom and consent you know the and the solution seems pretty darn simple to me which is let's stop putting something in the water that's meant to treat us and and give people the freedom to choose what an extraordinary idea you know to give people the freedom to choose and the good news is that they're all kinds of over-the-counter products out

062there uh uh fluoride toothpastes fluoride rinses using medical grade fluoride I might add not hydrofor ayc acid which is the byproduct of U of U of fluoride manufacturer but actual sodium fluoride medical grade fluoride um that uh that you uh use topically in your mouth or you know you rinse or you you know brush and then you spit it out you know and I think that's an important Point too is that the benefits of fluoride are topical there are no benefits to ingesting it and you know I think about all the over-the-counter products that we get at the grocery store or you know CVS or you know convenience stores uh that you don't need a prescription for you know virtually all of them have recommended dosages you know what's the recommended dosage for fluoridated water

063that's something we really don't talk about but it's ingested so to me it seems like uh you know medical Freedom consent Loom large here and this not need not be a debate between fluoride and anti fluoride forces um and you know I'll I'll I'll kind of exit with this which is uh one of the speakers that talked about I I think I'm paraphrasing here maybe I'm pretty close uh removing fluoride from the water uh for me is hard to swallow well that's the point isn't it you don't swallow it you use it topic L and the elegant solution here is to embrace Freedom um to rinse with it uh and then spit it out that's what we're meant to do with it and instead of you know putting it into our water uh and then

064buying a reverse osmosis machine that costs you know who knows how much you know how about you know we don't put a chemical into the water that's meant to treat us you know and if you want to use fluoride if you're a strong believer in its efficacy then by all means go out and buy a a tube of fluoride toothpaste uh go out and buy a fluoride rents and and and and use those products the way they're meant to be used um you know our you know 50 United States are small R you know Wonderful small r republican Laboratories of federal government that's how our constitution was set up you know and I think there's a lot of wisdom in um uh in embra embracing Freedom of Choice you know where where that is um

065um uh and I think here that's what's before us today let's Embrace Freedom of Choice um and let people who wish to use fluoride um do just that uh but let's not add it uh to our water uh and force those who don't want it or may have some sort of medical sensitivity to it force them to buy some machine to take it out thank you Mr chairman be supporting U uh robustly this motion any further discussion Vice chairman HS thank you Mr chairman um you know we we've talked at length over this topic we've spent um gosh at least three meetings now um discussing fluide and I think that there's a couple of things that have rang true with all the discussion that we've had um I think that everyone needs to understand that

066there is a difference between the fluoride treatment that you're getting at your dental professional's office and what you're receiving in your tap water um so I'm going to have to agree with commissioner Williams that uh that there is a big difference and what's being put in your tap water is a substance called Hydro fcyc acid I mean it's it's tough for me even say that word so but understand though that this particular substance is a substance that is used in all sorts of different applications so from metal sterilization electroplating animal hide tanning and even glass etching and we're putting this stuff in our water now granted in smaller percentages um so the point of it is we can sit here we can debate the science till the cows come home I mean we can sit

067here all day long and we can debate this we can debate the effectiveness of fluoride uh for dental or medical benefits but the truth of the matter is is that what you're getting in your TAP is very different from what you're getting at the dentist it's not the same so it's different at the chemical composition level and it's different in how it's administered as well um in our last meeting you know we we we heard from folks from East Carolina University we've received emails I think from everybody at East Carolina University um it it's sort of a Wonder to me why it is that we're attracting such big interest from East Carolina University you know over the topic of fluide in Union County North Carolina um especially when there's other counties in the in the

068state that have removed fluoride and it's been a non-issue for those counties and then there's also that big issue of consent so Health Care um health care or in this case dental care I would argue is not one siiz fits all it's not you know one of these you know same siiz hats that everybody gets to put on and I think it's key uh that everyone understand that when you go to a dentist when you go to a dental professional and you get that fluoride treatment you consent to that treatment you consent to being treated with that particular chemical so I I'll say this and I'll sum up my comments but the decision that we have to make as a board tonight really isn't if fluoride is good or bad that's not really the argument

