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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021 budget sessions 1 May 6, 2021 IREDELL COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BUDGET WORK SESSION MINUTES May 6, 10, & 11, 2021 (continued from May 4, 2021) The Iredell County Board of Commissioners reconvened on Thursday, May 6, 2021 at 11am, at the East Iredell Lions Club Community Park. Board Members Present Chairman James B. Mallory III Vice Chair Melissa Neader Scottie Brown Gene Houpe Marvin Norman Staff present: County Manager Beth Mull, Deputy County Manager Susan Robertson, Assistant County Manager Joe Peirce, Finance Director Deb Cheek, Budget Analyst Caroline Taylor, County Attorney Lisa Valdez, Clerk to the Board Amy Anderson. Call to Order: Chairman James Mallory called the meeting to order. Chairman Mallory explained the following public hearings were held at the Board’s regular meeting on May 4, 2021 and were held open for 24 hours for public comment. County Manager Beth Mull said there were no comments received for any of the public hearings. Consideration of a request from owners/applicants Kent & Vicky Moore, representing KM Electrical Heating and Air, to rezone approximately 6.98 acres along Wilkesboro Highway. MOTION by Commissioner Houpe to approve to amend the County’s 2030 Horizon Plan to designate Rural Commercial to the property and to approve the zoning map amendment. The zoning approval and land use plan amendment are reasonable and in the public interest because the property is already used commercially and is fixed between two roadways, it will bring an existing use into appropriate zoning compliance, and the proposed conditions mitigate possible future GB use concerns. VOTING: Ayes – 5; Nays – 0 Consideration of a request from owner/applicant Phillip M. Rotella, to rezone approximately 1.25 acres along Brawley School Road. MOTION by Commissioner Brown to approve the zoning map amendment, and to make a finding that said approval is reasonable and in the public interest because the property lies within the 2030 Horizon Plan Corridor Commercial area, it is surrounded by various existing commercial uses, and existing watershed restrictions should limit development to smaller-scale HB uses into the future. VOTING: Ayes – 5; Nays – 0 2 May 6, 2021 Consideration of a request by Michael Nelin to release zoning and subdivision jurisdiction to the Town of Mooresville. MOTION by Commissioner Houpe to approve the request for a release of zoning and subdivision jurisdiction to the Town of Mooresville by Michael Nelin. VOTING: Ayes – 5; Nays – 0 Consideration of an economic development incentive for Project Mountain: MOTION by Vice Chair Neader to approve an economic incentive up to $1,762,216 over a seven-year period based on the company's investment of up to $70 million, creation of up to 250 new jobs, and contingent upon a contract being executed within 180 days. VOTING: Ayes – 5; Nays – 0 Chairman Mallory explained there are two scheduled days for budget session and a third day if needed. The budget process is new for a portion of the Board which will give an opportunity to provide a background of “where we have been and how we got where we are” as it affects the consideration of the budget. Chairman Mallory asked County Manager Mull for a presentation on the process that was previously adopted relative to personnel increases (pay plan). Chairman Mallory asked the information be provided in connection with the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Funding. Budget Schedules Schedule A Estimated Unassigned Fund Balance Caroline Taylor explained the estimated unassigned fund balance as of June 30, 2021 is $55,557,640. The appropriations for 2021 includes the land purchase beside the fairground and new software for Building Standards. The estimated revenue as of June 30, 2021 is $242,081,760 and estimated expenditures is $230,215,255. Taylor said the increase comes from the collection in sales tax is much higher than expected. Also, the County received numerous grants relative to COVID which helped offset some of the expenditures. Taylor noted CARES Act Funding has paid for approximately $1 million in salaries that did not have to spent out of the general fund. Any unidentified unspent funds this fiscal year the request was cut for next year to roll the money over. The increases are carry-overs. The recommended budget for fiscal year 2022 is $236,155,420 with a fund balance of 23.62%. With the new school funding, part of the formula incorporates capital reserve. Chairman Mallory said the recommendations by the Schools Facilities Task Force provided a roadmap for the next 10 years, as it will change over the next couple of years to look out for the next 10 years. Chairman Mallory said the projections needed to the folded into the Capital Improvement Plan and subjective to the same level of prioritization. The schools want to have an ongoing ISS oriented task force focused on the district’s capital. Chairman Mallory said ISS may be swapping our priorities themselves but it should not affect already approved allocations, because Phase 1 has already began. If the schools are moving up a project then something should be moved out. Chairman Mallory noted this is not relative to CARES Act Funding or ARP Funding. 