HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-04-2022
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October 4, 2022
IREDELL COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PRE-AGENDA SESSION
October 4, 2022
The Iredell County Board of Commissioners met in pre-agenda session on Tuesday,
October 4, 2022 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 Melissa Neader
Scottie Brown
Gene Hope
Staff present: County Manager Beth Mull, County Attorney Lisa Valdez, Deputy County
Manager Susan Robertson, Finance Director Deb Cheek, and Clerk to the Board Amy Anderson.
CALL TO ORDER: Chairman James Mallory called the meeting to order.
ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA: County Manager Beth Mull went over the
following adjustments:
ADD: Vice Chair Neader added a presentation by Scott Stevenson under Special Awards
and Recognitions.
REMOVE: Request from the Mecklenburg County Young Marines to proclaim October
23 - 31, 2022 as Red Ribbon Week.
ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS
Request from Planning & Development to consider calling for a public hearing on
October 18, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. in regard to a text amendment to the Land Development Code:
Planning Director Matthew Todd requested approval to call for a public hearing on October 18,
2022 at 7pm in regard to a text amendment to the Land Development Code. Todd said the bulk of
the changes are wordsmithing to assist staff. Family subdivisions are pretty common in rural areas
of the County. In the past, the LDC require that family subdivisions have long strips of land (fee
simple piece of land) that attached, even if they were cutting off acreage from a family farm. Staff
would like to get away from requiring those strips of land to allow the owners to have an easement,
if they prefer.
This item was placed on consent.
Request from Solid Waste for approval to apply for the Abandoned Mobile Home
Grant: Assistant Solid Waste Director Mike Rufty requested approval to apply for the Abandoned
Mobile Home Grant. The grant would allow abandoned mobile homes in Iredell County to be
disposed of properly with the recycling of metal, whitegoods, axles, water heaters, etc. This grant
is through NCDEQ. This is a reimbursement grant.
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October 4, 2022
This item was placed on consent.
Request from the Finance Department for approval of Budget Amendment #16 to
transfer unallocated funds in Juvenile Crime Prevention Council Fund to Children's Hope
Alliance and Piedmont Mediation equally: Finance Director Deb Cheek requested approval of
Budget Amendment #16 to transfer unallocated funds in Juvenile Crime Prevention Council Fund
to Children's Hope Alliance and Piedmont Mediation equally. The Juvenile Crime Prevention
Council made the decision at the beginning of the budget year to unallocate $27,623 in state
funding due to some performance concerns. A decision has now been made to distribute this
funding to Children's Hope Alliance and Piedmont Mediation Center in equal amounts. These
programs have proven track records and the council feels the mone y would be best used by these
programs.
This item was placed on consent.
Request from the Finance Department for approval of Budget Amendment #17 to
allocate additional capital money to Iredell Statesville Schools and Mooresville Graded
Schools based on the actual sales taxes received in FY21-22: Finance Director Deb Cheek
requested approval of Budget Amendment #17 to allocate additional capital money to ISS and
MGSD based on actual sales taxes received in FY22. Cheek said capital funding to the school
systems is based on the receipt of sales taxes. Since the final sales taxes for FY 21 -22 is not
received until September 15, 2022, a true-up is necessary to allocate the additional funding. This
year the funding will increase to Iredell Statesville Schools by $2,272,866 and to Mooresville
Graded School System by $520,053.
This item was placed on consent.
Request from Emergency Medical Services for approval to purchase Power Load Cot
Fastening Systems:
Selection of Engineer for Jennings Park Project Construction Materials Testing and
Inspection Services: Purchasing Manager David Sifford said staff released a request for
qualifications for Construction Materials Testing and Inspection Services for the Jennings Park
Project. The selection committee for the project met and discussed the responses to the
RFQ. Responses were received from Stewart Engineering, Froehling & Robertson Engineering
and ESP Associates. Stewart Engineering was not considered for the project, as they are the
Design and Engineering Firm working with the County on the project, and this would create a
conflict of interest. Froehling & Robertson Engineering was chosen by the selection committee
as the contractor best suited to work with the County on the project.