069here the argument is if this board the Union County Board of Commissioners has the authority to put a medicine or a medical substance in our water without the consent of the residents should this board ignore consent by putting a substance in the water that is for dental or medicinal benefit are we not at least in a sense mandating medication for the public do we have the the authority to do so my opinion is that we do not and so therefore I will be supporting the motion any further discussion uh Deputy County Manager uh nylon please read the text again for us please sir yes sir for we vote so this would be section 3420 it would be an addition to article two of division one and it reads the introduction or depositing of fluoride or

070any chemical that contains fluoride into the water at water treatment plants and water treatment system which Union County owns and operates is prohibited the prohibition does not apply to any water at water treatment plants and water treatment systems over which Union County does not have complete control over concerning fluoridation and water treatment including without limitation the Kataba river water supply project any further discussion all in favor of the motion indicate by I I all oppos Nay n n [Applause] the next matter of business is item 24111 opioid settlement funding Plan update I will recognize Michelle blanker for this item just kidding thank you Mr chairman board members I have a couple of items for you tonight the first is an update on the opioid settlement specifically on a new request that we have for funding

071uh regarding a partnership with the Sheriff's Office and Union County Public Schools I think most of you will remember um that commissioner um chairman rushing actually had asked about a particular um putting some funds into the school system when we did our initial and uh secondary recommendations and so we have been working uh together with ucps the Sheriff's Office some staff from Human Services to look at what opportunities there would be that would align with the U utilization of opioid funds and so tonight what I have is a request for you to add um funding for a pilot program that ucps would Implement at Porter Ridge and Sun Valley clusters in their middle and high schools these have been identified by those staff as a place that they have um staff and principal Buy in

072and that they think that they have some issues that they would like to address they would like to implement the safety first curriculum this is a curriculum that's made up of 13 lessons on Alcohol opioids fentel psychedelics and Other Drugs um we would be looking to add one parttime position to the Sheriff's Office that would be called and I'll explain this in a second when I'm asking your um for a particular action a something like a substance use education coordinator we're still working on on exactly what that would be and this would take approximately $95,000 to fund through 2026 that would align with the other opioid fun programs that this board has approved you did a three-year funding so this would line those up so that we would be on that same schedule if the

073board is so inclined to support this um tonight what we would do is bring back to you a full resolution you'll remember the have a fairly um voluminous resolution that has to be adopted for the use of opioid funds that needs to go back to the AG's office and then we would also bring back to you the particular um position title that we decide to to use that would need to be added to your pay plan for that halftime position so again tonight if you are so inclined to uh to endorse this opportunity then we would bring that back to you at your next um agenda as a consent item for approval and we'll Begin work with um the staff at ucps and the Sheriff's Office to begin this implementation I'm happy to answer any

074questions Mr chairman Vice chairman Hill thank sir um uh first of all Michelle thank you for the update really appreciate that um the question I've got is and I may have missed this I think that you you stated this uh but the decision to Pilot at porteridge and Sun Valley so that was a ucps request these are um areas specifically some of the discussion that we've had is this is some areas where the principles in particular at the high schools have come forward and said we have some issues that we would really like to to get some more focused attention around vaping and drug use and other things and so there is a vaping module as part of this and so that's how those two were identified and then I would expect in our discussions

075that we've had that the expectation would be once this pilot has taken place that if this really takes hold and we see success that we would look to expand this to the other clusters at ucps but we really want to kind of try it out in those two clusters yeah I I certainly appreciate that and I I'm I would be in agreement with that um you know this is one of the things that when we started talking about the opioid settlement that I was most excited about um and and I shared that uh with commissioner rushing you know that excitement about partnering there with ucps in the sheriff's office um and we sort of envisioned something that was well for us uh you know old enough to remember the Dare program we we envisioned something

