001thank you yourself nice brother foreign 2023 regular meeting of the Union County Board of Commissioners to order at this time I would like to recognize commissioner Brian Helms for the invocation if you're so inclined please uh join me in prayer Jeremy father Lord we just want to thank you Lord for all the blessings upon us Lord we want to thank you for all the blessings upon our County Upon Our State and also Upon Our great nation tonight Lord we've got some decisions to make we've got some decisions that can and certainly impact our County and Lord I ask for your guidance and your wisdom for our board tonight Lord I ask that you'd be with us and uh and you bless this board with the ability to make sound decisions that you remind us and
002keep us reminded of who we serve Lord we are representatives of the people and I ask this in your name amen amen thank you the next item on the agenda is informal comments from the community each speaker must address the board from the lectern and begin their remarks by giving their name stating whether they are residents of Union County 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 the 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 they must be courteous in their language and presentation restatements or repetitive comments by the same speaker whether at the
003same 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 and or supporting documents if any with our Clerk the first Speaker who signed up for tonight's meeting is Delwin Archer thank you madam chair I live in unincorporated Union County on behalf of all Union County Citizens but especially those in the town of Waxhaw who deal daily with public health hazard level traffic due to hopefully a soon to be former mayor and his commissioners I implore you to accept the Union County Republican nomination of Clancy Balcom to the Union County Board of Commissioners tonight every day you delay Clancy's appointment is one more day that we are forced to deal with unacceptable infrastructure in Union County I will personally assure
004that all you see a citizen Union County Citizens know exactly who delays Clancy's appointment should you be so foolish as to try to do so one of you told me in Spring of 22 that you didn't intend to run for re-election I hope that's still the case I watch what goes on and I have observed meetings between you on August the 4th about a 45-minute visit with that mayor and those commissioners of Waxhaw took place prior to the ribbon cutting ceremony in downtown this proud Texan has his eyes on you and they'll remain that way until the next election approve the late great Stoney rushing's personal choice in the UC gop's duly elected Choice Clancy balcom's appointment to this board today you need to allow all of our duly elected by 67 to 33 percent
005margin by the way and less than a year ago in November of 22. you need to stop blocking progress progress and allow all of our Union County Citizens and our Union County Board of Commissioners to get back to work on behalf of we the citizens we've waited long enough I'm not a patient man our next speaker is Mark Pittman good evening Mark Goodman I live in Union County in Waxhaw last year all across Union County constitutional conservatives residently voted for reduced taxes fiscal restraint a pause on unbridled development uh sensible and sustainable Water and Sewer planting and notably a commitment to zero infringements on several Liberties no matter the nonsense coming out of Raleigh the evidence of that during the primary the red wall essentially swept the floor with 29 000 votes and at the
006general election it was even better as they collected 65 percent of the votes 165 000 Union County conservatives almost one year later that base of the conservatives has not changed in fact it's even stronger during the recent special meeting held by the Union County GOP we can serve as again affirm that we weren't interested in moderate thinkers and we weren't interested in the party establishment what we were interested in is true conservative servant leadership that is in lockstep with the will of We the People which leads me to Clancy Clancy barkham is a man of honor integrity and courage is a man of Faith with biblically based moral and ethical values and he is the man I believe who will fulfill the duties of this appointment prayerferling with wisdom and discernment commissioners I would encourage
007you to not let this be a personally challenged decision for either of you don't let your thoughts be tainted by past encounters your decision should reflect the will to people all 165 000 plus of those that voted last November thank you our next speaker is Jim Hill again my name is Jim Hill I live at uh 2314 Wesley Landing Road in Wesley Chapel and on your agenda tonight is an item related to the 2023 critical intersection analysis report and I just wanted to show up and show my support for that and tell you a little bit about my neighborhood we live off of Cuthbertson Road right across the street from the middle school and the high school it's a relatively new senior development it's called the courtyards at Wesley Chapel we have 136 homes 224
008residents we are well we're technically a 55 plus Community but for most of those 55 was quite a while ago um yeah I would say the average age of our resident is mid 70s and we have several residents uh in their 80s and even some uh in the in their 90s so as you might expect in a typical senior community we do have people with health issues occasionally life-threatening even and we're close enough we're fortunate we actually live close to two fire stations we're about four miles each from the Wesley Chapel station and the Waxhaw station and so we can get an ambulance uh relatively quickly actually uh last year one of our residents needed help we called 9-1-1 and the ambulance arrived in about 10 minutes but that was in the middle of the
009day and there was no school traffic the only way in or out of our neighborhood is is Cuthbertson Road and the only way for an ambulance to reach this is to travel that road and you all that if you've been there you know that during the school year traffic can often back up for miles in either direction both Direction and in those times it's nearly impossible for an emergency vehicle to get down the road because of the traffic and also because of the way the road is designed there's several what I call Choke points no shoulder there's a narrow bridge near Providence Road so it's kind of gridlocked you know on certain certain days and if we needed an ambulance during one of those periods the consequences could be deadly for for you know one
010of one of my neighbors and then I I don't want that to happen so we're glad that you're paying attention to the road we're glad that you committed funding uh to to the road uh I urge you to continue I know it's a you know I was talking to Bjorn before the meeting I know it's a multi-step process but I'm glad we're taking the steps that we're taking tonight and uh if if there's ways that you can you want me and my neighbors uh to show our support we'll be here uh when you need us we'll be there thank you next is Aaron LaCroix good evening my name is Aaron Lacroix and I am a 37-year resident of Union County and I live in the beautiful Wesley Chapel I am also the Union County GOP
011Precinct chair for a Precinct 17b first I'd like to say how sorry I am at the sudden loss of your chairman Stoney rushing I know how much of a shock it is to you all to not only have lost a friend but also someone that you work with so closely in the best interest of our wonderful County and its residents as Precinct chair I dedicated time and effort to converse and inform my precinct residents of the five candidates submitted before the Union County GOP special session on August 28th with great discernment and consideration Union County GOP felt Clancy Balcom was by far the most prudent pick in line with how the county voted for Estonia in November 2022 and in the spirit of our great County Mr Balcom received the simple majority in a single
012vote I stand before you in support of the approval of the Union County gop's recommendation of Clancy Balcom to the Union County Board of Commissioners and I implore you to approve and move forward as the many pressing and difficult issues facing the board and the County residents today thank you next we have Steven Smith thank you it's here Carolyn Burrows good evening my name is Carolyn Burrows I live in the Alta Community I'm a resident of Union County and I'm I apologize if I can't bring up a subject that I spoke about before because I didn't know that but I wanted to ask once again that you um bring the vote back on the short water line extension applications so that we can get our name in front of the Water Commission and I know
013that there was a board um of what are task force that was supposed to open up and I applied for that and so I haven't heard anything so I'm assuming that it's still out there and I'm hoping that you'll revisit that thank you Christopher Harbin good evening I'm Christopher Harbin resident of winget here in North in Union County the Southern Poverty Law Center has declared that moms for Liberty is a far-right organization that engages in anti-student inclusion activities and self-identifies as part of the modern parental rights movement this group grew out of opposition to Public Health regulations and they have advocated things like book bans far-right anti-government group allied with white supremacists like the proud boys one of their chapters willing to publish a photo and a quote from Hitler in their newsletter That Was
014Then praised by national leader of mods for Liberty an anti-public education group a group promoting book bands and yet this is a group that you have apparently allowed to have space at the public library for a meeting this last weekend the same space that was denied to the NAACP same space that was denied to Union County Pride same space that was denied to other Civic groups put out a statement that this decision was because this event was a joint partnership between Union County and moms for Liberty so are you willing to call yourselves book banners anti-government White supremacists anti-public education anti the diversity of the very population you were elected to serve because by doing such I can't see any other way around it Loretta millencon good evening commissioners some of you know me as
015the litter Queen in Union County but I've left the crown at home tonight I'm here as a new member of Civitan and I want to recognize the group The Master Gardeners the Heritage Festival that you all are recognizing tonight I've worked with that group for at least five years now and litter Busters does all always have a booth at the festival It's a Wonderful occasion so tonight I want to recognize in particular Tina sagars who has run the show from beginning to end for the past 10 years she does a marvelous job of bringing people together at meetings I have never been to any meeting that surpasses the way she runs her meetings she listens everyone has a voice we all have different ideas but you know what we throw them out there and we