3 May 6, 2021 Commissioner Houpe explained some people perceive the 23% fund balance as the County having ‘extra’ funds. Commissioner Houpe asked if it would be beneficial for a portion of the fund balance should be assigned broadly to economic development/capital, but not specifically designated. Mull explained if a portion of the fund balance was assigned to a different line item or earmarked, the funds would still show as fund balance. Taylor said the estimated unassigned balance at the end of the current year is approximately $55 million. Commissioner Brown asked the budget for FY21. Mull said $230,357,300. Schedule B Personnel Positions Mull said the list includes full-time and part-time with benefits employees. It does not include part-time, seasonal, or temporary. The schedule is a snapshot of the positions who are receiving benefits. Mull explained the new position recommended, a total of 27. Facility Services – 1 full time Day Porter (From contracted services to in-house) 1 part time Day Porter Vehicle Services – 1 equipment services mechanic Sheriff’s Office – 1 IT position 1 Detective 7 SROs (through a grant that Iredell-Statesville Schools received, the Education Task Force is working on finalizing a 50/50 cost-share agreement for years 2-4. Commissioner Houpe said the task force is looking at a three-year extension instead of four. Jail – 1 Bailiff (for courts) 1 Detention Captain Animal Services – 1 Animal Control Officer ECOM – 1 Quality Assurance Compliance Officer Mull said these duties are currently being split between the administrative team and supervisors. The new position will provide one dedicated person for QA. It is a requirement for the County to QA a certain percentage of calls. Commissioner Houpe asked if ECOM asked for additional telecommunicators. The department is having trouble filling positions. Houpe said the Public Safety Task Force is concerned about having the adequate number of staff in the department. Houpe also asked when ECOM is sufficient in answering calls when fully staffed. 4 May 6, 2021 Mull said the department did not request any additional telecommunicators. Mull asked ECOM to become fully staffed and gauge the workload. Then at that point, staff will go back to the Board to request additional staff. Mull explained it is hard to request more positions when they are unable to full the ones they have. Commissioner Houpe asked the appropriate place to ensure the County has a full-time staff member or additional person to program radios. Houpe explained Jamie Barrier currently programs radios but on a part-time basis. Mull said it is currently being done in ECOM because they have the vyper key for programming. They are some other agencies that do programming, but the in-house programming is done through Jamie. Assistant County Manager Joe Pierce said the County has a service agreement with the vendor to also handle programming. Commissioner Houpe said the fire departments have shared concerns of the time it takes to have radios tuned and programmed. Houpe asked if it is sufficient to have another part-time person in-house to program radios. Chairman Mallory suggested coming back to this matter when going through each department. EMS – 2 Paramedics In order to provide 24-hour coverage there needs to be 4 supervisors for QRV. 1 Business Officer Commissioner Houpe said over the last several budget cycles there have been requests for an Emergency Management Planner and Assistant Fire Marshall. Houpe asked to reconsider those positions. Mull said that is the Board’s decision. Those two departments are feeling some pressure because of the vaccination clinics and they have stepped up and gone above and beyond. Because of this, some of the other things have been put on the back burner because they stepped up for traffic control and coordination. The vaccination clinics are now housed at the Health Department. Mull suggested allowing the two departments to have a year of normalcy to determine if there is a fulltime need for the positions or doing a mid-year review in December. Commissioner Houpe said the need has been there for a couple of years and the task force would like to see the new positions added. Chairman Mallory reiterated, from past years, that the County needs better wholesome planning process. Mallory noted this request has not gotten off the ground. Mull said Kent Greene has started on the plan. Greene said he worked on the plan prior to COVID. Chairman Mallory explained he was tired of talking about it after four years. Commissioner Houpe agreed and explained the task force also agrees. At this point, there may be some revenue available to fulfill some of the new positions. 5 May 6, 2021 Planning & Development – 1 Erosion Control Officer This is a direct response of the most recent audit due to the number of acres and sites within the County. Health Department – 1 Environmental Health Specialist (food & lodging) DSS – Parks & Recreation – Parks Ground Manager. Grounds management was moved to Parks & Recreation and the sheer magnitude of acreage requires someone to oversee the operation. Taylor went through the following schedules: C: Capital Outlay Requests D: Expenditures by Service Type E: Revenue Source F: General Fund Expenditures Taylor noted there was a huge decrease in investment earnings. Revenues by Department Elections has an increase next fiscal year because of the number of municipal elections next year. There is an 18% increase in the Sheriff’s Department revenue which is strictly because of the SRO reimbursement from the schools. Health Department has a 22% increase mostly due to grants. There is a 15.5% decrease in Building Standards however, even though there is a decrease in what is budgeted, an increase is expected this year. Staff is trying to bring the budget in line. Commissioner Brown asked how grants are applied to the budget. Taylor said grants are considered expense and revenue. Taylor went over expenditures. The schools make up 42.82% of the budget, of that ISS receives 30.13%, MGSD 9.45%, and MCC 3%. Taylor noted this is the last year for Safety and Security. In the past, Iredell-Statesville has had a larger chunk of the Safety and Security, however they need approximately $500,000 to reach the original request of $2 million. Commissioner Houpe asked if the .05 can be reallocated toward the cost of the SROs. Mull said yes. The .05 can be allocated toward the County’s portion of the 50/50 of SROs. There is a 1% decrease in current expense for ISS and MGSD. There is decrease enrollment of 655 students. Mull noted the projections are from the Department of Public Instruction. Commissioner Brown asked what happens if the projections are wrong. Commissioner Houpe said it would be made up in September. 