001C all right let's see we have all the board members present so I call the December 4th 2023 regular meeting of the Union County Board of Commissioners to order pursuant to the board's president County manager is the presiding officer at the first regular meeting in December until election and oath of the officer of chair and vice chair is is complete at this time I'd also like to recognize commissioner Merill for the invocation dear heavly father thank you for this holiday season that we are anxiously awaiting to celebrate your birth Lord and we ask you for guidance and wisdom and strength to do your will and to always be a listener to the people that we represent we ask for you to be with us as we celebrate this holiday season and protect um all those
002in Union County and keep us safe and um we ask all this in your name amen amen amen please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance please a pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you have just a couple of administrative items I want to talk about first before we get into the um the election of the officers first I I need for the public to be aware previously there was uh the the intention of having a public hearing on this particular meeting of CZ 20231 McManus property um the app has withdrawn their application uh because of that there is no Authority for the board to hold a public hearing for that
003particular item however I want to make it clear that that has the same effect as a denial when the board uh turns down a resoning application that applicant that property owner cannot come back and submit the same application or very similar application for consideration for 12 months when they withdraw their application at this point in the um process it has the same effect they cannot bring the application back for another 12 months it cannot be the same or very similar so I just want to make that clear there will be no public hearing on that particular item because of that withdrawal also need the board to be aware that there is an item that is on consent it is 23807 it is an ncdot contract um that item does need to be removed from consent
004so when you get to that item of course the chair will will take care of that we don't have all of that um contract information uh at this particular time we anticipated we would have it by this meeting we do not so we'll need to have that removed that will likely be on your December 18th meeting so just to make you aware of those those two items that are administrative in nature any questions about those particular items all right after that and then we'll go into the the rest of it so the next item on the agenda is the election of officers pursuant to uh North Carolina General statutes 153 a-39 and the board's rules the board shall elect a chair and vice chair for the next year at this first regular meeting in December
005and each of the odd numbered years chair P chair Position will be considered first and then the vice chair I will open the floor for nominations for the position of chair the nominations will be voted on in the order in which they are received and the first nominee to receive a majority of vot will be appointed as chair so I'll open the uh open it up for nominations at this time yes Mr manager um I would like to nominate J.R Ral for the position of chair okay are there any additional nominations all right we're hearing none let's go ahead and move to the um the vote for that so the first nomination of chair is commissioner uh Ral Jr Ral all those in favor of nomination please say I I I all right well that's
006unanimous then all right so congratulations uh Mr R as chair we'll move into the item for the vice chair um so now I open the it the uh item for nominations for the position of Vice chairs anyone want to make those nominations uh Mr County Manager I nominate Brian Helms to be Vice chair okay any additional nominations all right hearing none and the nominations are closed we'll take a vote on that so all those in favor of the nomination of Brian Helms for vice chair please say I I I all right all those opposed n all right I see one just want to make sure that's one okay all right congratulations Mr Helms your Vice chair and at this point in time let's see what we got here let's got to move forward with the
007actual Oaths of office so Lynn if you can do those official Oaths of office for the chair for the vice chair for us Solly swear that you will support and maintain the Constitution and laws of the United States and the Constitution and laws of North Carolina not inconsistent there with and that you will Faithfully discharge the of your office as chair of the Board of Commissioners for the county of Union of he I do Jr rph Solly and sincerely swear that you will support the Constitution of the United States that you will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the state of North Carolina and to the Constitutional Powers and authorities which are or may be established for the government thereof and that you will endeavor to support maintain and defend the constitution of State
008not inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States to the best of your knowledge and ability so help you God Jr R swear that you will well and truly execute the duties of the office of chair of the Board of Commissioners for the county of Union according to the best of your skill and ability according to laws so help you Val I you very [Music] much Mr HS thank support and maintain laws of the United States and the Constitution and laws of North Carolina not inconsistent there and that you will Faithfully discharge the view of your office as Vice chair of the Board of Commissioners for the count of un so help you I do Bri helmly and sincerely swear that we you will support the Constitution of the United States that you will be
009faithful and bear true allegiance to the state of North Carolina and to the Constitutional Powers and authorities which are or may be established to the government thereof and that you will endeavor to support maintain and defend the constitution of the state not inconsistent with the of the United States to the best of your knowledge and ability so help you God youon Helms swear that you will well and truly execute the duties of the office of Vice chair of the Board of Commissioners for the county of Union according to the best of your skill and ability according to law so help you [Music] God if everyone wouldn't mind uh joining me and congratulating uh Mr R and commissioner chairman RI with the officers now elected and duly sworn I turn the meeting over to you thank
