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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-3-2019 1 December 3, 2019 IREDELL COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS PRE-AGENDA MINUTES December 3, 2019 The Iredell County Board of Commissioners met in pre-agenda session on Tuesday, December 3, 2019 at 5:00 PM, in the Commissioners’ Meeting Room located in the Iredell County Government Center 200 South Center Street, Statesville, NC. Board Members Present Chairman James Mallory Vice Chairman Tommy Bowles Marvin Norman Ken Robertson Board Members Attending Remotely Gene Houpe Staff present: County Manager Beth Jones, County Attorney Lisa Valdez, Deputy County Manager Susan Robertson, Assistant County Manager Joe Pierce, Finance Director Debra Cheek, and Clerk to the Board Amy Anderson. CALL TO ORDER: Chairman James Mallory called the meeting to order. ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA: There were no adjustments to the agenda. Chairman Mallory noted that Commissioner Houpe is attending the meeting remotely. ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS Request from the Health Department for approval of budget amendment #12 to expand $49,973 of the multi-year $274,963 awarded Community Linkages to Care for Overdose Prevention grant from the NC Department of Health and Human Services: Norma Rife said the Health Department continues to look for ways to mitigate the opioid overdose epidemic. This grant is similar to one awarded to the department in 2018 to support the Peer Support Specialist position that Sandy Tabor Grey is currently in. Rife said the current request is a $274,963 multi-year grant running until the end of August 2022. Certain amounts of funding will be spent in each term. Rife requested approval to receive and expend $49,473 of the grant. This leaves $225,490 of the grant for the future Health Department budget. The funding will support the full-time Peer Support Specialist to specifically follow up with patients who have experienced a non-fatal opioid overdose. In addition, the grant expands the program to include a .40 full-time employee (16 hours a week in the EMS department). The Health Department work with EMS to fulfill the agreement addendum scope of work in related requirements. Rife said the program has been successful and quantitative metrics shows significant success. Chairman Mallory noted that the budget amendment reflects an amount of $49,973. Rife said the budget amendment should be $49,473. County Manager Beth Jones recommended the Board consider the higher amount. Any unspent funds can be reverted to future years. 2 December 3, 2019 Commissioner Robertson agreed. Rife said there is currently one Peer Support Specialist. The additional support will be a 16-hour per week new position in EMS and funded by the grant. Commissioner Robertson asked if it was possible to hire someone with the skillset for only 16-hours per week. Richey said yes. It is not mandatory for the employee to have the Peer Support Specialist credential. The training is built is into the requested funding. Commissioner Robertson said this is a part of the presentation from the Peer Support Specialist Program presented at the recent Fall Retreat. This item was placed on consent. Request from Emergency Management/Fire Services for approval of budget amendment #13, along with contingent approval of a 59-month lease purchase agreement and accompanying resolution with Motorola Communications for $2.3 million of portable and mobile radios to be signed out by and distributed to volunteer fire dep artments serving Iredell County: Kent Greene said the department applied for $2.3 million an Assistance to Fire Firefighters grant but did not receive the grant. The required local match of $300,000 was budgeted for in the County-wide Fire District. Greene explained staff worked with Motorola to determine how many radios could have been purchased with $2.3 million. Upon receiving the news of the grant, staff looked into creative ways to purchase radios just above $300,000. Motorola is offered a 59-month lease that will provide 463 portable (handheld) radios and 130 mobile radios. All are 800 megahertz and on Vyper. Greene said approval would place a radio in the hands of every volunteer firefighter and a radio in every apparatus in the County. This will make the County fully compatible with the Vyper system, which is the direction the Board suggested years ago. Greene said this is an opportunity to use funds are already budgeted. Greene said the County Attorney Lisa Valdez and Purchasing Agent Dean Lail is working through some minor discrepancies in the terms of conditions in the lease agreement. Greene requested approval for County Manager Beth Jones to move forward agreement once those terms and conditions are rectified. Chairman Mallory asked Greene to explain the problems that will be corrected through this process. Greene said currently that there are five separate radio systems in the County. This would allow for better all-around communication and allow all of the volunteer departments to be statewide assets. Chairman Mallory asked if UHF is used for tactical. Greene said the Sheriff’s Office mostly uses Vyper with UHF as a backup. Vice Chairman Bowles asked about fire dispatch. Greene said fire is paged through VHF. 3 December 3, 2019 Vice Chairman Bowles asked about Active 911, which comes through on smartphones. Greene said the ISO does not recognize Active 911 as a primary method of dispatch because of the liability and private third party servicer providing the capability. The radios will have tone paging capability. In the future all fire departments will have digital tones that will be programmed into the individual radios. Commissioner Houpe asked if the radios are under warranty during the lease. Greene said there is a three-year warranty and a protection as outlined in the lease agreement. Commissioner Houpe suggested the Board consider this request at 7pm to allow a broader audience to understand the purchase. The Board agreed. Request from Planning & Development for approval of a grant application with the Charlotte Regional Transportation (CRTPO) to pursue a Transportation Plan: Matthew Todd requested official requested approval and explained that the the grant application was already submitted because of an early deadline. CRTPO would cover 80% of the cost of a Transportation Plan and the County would be responsible for the remaining 20%. Based on estimates from three different contractors, Todd estimated the County’s cost