This item was placed on consent.
Selection of Construction Manager at Risk for Iredell County Gov ernment Center
Entryway Project: Purchasing Manager David Sifford said staff released a Request for
Qualifications for a Construction Manager at Risk for the Iredell County Government Center
Entryway Project in July. The selection committee for the project met and discussed the responses
to the RFQ. Responses were received from Edifice General Contractors, Samet and Miles
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October 4, 2022
McClellan Construction. Edifice General Contractors was chosen by the selection committee as
the contractor best suited to work with the County on the project.
This item was placed on consent.
County Construction Projects Update: A copy of the update was included in agenda
packets.
This item was placed on consent.
Request from Clerk to the Board for approval of the minutes from the mee ting on
September 6, 2022: There were no corrections or additions.
This item was placed on consent.
Request from Animal Services to call for a public hearing on October 18, 2022 at
7:00pm in regard to amendments to the Animal Control Ordinance: Animal Services Director
Kristian Hernandez requested approval for a public hearing on October 18, 20222 at 7pm in regard
to amendments to the Animal Control Ordinance. Hernandez summarized the proposed
amendments:
Define adequate shelter
Define tethering
Creation of community cat initiative
Align the Rabies Control Section with state law
Update to adoption fees to hold special adoption events to help further the
departmental goals.
Define potentially dangerous dog and update the potential dangerous dog
ordinance.
Commissioner Houpe said there are some citizens concerned about tethering. Tethering is
a complicated issue. Houpe asked Hernandez to include feedback from the community during the
public hearing.
This item was placed on consent.
Request from Iredell-Statesville Schools to move $4 million from current expense
fund balance into the capital budget, with the ability to move up to $7 million, if needed, in
order to help with the completion of several capital projects: Tim Ivey said, “Good evening.
Thank you for the opportunity to present our request. The Board of Education had asked that we
request the ability to move $4 million out of our current expense fund balance, which is funding
that we have saved by being able to reduce some of our current expenses, in the hopes to be able
to have the opportunity to move up to $7 million, if needed to help with several projects. We are
wanting to complete those projects as an ability to just show the board some of the things that
we're are working on as a district to try to become more efficient. We will be using a combination
of funding that we currently already have that is allocated for Capital and if approved , this
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additional money that we would move from our current expense savings over to our Capital
Money.”
Commissioner Houpe asked, “Is the list of things listed here listed by a priority or just a
list of the five different projects?”
Ivey said, “I currently just say you're aware the $4 million would be money that would
actually go toward the number one project. It's not necessarily number one as far as a priority but
we do have a priority to close ADR. We are seeing the operating that building is costing us more
money. It's becoming a very inefficient setup. It also has some safety issues for our employees,
different things that have happened in the neighborhood have also created some concerns there. It
is past our ability to efficiently repair it and keep it up. So we're looking at being able to consolidate
them into our facilities and planning in Troutman. We looked at an initial study for consolidating
all essential services and over a five-year period would save us somewhere about $7.5 million in
redundancy that we're using in the county. We travel quite a bit across our County. As you can
imagine most of it has to do with travel inefficiencies and travel to being able to meet their things
like that and being able to consolidate a lot of our services like our phone systems and things of
that nature.”
Commissioner Houpe said, “The reason I asked that is because I know the current most
updated facilities priorities didn't show that number one and I know your board did. Doug's here
but the reason I ask that is… I know that's a top priority having talked to you guys and Dr James
and some of the board members for all those reasons you said. Do you have individual breakdown?
Potentially yet rough ideas on what they cost different individually?”