010gosh thank you sir the next item on the agenda is elected officials bonds pursuant to St to the statute the sheriff and the register Deeds are required to maintain personal bonds while in office the individuals are responsible for securing these bonds Union County has undertaken responsibility for Bond placement the action requested is for the approval of a bond for the sheriff in the amount of $5,000 and for the register of deeds in the amount of $25,000 is there a motion to approve these bonds Mr chairman I'll make that motion to approve uh bonds for both sheriff and register of deeds in the amounts of $5,000 and $225,000 respectively any further discussion all in favor I I next on our agenda is the employee bonds pursuant to statute the finance director and the tax administrator are
011required to maintain personal bonds while in office these the individuals are responsible for securing these bonds Union County has undertaken responsibility for Bond placement the action requested is for the approval of of a bond for the finance director in the amount of $1 million and for the tax administrator in the amount of $60,000 is there a motion to approve these bonds motion to approve those presented any further discussion all in favor all right the next item on the agenda is informal comments from the community Madam clerk has anyone signed up to speak for informal comments yes sir we have one person who signed in online and then we have three that person is also signed on there well okay all right the uh first person to speak is Abigail fro uh also Al we have
012Jen Sanders Harold uh Schumer and Carolyn burrow 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 M municipality within which they reside at in 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 may not discuss matters which are the subject of public hearings and they may be 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 speaker ERS may leave written comments
013and or supporting documents if any with the clerk to the board all right first we have Abigail prao good evening my name is Abigail pra and I'm a resident of waaw North Carolina tonight I would like to discuss the dangers associated with the fluoridation of our drinking water and address the ethical concerns surrounding the lack of medical consent to begin it is essential to recognize that fluoride is a byproduct of various industrial process cesses and is often derived from the phosphate fertilizer industry in fact the Centers for Disease Control and prevention classify fluoride as medical waste a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2012 found that fluoride intake can lead to dental fosis a condition characterized by discol discoloration and pitting of the teeth Additionally the same study suggested that
014high levels of fluoride exposure can also result in skeletal fosis a condition that causes pain stiffness and a debilitating weakness in joints and Bones the Journal of epidemiology and Community Health found a link between fluoride exposure and increased risk of hypothyroidism a condition where the thyroid gland fails to produce enough hormones as well as disruption of healthy thyroid function finally a review in the environmental health perspectives found that exposure to fluide in early childhood can lead to cognitive delays and negatively impact a child's learning abilities and overall IQ in regards to to the ethical concerns surrounding the lack of medical consent fluoridation of water is a mass medical treatment approach that affects an entire population regardless of individual medical needs or preferences this raises serious questions about the right of to informed consent and the
015autonomy of individuals to make informed decisions about their own health informed consent is a fundamental principle in medical ethics it requires that individuals have access to accurate and comprehensive information about any medical treatment or intervention they May undergo however when it comes to water fluoridation individuals are not given the opportunity to provide consent or make an informed choice this lack of autonomy and control over their own bodies is a matter of significant ethical concern in conclusion the dangers of fluoride and drinking water cannot be ignored citing reputable medical journals there is significant evidence of potential health risk associated with its consumption and perhaps even more importantly the ethical concerns surrounding the lack of medical consent in water Flor FL oration highlight the need for a reassessment of the practice it is crucial that we prioritize
016individual autonomy and informed consent when it comes to matters of public health and safety thank you thank you Miss uh pra our next speaker is Jen Sanders hello everyone welcome oh hello everyone I just wanted to First say congratulations to Mr R and Mr Helms for your um chair positions today so congratulations so I have some interesting facts so food pantries are being visited by more people than ever currently right now in our local communities affordable housing what have you even looked lately there you can find a house less than $200,000 where we currently live we have a homeless population that needs service to help them get out of the cold and to start a new our foster system is overrun with with lack of homes for children to be um placed in and we
017have water and sewer issues from the rapid growth in Union County but yet we're choosing to focus on drag shows and whether lgbtq communities can meet at a park on a yearly event called a festival again priorities I might add that if you do not want to engage then you don't need to go I see that it was added to the agenda so that should be interesting but let's talk about something that we're going to that we I would like to Circle back to so um back in September we know what happened with the public libraries in October we came and spoke in front of you and Miss Merill had said that she would address the conversation about opening the public library rooms back to the public taxpaying citizens that's who we are so I'm
018just here to ask you guys to put that back on the agenda and make that available all rooms to anyone who pays taxes in Union County for the simple fact that it's publicly funded buildings where we live and that we would like access to them and not just organizations like the NAACP or Union County Pride but other organizations Boy Scouts of America Girl Scouts your local organizations your food pantry common heart other people in organizations would like to use that room and if we pay the taxes and we pay for the buildings to be built like the new one in wax allw it would be really great if we could actually access them and while we're on top of it I'd really like for us to stop Banning books have a great day everyone thank
019you ma'am thank you ma'am our next speaker is Harold and is that Shoemaker all right thank you sir good evening Harold Jer waaw uh I spoke to you guys in September about fluide and I've learned some new information I want to share with you first I want to thank you guys for your willingness to look at this issue so it's very much appreciated and um just want to give you my heartfelt thanks for that so um one of the books I've read is by Christopher Bryson he's an investigative reporter who Enlisted the help of librarians researchers around the country to help them find archived Declassified and Foya documents in regard to the government role in fluoride this was an eyeopener uh the element Florine is at the top of the periodic table it has nine