would be approximately $30,000. . This item was placed on consent. Request from Tax Administration for approval of a sole-source award contract with Pictometry to perform two countywide Pictometry imagery captures over seven years: Dean Lail said the County has partnered with Pictometry since 2013 and the Board has previously made a sole-source award to Pictometry to do imagery captures and flyovers. Since then, Pictometry has become integral in many county departments. A lot of the departments have done a lot of their internal operations built around the Pictometry imagery. It has been discovered that the imagery needs to be upgraded to keep up with accurate information and data for each of the departments. Lail said to make the upgrade, Pictometry offered a long-term contract to do two county-wide imagery captures over seven years. The first project will be winter of FY20-21 and the second in FY24-25. Total cost of the first project is $294,953, which includes a 10% long-term incentive. The second project will cost $291,983 with the same terms. Payments for these will be budgeted over a period of time, after each capture is made. Lail explained that staff has looked at other systems over the years, none of those provide seamless capability the Pictomery platform. If a new system is decided on, everything will need to go on a different platform requiring a lot of intensive transition time training. Lail requested approval of the sole-source award contract. Commissioner Robertson asked how the cost compared to the previous contract. Lail said prices are similar but there is going to be quite a difference over time. Vice Chairman Bowles said approval would cover for about a 10-year period. Lail said it would cover for two reappraisals. 4 December 3, 2019 Commissioner Robertson asked if the cost is budgeted. Lail said payments are not made until the captures are made. This is a long-term incentive contract. The contract can be signed now but it does not take place until 2021. At that time, there will be an appropriation for first year’s payment after the captures are made. Vice Chairman Bowles said it is important for the Board to plan for the payments. Jones said money is set aside for the costs of reappraisals. Tax Assessor Melia Miller said the cost would be covered by the Reappraisal Reserve Fund. Currently, there is over $400,000 in the fund. Miller explained the need for Pictometry. Chairman Mallory said there have been several contracts amended. Miller said the proposed contracts is not expected to be amended. Miller will gather the costs of the prior contracts. Chairman Mallory asked how the Reappraisal Reserve Account is funded. Miller explained that Pictometry is an invaluable tool. Commissioner Houpe asked if this item was time sensitive. Lail said no. Jones said money is set aside every year to fund the reappraisals done every four years so that it is not a big shock to the budget. There are in-house appraisers. Once a reappraisal is completed, they start on the next. Commissioner Houpe asked the difference between Pictometry and GIS. Chris Bridges added that Pictometry allows staff to measure roofs and elevations. GIS pictures are straight shots. Miller said staff This item was placed on consent. Request from Human Resources for approval of Public Officials Bonds Renewal in accordance with NC G.S. 58-72-50: Sandra Gregory said the Board is required yearly to approve the bonds for the Finance Director, Tax Collector, Deputy Tax Collectors, and elected officials (Sheriff and Register of Deeds). 5 December 3, 2019 6 December 3, 2019 7 December 3, 2019 ANNOUNCEMENTS OF VACANCIES ON BOARDS & COMMISSIONS (None) APPOINTMENTS TO BOARDS & COMMISSIONS (None) UNFINISHED BUSINESS (None) NEW BUSINESS (None) COUNTY MANANGERS REPORT There were no items to report. The Board adjourned pre-agenda at 6:02PM. IREDELL COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MINUTES December 3, 2019 The Iredell County Board of Commissioners met in regular session on Tuesday, December 3, 2019 at 7:00 PM, in the Commissioners’ Meeting Room of the Iredell County Government Center, 200 South Center Street, Statesville, NC. Board Members Present Chairman James Mallory Vice Chairman Tommy Bowles Marvin Norman Ken Robertson Board Members Attending Remotely Gene Houpe Staff present: County Manager Beth Jones, County Attorney Lisa Valdez, Deputy County Manager Susan Robertson, Assistant County Manager Joe Pierce, Finance Director Debra Cheek, and Clerk to the Board Amy Anderson. CALL TO ORDER by Chairman Mallory. INVOCATION: Chairman Mallory asked everyone to bow their heads for a moment of silence or reflection. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE led by Chairman Mallory. ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA There were no adjustments to the agenda. MOTION by Commissioner Norman to approve the agenda as presented. 8 December 3, 2019 VOTING: Ayes – 5; Nays – 0 Chairman Mallory noted that Commissioner Houpe is attending the meeting remotely. PRESENTATION OF SPECIAL RECOGNITIONS & AWARDS (None) APPOINTMENTS BEFORE THE BOARD Presentation by Statesville Regional Airport Director John Ferguson on a $2 million grant from NC Department of Transportation Division of Aviation for taxiway lighting: Statesville Regional Airport Director John Ferguson said the airport received one grant from the FAA and two from the NC DOT Division of Aviation. The FAA grant was for $9.3 million for an extended safety area off the west end of the runway. This grant required no match. One of the grants from the NC DOT was for $4,112,600 to construct a parking apron for aircraft for Victory Air. This grant required no match. Ferguson said the third is a $2 million grant to for taxiway lighting, regulators, and vault building. The grant is a 90% grant, meaning $200,000 would need to come from local sources. Statesville City Council approved the engineering fees for the grant and agreed to their share of $100,000. Ferguson requested $100,000 for the remainder of the project. Ferguson noted the lighting is for the new taxiway that was covered completely by a $10.6 million grant. Chairman Mallory asked if the request would need a budget amendment. Jones said there are funds in the Economic Development budget. Although it is not specifically allocated for the project, a budget amendment would not be required because there are funds available for the project upon board approval. Chairman Mallory said it would helpful to know the amount of funds in the Economic Development budget. The project is a great deal