6 May 6, 2021 Mull said the County would make up the difference after the 10-day enrollment period. Dr. James is okay with that plan. Commissioner Brown agreed it was a good plan. Chairman Mallory said the charter schools get paid the same ADM from the State but it passed through the ISS school budget. In the last several years, the initial ADM enrollment at the charter schools may have been higher and some had buyers regret and transferred back to ISS or MGSD and kept the money. Mull said it is currently between the charter schools and the school systems. Commissioner Houpe was told it is a wash because their may be kids who leave the school systems and join the charter schools. Melissa Wike has stated it is not a big issue as before. Taylor said this year the County started a new funding formula for education. Part of that is, the per pupil amount will be increased each year by December on adjusted DPI. Although current expense is going down, the amount per pupil has gone up. The amount per pupil is being increased from $1,940 to $1,967. The number of students went down creating a decrease in actual funds in current expense. Chairman Mallory explained Dr. James will be presenting to the Board during Monday’s meeting and looks forward to asking specific questions about bridging the gap. Things can be traced back to COVID. MGSD also has a decrease of 140 students creating a decrease in current expense. Taylor said staff looks at the average increase or decrease between the school systems and applies that to Mitchell Community College. They are also seeing a decrease. In the fall, staff will revisit ADM and Mitchell. All three school systems will receive an increase in capital. With the new formula, ISS and MGSD capital is strictly the sales tax the County is required to give them (30% of Article 40 and 60% Article 42 sales tax). Mitchell’s formula is different. There is ad valorem allocated to Mitchell and their debt is subtracted. The remainder is their capital. The Board went through each departmental budget and consented. The departments listed below are ones in which the Board had discussion. Administration Chairman Mallory said it appears on paper there are three employees in administration (Beth, Susan, and Joe) but there are actually five including Katrina Hewitt and David Saleeby who are part-time. Mallory asked Mull to explain Saleeby’s role as Project Manager and interactions with Administration and Facility Services. Mull said Saleeby is a part-time employee and serves as the Project Manager. He oversees the larger projects that contractors are hired to do. Before the change, Facility Services asked to focus on maintaining the buildings, preventative maintenance, and smaller projects. The large projects (Jail, Public Safety Center) consumes the department. Saleeby’s expertise is in engineering so a part-time project manager position was created to oversee large projects that are approved by the Board and Mull signs off on the pay aps. Mull explain she does not have the expertise to oversee those type projects. Saleeby meets with contractors on a regular basis and 7 May 6, 2021 provides a detail update to Mull every two weeks. Saleeby shepherds necessary annexation requests. Saleeby is responsible for Facility Services knowing when maintenance is scheduled (i.e. HVAC units). There are some bits and pieces that Facility Services does handle. For example, renovating the old ECOM space. Part of that project was to put in a lift at the stairway. Saleeby headed the project and Facility Services installed the lift. The lift was not in the original scope. Although, Facility Services installed the lift; Saleeby ensured all the requirements were met and found the vendor. Saleeby does work closely with Facility Services but Saleeby oversees the contract side on the Board’s behalf. Commissioner Brown asked how many hours Saleeby works. Mull said Saleeby works approximately 20 hours per week, but does not go over 2000 hours per year. Commissioner Houpe said there is confusion in Saleeby’s functionality and what Facility Services does. Houpe asked if Saleeby would be better suited under Facilities. Saleeby does not have a budget but if he functioned with Facilities he could maintain the same expectations for the contracted services. Houpe feels Saleeby would be more in-tuned in Facilities. Houpe has received feedback that there may be a breakdown in communication because Saleeby does not work with Facilities on a daily basis. Houpe asked why Saleeby has a different spending threshold from Facilities and when Saleeby is over budget the difference is made up in the Facilities budget. Saleeby ‘s is $12,000 and Facilities is $4,000. Mull explained Saleeby goes to Caroline and she works to coordinate with Tanya to see if there is any extra money the department is not going to use. Commissioner Houpe said if Saleeby functioned order Facilities everyone would be on the same page on a daily basis and the direction by the County Manager will not change. Mull said Saleeby does not function under Facilities budget. Commissioner Houpe said Saleeby goes to them in more cases than not to identify additional funds. Taylor said there is a separate fund, Facilities Improvement, in which the large products are funded from. Facilities manages some of the projects and some Saleeby manages. For example, the Government Center project is being paid out of the Facilities Improvement. Tanya manages the fund, but Taylor and Cheek assists. Taylor said anytime Saleeby is looking for money it is within the separate fund, not a part of Facilities budget. Commissioner Houpe suggested it would be cleaner for Saleeby to function under Facilities and is still able to accomplish directions by the County Manager. Mull said Saleeby also does other things. For example, annexation requests and overseeing Troutman Sewer Line installation. Saleeby coordinated with the Children’s Hope Alliance and the Town of Troutman for the project. Also, Saleeby oversees the Bluefield Road property, specifically during the construction easement when the property was encroached on. Saleeby visited the property numerous times a week. That is something Facilities did not need to worry about, but the Board did because there was a contract agreement for the construction easement. Commissioner Houpe said that pertains to Facilities. 