020positively charged proton and only three electrons as a result Florine is unstable and highly reactive and takes electrons from other elements which is why Florine acts violently with most organic compounds it can cut through steel like butter it can burn asbest and it's used to enrich uranium the Manhattan pro project needed massive amounts of fluoride to enrich uranium to build the first atomic bombs the needed uh the military contracted with steel uh steel companies to enrich theur for them uh fluide gas would be released at night into the air to keep it hidden from the public this had caused immense damage to crops livestocks and people protecting fluoride became a matter of National Security spite of the damage it was causing the single largest pollution disaster happened in 1949 when a temperature inversion trapped fluide
021in the nearby Town 6,000 people sought medical attention and 20 people died whether it was Farmers suing for damage to their crops or animals or it was workers suing for injuries received a manufacturing plants the military worked in the background to successfully help industry fight off those lawsuits they also influenced other areas of government when the FDA was going to ban produce in the region close to one of the plants due to high levels of Florine the military stepped in and convinced the FDA to stand down there were two main reasons that the military backed adding fluoride to the public water supply military wanted human testing done on how much fluoride could be tolerated and they did other experiments like injecting plutonium into unsuspecting hospital patients second reason was that it could be used to
022help defend lawsuits industry defense attorneys could then point out the public water fluoridation policies and propaganda to fight the claim that it was dangerous the CDC calling fluoride one of the top uh FL adding fluoride to the to the public water supply one of the top health accomplishments is one example of how government continues to create propaganda designed to protect fluoride uh instead of giving the industry the benefit of the doubt in Union County I'd like to ask you to give the benefit of the doubt to the people and immediately you know halt the uh the adding of FL to our water uh and just for the benefit of the people because I think what government has done is just way over the top and Over The Line uh throughout history uh on this area
023so thank you very much I really appreciate your time thank you sir our next speaker is Carolyn burrow good evening Commissioners and congratulations to the officers my name is Carolyn burrow I live in the Alton community and I've been in Union County uh for over 30 years I recently left a packet for you for the Commissioners uh asking that you reopen the short waterline project because specifically for my road of course but um I also mentioned in that packet that there were two businesses that really needed to benefit from this water supply and so I've recently learned that there's a third one that's very close there to our road and that I know that you would like to support the small businesses in this community and they have been there for a long long time
024so thank you thank you Miss burough uh the next item on our agenda is item 23797 service award recognition I will now recognize Julie broom Human Resources Director for this item good evening Commissioners we recently held our final uh 2023 service award ceremony for employees that were recognized for meeting milestones in the months of October November and December specifically we had 19 5-year recipients 19 10year recipients four 15-year recipients 5 20e year recipients and one 25-year recipient we were able to recognize about 30 of those individuals during this ceremony uh we are grateful to have the opportunity to have these ceremonies so that we can personally thank employees for their service their dedication their contributions to Union County and we do have a short video for you this evening so that you can see some
025moments from that uh service award ceremony and also hear from some employees personally about their experience working with Union County thank [Music] you thank you for joining us this morning for our four fourth quarter service award [Applause] program you don't stay at 911 for 5 years without any passion and drive to do it we're fortunate that you chose our department to join so Jerry thank you very much five great years appreciate it hope you have many more I absolutely love everything about my job helping anyone that that calls into the 911 Center pointing them in the right direction or sending them the the help that they need that's that's what I love the most Union County exudes friendliness uh the the slower more casual Pace uh people care about each other here thank you B
026Megan is always Allin and that's amazing I think what I like most about working here is um the fact that you get a unique behindth scenes kind of look at what it takes to run a local government stuff that most people don't get to see and that most people don't think about almost everything within the with within Union County comes from the County government uh and you don't I guess think about that all the time sometimes you think about the local town or the State uh certainly the federal but how much of an impact you can make I say it's a great place to work you know it's got good benefits and and and the pay is fair I feel like all of those options but I think the biggest thing for me is the
027impact that you get to make um you get to feel like you're doing something to help everyone that you live near uh that you see every day I have thoughts she takes care of the rest sometimes she tells me after the fact that I've had a thought that I didn't even know about she just took care of it I always say that social work is a calling and Alisa has truly answered that calling Alisa is very dedicated and she's committed to child worth welfare services and the children that we serve here and I just want to thank her for all of her service thank you in order to be a great social worker you have to have a servant's heart if you don't have that you're not going to succeed in this job it's a
028thankless job we do you know so much for the kids that we serve there's just so many things that could happen and in order to be a good social worker you have to not think about getting home and cooking dinner you have to think about that child that's in in your office with no place to go and just making sure that they're taken care of and congratulations on your 5 years and I look forward to many more so you guys have no idea how much dong coordinates in our office she is like the central point of all of our work Don thank you and congratulations as um you know someone today that actually was receiving an award it makes you feel good that you're being seen for what you do and also for um you