Ivey said, “We did receive some initial ideas or quotes from some Architects to give us an
idea of what these projects would cost. We have done some initial planning and so the number one
project to close ADR is going to be around $4 million. That is to move the ADR to the facilities
and planning and Troutman. We would actually be going in and renovating part of the building
that's already existing. We're weighing out the options right now of what would be more efficient
as far as cost effective with actually adding a small section outside the building or going inside
and renovating. That really is just going to depend on construction costs but we're in the final
stages of planning that before we would bring it back. The other expenses there to enclose the
breezeway at Harmony. We did receive a quote on that for about just over $1 million to do that
work. That is an initial, that doesn't have to do with site work. The Lake Norman gym was
somewhere around 3.5 million, it also depends on the Watershed issues there. The renovation of
the CT building at Statesville High School came in at around $1.3 million and in the field house
at Statesville high school was around $2.75 million. There are also concerns of whether we'd have
to redo the visitors concession stands there, not the new one, and that one came in I believe
$675,000. Those are just rough estimates at this point. There's a lot that goes into a construction
project but we did actually bid those out or got initial quotes on them from you know what we're
seeing in the market right now.”
Commissioner Houpe said, “I remember watching that meeting that night. I think some of
your board wanted to have some breakdowns of the numbers and I don't think he had them at that
point. I may be wrong. The money you got tonight from sales tax do you already have that
committed anywhere? The $2.2 million.”
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Ivey said, “Initially when we received our funding, as we just discussed, when we presented
our budget. We are trying to go from a model where we're actually being able to be preventative
about our maintenance and deferred maintenance. So at this time have earmarked a lot of our
money for projects that we know need to happen. That way what we don't end up having is an
emergency situation that or it's what somebody might consider to be an emergency situation. Then
we would have available funding. What we're trying to do earmark those things to take off certain
projects. So we don't necessarily have $2.2 million set for a specific project but we would include
it in this price here. We'd have to, depending on if this is approved, go back and take our amount
of money we have and then utilize that for our capital projects.”
Commissioner Houpe said, “I talked to Dr James earlier today and we talked about
potentially tabling this. I know the facilities task force has got a meeting on the 13th. I don't know
what time if they've even set one. What I'd like to do is recommend that we go back to the facilities
task force and get our priorities in line with that board voting on that. That's the process I believe
and then our education task force from the County sit down with you after that meeting and then
look at all of the different projects. I think since our last meeting you were here we found out we're
not getting any kind of grant money because we're a tier three County and potentially a republican
County, and we have Democratic Administration. My opinion only. Tier three is everybody’s
opinion. The other is just what I was hearing so I'll say publicly that's my opinion. If we could that
would be my recommendation is to see if we could sit down uh Doug and Dr James and Tim and
our board and let the facilities task force meet about all these things and re-prioritize, and look at
our funding potential between us and y'all. I know some of these are pretty important to get on to
get rolling as soon as possible.”
Dr. Jeff James said, “Absolutely, we'll follow through with our resolution next board
meeting. What we're trying to do is honor what you guys ask us to do. You changed the formula
to put more in general funds. Of course Melissa and I sat down with Beth because we knew when
the $15 requirement was pushed down to us from the state that we were going to need some
additional fund balance to offset that. I will tell you that we're probably going to dip into our
general funds about a million and a half this year because of that $15 per hour. We're fortunate
because of the economic stability of our County. There's going to be small counties in the state
that once the essers money runs out they'll start laying people off because they cannot sustain the
$15 per hour. We sort of had that plan. It's probably a year earlier than I anticipated but the $15 an
hour with the 2700 people we have, about 1200 that that got some people got $3 and it averaged
out 3.34% an hour pay raise. One of the things that you guys have made very well-known, and I
think as a group we've tried to work towards increasing our local supplement. We've been able to
do that so when I first got here and met with all you guys and the board I think we were on the
same page that we want to pay our employees as best as possible to compete in the market. We've
done a salary study. We had some quite a few job classifications that were below what the state
grade level was. We've raised those up so we've been able to do that across the board. The last
group that we had not got to before the $15 an hour and of course I'm proud of that. There's people