8 May 6, 2021 Mull disagreed. Commissioner Norman asked if Saleeby takes direction from Mull. Mull said yes. Commissioner Norman asked what the problem is. Commissioner Houpe said Saleeby needs to function under Facilities. Commissioner Norman said that is an opinion. Commissioner Houpe feels that Saleeby is better coordinated through Facilities. He would still accomplish tasks assigned by Mull. Mull said at that point she would need to go through the Department Directors versus straight to Saleeby. Commissioner Houpe asked why that would be a problem. Commissioner Norman asked what is wrong with the way it is. Commissioner Houpe feels the system is broken. Commissioner Norman said that is an opinion. Commissioner Houpe said it feedback provided by employees who feel the process is broken. Commissioner Norman said that is second-hand information. Commissioner Houpe said it is not second-hand, it is coming directly from employees. Houpe feels Saleeby’s position needs to go through Facilities. It does not change the use or Mull’s expectations, but money spent would be tracked better. Mull said staff tracks every dime spent. Commissioner Houpe said Saleeby’s threshold is different than Facilities. Saleeby is part- time. Chairman Mallory said there is a vergence of opinion. It is a result of how this came about in the first place. Saleeby came on board to specifically work two projects (Jail & Public Safety Center) and did a great job birddogging. He was on-site almost daily and coordinating very closely with Mull because the projects were well beyond the capabilities of Facilities because they didn’t have an engineer with the skillset. Mallory said overtime, with the addition of projects, that function has continued being performed and that has been very beneficial in terms of having the coordination and ensures Mull before signing contracts. The problem is when you have position to do one thing and slowly morphs into something else that no one really understand what is going on. Mull said a position was eliminated and in that was a request for this part-time position. It was approved by the Board. Chairman Mallory said correct, but to some it was limited to the duration of the two large projects. 9 May 6, 2021 Commissioner Houpe agreed. Mull said the request was made after the two projects were almost complete. Previous County Manager Ron Smith created the position for the two projects. Chairman Mallory said it a perception and communication issue. Mallory asked Mull to work through Saleeby’s duties and responsibilities, and see where they nest within the organization. It is very clear in the organization chart where he is and who he reports to. Saleeby reports to Mull and the Board. Chairman Mallory said there are a lot of the capital projects on the horizon. Saleeby has an important function and some feel he can effectively perform is in Facilities and some believe where he is. It is up to the Board to decide then everyone will be on the same page. Chairman Mallory asked for a monthly summary report on capital projects, including the status of the project and any issues. Mallory emphasized the importance of the Board being involved. The Board receives feedback from various sources. Specifically, the Special Victim’s Unit. The lift was to be done one way but created unnecessary foot traffic through the Register of Deeds office. That is not necessarily on Saleeby’s radar as he is focused on other issues. The Board needs a forum by which to communicate on projects. Commissioner Houpe asked if the project with Terry Miller on Bristol Drive was budgeted. Mull said that was the completion of the budgeted project. Commissioner Houpe used the steps at SVU as example. Saleeby wanted the steps repaired. They took the steps out and had to go back to make them ADA compliant. If Saleeby functions under Facilities it will not take away Mull’s expectations from him. Houpe feels Saleeby and Facilities could coordinate better together. Mull said Saleeby submitted a Facility Services workorder, just like any other county employee would do, requesting the bottom step be repaired. Commissioner Houpe said the steps were taken out because Facilities staff stated the steps were non-compliant. Mull said the steps were grandfathered in. Commissioner Houpe said Facilities feels that once a change is made things should be compliant. Saleeby works for Mull and when there is an argument over how things should be done, he uses the County Manager as a weapon instead working with Facilities. Saleeby’s job is to the manage projects and work with Facilities. Houpe suggested anything with facilities or projects should fall under the purview of Facilities. Commissioner Houpe felt the Projects Manager position was temporary and the Board envisioned Mull bringing back the position in which Ben Stikeleather had. Chairman Mallory said the discussion has highlighted a coordination and communication issue. Facilities is tightly involved in projects, but in an organizati on roles and responsibilities must be very clear along with who that person needs to coordinate with. Mallory feels this is the missing piece. There needs to be a bi-weekly meeting between Facilities and Saleeby for him to give them additional awareness. Mull said Saleeby provides email updates. 