029know being recognized and um you're appreciated I enjoy hearing what you have to say about your co-workers it's very obvious that you care about the people you work with and work for um you have a lot of respect you have a lot of appreciation and I say this you're like a family and and we I think we are a family honestly and so I've just for me I appreciate what you do I'm so proud that you're here in this organization I'm very proud of the work that you do you are what actually makes this place a great place to be and thank you very [Applause] [Music] much thank you Miss broom um I personally want to say thank you to all the Great County Employees I tell you I'm going to give you a standing
030ovation you deserve it and congratulations to all those receiving Service Awards I mean it takes I worked in government a long time it takes some stick tutiven I'm not sure if that's a word but it takes some of that to make it sometimes to keep going it takes determination and I really appreciate what you've done in the years you've served the next matter on the agenda is item 23800 recognition of Lifesaver Award recipients I'll recognize Clayton voir did I say you're right name sir V voer I recognize Clayton voer assistant County Manager for this presentation thank you Mr chair uh tonight it's my pleasure to recognize um another one of our employees uh who received our Lifesaver Award um recently Wendell Roberts is one of our facilities employees uh and back in October he was
031having lunch at a local restaurant uh when one of the employees there suffered from a seizure um she fell and hit her head um because because of Wendell's quick thinking and quick action um he was able to provide support um to that person and assist them until uh other First Responders arrived um and he is very proud himself of being a first responder because he recently completed his uh EMT as part of his uh role as a volunteer firefighter and we are um just very proud of wend and happy to have him he helps us um manage all the assets and our facilities and he's sort of a of all trades and can do a lot for us um so it's my pleasure tonight to ask him to come forward and be recognized tonight questions
032[Applause] sor okay canth three one two three thank you I just I I appreciate this award it's not an individual thing there's many people in this room First Responders recognize my Sheriff's Department deputies emergency communication people that J just spoke got two myel fire members with us Chief and we should all know Tak a team and that's what we have here and so I appreciate being a part of our grand team [Applause] okay I'm going to grow Off Script here I meant to do this earlier um I'm getting older and I can't remember things like I used to um this last year that passed um commissioner Marill served as our vice chair um she was elected in that position last December and she served until August when um the former chair uh commissioner Stony rushing
033passed away unexpectedly I'm going to try to get through this without getting too emotional but you know being Vice chair and and being thrown into that role is Tough Enough like it is but unexpectedly she was requested or uh had to serve as chair I personally appreciate what you did it's not easy to do do um especially under those circumstances it's been a tough year for this board but you helped us get us through I appreciate what you did that's just personally for me and I know these board members feel that way so thank you for everything you did especially during those tough times [Applause] okay are there any additions or changes to the agenda yeah Mr chairman commissioner Brian H go ahead sir yes sir so um per our County manager's request um I
034would like to ask that we remove item 23807 from our consent agenda uh that is item the item that addresses NC do contract waxall Marvin um and bond Grove Church roads um I would if appropriate I would also ask that we table an item that is currently on the business portion of our agenda and that would be item 23830 which is official participation in events of aient Interest or adult nature um as I understand it our state legislature is looking at an item that is somewhat similar that may have an impact to this item and so I would prefer to table that for future discussion okay thank you sir all right that was that were the uh revisions the requested revisions on the consent agenda is there a motion to approve the consent agenda Mr
035chairman make the motion to approve consent as amended any discussion all in favor I all right we are now at the uh I guess I I probably need to make a motion on removing the other item from the business agenda um any discussion on that all in favor thank you we're now at the business portion of our agenda the next item on the agenda is item 23 819 concerning the Union County Jail project and its project delivery method I will now recognize assistant County Manager Clayton v v if you want to just call me Jr I Clayton's fine Clayton is fine for discussion of this I go ahead sir yes sir thank you Mr chair uh thank you Mr chair and good evening Commissioners uh for this agenda item um staff is going to be
036requesting you to take action to tonight to approve the uh construction delivery method for the new jail project um staff is recommending um to approve the um construction manager at risk or CM at risk construction delivery method we've used that on a number of recent projects and we believe it is U provides the most benefit to the county um but before we uh before I ask that I'm going to provide some background information on how we got to this point um back in May um the board directed staff to bring back information on including a new jail project on a bond referendum for next year um so I'm going to go through some of those um first actions that the board would have to take in order to do that um the other action is
037approval of uh back in June uh in the regular meeting the board adopted the fy2 24 operating budget and within that budget was $2 million in pgo capital for advanced planning services for for the new jail project and that includes uh site analysis programming uh and conceptual design So based on that direction staff moved forward um with the understanding that the uh board wanted to move forward with the construction of the jail um and so um one of the things preliminar we have done is began solicitations for uh the designer U but tonight is actually the first action that the board would take to move this project forward um and so we tonight we would be asking uh the board to approve the CM at risk uh construction delivery method assuming that were to happen