076along that lines um so uh for just my my opinion I only speak for myself when I say this but um I am supportive of this and I would like to see more information brought back to us about you know what this would look like like specifically um and you know hopefully if it's if it's successful then I would certainly like to see more uh more information about implementing it throughout the entire District absolutely we can do that thank you if if approved will it start in the fall the next school year um I am not sure I think once we've got to identify a person and um I should say I think in conversations that I've had with the sheriff's office um and with the folks at ucps we would anticipate this probably being

077a retired Sheriff Deputy or some staff person who has worked in the school system that has an interest in working in these types of education programs that has a law enforcement SL education kind of feel so once that person's identified I think ucps is really ready I know the sheriff's office is ready as soon as they can identify that person and get moving so potentially it could start this school year prior to the fall happening but we can bring back more of those details to you once we spend a little more time working out how that really would work and getting somebody on board who can delve in and do the training that would come along with this the training is actually at no cost the funding here really is for the part-time hours that

078it would take for two years and some kind of nominal money that we put in about $20,000 for supplies copies you know being able to take um materials to the schools Mr chairman um sorry Michelle one one follow-up question um as far as the materials is that something that the sheriff's office is developing no this is a program that um it was developed back in 2017 so there's a curriculum that is already already exists it's been used um nationally and this is what ucps staff has identified that they would like to implement so they don't have to develop that this is something the modules already exist and that would be the safety first Safety First and I can send you some information on that so you can take a look at it yeah I would

079certainly appreciate that I'd like to review some of this as well I will send that to you thank you okay I have a question commissioner Mar but I want I just want to conf confirm it says in two clusters um so I just want to confirm that this does will include elementary middle and high for those two clust just middle and high school this curriculum is middle and high school specific and that's actually what ucps has said they would like to to start with you don't see in what we've done a fair amount of research there's not a lot of curriculum that goes down to the elementary school but there are some but they definitely know that in the middle and high school is where they see more concentrated issues that they want to tackle

080and so that's why this would really focus on that middle and high school for those two clusters okay um the last comment I wanted to make was about the one part-time position I would almost like to get some feedback or some research on maybe two positions one that has the law enforcement background and one that has like an education or Health Care background um you know so that it's a true partnership and just and not just the full burden of the sheriff department I think that we would be open to that I'm so that's just a little bit of feedback I would have absolutely well I think the board's open to certainly hearing more information I I'm actually I think I I can see consensus so we will provide you additional information bring back a

081couple of pieces that we would need for utilizing the funding and I will talk to Jared at ucps and and figure out what kind of position they would use and what that would take and so we'll bump that number up and I'll I'll send you that information before your next meeting perfect thank you thank you very much all right ma'am don't go anywhere the next item on our agenda is item 24 uh2 the 2024 legislative agenda discussion and I'll again recognize Michelle lanter again for this item thank you very much I am going to spend a little time going over a proposed legisl ative agenda for 2024 I've talked to each of you um individ individually and gotten feedback and some items and so as I go through the items I will recognize some of

082you who have given me specific items if you'd like to add some additional color to to those so that everybody can hear those um The Guiding principles these are the guiding principles that the county has used um since I've been here working on the legislative work so essentially supporting any efforts that protect and or enhance local government's revenues and or increase our local F funding flexibility and opposing any unfunded mandates and initiatives that fail to fully fund services that might be shifted to the county from the state so as always we try not to challenge our delegation or the legislature but sometimes we have to and these are the principles that we use specifically um when things get kind of to that 11th Hour in the general assembly and and and bills can be moving

083pretty quickly this gives U myself staff um and and the County's lobbyist something to kind of lean on and say okay this is why we're going to be against this or for it um so we will keep those guiding principles in place um I'm going to go through these These are in no particular order at the end I am going to give you kind of a a a group of them that we think are priorities and we that would be U myself and the the manager's office met last week to to go over these um this is a short session that we're going into so you in theory it's supposed to be short um it Begins the end of April um they have they the delegation members that I've spoken to have assured me that