10 May 6, 2021 Chairman Mallory the updates need to be produced in writing to address concerns raised by Commissioner Houpe, relative to Facilities. It is important for Saleeby to nest there so they will know what is going on but maintaining him in Administration gives the Board the abilities to have more direct contact with him on big ticket items. Chairman Mallory suggested tightening the situation and keep the organizational chart issue on the radar so that everyone knows where Saleeby is. It is a position with defined rules and responsibilities. Mull added the Project Manager position has very clear job description with roles and responsibilities. Chairman Mallory said if the Board knew that the discussion may have been avo ided. Saleeby. Mallory said Saleeby and Katrina Hewitt are critical parts of Administration. Mull said part-time staff will be added to departments. The Board agreed by consensus to leave Saleeby in Administration, but ensuring there is coordination and communication occurring with Facilities and the Board. Commissioner Houpe is willing to work with Mull another year on it, but at some point Saleeby will retire and the need will still be there. Chairman Mallory asked that Saleeby provide the Board a monthly update during a regular meeting. Commissioner Brown said Mull knows what Saleeby does, but to Commissioner Houpe’s point there are questions as to why we have a project manager when the two large projects are done. Commissioner Houpe said Saleeby’s job is very important. There just needs to be better coordinating with Facilities. Chairman Mallory said there needs to be a more directed focus on communicating what is going on in the County in the most effective way. Mallory suggested there be better marketing for the County. Vice Chair Neader has received wonderful feedback on the bi-weekly WAME radio shows. Robertson asked the Board to create a position for communications. There is too much to be done with the current staff. Chairman Mallory suggested a possible part-time position. Information Technology Commissioner Houpe asked that IT be in communication with the Sheriff’s Office regarding upcoming updates to prevent disruption in any services. Pierce said Sheila Peterson and staff do a good job with communicating any downtimes, but there are times with residual carryover. Commissioner Houpe asked if it was advantageous for the Sheriff’s Office IT staff member to coordinate with the County’s IT department. There seems to be a lack of response by the County’s IT department. 11 May 6, 2021 Pierce said it would be advantageous as long as it was working in the same system and no vulnerabilities were created. Mull explained that the Sheriff’s IT staff can work on computers and equipment, but if there is an issue with connecting back to the network then the two IT departments need to work together. The Sheriff’s Office desktop specialists do not have intricate knowledge of the County’s network. The two would need to work together. Commissioner Houpe asked if employees on call receive compensation. The Board has been told they do not. Mull said they do. There is an on-call policy. Specific to IT, there is an afterhours number to call. Mull referred to the incident. The staff needing assistance did not call the on-call number instead they called a friend who worked in IT. They did not call back because they were not on- call. Had they been on-call they would have called back. Commissioner Houpe asked about the on-call pay policy. Mull will report back to the Board Monday or Tuesday. Commissioner Brown said one employee mentioned being on-call an entire weekend and getting paid for only one hour. Commissioner Houpe said a lot of agencies pay a minimum of two-hours for being on-call. Houpe suggested the on-call policy be looked at to ensure employees who are on-call are in fact being compensated. Pierce said Animal Services employees are on stand-by and when they answer a call they are paid a minimum of two hours. Commissioner Houpe said employees on-call or stand-by and that prohibits their travel, the County needs to be compensating those employees fairly. Register of Deeds Chairman Mallory asked the status of the office issuing passports. Mull said Register of Deeds Maureen Purcell would like to learn the ends and out of the office before adding additional services. Facility Services Commissioner Houpe asked about the needs of the department. Pierce said the department has not requested anymore needs other than the part-time carpenter. Day Wrap Up Jones said, “I have one item. Chairman Mallory, you mentioned about Parks & Recreation and the shift in focus in Athletic Programming and the additional revenue source. I need clarification and reassurance that the direction and charge we were given at the Fall/Winter Retreat is still the consistent direction. When we discussed that we talked about the quarter cent sales tax and I know that is off the table based on the new funding we are seeking as a result of COVID-19 12 May 6, 2021 and ARP funds. That being said, I want to make sure that we are still on the same path and direction that until a new sustainable revenue source is obtained that we are going to focus on the facilities and not the athletic programming. The reason I am asking that is we have an end of season meeting coming up. I know the question will come up. I want to make sure we are still moving in the direction the Board wishes us to move.” Chairman Mallory asked, “When is the meeting?” Jones said, “Monday.” Commissioner Houpe said, “I got a call about it today. I would recommend that we continue the agreement we have with them for at least another season. Another year.” Commissioner Brown said, “Her agreement is we weren’t going to do it if we didn’t get the money. Your agreement is saying we are going to continue…” Commissioner Houpe said, “The Babe Ruth people. The overall goal.” Jones said, “I am talking about all of it.” Commissioner Brown said, “We were talking about the extra revenue. We took the quarter cent off because we did get the money.” Jones said, “That is not sustainable.” Chairman Mallory said, “This is until that money runs out and kicking the can down the road. We have a sustainable funding resource until we run out of the ability to spend that in three years or whatever that is. By that time the new Board will need to determine, do we continue to march investing at this level.” Commissioner Houpe said, “I guess that is her question.” Jones said, “Okay. That does not include programming. If you are wanting us to get back into programming. We need to redo budgets.” Chairman Mallory