for the County and City. Mallory suggested the Board consider this request at their next meeting. Jones said staff will provide the budget information to the Board. Commissioner Robertson asked how investing $15 million in grant funding benefits the citizens of the County. Ferguson said that is hard to pin down. The $9.3 million grant for safety area will allow Victory Air and Champion Air to use a longer portion of the runway which means they will be able to top off with fuel. Currently, they have a fuel penalty because of the runwa y length. This brings more revenue for the airport and helps the airlines because they do not have to stop to refuel. Ferguson noted that Victory and Champion flies the pit crews for Nascar. Six hundred fifty people fly out weekly during Nascar season. Commissioner Robertson said that is a part of the economic basket to help keep Nascar local. Ferguson said the $4.1 million grant for the apron allows Victory Air to move the northern end of the airport and enable them to expand and add more jets. The $2 million grant for lighting was initially supposed to be a part of the $10.6 million for the taxiway but there were bids for 9 December 3, 2019 lighting. There are $115 million of taxable planes at the airport and $16 million in hangars and buildings. Ferguson said the airport has an economic development of $143 million on Iredell County and the County receives a little $800,000 in taxes off the airport. The city receives about $700,000. Commissioner Robertson asked if the County rebates 80% of those tax values. Chairman Mallory said no, the personal taxes on the aircraft is 100%. The hangars are owned by the City of Statesville and not taxed by the County. Ferguson said the Lowe’s hangar is $7.5 million and is taxed. Chairman Mallory said the airport is one of the busier regional airports in the State. Whether Nascar continues to grow or other companies come in, the ability to fly cross-country without stopping to refuel is a huge economic impact, and will attract users. Commissioner Robertson asked Ferguson if there are any other grants that would require a local match. Ferguson said each year the airport receives a Non-Primary Entitlement Grant in the amount $150,000 and it requires an $8600 match from the County and City. Ferguson added that the airport always looks for opportunities to expand and improve the airport. Commissioner Robertson asked Ferguson to keep the County Manager and Finance Director apprised of any upcoming projects. It would be helpful to have any required match information while applying for grants. Vice Chairman Bowles asked if the fuel cells are controlled at the airport. Ferguson said yes. Vice Chairman Bowles asked how to define a regional jet in regards to fuel. Ferguson said the airport gets approximately $120,000 per year in fuel flowage fee from the private fuelers. Since the City of Statesville purchased the fixed base operation, the airport controls all the fuel cells for the general public and is looking to sell 360,000 gallons of fuel which may bring in $1.5 million for the City. Vice Chairman Bowles said a regional jet either goes one way or another. Ferguson shared his opinion of a regional jet is one that carries many passengers for short distances. Victory and Champion Air have 50-passenger jets that go out full capacity with 90% fuel because they cannot take it all. Ferguson said the airlines are getting busier because some Nascar drivers doing away with private jets and flying with Victory or Champion because it is more cost effective. Commissioner Houpe said these are State and Federal tax dollars coming back local. Previous and the current Board have allocated Economic Development funds towards some of the 10 December 3, 2019 airport grants. Victory Air would like to do a different apron parking. If the airline brings in more planes, it will bring in more tax revenue. Chairman Mallory expressed appreciation to Ferguson for the aggressive posture towards securing grants because they do result in on the ground assets. The County has a finite Economic Development budget, which is proportioned equitably between the municipalities involved. The Board will revisit this matter at the next meeting. PUBLIC HEARINGS Conduct a public hearing to consider adoption of bond orders authorizing $115,500,000 School Bonds and $10,500,000 Community College Bonds first introduced November 19, 2019: Chairman Mallory said the Schools Facilities Task Force went through an extensive process to identify, quantify, and prioritize all of the cap ital requirements for Iredell- Statesville Schools, Mooresville Graded School District, and Mitchell Community College. This was a process agreed upon by the education systems and the Board in 2004 and has been used since to lay out for a 10-year period the anticipated capital requirements. Jennifer Christian, Chairperson of the Schools Facilities Task Force, gave a brief background on the 19-member task force. The task force worked over two years reviewing capacity data at all schools, housing data, population growth projections, going over existing and deferred maintenance projects, conducting school and facility tours throughout the education systems, all in an effort to fully understand the expansion, renovations, and potential construction needs for the education facilities throughout the County. Christian explained the recommendations received unanimous approval from the Task Force. The Task Force created a 10-year plan that included three phases. Phase I is only three years from the 10 year plan and those are the most mission critical and time sensitive projects. The Task Force made a presentation to the Board in February 2019. Iredell-Statesville Board of Education, Mooresville Graded School Board, and Mitchell Community College passed resolutions to move forward and made the request formally to the Board to place the bond on the ballot in March 2020. Christian noted due to the effective management of funds by the County, school districts, and Mitchell, positive bid climate, lower than anticipated closing costs, and favorable interest rates, the County found itself in a very fortunate position with the bond reserve fund from the process in 2014. This will allow the opportunity to complete many of the phase 1 mission critical projects as listed below: West Iredell High School: State of the art new vocational shops, renovated and repurposed old shop areas Statesville High School: New CTE shops to support the Career Tech Program and physical education upgrades Lakeshore Elementary School: 4 – 6 additional classrooms Christian said as a combination of bond reserve funds and private funding the following projects will be completed for Mooresville Graded: Renovate and upgrade South Elementary and Parkview Elementary, including a gym at upgrading electrical and plumbing at each school. The project will also include increasing parking at South Elementary and expand the cafeteria at Parkview Elementary. 