that made $11.90 an hour in cafeterias that deserve $15 an hour many years ago but we knew that
was going to put a financial stress on us. The office service professionals were the last group that
we were looking at. Of course the $15 an hour had to be implemented so we have gave them a
two-step increase so that's the largest they've ever got. The teacher supplement, if you recall, was
at 8% the highest it's been in the County then when the economic downturn happened we pushed
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that down to 6% classified down to 4% percent. We've got classified back up to 5.35%. Keep in
mind all those classified people change job grade classifications which also increase their pay so
now they're in line with the state. We don't have people that are working in a 61 grade level being
paid at a 57. It took a while to do that. I don't know how we got here but it just havoc on payroll
because you have to manually do payroll and I think Beth can appreciate this. So we do three steps
every five years. There is no computer program that will run that so when we do that everyone that
gets a step that year those three steps have to be done manually so our goal is to get to a bump
every year and that makes it easy because the payroll program can do it but you have to have
money to do that so our teacher supplement is now 8.25%. We've got some additional funding
from the state. One of the things that superintendents have made very well known from a tier one
to a tier three is a lot different ability for the local government to supply that dollar to make a
supplement. There's 95 counties that the state set aside additional funding, about $165 million.
They've come back and added some money to that so we anticipate rolling additional funds out to
our teachers. We're looking at about a 9% supplement. An idea that I have spun with teachers is
we would like to give an attendance incentive. We do it through savings, we're paying $2.5 million
a year for Teacher substitutes. I'd much rather repurpose some of that money and hand it to a
teacher for perfect attendance. I've run the numbers and it works at $100 a month. You're eligible
to earn if you have no absences. I've got it out for a vote. I've taken feedback so it should end this
Friday and I will know what the verdict is. At the end of the day, the state does not pay me a dollar
for a substitute. We did cut 11 positions at central office and that's a reoccurring $1.2 million in
savings. There's days that we wish we had some of those people back but we understand that we
need to put the money where the work's being done and that's classroom. Again thanks for all you
do for us and the taxpayers ultimately.”
Commissioner Houpe said, “We redid the formula. The school board asked us to move that
money. Which I remind you all, the school board has the flexibility to move from current to Capital
but not capital to current. We've been accused of cutting a capital budget because we move money
to current expense, per request from the system. I just wanted that to be accurate.”
Dr. James said, “Absolutely and the new program that we put in actually lets y'all see what
you're spending, and the taxpayers. There's going to be years that we need $14 or $15 million in
capital. There's going to be years we don't but it averages out to about $14 million over a year so
that's something we have to address as we move forward. The other thing that you guys are aware
of in us we pay very few teachers on a local budget. The local budget pays for maintenance workers
and custodians. It pays for these support people so our social workers or nurses. As you well know
if we don't look at doing something about a sales tax or increase in funding we have a huge grant
that ends in 2024 and we'll lose about 30 people that we really need probably as much as a teacher
because of social and emotional health of our students coming out of the pandemic. One of the
projects that I that has been on the book since 2007 is Harmony Elementary. With the current age
we're in, it is sort of wide open for somebody to walk in on campus. We need to close in that the
outside so it makes it safe and there's some bathrooms there that are really small. We can adjust
some of that and at least get that off the books. That's been a hot topic. It's been a conversation in
the task force time and time again. There was comments made that we got $30 million. Well there
was a $30 million bond but Mooresville got $6 million we got $24 million. And it wasn’t enough
to do everything that needed to be done at Harmony so that's why that one building did get some
renovations but it didn't get completely redone. I'm not really sure why we made the CTE Center
at Statesville High a field house. That was a terrible mistake. We need trade people more than we
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ever needed them in the history of the state. We have some viable programs at that school with an
excellent AG teacher and she's in a modular unit. We need a shop to put the AG in. We have the
second barber school approved in the state that's ready to go. I have a waiver on it but if we don't
move on it and start putting chairs in and getting that done then that waiver runs out. Doosan has
partnered with us again and we have a local course option. We work with Doosan and put together
an introduction to mechanical engineering. They're wanting to work with us at Statesville to train
students and introduce high paying jobs. We need that CTE building for its original purpose.”