asked, “Is that the sense of…” Commissioner Brown said, “Yes, I think so.” Commissioner Houpe said, “To get in programming?” Commissioner Brown said, “I think it is just to go where we are right thi s moment, this year.” Commissioner Houpe said, I think what they are saying is to let them keep maintaining facilities and allow the other entities to do the programming. Is that what you want to continue? That is where we are right now.” 13 May 6, 2021 Jones said, “That is where we are.” Chairman Mallory said, “If we had the quarter cent sales tax, we decided this is the way we want to go. So, what we said at our meeting was we are forgoing asking for that because we have that replaced until these funds run out. We can budget for that for the next three years. Right?” Jones asked, “Using ARP Funds?” Chairman Mallory said, “Yes. Absolutely.” Jones said, “I am sorry we need to go back. We need to go back.” Chairman Mallory said, “That was the whole predicate it seemed to me. To say we are not asking for the quarter cent sales tax because we have a replacement for that funding stream at least thru the duration of these funds. Now, that kicks the can down the road.” Jones asked, “Does that mean you want to go to the next level that you wanted to go to if we got the quarter cent sales tax or just continue…” Commissioner Brown said, “I say we go the way we are right now. We guaranteed Babe Ruth to continue to support them.” Chairman Mallory said, “Why don’t you get us the three options and then we can give you…prior to your meeting.” Monday, May 2, 2022 Education ISS Superintendent Dr. Jeff James said it is important to note it is the school system’s responsibility to give the Board an update. James provided a copy of the school system’s strategic plan. It includes the five major goals as focused on by the state and what the system is doing to accomplish those. ISS aims to be competitive when hiring teachers and classified employees but still behind some counties when it comes to attracting teachers. This requires adding to the fund balance. James explained the expense of the IB program, dual immersion program, and the early colleges. State funding is a moving target. James said federal monies requires an extensive plan. Federal funds close up the gap created by poverty. Of local funds 64% funds salaries, 10% fund utilities, 5% maintenance, 4% supplies and materials, and 12% charter schools. Last year, charter schools received over $5 million in funding. ISS has a wide variety of students. The system is in the 40th percentile of free and reduced lunch. 14 May 6, 2021 James said the system has approximately $22 million in grants that goes towards salaries and benefits. They help with SROs, nurses, etc. Most of the grants will run out in 2024, but the system is constantly reapplying. James said the state average property tax is 64 cent per 100. Anytime it is lower that, a school system loses money. Because the State doesn’t consider that system average. ISS is a little below middle of the pack in tier 3 counties when it comes to per pupil funding. Education is a way to fight poverty. Chairman Mallory said ISS is about a year ahead of the curve on major construction. Stimulus dollars will result in increased construction. Dr. James said the new high school is moving forward, but building will not begin for another 18 months. Jones noted the per pupil funding has increased from 19.40 top 19.67. The decrease listed on the handout is directly related to the number of students. Jones recommended funding the schools based on the DPI number and true-up in September 2021. Commissioner Houpe said the Education Task Force talked about how capital money is used. The one cent that is currently collected is going to capital debt. Houpe asked if that money can be allocated to show it is going toward school debt until the districts need it to pay debt service. Jones said the majority of the County’s debt is schools. The only other debt the County has is the Public Safety Center. Chairman Mallory expressed appreciation to staff and the Education Task Force. Commissioner Houpe said the schools also appreciate the County’s efforts. Public Safety Departments Animal Control – requesting an additional AC officer to help alleviate the workload on the current officers. The officers are on-call on the weekends. Commissioner Brown asked if the animal control officers are paid overtime or receive comp time. Pierce said it fluctuates. They receive on-call time (and paid) with a 2-hour minimum. Chairman Mallory asked if the officers are compensated when on-call. Pierce said they are only compensated when they are called. They do have to be nearby. Jones said HR Director Sandra Gregory will be here tomorrow to discuss this matter. The County has to be very careful with on-call. The fair labor standards act is very specific regarding on-call pay versus standby. 15 May 6, 2021 Commissioner Brown wanted to make sure the staff is being taken care of. Chairman Mallory said the department is adding a position to alleviate the problem. Every department has different circumstances. ECOM Pierce recommended the addition of the QA position because it will allow consistency and subjectivity. Commissioner Houpe asked about the reductions for telephone, training and development. There should be an increase in training and development. Pierce said those were reductions and carryovers. Jones said travel was halted because of Covid so there are excess funds in travel to carry forward. Commissioner Houpe said the Public Safety Task Force would like to see an intentional effort for additional training for ECOM staff. There is concern over the lack of experience. Houpe recommended appropriate funding for training. Pierce said there are several training officers. The turnover is a result of becoming trained and leaving for other employment or they decide that job is not for them. The reductions are carry- overs because there was no in-person training. Commissioner Houpe said continuous training should readily available. Jones noted training and development was not cut; unspent funds from this year rolled over to next year. Commissioner Houpe asked about an additional person to help Jamie with programming. Jones thought the Board was comfortable with the vendor helping. Commissioner Houpe does not want to always depend on an outside vendor. Jones said there is an in-house person and an outside vendor. Commissioner Houpe said there are concerns over how long it takes to get the programming done. Commissioner Brown asked if the Sheriff’s IT person can assist with the radios. Commissioner Houpe asked how often radios need to be tuned. Andy Webster said yearly. 