084they are really going to Target a short session we haven't seen one of those in quite a while but hopefully that's that's the case and and traditionally kind of the practice is that for short session you look for things that are non-controversial that your own delegation supports unanimously so things that aren't you know that are should be with some ease to to go into the session um I say that and then once we go through this list you'll see that we have quite a few items what I would also say is that you my experience would tell me and also just our practice that it's a good thing to put things in front of the legislature that you might not be expecting action on this session because it's short session but that you really want

085them to know that are important to you as an organization as a county so that they can expect to see them again um you'll also see some things that are on here that were on our last legislative agenda and so that's to continue to I think to articulate to them the importance um of those is is not a bad thing and so I think it'll it'll make sense as we go through this so the first two items that we have um as request one would be funding for EMS bases I think you all know as you as you've discussed um with Patrick and the staff of of looking at doing some modifications to the dynamic deployment model that is utilized here we would be seeking some funding um I'm leaving these fairly broad so that

086as we work with with the delegation on what we might be able to obtain through the session we would get a little more granular in our language but we would just be looking for some State supported funding for allowing you the opportunity to put those bases in places that make sense for the county um the next item um as you are all aware during last session the county received funding um budgetary funding for a regional autopsy Center that would be here in Union County to serve nine counties the way that that was drafted is not very flexible and so one of the things that we have talked to DHHS about as we're looking at moving that that project along is how we can have some flexibility in the language to move that quicker for Union

087County in particular and some of our neighboring counties before we might have a brand new facility up and running um the hospital is open and willing to allow a pathologist to use their morg space at the Monroe facility and so we think that we could really do some of this fairly quickly if the legislature would give us some flexibility in that language and so this just shows you kind of what we think would work as a a schedule for moving through the counties and um I've spoken to a couple of Delegation members and I think they are supportive and we actually would like for DHHS to partner with us on this language and so we have shared this with them as well and at least so far have gotten positive reaction to that the next

088item is to seek additional clarifying language for the budget language from 2022 regarding $8 million that Union County could use for land acquisition design permitting and construction of any of the following a new Water Reclamation facility in the Crooked Creek Watershed or an expansion of the Poland Road Pump Station I know that this could turn a whole lot of conversation I'm just here about the legislative piece for this um and really what uh what I would suggest that we're looking for is any flexibility we could get so that the county does doesn't leave any of that money on the table um at this point so I know that staff is continuing to look at how that 4.7 million dollar could be reimbursed but since they will be in session we would like to see some

089flexibility in that language so that you could access those dollars for other water or sewer projects that might be ripe for that Mr chairman yes sir Vice chairman Hill thank you sir um Michelle any I guess what I'm trying to ask you is is would there be any chance that we could um utilize These funds or uh perhaps make an edit so that these funds could be used for just typical RNR perhaps so you'll remember that these are arpa funds so we have to have that arpa overlay so perhaps we've been talking about what the opportunities are that we could look for that are broader than just these two buckets so I think we would be looking for some much broader flexibility for the utility thank you um this next item is a carryover from

0902023 seek flexibility that allows the utility to implement a method of allocation that prioritizes Industrial and Commercial development um commissioner Helms in particular asked that I carry this over and so we're bringing this one forward again um the last item on this this page seek legislation that would allow Union County water to sell water from the yagin regional Water Project to the city of Monroe and I added after talking with Brian and others um I think everybody has had some discussion that the city of Monroe is interested in buying water they're not able to under the current IBT um what Brian and I talked about last week is if we are going to seek any flexibility in this while nobody else is lined up to buy water let's be as broad as we can while

091you've got a bite at the Apple so we would try to get that language as broad as possible the next um page of items a couple are carryovers the first Direct ncdhhs and lme mcos to develop and maintain treatment and placement options for all children who come into the custody of local Departments of Social Services this continues to be an issue for Departments of Social Services not just in Union County but around the state and so we want to continue to make sure that the delegation understands that you this is is really important to us um the next is a carryover from 20203 established drag queen performances as adult entertainment at adult establishments I was asked to bring that one over so that one is carried over as well um the next item came to