Commissioner Houpe said, “That is why I think it's so important. Getting back to the
facilities task force ASAP and then following up with the education task force meeting so our
boards can then get together and look at the priorities the projects the available monies and what
we can do and when we can do it.”
Ivey said, We will meet the 13th I'm I won't be at that meeting.”
Commissioner Brown asked, “Does the $1 million includes the new bathrooms for
Harmony?”
Ivey said, “The million dollars includes closing in the walkways on the outside. The
bathrooms is something that we may have to address as a school district. The reason I'm saying is
that right now that building is ADA Compliant because they do not have to travel very far to be
able to get to an ADA accessible bathroom. What we would be looking at is when you get into the
structure of the building, do you have the ability to take a current bathroom and then also make it
into an additional ADA Bathroom but we're not required in that project to have to change any of
the existing bathrooms in that wing. Mr Russo has also it had been called the fifth grade wing but
I think he is teaching first grade out of it now because he realized that by switching those two grade
levels it was actually going to be more effective for his school and the way his teachers
collaborated so that's how that's working. Commissioner Houpe I just wanted to remind you that
all of these projects have been things that the facilities task force has talked about and
recommended and what our board is essentially asking is just for the ability to move those funding
I mean the projects themselves are things that I believe that the Board of Education approves those
projects, but I don't know if that is something that we would have to then bring to you.
Commissioner Houpe said, “I know all that stuff is important and I agree with you. From
my perspective now sitting in my seat the discussions I want to be a part of and I think the county
staff and administration and our board is you know like when you sell a facility, I believe that
money should roll toward the building of a new facility. We maybe can find another way to do
that but I think now that we're not getting grant funding… for example, we asked the fire
departments to use apparatus money toward new apparatus to try to regenerate that money towards
what it came from. From my perspective I think the sale of that one… the discussion could be had
that the $5.5 million or whatever you get out of that could roll toward the new high school or it
could roll to any of these projects. I'm assuming but from my perspective. I speak for myself on
that but I think it's important that we get to a task force and talk about all of these things and then
go to our education task force so the manager, Melissa and I can make a recommendation to our
board in Communications with your board of what we can afford to do and on what timetable. I
think that way we're all on the same page of what's important by priority. All of them are important
but we can't afford to do all of them at one time. That's why I think we need to table tonight and
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then get to those two task forces.”
Chairman Mallory said, “At the end of the day yeah there's just going to be a choice that
has to be made relative to funding some of these projects versus a phased approach to Weather's
Creek. Where you take some components of that and put them in a second phase, whether that's
the auditorium whether that's the football stadium or the atrium. Because at the end of the day we
need to get the big context of okay what's it going to take to get 1600 students in classrooms and
get the core ready. You've got $80 million from the bond. The cost of borrowing money's gone up.
Will we be able to add to that? The next board will have to make that decision as they're looking
at all the big budget. I don't think it's going to be sufficient to close the gap on what the total price
tag of that school is going to be and so we need you all to say well if you've got X number of
dollars what's the priority and so we need some phased breakouts in that school so we can say well
if we don't do this then we have the money to do this over here or a portion of this and portion of
that. Those are the kind of numbers we're going to need to dig into and ever how long that takes
that's what it takes. I wouldn't commit to a specific date that we say okay we're going to make a
decision. I wouldn't feel comfortable with that with that tighter timeline but I'll leave that to the
task forces. Essentially if you're saying look we want to do all of these projects then we're going
to have to say what aren't you willing and willing to cut in terms of Weather's Creek and defer
until another phase another Bond referendum.”
Vice Chair Neader said, “The gym at Lake Norman Elementary, the watershed issue.”