16 May 6, 2021 Chairman Mallory suggested packaging the concerns. Moving forward with the budget as it is. Commissioner Houpe asked if it would be beneficial for HR going into ECOM similar to DSS. Jones said yes. Sheriff’s Office & Jail EMS Commissioner Houpe would like to look to at the part-time pool and legalities. Fire Marshall Pierce said it’s been a challenging year with Covid. The department has been assisting with vaccine clinics by various setups and breakdowns and traffic control. Pierce explained the request for an additional Fire Marshall was decline because of need. Misty has not been inside the schools as much. They may have fallen behind on their inspections however, the County is in a place where the Fire Marshalls can get out more and catching up. This coming FY will be a good year of measurement of the personnel needs. Commissioner Houpe said the task force has asked questions. The Board cut requests when the budget was tighter. Houpe suggesting approving the additional fire marshal and emergency management position because there is a need. The task force also supports the approval. The requests have been denied for four years. Commissioner Brown agreed. Pierce said in the past there were some part-time fire marshals and inspections were caught up. When the department was granted an additional position the part-times went away. This last year has really put the County as a whole in a bind. Sometimes businesses, schools are closed and they can’t conduct the inspection. Chairman Mallory asked responsiveness to the department relative to building permits. Pierce has not received any complaints on the Fire Marshal’s office not being responsive. Commissioner Norman asked is there enough work for the additional Fire Marshal. Pierce said right now, however once the department is caught up things may differ. Jones said in the past when fire inspections were behind the County hired part-time fire marshals to help get caught up. Once the department caught up it remained that way and there was 17 May 6, 2021 no longer a need for part-time inspectors. Staff has talked about hiring a part-time marshal if the need arises. Misty did school inspections when she was there educating, but the schools have been closed. The department helped with the testing and vaccination clinics. This past year has not been normal. Jones recommended allowing things to get back as normal as possible and if the need is arises, a part-time fire marshal can be added. Commissioner Houpe said there is plenty to do in a growing county. The can has been kicked down the road for four years. With the additional contractual duties, an additional assistant fire marshal is needed. Kent Greene said there is enough work to keep an additional person busy; especially in the southern end of the County. The number of permits have doubled. There is only one fire marshal that can do plan reviews. Jones noted the fire marshal does not do plan reviews for Mooresville or Statesville. Chairman Mallory said the workload is there this year and will likely increase over time. The Board agreed by consensus to add an additional Fire Marshal position. Emergency Management Pierce said the request for an Emergency Planner was denied. Green provided justifications for the request. Pierce said there is currently a need because of Covid but whether the person can stay gainfully employed has not been determined. Chairman Mallory said it is not a matter of getting caught up because it never started. This issue has been discussed for several years. If you fail plan you plan to fail. There are planned exercises that give some competency but not across the board for coordination of a widespread outage. Mallory said it is time to bite the bullet and have a good plan that is executable. Green said the department’s biggest weakness is maintaining the County’s 11 separate plans. The largest is the Emergency Operation Plan which is 583 pages and supposed to be reviewed annually. Green went through some different plans. The Board agreed by consensus to add an Emergency Planner position. Rescue Squad Taylor said a new funding formula was started this current year by taking the base funding that goes to all rescue squads and increase it by 1%. Overall the rescue squads receive a 3% increase in funding. Funding for apparatus payments ($35,000) and equipment payments ($15,000) were also added. Thus far this year, the rescue squads have not used any of this funding so the money will roll over. Jones said Green is in the process of working on an apparatus replacement program for the rescue squads. 