Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-02-2022 1 August 2, 2022 IREDELL COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS PRE-AGENDA SESSION August 2, 2022 The Iredell County Board of Commissioners met in pre-agenda session on Tuesday, August 2, 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 Houpe Board Members Participating Remotely Marvin Norman 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: Remove: VIII.3. Request from Emergency Medical Services for approval to purchase Powerload Cots and Fastening Systems. Remove: VIII.4. Request from Parks & Recreation for approval to select Stewart Engineering as the Architect for Jennings Park Design - Phase II & III. Remove: VIII.5. Request from Parks & Recreation for approval to select Edifice General Contractors as the Construction Manager at Risk for Jennings Park Project. Addition: Attorney Client under Closed Session . ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS Request from Mooresville Graded School District for approval of the conveyance of a Deed for Highway Right of Way to NCDOT for NC 150/SR 152 road widening project: Mooresville Graded School Attorney Kevin Donaldson said in 2003 Iredell County issued debt for MGSD to build East Mooresville Intermediate School at the Oakridge Farm Highway and Wiggins Road intersection. The original 2003 debt was refunded in 2013, and final payment is in October 2023. Until the debt is retired, Iredell County is the owner of the property. NCDOT has scheduled a road project for this intersection, and through negotiations with MGSD, will pay $80,000 for the property described in the attached Deed for Highway Right of Way. This item was placed on consent. Request from the Library for approval of Budget Amendment #9 to accept Nonrecurring State Aid to Public Libraries in the amount of $89,113: Library Director Juli 2 August 2, 2022 Moore said non-Recurring State Aid to Public Libraries is separate from, and in addition to, normal recurring State Aid to Public Libraries. The Non-Recurring State Aid funds originate with the US Treasury Office as part of Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Funds under the American Rescue Plan Act. They will be distributed through the NC Pandemic Recovery Office to the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources/State Library of North Carolina for disbursement. These funds are generally for materials, salaries, equipment, and operating costs. The funds must be obligated by December 31, 2024, and spent by December 31, 2026. This item was placed on consent. Request from Planning & Development for the cr eation of a steering committee for the update to the 2030 Horizon Plan: Planning Director Matthew Todd asked for the creation of a 10 member committee will be established with appointments to be made at the August 16, 2022 meeting. Planning Board members have agreed to serve, plus there will be one member from the Farmland Preservation Board and a representative from the Economic Development Corporation. This will leave 5 additional vacancies. This project is expected to take approximately 18 months and this group will be meeting monthly throughout the process. Commissioner Houpe asked if it would be beneficial to have the entire Planning Board serve on the Steering Committee. It would be good experience for the board. Todd said the Planning Board will be included throughout the process. The idea behind the Steering Committee is to get broader perspectives. Commissioner Houpe asked if the Steering Committee will make recommendations to the Planning Board. Todd said the Planning Board and the commissioners will be updated throughout the process. Commissioner Houpe asked the Board to consider appointing all of the Planning Board. Todd noted he emailed the entire Planning Board and received three volunteers, Kristi Pfeufer, Jerry Santoni, and Andy Webster. Vice Chair Neader felt the 10-member Steering Committee is sufficient in making the decisions as long as everyone is receiving the same information. If the Planning Board members have concerns they can reach out to their representatives. Commissioner Houpe wanted to make it available if any members who wanted to participate in the process. Commissioner Brown said it is important to have volunteers that will show up and three Planning Board members outlined by Todd have volunteered. Commissioner Houpe asked if the Board will appoint the other five members. 3 August 2, 2022 Mull added this process is the same process as before with the 2030 Horizon Plan and is similar to the concept of the Task Forces. Chairman Mallory suggested inviting Planning Board members to the meetings in an ex - officio capacity. The Steering Committee needs to be small enough in terms of voting but large enough to accommodate different views. Mallory suggested not turning the committee into a massive group. Commissioner Houpe asked Todd if he reached out to members who served before who and are familiar with the process. Todd has not, but is glad to come up with some recommendations. Commissioner Houpe asked Mull and Todd to bring recommendations back to the Board at the next meeting. Houpe suggested nominations with experience in construction and real estate. Todd said it is important for Board to make the appointments at the next meeting. This