038tonight uh we would come back to the board in March uh to approve that advanced planning Services contract with the designer and then in May of 2024 to approve preconstruction services for the CM at risk contract um then beginning in June is when the board would take a series of actions um to begin um to initiate putting this uh on for a a bond referendum um and all of this is governed by the local government uh Bond act um and these specific Bond procedures start out in um General statutes 15950 so in June you'll be adopting resolutions um directing the publication of the notice to intent uh notice of intent to apply to the local government commission um authorize the finance officer uh and make certain bindings of fact related to the bond order um
039the next series of actions would happen in July of 2024 where the board would introduce the bond order uh adopt the resolution setting a public hearing on the bond order uh as well as we would have at that point um contracts for your approval for full Design Services um and then in August 2024 U you would conduct the public hearing adopt the bond order and adopt the resolution setting a special bond referendum so all of those are a series of actions that require for the board to take uh to get it to a bond referendum to be held on November 5th 2024 um there are some actions that have to occur after that I'm not going to go into a lot of detail but that gets us to the point of where we' be held
040um for a bond referendum um we would come back to the board with a series of change orders and amendments um to those designer and see them at risk contracts to get us to the point where we could begin site work uh in August of 2025 and building construction in January of 2026 um and all of that assumes that all of that goes smoothly right that that timeline goes smoothly that the projects are not held up because of any rebidding um that we have enough um uh bids to evaluate um and so that is a um a timeline that is estimated at this point um so U the action requested t i is to begin this process to approve the use of the construction manager at risk delivery method uh for the new jail project
041um if you have any questions about the delivery method specifically or um questions detailed questions about the timeline Chris boy our facilities director is here and can help answer those questions also the sheriff's office is here to talk about needs or requirements related to the jail as well so I'll be happy to answer any questions at this point any discussion commissioner Richard well I'd like to make a motion we approve the use of the construction manager at risk deliver meth method for the Union County Jail project thank you commissioner HS any discussion go so we're asking for approval for um construction manager at risk but we're not is we have no information on what that dollar amount is going to be no uh we um this is just to approve the the the method that
042we're going to use to deliver the project um we would have uh more information on that uh once we get through the advanced planning services and full design contracts which you would have um roughly in the July 2024 time frame so all of that would come back to the board for approval okay thank you um Mr chair so Clayton I I've got some questions here um so so this is the only the delivery method um and if I recall correctly in our May 15th meeting um this board did direct staff to come back with information required for um an assessment of a bond referendum and we had discussed go bonds at that point in time um primarily because the interest rate can be had at a lower a lower cost um but then there was
043also a feeling that we could turn around this this whole thing more quickly um so I want to be clear to the public that what we're discussing tonight is not going to have any kind of negative impact on the financing method that we may uh press forward with in the future is that correct that's correct okay um and and you know as I looked over our agenda packet there was a couple of things that really kind of popped out to me um you know by all accounts we really shouldn't be talking about having to build a new jail at this point you know jails are jails in schools for example are facilities that should last quite some time in my opinion at least I mean we've got schools in this County that you were built
044in 1960s and this well yeah perhaps even older than that um but uh but this facility here was built in 1993 um and it's also my understanding that the property that we used and of course you know we were under State uh State order to build this uh but that is in a flood plane um one of the things that uh that I read in our agenda packet was is that you know there's potential for us to at least in the scope of the new jail project to build um the new jail on the existing site um is that I I mean I've got a little bit of concerned with that you know the fact that what we're dealing with now with potential Foundation issues for our jail our current facility um if we go
045down that same site then perhaps we we might have similar issues but to be clear this uh this item tonight has nothing to do with the scope of this project is that correct that's correct okay and so the scope has not been developed at all at this point that's correct that is part of that advanced planning Services where we would begin to develop a preliminary scope uh full design again would not come back uh for approval until about the July time frame okay and I'm assuming that um that the design work that we would contract with with this method would take into consideration um things like our growth rate for example our crime rate and determine um you know how many beds we would need based off of those and maybe some other factors is
046do I understand that correct there would be a lot of other factors but those will be part of the requirements that um the sheriff's office will be communicating to our facility staff okay that's correct and we are absolutely certain that our current jail facility is not expandable at this point yes that's correct okay so so the issue that we've got here is is it capacity or is it conditions I I think it's actually a combination honestly um certainly as the county grows um and and as our inmate population grows we are um bumping up that as far as that um population goes but the facility itself is degrading um quickly and has been for a number of years okay yeah I and I want to be clear I I support our Sheriff's Office okay and
047I want I want to to be clear about that um and also support Supply in the needs of our County um however I also want to recognize that you know in the past we we've had to make some Rush decisions with this with our current facility um and that in my opinion has had some detrimental effects um and so I I think that whatever it is that we do and I I want to I want to make this clear to our staff I think that whatever it is that we do we have to we have to re in that scope um you know project management 101 you start with a good scope and it has to be rained in um and I think also that we've got to be very cognizant about how we go