016discuss them and we come to some really good conclusions and that's why the Heritage Festival has been so successful for these many years some of the people here tonight to receive the award are also key players and I want to recognize them for their devotion over the past 10 years thank you thank you that concludes our speakers for tonight that signed up are there is there anyone else here that wishes to speak that did not get to sign up okay the next item on our agenda is 23 659 a proclamation for the Union County Heritage Festival day on September 23rd I want to recognize Debbie dillian with Cooperative Extension for comments on this item thank you I'm glad I'm glad we're here tonight and appreciate your recognition I take credit for all the hard work
017these these people do on this committee you know there's no way I could do what they do I mean you just heard Loretta talk about Tina she has been through this she's been with this event since uh the Master Gardeners took it on 10 years ago I've only been here eight years so you know I'm behind her on it but they work hard they start the the week after the festival planning for the next year they put their heart and soul into it they secure sponsors they get vendors they get speakers and all kinds of entertainment and food trucks so if you've never been I encourage you to come out this Saturday it's nine to four and if you're an athlete we have a 5k that starts at eight o'clock uh and it's uh we
018partner with the parks and rec on that and it goes through Jesse Helms Park and through our teaching Garden and we've had comments that it's one of the best race courses in this region because they love running through the parks the wooded areas and enjoy it our beautiful County here in Union County so thank you thank you I'd like him to make a motion that we adopt the proclamation for Union County Heritage Festival day that will be held on September 23rd 2023. all those emotions say aye okay so if you would please come up we'd like to present the confirmation so that means you too maybe I'll scoot down just a little bit yep yep a lit a little bit more one two three thank you [Applause] I'm sure everyone has figured out the next
019item hahaha the next matter on our agenda is 23-658 Union County Sheriff's Office canine recognition I want to recognize Lieutenant James May with the Union County Sheriff's Office for this important item foreign good evening I'm sorry about all the heavy breathing it's a long way from the back of the room to the front I'll I'll try to do just a hair better next time sorry about that folks for those of you that don't know who I am I am Lieutenant James May and I'm the public information officer for the Union County Sheriff's Office I'm proud and I would like to thank you for the opportunity to come before this distinguished board tonight to recognize two of our recently retired canine officers the canines will be recognizing tonight are named atos and Zorro atos as you
020can see is behind both of these dogs made a significant impact in our community during their years of service my hope is is that for the next few minutes the brief career summary I provide to you all I will give you a small glimpse into the dedication and service of these canines and their assigned handlers so Zorro is not going to be able to be with us tonight but we've got his picture on a slide that should come up here in a minute all right but we'll go into his career summary the Union County Sheriff's Office canine Zorro like I said who unfortunately could not be with us tonight was born in July of 2013. and joined the ucso family where he served initially his first Handler Deputy Tommy gallis in December of 2014. in
021August of 2017 Deputy gallus transferred to our School Safety Division and Zora was reassigned to K-9 Deputy Brandy Grant where he continued his Patrol career until he retired at the end of July 2023. during Zorro's nine years of service to Union County he was used to track locate and apprehend numerous suspects involved in serious felony crimes that occurred within our County Zorro was also utilized to search for and locate elderly residents suffering from cognitive disorders and children who were reported missing in our community Zora was instrumental in reducing crime in Union County during his years of service by locating numerous stolen weapons or weapons used in serious offenses and was also heavily utilized in the field of Narcotics detection his ability to recognize the presence of narcotics through his Keen sense of smell led to
022the seizure of a tremendous amount of illegal deadly narcotics Zorro is now living the dream alongside Deputy Grant after his recent retirement and he's not with us tonight because she has taken him to Yellowstone National Park so our agency will greatly Miss Zorro on our local streets but we thank him and we thank Deputy grant for their dedicated service during those nine years so that's a Sergeant Preston and Ethos to join me up here now I know the feeling etos just a walk this handsome well-groomed gentleman who's here beside me is canine atos the other guy with him is Sheriff's Office Sergeant Jonathan Preston that's a toast is a 12 year old Belgian Malinois who was born in Holland atos originally joined the ucso family in 2011 at the age of six months old and
023has been certified as a full service Patrol canine for the last 12 years holds certifications from the United States police K-9 Association the more North American excuse me police work dog Association and the National Police K-9 Association atos certifications include narcotics detection Handler protection article searches by apprehension work building searches open area searches tracking and obedience he didn't really get much training as you can see so atos has worked in numerous divisions within our office including Patrol and primarily our narcotics eradication team during atos's career his ability to detect the presence of Narcotics has led to the Discovery and seizure of hundreds of pounds of illicit deadly narcotics and millions of dollars linked to narcotics trafficking atos has been utilized to track and apprehend countless dangerous offenders and fleeing suspects during past high priority calls
024for service our agency has been dispatched to now that atos is retired he continues to enjoy his long walks chewing on his Kong toy and car rides to the store with Sergeant president Sergeant Preston adds working with atos for the last 12 years has been the most enjoyable in reporting rewarding part of his career with the Sheriff's Office atos and I have definitely found ourselves in some sticky situations but I've always felt confident he was there watching my back in closing Sheriff Eddie Kathy along with all the men and women of the Union County Sheriff's Office would like to thank Zorro and atos both for their service and dedication to our agency and our community there is no doubt these two canines and their assigned handlers have saved countless lives over the years and have
025been a significant part of our agency's success our mission is to continue to ensure the safety and security of Union County's residents and we thank both of these canines for their service so Sergeant Preston NATO's [Applause] foreign um right you might get attacked okay okay that's a good one one two three three one two three that's great thank you [Applause] if we could just have them come visit every month next we will move to agenda item 23-467 recognition of Bobby of the Bobby Cobb award recipients I want to recognize Deputy County manager Patrick nylon for comments concerning this award thank you madam chair uh Bobby Cobb was a former Public Health employee he was with the county for many years and he touched a lot of lives he always went above and beyond for not
026only his department but every Department here at the county the staff created the Bobby Cobb award to recognize current employees that do that every day they go the extra mile they help other departments they never say it's not my area of expertise they're always willing to jump in it's usually on large initiatives and there's usually a lot of cooperation so it's my pleasure to recognize four individuals tonight for the Bobby Cobb award Andrew Ansley is the Emergency Management Director Van Dale is the I.T systems administrator Michael Ferrara is the water health and safety manager and Adonis truvi is inmate health medical director these employees we could not be more lucky to have these employees working for the county so if you could please join me in saying thank you for their service then we're going
027to bring them all up here so thank you all [Applause] thank you foreign one two three [Applause] the next item is consideration of the consent agenda are there any revisions or requests regarding consent Madam Buster I would like to remove items 23 that's the resolution to convey canine Zorro as well as 23-646 resolution to convey canine atos Alpha consent to business please okay any other revisions or requests Madam Vice chair um I'd like to have removed for future consideration item 23 647 which regards the Piedmont Innovation Park for a future meeting yes 23 647. are there any other requests or revisions okay hearing none I recommend the set consent agenda as amended okay all those in favor say aye aye we're now at the business portion of our agenda the first item up for business
028is item 23660 consideration of appointment of Clancy Balcom to fill the vacancy in the membership of the Union County Board of Commissioners this item was brought forth by Allison powers chairman of the Union County Republican Party however before Mrs Powers addresses his item I would like to recognize our County attorney Jason K who will explain the process and general statutes as Ms Powers makes her way to the lectern I wanted to give a little bit of background information about what we're doing here this evening under the North Carolina General statutes if a sitting commissioner resigns or in this case passes away that creates a vacancy on the board that needs to be filled the statutes speak to how you fill that vacancy you all are are welcome and certainly capable of reading the statute and
029understanding it I just wish to make a couple of observations the first is that the appointment first goes to this board this board as you can see now has four members in it there is a vacancy unrepresented General emotions must carry by a vote of three to two even if there is not a full five person representation on the board so tonight you'll be looking for a three-person vote to carry the motion for vacancy second this board is charged with statutorily appointing someone within 60 days of the occurrence of the vacancy so sometime around October the 7th this board will have this matter in its consideration and we'll be looking to fill that vacancy under the North Carolina General statutes because Stony rushing was registered and elected member of the Republican Party the local Republican