Ivey said, “Yeah that's considered a high density area so you're not able to add any
additional buildings there without updating the retention pond. What we end up seeing is just to
be able to add a gym to that we have to go in and update that retention pond which could be up to
$1.5 million. We don't have any other property in that area for us to be able to density share. We
have the same issue with Shepard which is not on this list that we are going to have to address.
We've got all sorts of data to show where we need to be you know moving our focus on things. It's
the same issue and the only property that we're able to share with Shepard is the Parkertown
property that we own. We are submitting an application to that so we can go ahead and add some
mobile units there, hopefully by next school year because they're above capacity at that school.”
Dr. James said, “So the gym is actually cheaper than the bureaucracy that creates the
Watershed. Which again find ourselves in a unique situation here economically we're growing by
leaps and bounds. Our state elected not to allow us to charge impact fees for developers so the
burden of building all the schools rest on property owners. I've said with the 24,000 homes, the
formula that we always use that's been tried and true for about 30 or 40 years, we should already
be breaking ground on an elementary school. We're behind there. Shepard is at capacity already.
We built Lake Shore Elementary, we added seven classrooms they were already before the
classrooms were built so we're already back at capacity there.”
Vice Chair Neader said, “So what I'm hearing here is and I'm very well aware of it too, just
seeing it there is going to be needs continuously moving forward on that. I think it's critical that
we it helps me very much to process decision making then a list has been prioritized by those who
know the best those who have the information those who are doing it every day. Of course I visit
and see but to make it clear to have a decision just to be ready to push forward. It would help to
have a number one this needs to be done and completed and then move to number two have it done
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and completed they are all critically needed. It sounds like some of things should have been done
already. It's just where we're at, we can't go back. It's really easy to look back in the past and say
hey if this had been done it would have been better. We're here now time is not on our side. Growth
is coming and change is necessary but to be able to get something done
and completed. It is so critical - the prioritizing. We see you need this. I’m comfortable with
making decisions based on completion of prior not having a lot of open ends because I see a lot of
these needs what is what you want to see done right now and that and I don't expect you to answer
that right now. It's a very difficult decision on what do we do now so if there is a timeline for what
needs to be done immediately safety wise - growth wise.”
Commissioner Brown said, “Safety needs come first and that's what goes back to Harmony.
That needs to be top of the list.”
Ivey said, "Absolutely and again this list is not a list in priority order. The list is what the
board actually approved out of the funding that they had. Again they're just seeking…and I agree
let's go back to the task force and hopefully be able to come back with some more information and
present this. A lot of these projects are being funded out of funds that are already allocated in
capital that they're choosing to want to use for those projects and so the board is just requesting
that they be allowed to move some savings money over. I think that we would be more than happy
to go through whatever process. We certainly understand each of your concerns along with what
tends to be the big elephant in the room which is the new high school. I think that no matter what
we look at where we know that because of inflation and the circumstances that we're in that's why
that high school is in that way we've done absolutely everything in our power to design the most
efficient school building that we've ever had in Iredell County as far as with use of space. Less
wasted footprint to be able to put a school that seats 1600 people. We tried to be creative with our
Q Lanes to make sure that we're able to utilize what DOT is requesting us to do and then what we
need to have for taxpayers for exits and things of that to support not only the community around
but know those roadways. I think we've done a lot of planning to try to make that building as
efficient as possible so that we don't have to go back and essentially a value engineer it and then
within 15 years we're having a major mechanical repairs or major repairs to any of those things.
Commissioner Houpe said, “I applaud you for that. I think that the due diligence has been
put in for a stronger building with less maintenance. All the things we've
talked about over the years has been spent annually that maybe could have been avoided . It was
some different decisions but hindsight's 20/20. From our perspective I don't want to have to value
engineer that new school personally, but we've got to look at all of these things collaboratively
with the school board, school system, and the county. We're getting questions from the community
that may or may not have all of the
information we have.I think it behooves us to meet the facilities task force in that process and
education task force then come back together with a priority list. To Melissa's point what we can
hit now and what we can wait and tackle later. To Scotty’s point as well, a lot of these I think all
these things are needed in my opinion. It's just a matter of what all we can do now and what's going
to have to wait for available revenues. That's what we all have to communicate.