048about paying for this and the overall cost of this project um we owe our taxpayers due diligence and so I I just want to put that out there for staff to consider that um that we can't put the cart before the horse and and repeat our P mistakes certainly any other discussion all right M uh commissioner Richard Helm's motion was to approve the use of the construction manager at risk delivery method for the Union County Jail project how do you vote on that matter all in favor I I all it posst no all right thank you our next matter of business is item 2380 six easement condemnation Authority 762 Zone 24in water transmission main I will recognize John shac engineering division director for this item chairman R Vice chair Holmes congratulations on your election tonight
049uh Commissioners Mr manager members of the manage management team thank you for your time this evening uh tonight I'm going to be talking a little bit about our 762 pressure Zone the 24-in transmission main specifically easement acquisition um if any of you are having Deja Vu that's because we've talked to you about this before uh we were in front of you back in August uh talking about the same project uh with our remaining easement interests the the reason that we're back here tonight uh talking about this again and again requesting uh condemnation Authority is because we had a property that was subsequently subdivided uh and turned into three properties so we had to start our uh easement acquisition process again with those three properties we've pursued that diligently over these last several months and uh
050unfortunately we're back here again uh looking for your uh your approval um of the use of eminent domain uh because we've been unable to uh reach a a settlement agreement with the property owner with that said I just wanted to make sure everybody was on the the same page there that this wasn't a just a a repeat um just want to talk a little bit about the project as a refresher um Talk specifically about this project and the overview where we stand with the project schedule easement acquisition status and then our requested action so as you all know the Atkin uh program has a number of projects in it uh the raw water infrastructure project and the Finish water infrastructure project are related to the ongoing project uh to deliver water to un County from
051the town of Norwood uh and Lake Tillery raw Water Project includes an intake in Pump Station on Lake Tillery and Norwood we've got a raw water transmission main that brings that water to Union County uh to the uh finish water project uh which includes the water treatment plant and the Finish waterer transmission M that finish waterer transmission main as you know has interconnects uh at five different locations to the existing distribution system Old Camden Road Morgan Mill Sykes Mill uh Highway 601 as well as Ridge Road and the 762 pressure Zone transmission main the 24in line was originally planned with the project however it was not included with the overall Yadkin program due to cost and budgetary constraints this project consists of about 75 miles of pipe it's 24 in in diameter uh it's got
052an overall program budget of about $35 million and we are estimating the construction duration to be about 2 years uh the project was first identified uh in the 2016 water Master Plan update but uh that was done by black and& Beach and it's in response to our changing water supply strategy with the Yadkin plant coming online and our purchase water agreement from with anen uh moving to an emergency interconnect uh we now are looking at having to construct a transmission main uh to address the water transmission uh capacity needs uh to supply our 762 pressure Zone and this is notably the Marshall in the wingit areas uh as I mentioned the uh the program budget is about $35 million and that's through an earmark from the state budget uh and these are arpa dollars uh
053just for everyone's reference so where we stand with our schedule uh we've completed final design and permitting as of August of this year uh when we were in front of you last uh easement acquisition as I mentioned previously has uh continued on uh to this point uh we're looking to advertise the project later this month provided uh authorization from this board for uh the use of condemnation uh at which point we would be looking at having an executed Construction contract uh sometime in the March uh or spring uh time frame of 2024 uh construction would commence then uh between April of 2024 and we would wrap up the project uh by October of 2026 uh I would like to point out that construction must be completed by by December of 2026 in order to comply
054with those arpa funding requirements so as you can see we we have enough time to get this done now uh but it's a tight schedule so we've only got a couple of months uh between October and December of 2026 uh and right now our critical path of the project schedule is through easement acquisition overall uh we needed 72 easements 45 of those have been acquired and recorded uh at our August uh discussion uh condemnation was approved for 24 of the remaining 27 uh and the remaining three uh have moved through that easement acquisition policy been referred to our Council uh for negotiation and we are now unfortunately uh at this position again uh where we've been unable to reach that settlement agreement so our request uh for the board tonight is to authorize condemnation for
055the remaining easement interests this consists of three properties you can see the partial IDs there um and that is my that is the end of my presentation on it I'd be happy to answer any questions that you may have um John I've I've got a Mr chair goad um John I've got a question um as far as these three these three properties here and the easements that we're talking about just for clarity um we're talking about utility easements here essentially that is correct and and we're not like taking prop or taking structures no sir okay just wanted to uh to make sure that everyone was clear on that one and uh without these three then this project will not be able to continue is that what I'm understanding here they are in the critical path
056so that we have to have these three to to continue on that is correct thank you sir any other discussion do I have a motion I'll make make a motion to adopt a resolution authorizing condemnation to acquire certain property or interest in property for a temporary construction easement and permanent utility easement for the 762 Zone 24 in water transmission Main and High service Pump Station project all in favor of commissioner Merrills motion say I I thank you sir thank you Commissioners our next matter of business is item 23829 appointment of Commissioners to board board and committees um we all have a copy of the um 2022 2023 list of the Committees that the um respective Commissioners have served on um would y'all like to continue serving on the same committees would you like to switch