030party is the group that is charged with first recommending the person to fill the vacancy you're going to hear some more about that in just a moment from Ms powers however I wish to say that it is not only it is first and primarily the person who is recommended by the party that may be considered but there are other persons beyond that and that there have been historical instances where that has occurred uh you will hear a little bit from his powers this evening about how the executive committee went about filling that vacancy and the results of that process Ms powers uh thank you the board of County Commissioners and the board of County Commissioners staff thank you for letting me speak this evening on behalf of our Union County Republican Party candidate and Clancy
031Balcom who we are recommending to fill the vacancy created by the untimely passing of Union County Commissioner Stoney brushing um as uh Attorney K mentioned some people may wonder why this comes back to the political party to recommend a replacement but is clearly defined in this North Carolina State statutes specifically uh General statute 153a-27 and it states that the board of County Commissioners is required to consult with the executive committee of the appropriate political party since Tony was Republican the executive committee of the Union County Republican party is required to be consulted as part of our Union County Republican party plan of organization we have a 10-day meeting notification requirement immediately on being informed by the County Attorney of a time frame of 14 days from formal notification to advise the board of County commissioners
032of our recommendation they prepared to have a meeting by arranging a location within that time frame I'd like to thank the staff at the old County Courthouse for their Swift response in improving the old County Courthouse for that meeting I got the formal notification of the 14 days at 4 30 p.m on Tuesday August the 15th uh notifications were sent out to our executive committee by mail on Wednesday morning August the 16th then I post the immediate notification on our website and depended on our two public Facebook pages which are the Union County Republican party and the Union County young Republicans the meeting was scheduled for Monday August 28th at 7 pm as prescribed in the notification as of 6 PM am on August the 25th the agenda list of candidates and the information that
033they provided in rules for the voting were posted on the website the voting members of the executive committee are defined in our plan of organization which is listed on our website union.nc.gop it consists of the elected and appointed officers the elected members of the North Carolina General Assembly that are Union County residents that are Republican that at large members Club presidents and the precinct officers or if they are absent the next person in line while the list of voting members was posted on the website the contact information for them was not to avoid them being doxed however the voting member contact information was provided to each candidate so they could talk to the voting members about their views and experience before the Monday August 28th meeting the rules for voting were similar to the ones
034used in other vacancy appointments the rules specified the time allotted for candidates to speak the length of the questions answer period and how to come to a majority on the vote of the candidate for comparison when we voted for the vacancy for Lance Simpson each of the candidates had five minutes to speak and no one had any questions that particular meeting was included in the regularly scheduled parting meeting and the party was given 30 days to provide a recommendation it took three votes to come to a majority on that determination I know some of you were there prior to voting each candidate was giving five minutes to make their positions and background known and then we had a 30-minute question and answer period following the question and answer period voting was by Secret balloting by
035paper ballots the ballots were counted by the teller committee which consisted of school board members Kathy heintel Sarah May and former County Commissioner of Parker Mills Clancy Falcon won by a white margin in a single round of voting the ward of County Commissioners was notified of the results by email on August 28th late in the evening and by hand carried letter to the clerk of County Commissioners on August 29th Clancy is a proud native Union County resident a business owner someone who signs the checks he is well versed in one of the main businesses of Union County which is agriculture I have come to know Clancy through the Union County Republican party over the past five or so years and I'm proud to present them as our candidate to fill the vacancy on the board
036of County Commissioners thank you now that we have heard from Mrs powers I want to make the motion that the board appoint Clancy Balcom to fill the vacancy on the Union County Board of Commissioners effective tonight um commissioner Merrill and I attended the August 28th special meeting of the Republican party and although there was a total of six applicants uh there were there were only five present that night Mr Balcom was one of them there was great attendance for this meeting along with the Republican Party executive committee there were a majority of voting Precinct chairs also in attendance and I think there was a total of 40 voting members although three rounds were uh were available to decide the Republican Party nomination to fill that vacancy left by chairman Russians passing only one was needed
037Mr Balkan won that simple majority in the first round of voting and was to clear and overwhelming choice of the Union County Republican Party Mr Balcom as Ms power said as a Union County native he's been involved in our great County in many ways for many different years in November of 2022 Union County voted overwhelmingly for conservative leadership Union County voted for leadership that will make a stand for what makes our County great and what I observed in the August 28th meeting Mr Bogan Mr Balcom fist that mold although no no one person will ever be able to feel that void left by commissioner rushing I believe that Mr Balcom is the best choice to represent our County in this vacancy and I ask that my fellow Commissioners remember that we are representatives of the
038people we serve the people we serve spoke loudly listed this past November and the Servants of the people I feel like we are obligated to appoint a person with values that represent the will of Union County residents and also the 54 289 voters that cast their vote for commissioner rushing so I would hopefully ask for my fellow commissioner's support and commissioner Merrell's motion are there any other comments before we take the vote none okay all those in favor of the motion say aye aye aye all those opposed so the motion feels and Mr Balcom will not be sworn in tonight but I do want to recognize your beautiful family I want to recognize commissioner Stoney rushing's father here tonight we are very honored to have the front row with um with Stoney's family and Aunt
039Judy and um we will we will see you again soon thank you for being here Mr Merrell yes I'd like to make a motion also that we consider Patrick Harrison for this position I've had the privilege of working with Pat last 12 14 years because uh for some he's perceived as Mr Republican uh this path matter of fact this past weekend he spent two days down at the Randy Travis Festival uh and he did and they do that considered his uh his wife and himself run sweet Union Republican women uh which is the most effective Republican organization in Union County uh Mr Harrison has been uh active for over five years on the planning board and so he has demonstrated that he is a man of his own he's individual that is going to vote
040for what's right for Union County and I'd like to like to see Mr Harrison brought on this board are there any other comments regarding this motion all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed nay Madam Vice chair yes I'd like to nominate Jonathan Thomas to fill this seat Jonathan Thomas is an excellent candidate and would serve this County very well he has had distinguished service on the planning board he was chair of that board he is motivated to serve for the right reasons he is smart he's a hard worker and he has a grasp of the issues that impresses me greatly so I think he would be a fantastic addition to the board he's a family man a father and works with his mind and works with his hands and is a pilot
041and just a fantastic human being and I'd love to serve with him on the board any other comments for that motion yes Mr Helms I'm Buster thank you David in regards to your motion you know when the vacancy was announced Mr Thomas actually went on a public record on social media and said that he would not be sure to be seeking this uh disappointment well so I will be opposed to the motion okay he's indicated to me his willingness to serve so that's why I make the motion all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed no okay that brings us to our next item 23-634 the 2023 critical intersection analysis report approval evening Madam chair members of the board manager Matthews this is a presentation on the results of the critical intersection analysis
042that's been conducted this year as a overview of the program started in 2015 where the first analysis was created it involved 15 intersections that also included designs and cost estimates there are four remaining intersections from that list of 15. the second critical intersection analysis was conducted in 2019 with 15 intersections as well 11 of those I am I I love it from this way okay so 11 of those intersections were designed in 20 and 2021 six of them are can we get up on our screens we'll have anything up here yeah we don't have anything up here then I'll wait experience in technical difficulties I apologize [Music] okay if you want to see if you can just Wing It by looking at the I would be fine with that I would be fine with that
043okay so moving along the second round was conducted in 2019 nine of those intersections have been funded to date 1.1 million dollars and funding has been committed to seven intersections and approximately a quarter of that has actually been paid out with another 75 000 occurring in the near future in terms of the schedule the process that we went through this year it started in January with the kickoff and process confirmation we had robust public engagement earlier this year with nearly 3 000 Union County residents participating including all 14 municipalities and we have presented to all eight affected Union County municipalities who have endorsed this project list and the process and so we're coming to you for an overall adoption of the report in the list of intersections terms of public Outreach again we had nearly