092me from uh commissioner Helms also oppose any legislation that facilitates forced annexation I'm not sure if you want to if you want to add anything you can um I can keep going Mr chairman go ahead sir um yeah Michelle I'll jump in I think that this deserves at least a little bit of a brief explanation um there there have been some uh some uh folks in in in certain municipalities within the county that um that it brought this up and it brought this up to me personally um one of the things that they would like to do is is that whenever there's a a deed transfer um so if a resident of unincorporated Union County for example sold their property then that property would then be annexed into the closest municipality um and I I

093think that uh well I I would hope that my fellow board members would would agree that this would not be a good practice for unincorporated Union County thank you the next item would be to seek funding for Union County Jail construction this was uh commissioner Helm's item as well and I I have done a little looking around to to see that there in the past budgets most the most recent two past budgets there definitely have been um allocations for judicial centers and and other judicial services in other parts of the state so I think that this is a a ripe opportunity to seek funding from the state for any potential Jael Construction in the future um the next one is to seek legislation that increases the amount paid to counties by the state for reimbursement

094for housing sentenced inmates this came from commissioner Williams uh did a little more digging into this one as well just to to add some uh some background um the rate that the state pays for counties to house senate inmates which is a program that started several years ago but the rate of $40 has been in place since 1997 um with no no movement so this is something that the State Association of County Commissioners has looked for the last couple of years to see an increase and we would join in with that commissioner Williams I don't know if you want to add anything to that since that was your item the next item yes um so are are you saying that since 1997 the Union County Sheriff office is currently housing inmates for $40 an inmat

095if they are part of the state misdemeanant program and they're and they they pay us for those we are only being paid $40 and then mileage if they are transported every county is getting only $40 we don't have any inmat we are full and we don't have enough room toay for the programs of the State office so we know we don't sometimes we have to move one and but we don't beber the only one that charges us for that they charge $75 a day right now we're starting inar they Char okay so just to clarify for those that did or did not hear it we do not currently house inmates from outside of Union County I didn't say that we don't charge the oh we're doing doing it for free doing it for free because

096they do it for us for free but you just said that mecklinburg is 755 okay okay so who are we using what who if we're not using mecklinburg because they're charging $75 a day inmates in St count okay count they don't charge us so sometimes we have to take one of their troubled inmates and keep in our jail so it's a trade off between this Regional counties here no we don't use thank you very much and this rate just so this is for sentence inmates which there is a a misdemeanant population that that you you have to keep essentially um based on the the guidance from or the the rules from the state so this would be that that piece where the state currently only reimburses at $40 which I think nobody believes if that

097hasn't changed since 1997 that the cost of operating a jail has maintained that consistency so we would be supporting um seeing that rate changed in the future um the the next two are um also items from commissioner Williams seek legislation that preserves local Revenue by providing just compensation to counties for property acquired by the state and removed from the adorm tax base and legislation that would repeal NC GS 105 27545 that mandates counties must exclude 80% of the appraised value of solar energy Electric System from property taxation um I'm not sure if commissioner William you want to add anything to those either no it's just it's just one of the too many examples I think in our um state code where um exemptions are granted for this kind of project or that kind of project

098and it and it falls on local governments um and in a uh and it's a real burden at times so nothing against solar projects or all the other projects out there that uh state legislators uh carve out these exemptions for uh nothing against those projects but you know that burden falls on local government and I think you know those exemptions we should look towards our delegation to get rid of those exemptions as best we can and and these two items were also uh priority items for the state U county commissioner Association in the last year so it would be in line with those actions they're seeking then the last group of items support legislation that seeks to repeal the certificate of need requirements this is one where um the staff has had some discussion and