11 December 3, 2019 Mitchell Community College: Make steps to acquire land to renovate the career science building. Christian said there are three Phase 1 critical needs not covered by the bond reserve funds. A new middle school for Mooresville-Graded School is critical to address capacity issues and a party of the district’s plan to manage costs in the most fiscally responsible approach possible. The other major project and critical need is a new high school for Iredell-Statesville Schools. South Iredell High School is currently over capacity and welcomed their largest freshman class ever at 480 students. Lake Norman High School is also over capacity by several hundred students. Christian said with the current enrollment data for ISS combined with the growth in these areas, the time to move forward with a new high school in that area is now. Mitchell Community College is need of a driving pad, classroom and storage space to support law enforcement, firefighter, and EMS training. Christian added that these are not all the needs, but the ones identified as Phase 1 mission critical. Iredell-Statesville Schools Superintendent Brady Johnson said, “I want to thank you for this opportunity to continue this discussion and to seek your approval of placing this initiative on a ballot in March. I also want to thank the members of the Schools Facilities Task Force, it has already been said that they took their job very seriously and poured a lot of time and energy into this effort. We certainly applaud them for being good servants to the public interest here in our county. I want to preface my remarks about the specific bond referendum by simply saying thank you to my colleagues with Mooresville Graded Schools and Mitchell Community College. We are fortunate in this community to have three great school systems. The collaboration and the spirit of working together has never been stronger within these three educational institutions. I count that very much as a blessing. I thoroughly enjoy working with my colleagues in those neighboring school systems. When we here in late summer or early fall there was a slide shown here showing the housing developments that are projected in the southern end of this county. That was a sobering slide. Chairman Mallory, when I heard you make the comment that your Planning Department estimates that the population in southern Iredell County is going to double in the next 20 to 25 years I tell you, that was breathtaking to hear that comment and to see what is happening in the way of growth down there. That is a great a problem. It is a good reflection of the quality of life that we offer to people. We have families moving here from all over the world to live in our community. It has been said tonight that we are not prepared for what is awaiting us. In Iredell - Statesville Schools we have two high schools that are serving the southern end of this county. Lake Norman High School which is a National Blue Ribbon School and South Iredell High School, which is the home to our only IBO World School. A school that has a strong vocational program, outstanding performing arts, and is home to an amazing Marine Corp ROTC Program. Those schools are extremely popular and we have people that tell me that they moved to this community so that their children could attend those schools. That is such a compliment to our community, but we are facing a crisis situation on those campuses and if you take the opportunity to visit those campuses you can see for yourself that in both places we have multiple, multiple trailers in place serving those kids. We are facing the dilemma of being able to bring in more trailers because of the watershed restrictions and things of that nature. At South Iredell particularly, it breaks my heart to see eating lunch but there is nowhere to sit. They are literally going outside to picnic tables and sitting in the hallways in the floor to eat their lunch each day. That cafeteria serving that school was built in 1966 and it hasn’t grown one square inch in all that time, but the student population has doubled. In addressing problem like this, school boards really have a couple of options. Option 1 – they can certainly load kids on buses and can ship them to all parts of the County that are not experiencing growth and have empty seats in their schools. That is certainly an option. We can certainly buy trailers. We can add trailers within the watershed restriction requirements but that is 12 December 3, 2019 not such a good investment. That is a waste of tax dollars. Mobile units begin to deteriorate and decline in value the day that they are purchased. I think the best option and the one that our school board has embraced is neighborhood schools. Our board has said many, many times that their vision, their mission is to make sure kids can attend school as close to home as possible. So that leaves the option of building the school where the kids live and that is what this bond will allow us to do. Our board has been very, very wise in purchasing land many years ago. We have two pieces of property. The Board has not decided yet which site to use for this but both of those pieces of property are bought and paid for. We have two great options down there to place this new high school. I have heard some negative people make comments since our discussions in the late summer and early fall that this bond is not fair. Mooresville is getting more than we are getting and it should be distributed on an ADM basis. You can certainly say that. But, I hope people are open minded to look at this. When you look at all three phases of this work that the task force has identified, by the end of those phases, ISS is going to get the lion’s share of this. We are going to get 80% of this money over the years. We may not be getting the lion’s share this time and you can certainly make the argument that on the ADM basis we are not getting our fair share. I don’t think that is accurate, I think in time we will certainly need the support of the citizens of Mooresville and our colleagues in Mooresville to support us in future projects when they aren’t going to be getting a thing. I