0443 000 residents participate I will note that it did skew more to the West in terms of the population and we did have robust representation from the municipalities in terms of prioritization safety and congestion always are our top priorities I will note that I can't answer the question of which one is exactly the priority because I didn't do a good job of asking the question I asked both of them independent of each other when asked individually they both were the number one priority so we're focused on congestion and pro and safety there was an endorsement of prioritizing growing areas but there was also a recognition that there needs to be some Geographic Equity the fact that we have eight municipalities represented I think underscores that bicycle pedestrian was a consideration for projects but no project
045was selected no location was selected solely based on bicycle pedestrian considerations and we received plenty of comments about congestion needs in general if we were to map all the comments particularly in Western Union County you could essentially map out the road networks just based on where the comments were located in terms of how we scored our our intersections we included two new considerations compared to the previous Cycles which is that specific bicycle and pedestrian improvements that would help improve the network or identify and identify deficiency would improve the score of an intersection also what we call constructability which is how hard is it to build an improvement at this location one out in the country where there's no homes or infrastructure to worry about is easier to build than one in the middle of Monroe
046where you have plenty of buildings and utilities to to worry about public input genuinely impacted the list of intersections that were evaluated and which ones made it to the list several actually made it onto the recommended top 15 based on identification by the public they didn't get to vote their way on but they raised it identification of issues that we may not have noticed without their without their local knowledge so without we're grateful for that not all made it onto the listing so the most important slide is the list of of intersections and I'll note that these have scores associated with them but this does not mean that they are in a priority order uh 74 and 601 here in Monroe is not the number one intersection in Union County it's just the one that
047scored the highest uh conversely the one in Unionville at Unionville Trail and Unionville brief slash CJ Thomas which is an offset intersection is not the lowest priority of these 15. if any of them come before you for funding and they're the only ones then that becomes the priority of us because it's the priority of the the jurisdiction or the D.O.T who's coming before us and the one the column on the right will show status there's only three tbds which is really important with 12 of these we have a way ahead one of them you've already committed funding to for cartpo to to get implementation that was something that the dot identified they respected this list and they proactively reached out to Wesley Chapel and us to say we think we have a way to improve
048this intersection we just need some money to be able to apply for a grant from carpo Wesley Chapel and Union County agreed with that other intersections we've identified as stiff projects because they're too expensive for us to do ourselves like for example the intersection of Rocky River and Old Charlotte Highway Monroe had already identified that intersection years ago as a potential grade separation over the railroad tracks for Old Charlotte Highway and so that was actually submitted in coordination with CSX City of Monroe and Union County and the ncdot as a railroad project so that's being considered as we speak and the others were looking to design as a part of a design Grant application that would occur actually at your next meeting in October so I'll stop here for a second does anyone have any
049questions about the list of 15 and if are you able to see the list of 15 okay so you have to trust me it's a good list I'm literally the only one who sees the list of projects right now okay so um The Next Step which will be coming to you in October is to submit a design Grant application this is something we've done two separate times and we received money from the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning organization we have six intersections we have two we have twenty thousand dollars in the planning Department's budget for Professional Services it would occur in fy25 but the applications obviously do in fy24 and we would procure a consulting firm to help us design and develop cost estimates and conduct robust public engagement to select a locally preferred design for
050those intersections and that will come to you at the October 2nd meeting um the possible next step I want to it's bolded and it's italicized because it's not something that you need to take action on now but it is something that we would like to do this fiscal year for upcoming fiscal years is to highlight the fact that this has been a good program and between the municipalities and the dot it has allowed us to leverage outside funds to improve intersections and but all of our money that's all of your money that all the Publix money that's been committed previously towards intersections is committed we don't have any more and so we would recommend that for fy25 and Beyond to replenish that for local match we can't say which intersections they would go to it's
051it just gives us something to respond to when either the dot or municipalities want to submit applications for funding we would also ask that a portion of that be set aside for contingencies projects experience overruns like all their types of capital projects these days and we would like to have that set aside if we have a shortfall that we would need to come back to you and to carpo for funding so we would request that for next year so the requested action at a minimum is to endorse or to approve the report and the second action is feedback tell us what if any is an appropriate amount of funding to request it for fy25 and Beyond to replenish the local match line item for responding to funding requests that we may get from municipalities or
052from the ncdot so otherwise I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have manager Matthews obviously have something to say and I certainly don't expect the board to come up with any kind of a number tonight we're just asking you to think about that obviously as Bjorn has said this has been a very successful program for us over the few years we would recommend that we bolster that with some additional funds and likely in our fy25 budget but just understand that that is something I think we'll be asking you to consider thank you okay I would like to make a motion that we approve the report and the list that was provided to us tonight so that they can move forward to the next phase in October are there any comments or questions about
053on the 15 intersections hearing none all those in favor of approving the report say aye aye okay the next item is 23-635 Waxhaw Parkway comprehensive Transportation plan Amendment I'll turn it back over so you still can't see anything on your screens no okay all right so this one is different in that it's a proposed amendment it's not something that's going to be built in the near future but it is an important step in the process if something is desired to be built in the future which is the comprehensive Transportation plan and what we're talking about is a portion of the Waxhaw Parkway so as a background comprehensive Transportation plans are required by General statute across all parts of North Carolina the majority of Union counties covered by the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning organization and so
054therefore they house the the comprehensive Transportation plan for us we provide input into that process and generally speaking they will vote the members commissioner Holmes's representative they will vote for what the locals want in terms of amendments to the comprehensive Transportation plan the dot Board of transportation is a is a signatory as well so it's really a dual key approval for any kind of amendments to the transportation plan it does not include intersection scale widenings that's why we have the critical intersection program because otherwise we wouldn't have a document to point to to say these are our intersection priorities so this is focused on what roads should be widened or what new roads are needed or or for rail it can justify rail improvements public transportation bicycle pedestrian improvements we use it all the time
055we use it for identifying projects to submit for prioritization we also use it as a part of the negotiation process for rezonings to dedicate additional land where a road is needed to be widened and also where Bridge replacement or other ncdot projects may come along and they'll say well what's your vision for this road as this bridge is replaced does it need to be multi-lane for example so we use it quite a bit it's an important document in terms of the amendment that was considered we have been going through we have gone through a public engagement process relating to the comprehensive Transportation plan amendment that was identified as a result of a study by the North Carolina Transportation regarding the feasibility of the northeastern quadrant of the Waxhaw Parkway well it's up on the map
056you see the alignment off to the East Close actually crossing a portion of Mineral Springs that's what's currently on the plan spent on the on the plan for about seven years at this point and based on the study that was completed by the ncdot last year they recommended pulling the alignment closer to wax off that was because of constructability also because of increased usefulness to the town as a bypass this requires coordination with wax on Mineral Springs for communicating our Collective intent to cartpo the new alignment what we literally received from them was this gray alignment but it's it's several hundred feet wide but you can't have an alignment several hundred feet wide as your map you have to draw a line so we just drew the center line of it and this has a
