HomeMy WebLinkAboutC.054.93009_2331 (2)Attending the meeting were: Melissa Bartlett, Laura White Hannon, Gayle Mitchell, and
Ellen Bosanko Sauer. The teachers were each presented a copy of the resolution and praised for their
willingness to seek additional training in their fields of expertise.
RECOGNITION OF NORTH CAROLINA HOUSE (42" District)
REPRESENTATIVE FRANK MITCHELL: Chairman Tice recognized Representative Mitchell
who was attending the meeting with his wife, Gayle. (Mrs. Mitchell was one of the teachers
recognized earlier in the meeting.)
RECOGNITION OF BOY SCOUT TROOP 332: Chairman Tice acknowledged the
presence of several scouts working on citizenship badges. The scouts were affiliated with
Vanderburg United Methodist Church.
APPOINTMENTS BEFORE THE BOARD
MR. DAVID SWANN IN REFERENCE TO THE ANNUAL REPORT ON
CROSSROADS BEHAVIORAL HEALTHCARE: Swann distributed copies ofthe annual report
and shared positive and negative happenings with his facility. Dr. Jane Carrigan Testerman, an
Iredell County appointee to the Crossroads Board of Directors, accompanied Swann to the meeting.
Testerman was recently elected as the chairman for the Crossroads board.
Mrs. Fortner, the commissioner representative for the Crossroads board, thanked Mr. Swann
for his presentation and for his management and leadership of the mental health facility.
MR. DON PARKER & MR. MAURICE JENKINS IN REFERENCE TO
ANNEXATIONS & VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENTS: Mr. Parker, a member of the
Iredell County Fire Tax District Board, said there were two items he wanted to discuss. He said the
first involved debt reduction and the second matter pertained to centralized purchasing. Parker said
the fire tax board members needed to know who the board of commissioners wanted to be appointed
and held accountable for the implementation of the two items.
In reference to debt reduction, Parker said he had an analysis on all of the outstanding VFD
debt, including payments, interest owed, the balances, and any prepayment penalties, etc. He said
someone needed to compute the "best way to go on the debt." Parker said a double or triple
payment had been discussed to accelerate debt retirement. He mentioned the fire tax board
members wanted to have cash to pay for the trucks rather than financing them. He continued by
saying this year, the fire tax board was in good shape, but next year, money would be needed.
Parker said a county person was needed to work on the debt reduction plan.
Pertaining to centralized purchasing, Parker said the fire departments had been contacted and
several items had been recommended for bulk purchase. Similar to debt reduction, Parker asked
for a county person to be designated to implement the purchasing plan.
Parker then talked about annexations. He said he had just talked about the acceleration of
the retirement of debt, but that every time an annexation occurred, the income from the fire tax was
lost and the debt remained. Mr. Parker said the issue revolved around how the computation was
made and the amount due to the fire departments by the municipalities. He continued by saying the
City of Statesville annexed the ASMO Industry property and paid $15,830. Parker said $198,975
was the amout he felt was owed. He said a fire truck was purchased prior to the ASMO annexation
with the intent for it to protect the ASMO property. After the annexation, the city started receiving
the taxes and Cool Springs VFD was left with the debt. Parker said an identical situation happened
with the Statesville Country Club annexation. He predicted the same thing would happen in the
future. Parker said he had heard that some people felt the situation was strictly a fire deparment
problem and not one for the county. He said he did not agree because the debt payments were being
made by the county.
Mr. Parker said there were two issues relating to the calculations. One part concerned the
debt service for just the fire district and the other matter dealt with the total service district. He
mentioned that when the county went to fire districts, the entire county was listed as the district.
However, the individual VFDs had their own debt. He said that when the calculations on Cool
Springs were done, a figure of $687,973 for the debt service for the past 12 years was used. But, the
corresponding service district debt was $277,070,533. Parker said the method for the calculation
was governed by state law. He said if the correct figures had been used, the amount to be paid would
have been $198,975. He said, instead, that Statesville had used all of the 16 fire departments and