think they are willing and able to do that for us. I think you can also say, and I have heard some folks say this, that you have plenty of reoccurring capital dollars so figure out a way to do this without a bond. Well, we can certainly sit down and scratch our heads and try to figure that out. But, here is what is going to happen when we do that. We are going to be sucking recourses out of every school in this systems, all 37 schools, to address this issue. When folks in the northern end or western end, or eastern end of the County or in the municipalities say there is nothing in this for me, yes there is. There is the opportunity cost of losing those reoccurring capital dollars that will not be able to patch the roof or replace air conditioning because those dollars are going to be diverted to buy school busses and mobile units to address this growth issue in South Iredell. In closing, I think all of us agree that public education is an investment and if you do it well, your investment pays huge dividends to your children and to ultimately your entire community. Everybody, I think, agrees that education is an economic driver. Part of your Strategic Plan is Economic Development in the County. We are joined at the hip with you to make sure that we are addressing the long terms needs of our employers in the community. This will help us continue to do that mission. Again, I thank you for your political courage in having this discussion, putting this out for public discussion, and I employ tonight to please let this go forward and let the citizens of this community make this critical decision. Don’t limit this decision to this room. Let’s take it to the community and let every citizen have a say about this.” Mooresville Graded School District Superintendent Dr. Steven Mauney said, “I would like to say thank you to each of you for holding this meeting to gath er input from your constituents about the potential bond referendum for our county schools. As Superintendent of Mooresville Graded, when I walk the halls of Mooresville Middle School, I see firsthand the need we have for a new middle school. Having a middle school in excess of 1,000 students and well over the facility’s capacity limits, this creates major obstacles to affective teaching and learning as well as students’ safety. We at MGSD, like our neighbors at ISS and Mitchell Community College take our responsibilities to our students, staff, and community very seriously and I strongly believe that these facilities are necessary to affectively meet the growing needs of our community. The student population at Mooresville Middle School has increased by almost 350 students in less than 10 years. That is why I am here tonight to request that you place a bond referendum on the March 2020 ballot. The Mooresville Graded School District Board of Education unanimously supports this position and has passed a formal resolution requesting such. In addition to the capacity needs 13 December 3, 2019 at Mooresville Middle School, our three elementary schools (Rocky River, South, and Parkview) are operating at 100% capacity and like Mr. Johnson mentioned, we have numerous mobile classrooms at those three campuses. Part of our plan to address the growth we’ve seen in our district in the capacity obstacles we are facing is to reconfigure our grades. Our three elementary schools are K – 3 schools and with the addition of a new middle school, which this whole plan is contingent upon getting a new middle school, then we would reconfigure our grades in the elementary schools. Instead of K – 3, it will be K – 2, therefore by removing an entire grade level from the three elementary schools, which will open up the capacity at our elementary schools and address that need. Our intermediate schools, which are currently grades 4 – 6 will become grades 3 – 5 grade. Our intermediate schools have room for growth currently and our middle school, currently grades 7 – 8 with over 1,000 kids, when we build a new school there will be two middle schools in Mooresville Graded and that would allow us room to have grades 6 – 8, which is the most common grade configuration for middle schools in NC. That would allow us to have three grade levels at our middle schools with roughly about 700 students in each middle school and then our high school will be grades 9 – 12. That is our plan for addressing the overall growth we are seeing and the capacity obstacles we see in Mooresville Graded. Once again, that whole plan is contingent upon the bond funding and the completion of a new middle school. I understand that decisions like these are not easy ones to make especially with the needs of Iredell -Statesville Schools, Mooresville Graded, and Mitchell Community are all included. I did not make this request lightly. I understand the impact it will have on our county and with that being said, I do not see or a view a bond like this a burden. Instead, like Mr. Johnson said, I see it as an investment in our community that will pay dividends for further growth and development in our county. I think you for consideration of this referendum and respectfully request you place it on the March 2020 ballot.” Mitchell Community College Vice President for Advancement James Hogan said, “Mitchell Community has a true robust and successful public safety training program. We provide training and certification for the 1,500 law enforcement, law, EMT, emergency management, telecommunicators, detention officer, and paramedic professionals in the County. I think it is fair to say that we are a truly critical component of public safety in this county. If you pick up the phone and call for help the kind of person that shows up will need training or certification via one of the programs that Mitchell Community College offers. As our county has grown and as the services that residents of Iredell County have grown with that, our programs have also experienced a lot of demand in recent years. We need more public safety professionals and we want them to be well trained. For example, our fire training program enrollment has recently grown 61%. Our criminal justice and BLET program enrollments are up 72% from what they were just a couple of years ago. As a result of that demand, the college is beginning to run short on instructional space and I would actually go further to say we are out of room. Currently, our public safety programs operate out of the basement of the D. Matt Thompson Building on Front Street, it is almost 100 years old. We joke and refer to the basement as the garden level of D. Matt