item was placed on consent. Request from Planning & Development for approval of an amended Project Ordinance for the Single-family Rehabilitation Loan Pool Program: Planning Director Matthew Todd requested approval of an amended project ordinance for the Single Family Rehabilitation Loan Pool Program. In 2018, Iredell County was awarded a grant of $175,000 from the Essential Single-Family Rehabilitation Loan Pool Program of the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency (NCHFA) for the rehabilitation of eligible units, with the option of receiving additional funds on a first-come, first-served basis. Additional funds are available, and there is no match required. Iredell County has contracted with the Western Piedmont Council of Government to provide the administration services for the grant. This item was place on consent. Request from Tax Administration to present the Annual Tax Settlement and approval of Orders for Collection: Tam Administrator Bill Furches presented the Annual Tax Settlement for 2021. Furches requested approval of the Orders for Collection to collect taxes for the coming year. The Tax Collector’s office collected a total of $151,355,460.12 in 2021 this was increase of 3.7% than the previous year. Real & Personal Levy $136,842,333.96 MV – VTS 13,608,998.33 Add: Discoveries 1,854,175.27 Deduct: Releases (202,127.72) $152,103,379.84 Collections $151,355,460.12 This item was placed on consent. 4 August 2, 2022 Review of the Fire/Rescue Emergency Response Standards Committee: County Manager Beth Mull said At the June 7, 2022 Board of Commissioners' meeting there was a discussion regarding the ECOM Governance Board. This Board was populated yet the objectives of the group still needed to be established. In addition, there is already an EMS Peer Review Board that serves the same purpose similar to the ECOM Law Enforcement Committee; therefore, the need is to establish a committee for the fire/rescue discipline. After much work, the name of the group is recommended to be amended to the Fire/Rescue Emergency Response Standards Committee and the objectives are detailed in the attachment. The committee consists of 11 voting members. There was one suggested modification to that and that is the replacement of the Emergency Management Planner position with an ECOM Technical IT Representative. This is recommended in the event of any technical changes and making sure those changes mesh with the CAD system. Chairman Mallory said this is the same document distributed earlier. The Board agreed by consensus to circulate the document with the volunteer and full time fire departments for their feedback. This item was placed on consent. ANNOUNCEMENTS OF VACANCIES OCCURING ON BOARDS & COMMISSIONS (None) APPOINTMENTS TO BOARDS & COMMISSIONS Juvenile Crime Prevention Council - 1 Appointment The Board recessed at 6:10pm. IREDELL COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MINUTES August 2, 2022 The Iredell County Board of Commissioners met in regular session on Tuesday, August 2, 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 Board Members Participating Remotely Marvin Norman 5 August 2, 2022 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. 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: Remove: VIII.3. Request from Emergency Medical Services for approval to purchase Powerload Cots and Fastening Systems. Remove: VIII.4. Request from Parks & Recreation for approval to select Stewart Engineering as the Architect for Jennings Park Design - Phase II & III. Remove: VIII.5. Request from Parks & Recreation for approval to select Edifice General Contractors as the Construction Manager at Risk for Jennings Park Project. Addition: Attorney Client under Closed Session PRESENTATION OF SPECIAL RECOGNITIONS & AWARDS (None) APPOINTMENTS BEFORE THE BOARD (None) PUBLIC HEARINGS (None) ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS County Manager Beth Mull summarized the following Administrative Matters during the Pre-Agenda meeting held at 5pm:  Request from Mooresville Graded School District for approval of the conveyance of a Deed for Highway Right of Way to NCDOT for NC 150/SR 152 road widening project.  Request from the Library for approval of Budget Amendment #9 to accept Nonrecurring State Aid to Public Libraries in the amount of $89,113.  Request from Planning & Development for the creation of a steering committee for the update to the 2030 Horizon Plan.  Request from Planning & Development for approval of an amended Project Ordinance for the Single-family Rehabilitation Loan Pool Program. 6 August 2, 2022  Request from Tax Administration to present the Annual Tax Settlement and approval of Orders for Collection.  