057new cost estimate 72 million dollars this is up from the previous time it was evaluated where it was in the 45 million dollar range and this is not the final alignment when it's actually if it's actually funded that's when the actual design would be finalized someone right away would be purchased for the construction of it but this is the starting point if you look south of 75 you'll see that the Waxhaw Parkway went South and actually connects into South Providence to add continuity for the overall system so by just moving the alignment on the North side to the west several hundred yards you create this offset so the recommendation was to modify the section south of 75 to retain that continuity and this map is just to show that this has been going on for
058over 30 years there are multiple alignments out there it has affected multiple property owners I can point to at least three separate plat Maps where different alignments of the Waxhaw Parkway were shown on on their site plans and that affects Property Owners so this is an important process and we take it seriously I'll note that we no longer require land to be set aside on-site plans as a part of buy right development because the dot engaged in that based on law that have been passed to help them with Transportation Planning but because they weren't the property owners weren't being compensated at the time of that reservation that was considered a taking and then this the dot lost a billion dollar lawsuit in the last handful of years based on that so we no longer do
059that either in terms of the process that we've gone through in May each municipality in the county past resolutions asking to start the process part authorized that in July we conducted it for a month it was online and in person and here we are in September we've digested the results and so you're being asked to to take a position on it whether to um approve or recommend approval of this amendment and then it'll go to carpo it'll go to carpo Twice first time for information the second time for action in terms of the public comment period results over 400 people responded that you can see the picture from the community meeting held approximately six weeks ago with over 50 people in attendance and the public feedback you really have two populations the ones who are
060directly impacted by this and everyone else and they they have different they have different positions the overall feedback is slightly positive in terms of yes the new alignment is is better and yes I want to see the blacktop Parkway built but if you split it down if you split it by are you impacted versus not it's almost it's almost opposite um it's roughly three to one against the alignment and against the parkway if they have property that's in the lot in the crosshairs of this project which is to be expected for the people who are not affected by the alignment it's effectively reversed the demographics were very similar as well good age distribution distribution of residents whether in unincorporated Union County or Waxhaw or Mineral Springs not that many people from wax off participate or
061I'm sorry from Mineral Springs participated but there were some the frequent concerns that were brought up as a part of the comment period were environmental impacts of building it the right-of-way acquisition process spurring additional development that it's not that useful a project and why not consider alternative route routes so we did we developed some comments and responses back to these concerns the environmental impacts we would note that the process to actually design and build a road will have to follow State and National Environmental Policy guidelines for environmental archaeological cultural related issues and those will account they'll essentially create an inventory of all the impacts of the different Alternatives that are available at the time that the road is being designed and then and then the D.O.T and consultation with locals will choose an alignment based
062on those considerations or if all the all the options are bad you could choose none of the alignments but that's a decision that'll be made at the time that the Project's actually funded the next comment and concern was about right-of-way acquisition that it's beyond wrong to put the alignments right through someone's personal property especially business or boarding horses the flip side of that is I support all considerations to improve the roads in and around wax off I'll note that they're the act of taking property by the dot or anyone else is not something that's taken lightly it would only occur once the road is funded because that way you know what land you actually need and only what is needed is purchased and it would follow the uniform act which is a federal act that
063governs the right-of-way acquisition process when using federal funds and unfortunately it will not occur until the road is actually funded so you have this line hanging over your property which to some people is considered a dark cloud for the value of their land next concern was about spurring additional development in the area I've circled where the Waxhaw Parkway is which doesn't show a lot of development relative to other areas based on our current projections going up to 2050 and the reason why it doesn't show it is because our our demographic projections only include funded projects if you were to put the Waxhaw Parkway there the local planners and Engineers are not naive we know that this will this will spur development because it's a new road however land use planning is not done by the
064ncdot it's done by Union County by Wax On by Mineral Springs and therefore any developments that occur would have to be consistent with their development standards and our land use plans if rezonings are allowed or are considered so that would be a part of the follow-on impacts of the parkway and then not a useful project this this graphic that shows different colored bands through wax off this is this is a recent origin destination study it essentially inventoried the cars coming from 75 and 16 and saying where are they coming from and where are they going to are they just getting through town do they come from Waxhaw where are they going and and the the the key statistic is that two-thirds of the traffic going through downtown wax off just wants to get through wax
065off and therefore that's bypasses are are useful strategies in situations like this and the projections for this segment of the Waxhaw Parkway is that in the next 20 if it were built in the near future within 20 years would be carrying eight to ten thousand cars a day and then the other comment about considering alternate alignments there were some people who talked about stitching together existing roads the issue with that is that you would have to make improvements to those roads as well particularly their intersections and crossing the railroad tracks and in addition the vision for this road after it's built is having is it have it be signed as the new nc-16 the 16 designation would shift over to the parkway if you want it to be an NC caliber route you can't just
066have local roads that aren't NC status improved incrementally and also you can see that lots of alignments have been considered over the years so we've thought about this quite a bit based on different considerations at the time the route has has changed so Mineral Springs and wax so this is new information in the last week both both towns considered this wax off that's the easy one they went first they said we support it Mineral Springs has a couple a couple considerations to their actions one they said we're neutral on the alignments because they looked big picture and said we don't think this is a good project because it's going to Spur a lot of development and because of environmental impacts along the corridor that would occur because of the road and because of the development
067that would occur along it also there has been a voluntary annexation request by essentially the whole Snow White Trail neighborhood that is unincorporated and is between Mineral Springs and Waxhaw that its voluntary annexation and the town of Mineral Springs said yep we will go through the process to Annex you and if that happens Mineral Springs now is responsible for all the land that the parkway would go along north of the river I'm sorry yeah north of the railroad tracks and so that was the position they took so we're effectively split they they asked that the parkway be removed from the CTP and then you have Waxhaw saying yeah we like the new alignment so it's split what are our options we have two really I mean there are two have been made there's amend the
068CTP and there's remove it from the CTP this isn't normal we don't recommend taking it to carpo in its current form we need to talk through and figure out is there something locally that we can agree to because if if nothing happens if we just say well we don't agree the current alignment stays on the plant stays on the map because no action has been taken to remove it at this time and the realistic response is based on whatever feedback you give me tonight we will then immediately initiate a meeting with waxah with Mineral Springs with the dot with carpo and say okay this is what we've heard from each of the three local jurisdictions what do we do and we're gonna we're gonna talk through that and figure out what what we should do
069but it's in all likelihood not going to go to carpo in October or November because we don't have a we don't have a unanimous local position at this point so you know the the strict request you know the requested action is to consider endorsing the proposed new alignment but really you have three options you could say or four I'm sure you could come up with another one but you could endorse the new one you could say we like the old one or the current one you could say we don't like it at all and it should be removed or you could delay your decision to some point in the future based on additional information but at a minimum I really need to know what what your position is on on these questions so that we
070can engage with staff and try and figure something out board members that in light of the fact that there will be an election coming up um I think it's important to allow that to occur understand if there's a different position that may come out of that from the town of White Town of Waxhaw or the town of Mineral Springs and then we can engage in the conversation I think it would be premature right now so I would recommend the board consider delaying any action until we know what a new board from the town of Waxhaw and and also from Mineral Springs if they change their position on that is is the current plan the one that was along with Collins yes sir it's closer to Collins Road the one to the further to the east