Thompson. Others refer to it as the dungeon level, but it currently does not meet ADA requirements for accessibility. It is not the most pleasant learning environment and it would be very expensive to try and renovate that historic building to produce the kind of space we need. In addition to that, our ability to provide driving instruction for public safety students has also been diminished. As you heard earlier, the Statesville Airport is a busy place. Turns out, you don’t need to train police officers to drive around aircraft, although they think it would be fun. It does generally inhibit the safety of the airplanes. We can’t use the airport to do high speed chase tr aining anymore. We can’t use the airport to do fire truck driving or ambulance driving anymore. Those things have to be formed in the parking lot behind the main building. We have to clear everybody out. If you get into a police chase in the 14 December 3, 2019 Wal-Mart parking lot I assure you we will get you captured. Because we’ve trained very well in parking lots. Our college, with the Facilities Task Force, and with the full unanimous approval of our Board of Trustees has recognized and prioritized the need for constructi on of a new Public Safety Training Facility. This is a great partnership opportunity for all of us here in this county. Our proposed facility would provide a 36,000 square foot driving pad as well as instructional classroom space, and storage space for all the public safety equipment. Which currently has to sit outside in the weather and elements, which isn’t good for things like fire trucks. This facility would allow us to partner with our friends at the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office and Mooresville, Statesville, and Troutman Police Departments, all city, town, and county fire departments, Iredell EMS, rescue, and lots of area agencies to not only train their professionals but to retrain and recertify, and give them the opportunity to work with the equipment that they use every day in their job, and that they use and service to us when we need them very much. We will also have the opportunity to develop new programs and partnerships at the facility including with area transportation departments. Bus drivers need training. I think we would finally be giving our public safety and faculty a facility that matches their talents as instructors. We do a very good job, if I may humbly brag on Mitchell Community College in training law enforcement, fire, and EMT paramedics. I am confident if I ever have an emergency that a qualified trained professional is going to come to my assistance. I am grateful for the fact that we are able to instruct them as well as we do at Mitchell Community College. We as a community coll ege do impact the bottom line in Iredell County. If you invest a dollar as a student in your education at Mitchell Community College over your lifetime you will see a 4.6 fold return. In other words, you will get a $4.60 back in earning potential for every dollar that you spend on your education at Mitchell. As taxpayers, for every dollar that we invest in Mitchell Community College, we return $3.60 in economic impact through spending, jobs, those individuals who are educated earning in their salaries. In the fiscal year that ended in 2018, Mitchell Community College had a $193 million impact in Iredell County. I assure you that Mr. Hyde can stretch a dime just about further than anybody else and Mr. Lackey can patch something up with everything he has on hand to keep our historic campus looking great and operating as well as it can. In this case, we have a lot that we need to provide and we need additional facilities to help those professionals. We too encourage you to allow our good friends and neighbors to have the opportunity to vote on this bond referendum. We appreciate your support in this and all that you do for our community college.” Commissioner Robertson asked if most of the fire education students are placed with local full-time fire departments or volunteer fire departments. Hogan said the local emergency services providers are typically looking for employees and MCC students are often times finding employment there. In terms of law enforcement, students are sometimes hired first by the agency and then put through the BLET program. Agencies will actually hire somebody who is not actually trained and prepared to go out onto the street as a police officer so that they can then train them because that is how much they need professionals to go into the force. Commissioner Robertson asked if any of the local fire chiefs said fire training is not needed. Hogan said not to his knowledge. Commissioner Robertson asked if any students from the paramedic training are employed by the County. 15 December 3, 2019 Hogan is confident that they have. Jones said yes. Commissioner Robertson asked if any local law enforcement agencies have said the law enforcement training is not needed. Hogan said no. Commissioner Houpe said it is very important to understand that the needs that have been methodically and carefully, prioritized and vetted by the Task Force. Chairman Mallory opened the public hearing. Scott Clontz, a former member of the Schools Facilities Task Force, supports of the construction of a new high school for the Iredell-Statesville Schools but shared displeasure with the process. Clontz shared that some members of the community wish to go the extra mile to ensure the Board squeezes every dime out of every dollar of taxpayer money. Clontz noted the Board is required by NCGS 160A – 86 to go through ethics training. The general statute also eludes that there is a need to uphold the integrity and independence of a board member’s office and the need to avoid impropriety in the exercise of that board member’s official’s duties. Clontz explained that a board member recently lectured the Iredell-Statesville School Board of Education on the bond. Martin Page, Chairman of the Iredell-Statesville Board of Education, said the process has been very complicated, but there are two options; stop the growth in the County or build schools. Page asked the Board to allow voters to make the decision. Chris Shoobridge, member of the Schools Facilities Task Force, shared the importance of schools to the area. Shoobridge said the school bond is essential because of growth in the area and that the scope is minimal as possible. Shannon Viera, President of the Greater Statesville Chamber of Commerce, shared support of the referendum. Viera said the Chamber recognizes the importance of