057uh y'all let me know okay and I will um I will volunteer to serve on the Committees that our former chair uh Stony Russian served on so I'll pencil my name and there any any further discussion on okay so the motion is that um all of our current Commissioners will continue to serve during the 2023 2024 year on the current committees that they served on in 20122 and 2023 commissioner R will serve on the Committees that uh chairman Stony Russian served on is there any discussion on that motion all in favor say I I thank you we didn't add it to the agenda it was not added okay can certainly choose to add that at this point if you wish to okay so we had a constituent that sent us a request um I don't
058know if staff can pull it up pull it up on the screen for the other Commissioners but it it's a resolution for consideration um for our board Union County Commissioners to support Israel and the con and condemning condemning terrorism there's been a lot of um discussion with uh ceasefires recently and releasing of hostages and um if everyone can see on the screen the uh the resolution before us tonight to consider um if this is something we would like to um take take up tonight or we could certainly um table it and bring it back at the December 18th meeting I'm open to to either one any discussion any further discussion so I will make a motion to um to uh add this to our meeting tonight for consideration as a resolution from the union C
059count Board of Commissioners um supporting Israel and condemning terrorism so I formally make that that motion to uh support Israel any further discussion Mr chairman go ahead commissioner Williams thank you Mr chairman um you know I uh my my orientation on all this is just to look at um foreign policy from an American first perspective um you know I regret I am saddened at the uh attack on Israel that occurred in October and the the the injuring and the uh the killing of uh Innocents the hostages that were taking taken uh I you know my heart indeed goes out um to Israeli citizens their families who uh um were affected in in that attack U but I you know I you know I'm not uh keen on this board inserting itself into you know these
060kinds of issues that uh um we have no influence or control over you know we've got plenty of um problems challenges if you want to call them that that uh we can spend our time as a county addressing and I I just don't think this is one that we need to stir up I mean uh um you know I I pray for peace I I'll I'll support a resolution uh uh for peace in the region uh but I you know I'm not inclined to support this I don't think Israel is our greatest Ally certainly I mean uh I think there are other nations you can look to that uh uh that would better be described as our greatest Ally the United Kingdom for one um and you know when conflicts like this start with hatreds
061that run for centuries um you know there's there's not just black and white but there's a lot of gray area and and they're Innocents on both sides that uh um are the victim I think of uh um of violations of the rules of War you know I mean Innocents have to be protected when um these kinds of operations occur and uh I think the I think the United States and I think Union County um ought to um withdraw more from support uh and uh involvement in these kind of issues abroad and you know stop spending hundreds of billions of dollars on Israel and Ukraine and and sending our own troops and aircraft carriers and battleships uh into regions all over the planet you know let's start dealing with uh and supporting U you know the
062problems we have here and funding them uh again my orientation on this all this is really towards a more of America First perspective uh that we take care of business at home and know I you know as as an individual citizen as as somebody who follows Global and National stories like this I mean I absolutely support the riot of Israel uh to go after Hamas and Hamas leadership um I mean they've gotten very good at it uh in some of their covert and undercover operations uh certainly um but you know I'm not inclined to take you know a a stand as a county commissioner for Israel when there are tens of thousands of people in Gaza entirely innocent who are being killed too let's just you know take a deep breath and and and not
063let our emotions get the best of us and and you know not insert ourselves uh as a county into an issue that we have again zero influence and control over um so that's that's my piece thank you Mr chairman Mr chair go ahead commissioner Bram um I'll say that I'm I'm going to be a support of this um you know I uh I I believe that there are plenty of other counties and municipalities that have adopted uh similar resolutions to what's being shown here um and although I do agree with commissioner Williams that uh that there's not much that we can do from a foreign policy perspective um I do believe that we can at least send a statement a statement that uh that we do condemn um these acts that occurred and and feel
064as though they are wrong and so I will be in support of them I would also like to reiterate that our state legislators voted on a similar resolution in Raleigh so um I will be supporting obviously the motion that I made any further discussion commissioner Richard Hill I have to uh agree with Mr Williams sometimes these things are brought up more from political F to make myself look good I'm not concerned with that I'm concerned with the people that are suffering in the Middle East they have my sympathy they have my understanding that they need to protect themselves and I wish the best for those people of Israel but uh I think this is a political motivation is more so than a resolution to uh acknowledge acknowledge that we support Israel and so for that
065case I will not vote for this thank you sir County Manager Matthews yes sir I I just want to clarify that there's either two actions that need to occur one add the item to the agenda and a vote on that and then second an actual vote on the item if you choose to add it to the agenda unless of course the motion were to include both in the motion add and approve but I don't think that was how the motion was made I think a motion was made to add so therefore you have to take two actions if I'm not mistaken and and uh Jason can confirm if I'm correct on that yeah I I would confirm that as well that the motion that's on the table is a motion to add an item to