Chairman Mallory said, “At the end of the day we all need to be speaking with one voice.
So I look forward to working through the process to get to that.”
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School Board Member Dr. Doug Knight said, “I’m still the newest member of the board
for a month or so I don't have a lot of history of it. If I'm not mistaken the board approved this
unanimously. From my position on the board, the board sees these as very important. It was a
unanimous vote. The second question I guess I understand having to ask legally. We have to ask
permission to go from local expense to capital for these and that's why we're all here today. One
thing from the discussion, are you saying that the sale of Mount Mourne the funds for that must be
earmarked for the new High School.”
Commissioner Houpe said, “At this point we're not saying anything. I'm just saying from
my perspective and what I hear from the from the community and the taxpayers is you repurpose
that and it goes back into the building of the next new school. Some people believe that. I'm saying
we all need to sit down and look at the priorities of all these projects and what revenues are
available and when and what we can do. My personal belief is I think we should always roll that
money from the sale of a property back into a pot of money whether it's on your side or my side
to repurpose that towards…”
Dr. Knight said, “I guess my question is being on the board and things I've learned, I just
didn't know if the County Commissioners had the ability to control after we've sold a property how
we spend the money for that property is that legal or not. I'm not sure I'm not sure at this point. Is
this just like a negotiation for it going forward?”
Commissioner Houpe said, “I don't think it's US versus y'all. I think what we've got to do
is sit down and vet these things with the facilities task force that's our process over the years. Some
of y'all's priorities sometimes change. Once we identify what your top priorities are of your projects
that's on this page in addition to the high school. We don't have the funding to do them all right
now.”
Dr. Knight said, “Not the high school, most definitely.”
Commissioner Houpe said, “Exactly, that's my point. I've heard some of your board
members say, which it's our responsibility for capital for the new school and all that but what I'm
saying is we've asked at our last task force meeting with you had different representatives there .
Dr. Knight said, “The price differential…is that worst losing a sense of urgency to not do
these five projects?”
Chairman Mallory said, “That’s up to you guys. There's not going to be enough to build
the full high school at one lick so figure out what piece parts you want to put in a phase two or a
phase three. South didn't have an auditorium until we built one later on.
Dr. Knight said, “I just wanted some clarification on that. I'm starting to see what you’re
saying.”
Chairman Mallory said, “What we hear though is sometimes hey it's our responsibility to
build the school and that's you know you just figure it out County Commission but we have other
dollars over here and we're just going to spend where we want to spend them well we're all in this
together. We have a limited amount that we can borrow and still maintain our bond ratings. I'm
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October 4, 2022
sure the next board will help out as much as they can but there will be a gap. So everyone needs
to understand and recognize it and identify it so it's not some surprise to a lot of people out there.
We've gone through a planning process acknowledging that the cost of borrowing has gone up and
the cost of buildings gone up uh you wouldn't have predicted the but it is what it is. How do we
close that gap?”
The list of projects are as follows:
1. Close ADR and relocate staff to Facilities and Planning in Troutman. Ivey said
the district has a priority to close ADR.
2. Enclose breezeways at Harmony Elementary 5th grade wing
3. Add Gym at Lake Norman Elementary
4. Renovate CTE building at Statesville High School
5. Add Field House at Statesville High School
This item was tabled for review by the Schools Facilities Task Force and Education Task
Force.
ANNOUNCEMENTS OF VACANCIES OCCURING ON BOARDS & COMMISSIONS
(None)
APPOINTMENTS TO BOARDS & COMMISSIONS
(None)
The Board recessed at 6:10pm.