education within the community and supports the referendum. Dr. Doug Knight, Vice Chair of the Schools Facilities Task Force and parent of students in the Iredell-Statesville School District, said the task force performed a thorough examination of the needs presented. The needs presented were evaluated for validity based on the basis for why they were presented. Knight said the projects are the best determination of the high value needs that the Task Force. Demographics and overcrowding demand the needs for the new high and middle school. Knight said the programs in which Mitchell Community College t o better with are some of the most critical and, makes a difference in public benefit and job training. Lynne Taylor, spoke against the bond referendum. Taylor said she is against irresponsible spending not growth. Bonds and grants are not fiscally responsible or constitutionally valid. Taylor said 86.9% of county citizen’s tax dollars go towards education and related services. These dollars are mixed with federal funds, which violates the 10th amendment to the Constitution and direct violation of US Code 20. Taylor said housing underage students in workforce prep schools is violating their civil rights and taking away their pursuits of life, liberty, and happiness in exchange 16 December 3, 2019 for money. The shiny new school buildings will not matter if kids keep failing academically. The skill based competency education removes knowledge based education learning and replaced it with a thoughts mastery. Tanae McLean, parent and Mooresville Graded School District staff member, shared support of the referendum. McLean said the County is fortunate to have three excellent school systems and the Board plays an important in that excellence by taking the responsibility of schools seriously and solemn deliberation. Beth Packman, President of Our School First, a non-partisan pro-public education advocacy group, spoke in favor of the bond referendum. Packman complimented the school systems for accomplishing projects with what funds the taxpayers gave them in 2014. Each of the projects have come in on time and either on budget or under budget. Packman said taking out a loan at very low interest rates in one the best ways to use money wisely in the County. Packman added that Iredell-Statesville Schools is the largest transportation company in the County. They move over 14,000 students twice a day. If the referendum fails, some students may be bussed up to 52 miles to school, thus increasing fuel costs. Packman said that is a waste of tax payer dollars. Commissioner Houpe noted respect for all opinions. Commissioners are required to provide safe and adequate facilities. Houpe explained that the School Board asked him to comment on the bond and ongoing issues being discussed. The Boards needs to speak in one voice even if everyone does not always agree. Disagreeing does not make anyone wrong. Houpe explained if the bond is approved by the voters it will allow for the money to be borrowed at a much lower interest rate. Commissioner Robertson said there have been several comments but no one has offered a solution about where to get the money to put an additional 1,500 – 1,600 high school students who will live predominately Troutman and south. Robertson urged everyone to be a part of the resolution. Commissioner Robertson quoted the following etched in stone at West Point Academy, “God, make us choose the harder right over the easier wrong and never let us accept a half truth when the whole truth can be won.” Robertson said there was some additional capital from previous bonds available and the Board agreed to use that for school capital needs. The message in there that nobody is hearing is that there was $21 million that could have been spent earlier on those projects and wasn’t. Smart people with the County and running the projects are the reason why there is $21 million. The Task Force spent more than two years vetting the projects. Vice Chairman Bowles said timing is everything. There is school bond debt that will be rolling off that will enable the County to move forward with putting another school bond on the ballot without causing a major tax increase, using old and new dollars to do that. Bowles said the Board has a responsibility to make the tax burden as light as possible but still accomplish the goal before them. Bowles urged everyone not to relive the tax referendum as there were mistakes made during the process. Commissioner Norman said years ago, late Commissioner David Boone believed that the public should have the right to vote on school bonds. Chairman Mallory said unlike some counties in the State, Iredell is very fortunate not to have a stagnant population growth, decreased average household income, or a decline in the tax base. A number of counties in the State are experiencing those type issues and have to pass a bond to replace schools. Mallory noted that the County is blessed to be opposite because of foresight of 17 December 3, 2019 pervious Boards of Commissioners and Boards of Education. They made the tough calls to invest in the school systems and recognize that education is adjoined at the hip with Economic Development. When companies look at the moving to a county, school systems are one of the first things looked at. Not only are they producing a workforce to employee, it is also where employees are going to send their children. Employees will go somewhere else if they are not happy with the choices they are given. Mallory said, “We are ahead of the power curve, but if you standstill other folks are going to pass you by, you have to keep moving forward.” Chairman Mallory said the bond would address school capacity needs; maintain the level of investment by businesses, and confidence of the citizens in the quality of life that the County offers. Chairman Mallory closed the public hearing. The Board of Commissioners for the County of Iredell, North Carolina met in a regular meeting in the Commissioners’ Meeting Room of the Iredell County Government Center located at 200 South Center Street in Statesville, North Carolina, the regular place of meeting, at 7:00 p.m. on December 3, 2019. Present: Chair James B. Mallory III, presiding, Vice Chair Tommy Bowles, and Commissioners Gene Houpe, Marvin Norman, Ken Robertson (Note: Commissioner Houpe participated remotely by phone.) Absent: Also present: County Manager Beth Jones, County Attorney Lisa Valdez, and Clerk to the Board Amy Anderson * * * * * * The Chairman announced that this was the hour and day fixed by the Board of