Review of the Fire/Rescue Emergency Response Standards Committee. MOTION by Commissioner Brown to approve the consent agenda. VOTING: Ayes – 5; Nays – 0 Reappraisal Briefing: Chairman Mallory said there has been a fair amount of interest from citizens who are concerned about the reappraisal and home values have gone up significantly. Some have asked if the reappraisal could be pushed about another year to see if prices are moderated. The reappraisal prices takes about two years. The County is required by statute to have a reappraisal every eight years but in the early 90’s the Board voted to go to a four-year reappraisal. This was to avoid a major sticker shock at the end of eight years and it also facilitated the planning of the County’s budget requirements. The process also links the County’s budget requirement with its income stream. Majority of surrounding counties are on a four-year reappraisal process. Several of the counties are doing reappraisals at the same time as Iredell. The Board and staff will look at how to best communicate the process because it deals with some arcane legislative requirements. Tax Assessor Fran Elliott said there are quite a number of reasons why it would not be wise to delay the reappraisal. It would involve the loss of revenue from public service funds. Staff has already began working on the reappraisal process. If it were to be delayed the process would have to start over in short order. Elliott said there are towns and cities depending on the increase as weill as fire departments. Elliott detailed the deferment process. Elliott indicated the importance of the sales ratio. Sales assessment ratio studies are conducted annually by NCDOR with assistance by the individual counties. The study seeks to examine a random sample of real property by comparing their individual sales price occurring during a calendar year to their corresponding assessed value as of the following January 1, to produce a ratio for that particular property sale. The ratio is determined by dividing the property’s assess valuation by the property’s sales price (assessed at $95,000 and sells for $100,000, produces a ratio of .95). once all the ratios have been calculated, they are arrayed from the lowest to highest, with the median (the exact midpoint of the array) indicating the assessment level of an individual county for a particular year. In counties with a population of 75,000 or greater, mandatory reappraisal advancement may occur as a result of the sales ratio study. If the sales ratio falls below .85 or above 1.15, the County must conduct a new appraisal within three years. The ratios can also be used for equalization of public service companies. During the reappraisal year, or the 4th or 7th year after the reappraisal, if the County’s ratio below .90 equalization will occur. For railroads, if the ratio falls below .95 on any year, equalization will occur. Equalization only applies to communication, gas, pipeline, power, and railroad companies. Equalization essentially means that the public serve company’s values will be lowered to the County’s ratio. The County fell outside both standards and were instructed to conduct its next reappraisal at the earlier of the currently scheduled reappraisal or January 1, 2024. Since the next scheduled 7 August 2, 2022 reappraisal was before January 1, 2024, the County could remain in its normal four year cycle which would put us back in line with the two above referenced standards. Based on a letter from NCDOR, staff does not believe delaying our re-appraisal is an option. The letter put the County on notice that it has fallen outside of the NCDOR standards and need to move forward with the new appraisal. There are two standards for the County need to meet: The median sales ratio of real property cannot fall below 90% or go above 110%: The County was at 87.72% as of May of 2021. Currently, the County is at 71.5% the largest gap in county history. The overall trimmed coefficient of dispersion is above 25: County is at 10.46 as of May of 2021. Elliott said sales prices have increase since the last reappraisal and maintaining a four-year cycle will help lessen the gap between the assessed values and current market values by virtue of the shorter cycle. By postponing the 2023 reappraisal staff would have to back and assess properties today based on the 2017 and 2018 sales that we looked at for the 2019 reappraisal. This would expand the sales ratio gap because the unit price back then was $78 per square foot. For 2023, it was raised to $110. Chairman Mallory encouraged citizens to stay tuned. This is the first act of a multi-act process. For individual homeowners there is the ability to challenge the reappraisal. Iredell County is growing economically and it has a good balance between industrial and commercial, and residential growth. ANNCOUNCEMENT OF VACANCIES OCCURING ON BOARDS & COMMISSIONS (None) APPOINTMENTS TO BOARDS & COMMISSIONS Juvenile Crime Prevention Council - 1 Appointment Patrick Dixson has volunteered to serve for the first time as the Sheriff's Office professional. According to JCPC bi-law, qualified persons must fulfill certain positions on the Council. Although council prefers Board approval, it is not required. MOTION by Commissioner Houpe to appoint Patrick Dixson to the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council. VOTING: Ayes – 5; Nays – 0 UNFINISHED BUSINESS (None) PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD (None) 8 August 2, 2022 NEW BUSINESS (None) CLOSED SESSION There were no action items to report. ADJOURNMENT MOTION by Commissioner Brown to adjourn at 8:14PM. The Board will meet for a regular meeting Tuesday, August 16, 2022 at 7pm in the Commissioners’ Meeting Room, Government Center, 200 South Center Street, Statesville, NC. VOTING Ayes – 5; Nays – 0 __________________________________ ___________________________________ Date Approved Amy B. Anderson, Clerk