066the agenda were that to pass then a motion to approve it would be in order okay on the first part uh any discussion on adding the motion onto the agenda um I'm just I'm a just a clarification uh doesn't the chair have uh within his discretion the ability to add to the agenda uh once we are at the meeting that's a motion of the board the chair that can do that with uh without objection from the board but it's a board agenda at that point so the board must add it any further discussion on adding the item to the agenda all right we'll vote on that all in favor of adding um the resolution to the agenda all right will'll uh as County Manager Matthew said at this time at this time we will vote
067on the resolution all in favor of the resolution I I all oppos no thank you I'll will now recognize I'll now recognize County Manager Brian Matthews for his comments thank you Mr chairman I just have a couple of things just to update the board on um we did have some speakers talk about the fluoride discussion and and issues with fluoride we do intend on bringing that back to the board believe in January um one of the things that the board want us with some additional information what other items what other what other substances chemicals do we put in our water uh how is that treated in other areas around the country also um having some folks on both sides of the of the equation to come and speak to that so we intend on having
068that brought back to the board in January to hold those um those discussions with you uh do keep in mind of course that uh we do share a water plant with another entity so obviously you know whatever your decision is we have to take that into consideration uh also want to remind the board and also let the public know that we will having a special meeting on December 14th um that I believe starts at 5:30 goes to approximately 8:30 U that is particularly for water and sewer projects we'll be having that discussion and then we will also be bringing back to you the facility use policy um to deal with um how we handle allowing the public to use our facilities it's my intention to bring that at the December 18th meeting comments than you
069thank you sir it's now time for the commissioner's comments y'all have heard me talk the whole meeting that's all I need to say commissioner or mayor I would just like to um say congratulations um and thank you for stepping up to be U the our new chair for this board um congratulations to commissioner HMS and and to you Jr um I look forward to working with you both in this leadership role and I just want to wish everyone um a joyous season as we enter into the month of December and I just wish everyone uh health and happiness commissioner Brian HS thank you Mr chair um I I would just like to say uh thank you thank you to uh commissioner Merill you know uh commissioner Ral had touched on this earlier but um you
070know we one year ago we voted for commissioner Merill to be our vice chair um and I don't think that anyone could have predicted uh the role that she would have to step into one that she didn't ask for but one that she certainly uh delivered um on and and I think that we're very fortunate to have her on our board first and foremost but also uh to have served in the capacity of our chair uh for uh almost half a year so I would like to thank commissioner Merill for your efforts and your leadership and uh and I would also like to uh of course thank our staff um and and I will Echo commissioner Merl sentiments too that you know as we draw closer to the to the Christmas um holiday um you
071know I pray that we never really forget what Christmas is all about so um so God bless you and uh and thank you thank you sir commissioner David Williams thank you Mr chairman um I'd like to join Commissioners Merill and Brian Helms and offering my congratulations to you chairman R and to you Vice chairman Helms um yeah i' just like to say that uh we've got a lot of problems uh that need addressing in the county uh call them problems call them challenges but the list is long and uh growing and some of the problems are pretty deep in nature uh from funding of necessary capital projects both on the government side General government side as well as the uh water and sewer Enterprise side um we've got um the spcc spcc uh Center for
072entrepreneurship that's going to need funding uh uh the public uh approved that Bond and uh we've got to find funding streams for it uh so we can build it uh we've got Kataba expansion coming at us uh our uh Partners in Lancaster County are going to be expecting us to work with them on that uh we've got uh hundreds of millions of dollars in um capital projects that we all agree are needed none of them have to do at all with capacity increases um that need to be funded um we've got projects uh uh that are happening right now that require us going to the capital markets and we need a rate structure we need a rate structure that will allow us to go to Capital markets and borrow those monies um we've got an
073an EMS Service uh that uh needs some serious attention to it um we've got big vacancies with EMS it's not that we as a county aren't training people um but uh you know we are uh but we need to have a real serious conversation about EMS uh we need in my opinion to get Atrium Representatives uh before us in this room uh to talk about the state of BMS and how we make it better um I I won't go through the list because it's long uh but we've got a lot of problems and challenges to address and and let me just say um to the new chair and the new Vice chair uh to the extent uh you are focused to address and um solve these problems I will be a willing and happy partner
074with you in doing just that um La uh just a couple more quick items I'd like to thank uh the folks from the public who came and uh um spoken inform formal comments tonight those comments are always appreciated um let's see I believe that's Miss pra uh Miss Sanders Mr Schumacher uh Miss burough U thank you again and last but not least uh I extend uh wishes for happy Holidays and Merry Christmas um to my colleagues to um County staff and to all the citizens of Union County may you have a very blessed Christmas and uh um good times with friends and family thank you thank you sir commissioner Richard HS yes I'd like to uh congratulate uh Mr ra r on his uh being elected chairman and Brian hams for being elected vice chair
075uh I look forward to your leadership and uh look forward to working with you uh on a lighter note I observed earlier one of our former Chief deputies here and I want to congratulate him because he got married this weekend uh he and candy have uh been engaged for a while and uh I know the photographs I saw of their wedding they were extremely happy so congratulations Todd and Candy uh we'll be praying for continued uh best wishes for you as a couple for that thank you I'll say good night thank you that concludes this regular meeting thank you for all who attended I move that the board adjourn all those in favor of the motion say I I I thank you