071it went through the right right through the middle of Snow White Trail that's right I mean I mean what it is now that's what it is now but it brought it found it instead of going through it say that last part again Collins it did not it was really close to Collins Road I bet there would be a reconfiguration of Collins if it were built in that location but it didn't take advantage of Collins Road I sure can when technology working and uh and and show us what the current plan was and also tell me how many homes are impacted going through the middle of that development I mean the current alignment current record you mean the new you wanted the new one um I don't have the specific number I know it's fewer that's
072that's the qualitative answer fewer homes than the current alignment that's on the map can you find that I can yes would it be okay if we bring this back after we have a decision from the town of Waxhaw do you want that information prior to that which is fine I just want to know so staff knows what their what they're intended to do you know the more I think about it personally the more I think we ought to delay doing anything until after the municipal election I mean um clearly some citizens have some decisions to make so let's see uh what the result is there and then move ahead accordingly Bjorn I've got a couple questions if you don't mind um you know I looked over the the amended plan obviously and I've got some
073concerns about the proximity there to the school the elementary school do you know exactly how close the the parkway with the new alignment the proposed alignment is going to be to Western Union Elementary Western Union is over here in Mineral Springs so it takes it further away from there the new alignment does yes it does okay has any other organization perhaps pledge support organizational or individual pledge support financially to support this project that you're aware of are you referring to the large rezoning that's recently at the community meeting in Waxhaw I am I've I've read their website about the information regarding it I mean the decision the negotiation about that rezoning is between wax on that applicant sure so I can't say what is currently on the table okay and uh in regards to that
074project how close is it to the proposed project there in Waxhaw do you have any idea straddles it essentially it's all this area yeah okay as far as uh how this scores when North Carolina DOT do you have any information there because I mean obviously this thing has been the works for 20 years or so it has it has not scored well for a couple reasons one is because it does not it can't take advantage of our vision as a future NC route there are tiers of funding Statewide tier like your interstates they eat first then your Regional tier which are your your lesser U.S routes and all of your NC routes they eat second and then your division tier which is all your Sr roads which are your new town roads your Rocky River
075Roads that are not NC highways or U.S routes they eat last and in our region because uh carpo is such a large Metropolitan planning organization they get money actually that's used for our critical intersection program they get money set aside for them that that the dot doesn't get to use so in this region it's very difficult to get large roads like this built one because of the cost and two because you're in competition with with Charlotte Concord other areas so it doesn't score that well it's partially because of the need it's partially just because it's a it's an expensive project and any expensive project is hard to get funded um just a couple other things or thought or questions or thoughts here uh as far as the 2050 plan how does this correlate with the
0762050 plan and the vision that uh that the counties put in place there would you say that it's in correlation with that 2050 plan or maybe out of the scope of the 2050 plan well the 2050 plan didn't other than other than recommending future uh interstate route designation for the us-74 corridor between Charlotte and Wilmington it didn't make a lot of Transportation recommendations in terms of so or is this strictly a question about Transportation about or about the transportation land use Dynamic I guess probably a combination of both um I think that you know with this right here I think land use is certainly a part of it it is the majority of the land through here is in wax on the portions that are isolated are transition zones which was a strategic recommendation come
077out of the conference a plan to close them as development occurs and people want to up Zone their land so honestly this is a for the most part this is a wax off question I will note that if you were to build this whole thing coming from north of Waxhaw to south of Waxhaw it does facilitate development south of Waxhaw either in Waxhaw that could be subsequently annexed or an unincorporated Union County and so outside of wax off we identify it as rural residential yeah yeah thank you Bjorn I appreciate you uh you answered my questions my final thought on this is is that at this point I don't know that I like either option and I would be more inclined to to look at removal of this item and the reason why I say
078that is because the more I dug into it the more that it appears to me that this is more of a traffic facilitator than it is a traffic decongester um you know with two lanes being proposed it does open it up to you know potential development and with that it becomes congestion that I don't know that we're ready for at this point with Mineral Springs not being on the same page as Waxhaw I think that it makes our decision at least somewhat clearer tonight to either delay it or potentially remove it thank you did you want to make a motion or table it is that emotion or just a comment it's just a comment right now okay um do you need a motion to um table this to bring it back then I make a
079motion that we table uh this amendment or this plan for Waxhaw Parkway comprehensive transportation to come back to this board at a later date all those in favor say aye aye the next two items have been requested by commissioner David Williams the first one up is what he calls the county non-endorsement policy and code of conduct so I will turn it over thank you madam Vice chair I ask that this item be added subsequent to our last meeting I thought it was important to discuss this to in in order to try to solve a problem and uh from the last meeting there was some discussion about you know how do we provide County Services how do we engage with the public and provide County Services execute on our duties as a County government when we're
080often interacting with the public in an arena that may entail different degrees of controversy you know sometimes we're out there serving the public and we don't choose that that setting often and and sometimes there are groups and individuals doing things that you know we may agree or disagree with so it's important for us to provide government services just County Services and to do it in a neutral fashion so I thought you know what let's further develop a non-endorsement policy let's make sure that when we're out there serving citizens executing on County core functions that we make it very clear that we're not endorsing you know controversial positions we're not you know um you know we're just doing the the regular hopefully boring business of of delivering services that was my object that was the the
081problem I was trying to solve and then this weekend we had something happen this Saturday and it made even more important I think the uh the idea of non-endorsement and and regulating of government speech generally you know that's an important uh question I mean many of us are familiar of course with you know the exercise exercise a forum speech First Amendment speech that we all have that we all enjoy that our constitution secures but there's also government speech that's done government speaks all the time you know sometimes we don't think about it because it's you know maybe a message to you know uh a breast cancer message about you know getting your mammograms done or whatever it is you know make sure when the Winner's approaching that you're you know pets are warm and dry
082and get watered and fed and you know sometimes along the Spectrum it's maybe a little more controversial but the government speaks all the time and the the problem that happened this weekend this Saturday is that we had an event and it's not the content of the event I promise you not for me anyway it was that we had an event that was sanctioned sponsored as a government speech event think about that government speech well well who's the government speaker you know the government speaker wasn't government it was a third party and and one that takes you know uh bold positions on the political Spectrum as they're welcome to do God Bless America you'll never find a more zealous advocate for freedom and for you know the rights of speech and assembly than me but making
083that identifying that as a government speech event is extraordinarily problematic at least to this commissioner so you know I wanted to to bring this up and talk about it because I you know I thought well let's let's have a discussion about you know what some changes to policy might look like what some good changes might look like well for one we need to restrict or limit government speech you know can we agree that limiting or restricting government's a good thing you know at least to this commissioner it is and we should keep it you know government inside the Constitution both at the federal level the state level and the local level let's limit government speech and just have government focused on executing its core functions its core responsibilities um conversely let's expand the public spaces
084and opportunities for the rest of us to speak that's a good thing that's a great thing let's do that and then you know to the extent getting back to the original problem of when we're out there serving the public and engaging with the public and and who knows what activity or what setting we find ourselves in you know uh you know let's make sure that we you know we put a straight jacket so to speak that we put you know strictures on County employees and and public officials acting their capacity to make sure you know we are we are doing those Services providing those services in a neutral and efficient way some elements that I thought might be good to uh to consider in some policy changes would be prohibitions largely on controversial topics that
085undermine the impartiality of County government government speech that relates to our core functions and delivery of services should be embraced of course um develop social media guidelines and perhaps a public Communications review you know before stuff goes out and certainly before stuff that might be perceived as controversial let's have a review process in place before that stuff goes out that's a really good idea um amend the facilities use policy to provide more freedom for citizens to use County spaces as a form for protected speech with the appropriate time Manner and place restrictions that the constitution allows us to to impose Define with more Precision the boundaries around unprotected speech there is speech that's unprotected and I think we can Cobble together and amend a policy you know that enlarges the public space where individuals and