IREDELL COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
REGULAR MINUTES
October 4, 2022
The Iredell County Board of Commissioners met in regular session on Tuesday, October
4, 2022 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 Melissa Neader
Scottie Brown
Gene Houpe
Staff present: County Manager Beth Mull, County Attorney Lisa Valdez, Deputy County
Manager Susan Robertson, and Clerk to the Board Amy Anderson.
CALL TO ORDER by Chairman Mallory.
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October 4, 2022
INVOCATION: Chairman Mallory asked everyone to bow their heads for a moment of
silence or reflection specifically remembering members of the community who have recently
experienced loss.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE led by Chairman Mallory.
ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA
County Manager Beth Mull went over the following adjustments:
ADD: Vice Chair Neader added a presentation by Scott Stevenson under Special Awards
and Recognitions.
REMOVE: Request from the Mecklenburg County Young Marines to proclaim October
23 - 31, 2022 as Red Ribbon Week.
MOTION by Commissioner Houpe to approve the agenda as adjusted.
VOTING: Ayes – 4; Nays – 0
PRESENTATION OF SPECIAL RECOGNITIONS & AWARDS
(None)
APPOINTMENTS BEFORE THE BOARD
(None)
PUBLIC HEARINGS
Public hearing to consider the adoption of the 2024 Public Transportation
Program funding request: ICATS Director Bradley Johnson said the funding request includes
Grants for $3,002,886 with a local match from contracted services revenue of $715,697 to provide
Administrative, Operating, and Capital funds to ICATS transit operation.
Chairman Mallory opened the public hearing.
No one wished to speak.
Chairman Mallory closed the public hearing.
MOTION by Commissioner Brown to approve the 2024 Public Transportation
Program Funding Request.
VOTING: Ayes – 4; Nays – 0
ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS
County Manager Beth Mull summarized the following Administrative Matters during the
Pre-Agenda meeting held at 5pm:
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October 4, 2022
Request from Planning & Development to consider calling for a public hearing on October
18, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. in regard to a text amendment to the Land Development Code.
Request from Solid Waste for approval to apply for the Abandoned Mobile Home Grant.
Request from the Finance Department for approval of Budget Amendment #16 to transfer
unallocated funds in Juvenile Crime Prevention Council Fund to Children's Hope Alliance
and Piedmont Mediation equally.
Request from the Finance Department for approval of Budget Amendment #17 to allocate
additional capital money to Iredell Statesville Schools and Mooresville Graded Schools
based on the actual sales taxes received in FY21-22.
Request from Emergency Medical Services for approval to purchase Power Load Cot
Fastening Systems.
Selection of Engineer for Jennings Park Project Construction Materials Testing and
Inspection Services.
Request from the Finance Department for approval of the selection of an Architectural
Firm for Design Services related to the Iredell County Government Center Entryway
Project.
Selection of Construction Manager at Risk for Iredell County Government Center
Entryway Project.
County Construction Projects Update.
Request from Clerk to the Board for approval of the minutes from the meeting on
September 6, 2022.
Request from Animal Services to call for a public hearing on October 18, 2022 at 7:00pm
in regard to amendments to the Animal Control Ordinance.
MOTION by Commissioner Brown to approve the consent agenda.
VOTING: Ayes – 4; Nays – 0
ANNCOUNCEMENT OF VACANCIES OCCURING ON BOARDS &
COMMISSIONS
(None)
APPOINTMENTS TO BOARDS & COMMISSIONS
(None)
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
(None)
PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD
(None)
NEW BUSINESS
(None)
CLOSED SESSION
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October 4, 2022
There were no action items to report.
ADJOURNMENT
MOTION by Commissioner Brown to adjourn at 8:52PM. The Board will meet for a
regular meeting Tuesday, October 18, 2022 at 7pm in the Commissioners’ Meeting Room,
Government Center, 200 South Center Street, Statesville, NC.
VOTING Ayes – 4; Nays – 0
__________________________________ ___________________________________
Date Approved Amy B. Anderson, Clerk