099and we believe that this is something we we should support with with a caveat that the uh the lease Union County has for the hospital uh with Atrium healthc care um creates some some challenges around Co and so what we would actually seek is we would support anything that um that eliminated the certificate of need requirements as long as it didn't negatively impact us through our lease um and we would um be opposed to anything that did have negative implications to us so that's how we would look look to um to react to any of those there's clearly been a movement at the general assembly to see some some change in the Co in law they've made some small incremental change but I think what that signals is that there's additional change coming so um

100we've been keeping an eye on that the last couple of sessions to make sure that that the county is not harmed financially in any way um we would also look to support additional funding support for the Department of Juvenile Justice this is really an area again that that impacts your your Social Services if DJJ the juvenile probation essentially um is not funded appropriately does doesn't have enough Staffing um that can can really bleed over into the impact that Ashley and her team have and so this is an area that we would look to support um any additional funds that the state can put in that area same with the next item support state funding for treatment courts uh the state several years ago did fund treatment courts throughout the state and they took legislative action

101to stop those that funding counties were able to still fund those and in in the case of Union County um continued to fund a du treatment court for many years and still does um this is one of the items that through the opioid funding we are funding additional treatment courts and I know that judge hux and her staff are looking for some grant opportunities to increase what they're doing through treatment courts and so U we would support anything that the that the state would do in terms of funding treatment courts and then last um but not least this came to me from um commissioner Helms and commissioner Merill um seek and support state funding to allow continuation of the ucps daily in school tutoring program this is approximately um based on my conversation with superintendent

102hulahan 3.5 to4 million annually that they would be looking to have funded um and and by all accounts they believe that that has been an incredibly successful program and so we would not only support state funding but we would actually ask for that as part of our legislative asks and um you can see the priorities that I have here again you've got a lot more items than these priorities we would provide all the items to the legislation to our delegation legislative delegation with these um five items being seen as our priorities um as they go and look at the things that we really want them to tackle but but clearly we would be looking for things that affected um the rest of that agenda as well I'm happy to answer any questions we have a

103delegation breakfast scheduled for the 13th uh location to be determined I will get that to you um and I will package this um a little prettier and and nicer on uh probably a one sheet front and back for the delegation to have in hand um and would would appreciate getting support for all of these items if you want to support all of them if there are some that you would like to take separately and please do and I'm happy to answer any questions I do not have a question but I just have a comment first off um Michelle thank you for continuing um this very important work for our County um I just have one very simple request um move number 16 the request from Union County Public Schools up to number six so that

104it's truly acknowledged as a priority instead of dead last no I'll put I'll put them all in in that order that yeah I would I would appreciate if number 16 became number six okay thank you thank you ma'am I'm going to ask you for some action if I can get it I I want you to raise your hands and say that you're all for this and then I'll go back and repackage it so um a vote on supporting the legislative agenda would be I make the motion that we support the legislative agenda was just laid out before any discussion as amended as amended all in favor I I allos very much thank you ma'am all right we have uh Deputy County manager nyin is filling in tonight for County Manager Matthews who's unable to be

105with us so I'll we'll hear from you sir just want to thank all staff that's in attendance for being here tonight and just want to recognize uh Deputy Christopher bym again for his life saving efforts at Weddington High School we truly appreciate it thank you and uh I'll start off the commissioner's comments I reiterate what uh Deputy County Manager Nyon said of course I want to thank all of our law enforcement officers our Emergency Medical Services Workers our firefighters all of our County staff um look the County employees they're the ones that do the the County's work we just set up here behind the dice and they're the ones that do all the work so I want to recognize them and I appreciate all that they do for US vice chairman Brian Helms thank you

106Mr chair um I would just say that uh I wanted to recognize all the folks that took the time to speak tonight um no matter which side of the uh the floor discussion that you were on um I appreciate everyone being here to speak and that's one of the great things about you know what we do here is uh our residents do have the ability to come and and voice their concerns and have their voices heard um I I don't think that there's anybody that's on this board that takes health and safety for granted um so I want to assure the public that um that we are doing as a board you know what we feel is the best thing all around um thank you to all the staff members who uh who are diligent