086groups can exercise the First Amendment rights it reduces what government can speak to I think that's really good because taxpayers whether you're on the Left Right middle or apathetic you know who wants government speaking boldly a controversial issue by and large you don't want that to happen so that's a good idea and then to the extent and and I have to compliment you commissioner Brian Helms you talked about well groups that are out there that borrow our logos and suggest County endorsement that that doesn't exist I agree that can sometimes be a problem but you know what the solution to that is we have trademarks we have logos we have intellectual property interest in those things to the extent they're infringements let's punish them let's go after the infringers and I think that ought to
087be a default policy so I say all that saying I think this kind of discussion and and a motion moving in that direction would be wonderful sadly I think right now something that a motion that would pass is probably not in the cards tonight so I'm not going to make a motion tonight I would encourage my colleagues I would implore my colleagues to engage with me in a conversation on this maybe at a subsequent meeting maybe in person we can work through some of these elements and find something that we can all agree on that at the end of the day enlarges the sphere of freedom for regular people restricts what government can do and is consistent with the law so maybe at a future date we can do something like that that's all no
088no motions I'm gonna Buster yes so uh so I'll just say this I don't know exactly you know what Mr Williams was trying to accomplish with that I will say that you know everything that was done over the weekend was done in accordance with our policy and uh and there were no um you know policy infringements as far as uh the space that he was referring to um I don't know that I can get on board with prohibiting controversial topics I don't know how we would really accomplish that as far as the compliment well I thank you sir I appreciate that I did offer a solution uh let's see a couple meetings ago where I offered a motion that prohibited County participation in certain festivals and events but your Amendment would have taken that out
089so I I did not accept it so uh so with that I'll just say that I'm anxious to move on to the next item thank you okay um and I would have presumed on business we were um we were voting on this but uh so the next item requested is 23-651 Union County Chamber of Commerce I'll turn it over to commissioner David Williams thank you madam Vice chair uh this is this I definitely have a motion for and the motion is for Union County to rejoin the Union County Chamber of Commerce and uh you know I I looked up the uh the vision statement and the mission statement for the Union County Chamber and I think it's important to share it you know the vision statement uh includes the following everyone who does business or
090lives in Union County enjoys a thriving local economy and excellent excellent quality of life um to my mind that's not a controversial statement is there anything in that that we disagree with um I can't imagine there is uh their mission statement we Champion business growth and business Prosperity throughout the county uh also something that I I think really we can't disagree with um what does the chamber do what has the chamber done uh with Union County in the past well a lot you know we're not we weren't just members we do a lot together we work on Workforce Development job skills we participate or I did participate with the chamber and grow Union County Business breakfast leadership Union program job fairs I mean there's a lot that we used to do with the chamber and
091you know I don't want to rehash recent history um you know I'm not sure that's really profitable at this point but I would just like to say when you know there is disagreement or a tiff in the family it's important important for the family to try to amend that and come together I would hope that we could come together tonight and decide to rejoin the chamber I'd like to note that their membership fee for us I confirmed this the membership fee is lower it's been cut in half it used to be 5 000 a year it's now 2500 a year who doesn't like you know a discount so I would just implore my colleagues to you know thoughtfully consider and think about this motion and to have us rejoin the rejoin the County Chamber of
092Commerce I just think that would be the right move here thank you come on buster yes if I'm a I'm going to be opposed to the motion for a few different reasons I appreciate commissioner Williams's fatherly advice but 2500 membership I wouldn't support that either what I'll say about the chamber is is this I'm going to be opposed for basically three main reasons number one the funds for the um the membership have already been put towards another project and that was a lighting project for our roundabouts our intersections the second reason is is because well I was very disappointed to see the resolution in subsequent social media posts from the chamber regarding utilities um you know since I've been a member of this board this board's voted for every incentive Grant brought to us we
093have also supported specific utility projects that give us a chance at commercial growth opportunities as a county that sense that almost 90 residential I certainly recognize the importance of commercial growth furthermore I'll say this sewer capacity is not a Magic Bullet it's not the end-all be-all solution for commercial growth as a county we've seen this and done this before and we know that as sewer capacity becomes available it is quickly consumed by residential growth why well because generally speaking we can't reserve sewer capacity for one applicant or one applicant over another North Carolina statute prohibits us from doing that because it's looked upon as discriminatory since commercial projects typically have longer design phases residential development takes the capacity before commercial projects come to fruition this is exactly why this board petitioned our state legislators to
094make changes to North Carolina General statute the actions of the chamber are certain municipalities in our County with their respective resolutions underscore their lack of understanding growth has a price and I'm not willing to put the cost and the burden of future growth for three municipalities in a chamber of commerce on the backs of every ratepayer in the county just so they can pay more for the same services without any additional services for their money and subsidize future growth and top it all off what's the reward for being a great rate payer and all this that's right they get to sit in more traffic every day on roads than North Carolina DOT can't afford to fix so sewer capacities and growth it's a ripple effect is the chamber going to contribute to fund new schools
095the growth brings are they going to contribute to sheriff Kathy's budget for more deputies how about EMS are they going to help us out there growth affects everyone in this County and not just one organization or a municipality that's why this board made policy changes earlier this year to give the people of the county the authority to vote on utility projects that enable growth not just five commissioners last reason why I'm not going to support this motion Union County Chamber of Commerce openly supports diversity equity and inclusion it's also called Dei Dr and I speak for myself with this not the board this is my personal opinion but Dei is a perversion of civil rights that brings nothing but division the premise of Dei is to separate People based on the pigmentation of their skin
096last I checked the science of the matter is that we all have to wear sunscreen the chamber support of Dei goes back to prior to 2021 when the chamber made this a priority in Union County since then the chamber has pushed this agenda and their trainings and events recent chamber events for diversity Equity inclusion oh and now it's be and belonging as well uh well January 2021 Pacquiao said this that uh Chamber of Commerce has had diversity and inclusion as part of our work for years this year we need to be intentional and make diversity and inclusion an intentional priority September 5th 2023 there was a meeting on creating inclusive workplace diversity Equity inclusion presentation chamber Dei Committee Member and Duke Energy the spokesperson stated this Dei helps us to recognize the unique needs of
097our customers and these are their customers is power I'm not sure how diversity Equity inclusion Keeps the Lights On just like I'm not sure how indoctrination is a benefit Union County businesses where their customers who buy goods and services here they even had to slide up on that meeting that says Equity is defined as recognizing the need to redistribute power to create the quality of fair and of being a fair and impartial redistribute June 14 2023 diversity Equity inclusion committee hosted a session on diversity and workplace May 27th diversity Equity inclusion series was completed by the chamber that was sponsored by other area organizations um let's get guys some Dei programs sponsored by the chamber teach our local businesses to hire and promote based off the color of the skin or sexual orientation first when
098we hire people based on these traits and not their experience their qualifications or most importantly the content of their character we've submit we've significantly missed the boat I didn't support Dei before I was elected and I won't support using Union County taxpayer dollars to fund it now no matter what commissioner Williams wants I was not elected to straddle offense with this so I'll be in opposition to the motion I uh I agree with commissioner Williams Chamber of Commerce is a major contributor in Union County and the quality of the life we have here it's run by Pat kale and other industry leaders uh it's it's Brian Brian Helms mentioned some things that they did the first of the year well uh what they have done is you know this red wall they call it the
099chamber tries to build Bridges try to work with people so you know you you uh municipalities out there are looking at a wall running be careful because what we've done is we've alienated and I'm hearing this across the way that we've alienated businesses and even impacted our Economic Development diversity is is a good thing okay so you know I was speaking to a friend of mine and uh Mr Brian helms's recommendation that our employees couldn't make certain associations and everything with others and the gentleman was a gentleman of color I said you're next if we if we show this uh separation and discrimination against people so I will be voting for it matter of fact they they take the high road they've given us an invitation to come to manufacturing celebration in Union County so