Commissioners for a public hearing upon the orders entitled “ORDER AUTHORIZING $115,500,000 SCHOOL BONDS” and “ORDER AUTHORIZING $10,500,000 COMMUNITY COLLEGE BONDS” and that the Board of Commissioners would immediately hear anyone who 18 December 3, 2019 might wish to be heard on the questions of the validity of said orders or the advisability of issuing said bonds. No one appeared, either in person or by attorney, to be heard on the questions of the validity of said orders or the advisability of issuing said bonds and the Clerk to the Board of Commissioners announced that no written statement relating to said questions had been received, except as set forth in Exhibit A attached hereto. Thereupon, upon motion of Commissioner Robertson, the order introduced and passed on first reading on November 19, 2019 entitled “ORDER AUTHORIZING $115,500,000 SCHOOL BONDS” was read a second time and placed upon its final passage. The vote upon the final passage of said order was: Ayes: Bowles, Houpe, Mallory, Norman Noes: Thereupon, upon motion of Vice Chairman Bowles the order introduced and passed on first reading on November 19, 2019 entitled “ORDER AUTHORIZING $10,500,000 COMMUNITY COLLEGE BONDS” was read a second time and placed upon its final passage. The vote upon the final passage of said order was: Ayes: Houpe, Mallory, Norman, and Robertson Noes: **** ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS 19 December 3, 2019 County Manager Beth Jones summarized the items that were placed on the consent agenda as follows:  Request from the Health Department for approval of budget amendment #12 to expend $49,973 of the multi-year $274,963 awarded Community Linkages to Care for Overdose Prevention grant from the NC Department of Health and Human Services.  Request from Planning & Development for approval of a grant application with the Charlotte Regional Transportation Plan (CRTPO) to pursue a Transportation Plan.  Request from Tax Administration for approval of a sole-source award contract with Pictometry to perform two countywide Pictometry imagery captures over seven years.  Request from Human Resources for approval of Public Officials Bonds Renewal in accordance with NC G.S. 58-72-50. MOTION by Commissioner Norman to approve the consent agenda. VOTING: Ayes – 5; Nays – 0 Request from Emergency Management/Fire Services for approval of budget amendment #13, along with contingent approval of a 59-month lease purchase agreement and accompanying resolution with Motorola Communications for $2.3 million of portable and mobile radios to be signed out by and distributed to volunteer fire dep artments serving Iredell County: Kent Green explained that the County applied for an Assistance to Fire Fighters grant, but was not awarded the grant. The grant required a local match of $300,000, which is budgeted in the current fiscal year. Upon learning the County was not awarded the grant, staff worked with Motorola Solutions. Motorola submitted a proposal for a 59 -month lease, using the budgeted $300,000 as a down payment and over the next five years purchase 463 portable handheld radios and 130 mobile radios for apparatus. This would put a 800 megahertz radio in the hands of every volunteer firefighter and every fire apparatus in Iredell County, with the exception of Mooresville and Statesville. Greene added this also follows the Board’s direction in moving towards the county-wide Vyper System for the volunteer firefighters. Greene requested approval to move forward, contingent upon working out some details in the lease agreement, and authorize the County Manager to sign the lease agreement. Greene explained there is a cost savings of $387,000 if the lease agreement is signed prior to December 13, 2019. The radios have a three- year parts and labor warranty. It would be ideal to have a warranty throughout the period for which the radios are being paid for, but damage and repair costs will be accounted for the upcoming fiscal year’s budget, should the need arise. Chairman Mallory asked if this is a culminating event for a long process over the last four years, in upgrading communications across the board from dispatch to towers to the end users. Greene said yes. The County has put a tremendous amount of money into communications in an attempt to improve the service that citizens are receiving across the County. The Sheriff’s Office and EMS moved to the Vyper System about a year ago. Currently, there are five different radio systems in the County. Greene is hopeful that the 800 megahertz will be the technology for the future for all emergency services in the County. 20 December 3, 2019 Commissioner Houpe asked Jones to look into negotiating an extended warranty to cover radios through the life of the lease or consider a shorter. If there is a three-year warranty and a 59- month lease, someone will need to cover the cost of repairs and lost radios. Jones said there is a repair and replacement plan in place, and funds will be set aside for the repairs. Jones and Greene will check with the vendor regarding a longer warranty. Jones explained staff opted for the 59-month lease because the $300,000 previously budgeted would cover the cost for the first year. Valdez said the option to purchase can be exercised before the five-year lease is up. The Board can choose to purchase the radios once the warranty is up. Chairman Mallory said the Board can move forward to conditionally approve the request with the understanding that additional options or questions will be worked through and communicated to individual board members for concurrence to take advantage of the discount before December 13, 2019. MOTION by Vice Chairman Bowles to approve budget amendment #13 and the long- term lease agreement with Motorola Communications contingent upon all the issues being appropriately settled and mutually agreed upon the terms and conditions being negotiated. VOTING: Ayes – 5; Nays – 0 ANNOUNCEMENT OF VACANCIES OCCURING ON BOARDS & COMMISSIONS APPOINTMENTS TO BOARD AND COMMISSIONS UNFINISHED BUSINESS (None) PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD (None) NEW BUSINESS (None) COUNTY MANAGER’S REPORT There was nothing to report. CLOSED SESSION (None) ADJOURNMENT MOTION by Commissioner Houpe to adjourn at 9:17PM. The next regular meeting will be December 17, 2019, 5:00 PM, in the Commissioners’ Meeting Room, Government Center, 200 South Center Street, Statesville, NC. VOTING: Ayes – 5; Nays – 0 21 December 3, 2019 __________________________________ ___________________________________ Date Approved Amy B. Anderson, Clerk