107in attending these meetings and staying with us and um and and again thank you to all that uh that showed up I certainly appreciate it and wish you all a good night commissioner Melissa Marill I too want to thank everyone who came out to speak tonight um I thank our staff for all the information that they have provided to us over the last couple of months um it is ironic that floor Rod would attract so many people um so much conversation but that's why we have um this governmental opportunity for people to participate um I especially want to thank Mr Fred geres um who came to speak tonight I think he was asked to leave and um that's something I think um everyone should have an opportunity to participate and be here so I I

108want to thank him um for sharing his his um Insight with us tonight and I do want to say that um that we spent an entire day um this is not the only meeting we attend we we attend lots and lots of meetings that people hear about and media decides to cover or not cover but four of us um you know took an entire day off from work um last week um to start talking about budget discussions and issues like education and law enforcement and Health and Human Services and um we covered almost every gamut that you could possibly imagine um you know on our personal personal time and so you know please know that you know we do take this very very seriously and um you know while you may or may not believe

109that fluide is important to you or your family um we're you know we're doing our very very best you know to listen to everyone um and I think if you haven't had an opportunity to listen to everything that we took eight hours on a work day to go over with staff I would encourage everyone you know to please go take a listen um to that Retreat because we covered a lot of information and um with that said I'll pass it down to commissioner Williams thank you commissioner Merill uh I'd like to Echo some of the comments that commissioner Merill and commissioner uh commissioner Brian Helms made about the robust uh discussion um the robust um views that were shared from our speakers I counted uh I think I counted 14 total uh speakers both both

110pro and con on the fluoride Amendment um you know regardless of where someone stands I I just want to applaud that and embrace uh that robust public involvement I just think it's great and um you know I'd love to see more of the same across a whole range of issues issues not just fluoride there's so many things that we wrestle with uh every week every day sometimes and uh uh the more robust uh input and and discussion that we get from um our citizens the better so I was just thrilled to see that thank you Mr chairman commissioner Richard Hills yes this past year has been very challenging last February 2023 I had a gallbladder explode and gave me septus which put me in the hospital for nearly 3 months this clearly causes you to

111review your life's priorities I came back to the board in June of 2023 this past February 5th I was admitted to cardiac ICU and spent a week in the hospital identifying another issue this time it turned out to be a small tear in my a order the doctors were unable to repair it the only option seems to be keeping my blood pressure and and my heart rate is low as phasically possible I also have to reduce my stress at the advice of my physician and several cardiac specialty teams it is great sadness that I will have to resign my position with Union County Board of Commissioners for the past 11 and a half years it's been my pleasure to serve the people of Union County during that time we' have accomplished a lot that have

112been fed Union County the Yadkin Water Project provide us water for the next 100 years the new DHS facility to serve the health of the County Emergency Services and an updated 911 Center uh for the county citizens the new Sheriff's Office with a with a crime lab that can turn around evidence in days not months uh like we experience today these ACC accomplishments were possible because of teamwork of many peers such as commissioner Jr raal David Williams Jerry Simpson Dennis rape and Frank amas and Barbara Harrison of course the support of Mark Watson Lynn West Jason Kay Richard Long and Lian Bundy and of course the sheriff Kathy and so many others of our outstanding staff I would also like to thank Chris plate and his economic development team so it is great with great

113sadness and reluctance that I resign effective tonight I want to thank you the voters who entrusted me to serve you and most importantly thank you to my wife for supporting me during this process thank you thank you commissioner Helms um I want to thank you for your service to Union County Commissioner Helms is the currently the longest serving member of the Board of Commissioners uh like he said he's in his uh actually his 12th year 11 and a half years currently um and I just want to thank you for your service to the county I appreciate all you've done on this board and all you've done for Union County that concludes this regular meeting thank you for all who attended I move that the board of journ all those in favor of the motion say

114I I all oppos thank you thank you sir