100I will be voting for joining the chamber and you know you take the money out and you put lights on a roundabout well if we can't afford lights on the roundabout we shouldn't be building it um uh Madam by sure if I may respond to the comments absolutely Mr Richard Helms I'm not sure what associations you're referring to commissioner Helms you know I made that motion a couple weeks or a couple meetings ago in regards to the uh participation in events and I believe that that so that whole topic was sort of missed on you because I believe I said official capacity eight times in that motion eight times official capacity that motion was never intended to dictate what people do on their off time and I believe that the entire audience called and cult
101that when I made that motion maybe everyone except for you sir so um official capacity eight times there is no one that has a legal right to tell anybody what to do on their off time that's not what that motion was intended to do that motion was simply intended to provide a solution to problems that we have seen in the past where our logos have been abused and our representation at events have been mistaken for official County sponsorship so you sir making a big deal about something like that and trying to twist it is wrong um I'd like to make a few comments on the record for tonight um I will not be supporting rejoining the chamber at this time for several reasons including that when Pacquiao contacted me several weeks ago that um their
102board was going to send a resolution identical to Waxhaw and Marvin in Weddington I said you know Pat why would you want to get involved in water and sewer and you know residential development issues when as commissioner David Williams always already already pointed out in his motion that their goal their their vision statement is business growth I I don't even know how that can even be explained when our economic developer refused to even vote when he was in that meeting Chris Plateau was so disturbed by that executive meeting that he would not even participate in that vote to send that resolution and when I got elected to serve on this board I had we all had a business meeting at the derby so I got into a conversation with um with our economic develop developed
103person who should be the it is the expert for Monroe City and the county and he explained to me that our residential tax base is now over 90 percent in Union County and I said well explain to me why that is so staggering to you and he then went on to say that the sweet spot for the average County commercial industrial jobs versus residential construction should be around 60 40. Union County over the last few years has gone from 80 to 85 to 88. now we are over 90 percent residential when our chamber says their priority their vision statement is business and growth and jobs and bringing people to Union County being concerned about Weddington Marvin Waxhaw having you know 3 000 home developments built and their very own part way that is not jobs
104that is more homes so I asked Chris Chris called me today on a different topic and we were talking about you know how upside down Union County is with a 90 residential tax pays instead of a 30 or 40 percent commercial industrial base and we this county is taxed out we need more people to come here to bring their counties here we do have room for homes not you know a community three times bigger than Millbridge we don't need that and then comments are made that um well the schools who cares about the schools that that's the school's problem that's the board of education's problem let them figure it out well let me tell you if you live in Union County it it is your problem because if this one neighborhood gets approved you will
105need a three or four hundred million dollar bond to build more schools period and the Board of Education it won't be their request or their demand it will be a desperate urgent 9-1-1 decision they may not want to build new schools but you know if our goal is a hundred percent residential then then somebody's not doing their job and I would contend that somebody hasn't been doing their job for a very long time before the red wall got here ha so I would say let's get back to the basics like handwriting Reading Writing math let's get back to the basics of excellent quality of life business growth let's come together oh and by the way if you come back we'll cut the membership fee in half I will not support this motion tonight because the
106chamber has not even asked us to come back so it's not even worth the twenty five hundred dollar carrot I will not support this motion all those in favor say aye all right all those opposed no motion fails County Manager comments oh yes I'm sorry hold on just one second let me grab those items that were moved off it is the first one is 23 483 and I'm going to combine these 23 for um the canine um azuro and then 23 646 atos if I may speak to the reason why I asked these items to be pulled so uh so in short I asked these items to be pulled as well because I looked at our consent agenda and I noticed that we had a one dollar fee there for the adoption the conveyance of
107these canines to their uh to their handlers so I I felt like we could do better and and so what I want to do is I want to make a motion and if this is uh okay to do I'd like to make a motion on both of these items that that we accept the resolution to convey both items so this would be for canine Zorro and also canine atos but with the exception that we waive the one dollar fee any comments or questions all those in favor say aye I all those opposed okay the next one that was pulled off that needs to be addressed was 23-647 the I believe um well no we're just um we removed that for a future meeting so we do not need to discuss that one okay that brings
108us to County managers comments I have no comments tonight thank you commissioner comments I'll start it with commissioner Richard Helms commissioner David Williams no comments Madam Vice chair commissioner Brian Helms thank you madam Vice chair as normal I will have some comments especially so tonight you know we've been in situations before where we've had a vacancy on our board um it didn't it wasn't actually that long ago so we actually had a vacancy in 2018 and I'd like to take this opportunity in my comments to remind my fellow Commissioners what happened then especially uh commissioner Richard Helms so I'd like to remind commissioner Richard Helms and not so long ago you believed in the Republican party's process for nomination on April 16 2018 you actually made the motion to appoint Barbara Harrison based on the
109party recommendation in that meeting Mr Richard Hills was quoted as saying there were over 30 pres precincts present these individuals that represent Union County were there and they spoke so I think we did listen to the community so I would ask my fellow commissioners well what's changed because these Representatives didn't vote for someone you favor or is it because you weren't there to see it either way these These contradictions are holding our County back these are hypocritical actions and is holding us back that'll be all tonight thank you madam Buster again I would just like to thank chairman um Allison powers for being here tonight and methodically explaining the process that was followed by state law and according to our own board policy and I would just like on the record to say how disappointing
110it is that um that all of this effort was put by 53 precincts the executive board and that two within the party would not even um accept the recommendation that you brought to us tonight I think it's a travesty and but I want to thank you for your time and thank you for all of the hard work that you did through this process and everything before and after you are an asset to our community thank you to commissioner rushing's father Rocky it is so sweet to see you here tonight um for what should have been a swearing-in for commissioner Stoney rushing's on vacancy I want to tell you it has been a heartbreaking loss not to be able to continue to serve with your son that you raised so well and I just I want
111to tell you thank you for being here to support Clancy and his family and thank you for supporting this board and for raising an amazing son who served our County very very well job well done dad Aunt Judy I am embarrassed that you had to sit through what happened here tonight you're such an honorable good woman and you have such a fine family and I am I apologize on behalf of this board that your son was not sworn in tonight as he should have been the daughters I enjoyed watching you tonight it was great to have you here and I hope we'll see you again to Clancy in your beautiful broad I apologize for what you had to sit through tonight you are a good and honorable man you applaud two of the names that
112were motioned tonight didn't even take the time to apply and didn't even take the time to go to the meeting to have their voices heard I commend you for taking a big step to submit your application and to stand with the other candidates and to win by overwhelming majority in the first vote says a lot considering this has only happened one other time and that one went three or four rounds in the votes before the party was able to bring Barbara Harrison's name to us you won in the first round by super majority and I hope you take that with you tonight as opposed to what you had to endure and we look forward to seeing you again very very soon earlier this week I received a really interesting email that um that there had
113been a study or a survey done that recognized the safest cities with more than 5 000 residents for the whole state they do this um for every state but this article came out and it announced the safest place to raise your families to live and Thrive and have a wonderful life number one was Unionville North Carolina and so I just um and number three was Fairview and so they put out a top 10 list and two of our own municipalities right here in Union County North Carolina 99 other counties um but two out of the ten safest places to live and raise your family to grow and Thrive was two of our very own so I just wanted to recognize um Unionville and Fairview I've reached out to both of those Mayors they couldn't open
114the article or read the article but when I took screenshots and sent it to them they were so happy to see their town in in the top three not just the top ten the top three so this is regardless of the behavior you saw here tonight Union County is an amazing place to live and work just don't get involved in politics so um with that being said I will make a motion to adjourn all those in favor say ah aye awesome