18 May 6, 2021 Jones presented copies of the Powerpoint from the Fall/Winter Retreat. Jones said, “Because we were given the direction we have taken steps to continue to move forward to encourage and support those agencies that are providing the athletic programming. We have move forward and Michelle can give you an update. One of those was the Charter. Remember we have a joint charter with Impact for soccer. Our charter is now gone because we were told to get out of athletic programming. We have done that. We did that Wednesday. I want everyone to understand we really need to decide if we are in or out. Because we are moving in the direction to make some very permanent decisions that is going to be very difficult to undo.” Commissioner Brown said, “I thought we were going to…we are not in it right now, but we are guaranteeing Babe Ruth. We are not charging them and making up a difference if there is one. Is that where we are Gene? We wanted to be sure we told them we guarantee them this year. I don’t think we are going to have to come up with anything.” Hepler said, “We did give them scholarship funding. They circled back and asked to add a facility to maintain New Salem United Methodist Church for their programming at that site. As far as going back and giving them more money…” Commissioner Houpe said, “We were talking about holding them harmless for shortages. That is what we basically decided.” Commissioner Brown said, “That is what I was talking about.” Commissioner Houpe said, “What we wanted to do was if we didn’t do the whole programming piece we could add another year to that to get through another season. They will think they will have enough based on their numbers.” Hepler asked, “Is this an athletics discussion or Babe Ruth’s discussion. There is so much more… Commissioner Houpe said, “The broader one is both. I think we just wanted to address that one specific piece while you were here.” Commissioner Brown said, “Babe Ruth is the biggest group concerned. I think when we were discussing holding them harmless they thought they were going to come up short. Not getting into the A, B, or C. I think that is a misunderstanding. ” Jones said, “We need to get into that because my interpretation of the charge given, I got a very different impression of that on Thursday. We really need direction. Are we go ing to provide athletic programming and use ARP funds to do that to the tune of $1.9 million or are we going to continue to do what we are doing now and not provide athletic programming?” Chairman Mallory said, “I don’t think we are coming off option c except for this one to two year transition. Option C does provide us to have a grant program. As long we deal with 19 May 6, 2021 whatever short term turbulent issues are and ease into the fact that we are officially out of sponsoring these leagues. I think that is where I would like to be.” Commissioner Brown said, “Yes.” Vice Chair Neader asked, “Since the charter has ended, correct? If there is a child in Iredell County, will they have an opportunity to participate on a soccer team if they previously been a part of this soccer charter.” Hepler said, “We requested, after February’s meeting, for permission from NCYSAA to transfer our charter to Impact so that would allow them to move forward with or without recreation level play. Because the charter has been existence for so long, we received Wednesday, they were grandfathered in approval. Impact can keep the charter and can provide recreation and challenge level soccer. Simultaneously, it is important for everyone to understand this. I had a similar conversation shared with the City of Statesville Parks & Recreation Director that we were planning to get out of soccer. If permitted, would transfer our charter directly to Impact. They said if you get out of soccer and you are the one that supplied recreation play for the last 25 years and you are opting not to they felt it prudent from their perspective to offer a recreation level play of soccer. Therefore, they have requested and received an application and have every intention on moving forward with a charter with NCYSA to provide recreation level soccer.” Vice Chair Neader asked, “Do they have the facilities to do that.” Hepler said, “Yes. So, there would be Impact, who holds the charter and there would be the City of Statesville. Late Friday, we asked if we could push pause with the conversation. We reached out in a frenzy to the State and asked them not to file the request yet. They will give us until May 31, but we have to know by May 31 if we want to give that away to Impact.” Commissioner Houpe said, “Why can’t we maintain our part of the charter. Why do we have to give that up in case we change our mind?” Hepler said, “We could do that but if we do it and it is our charter then we are responsible for the level of play, risk management because it is tied to our Federal Tax ID number. To hand that off, is just managing the MoA, but it still requires staff time and we were directed to get out of sports.” Commissioner Houpe said, “We were moving in that direction because we didn’t have a permanent revenue stream. What I hate to see is us give up the ability to change course if there was ever a revenue stream developed unless that is our permanent decision. That is the decision we have to make.” Commissioner Brown said, “I thought that was the direction we were going. We are probably going to being the quarter cent sales tax back in 2024. We have been in this business for 40 years. Why do want to give up something we have been doing?” Hepler said, “25 years.” 20 May 6, 2021 Commissioner Brown said, “We have been doing this successfully. You know when we talked to the other counties people moving here are relying on Iredell County to have certain things. If we don’t have Recreation…It is economic development. We have to have certain things whether it is a walking trail or park for the kids. Move this to one more year with Plan C and we will come back next year to see where we are. We know in 2024 we are going to the quarter cent sales tax. This 1.8 million…there is a better way. I am only one. I think we can add a person in Parks & Rec to help those for a lot less than $1.8 million.” Commissioner Houpe said, “My perspective is to maintain our charter and allow them to continue working through you thru 2024 to see how that goes. I know until there is a revenue stream we don’t want to bite off A or B until there is a revenue stream. I think we can continue assisting by maintaining the facilities, fields. I think you asked for a turf person. I think we can work with you on that. It is a win-win and at least give us an option down the road.” Chairman Mallory said, “Remember, option C was to focus on facilities. If you get a revenue stream it gives you the ability to expand the facilities. The whole programming went into an unmanageable situation of providing all of the assurances that the leagues, coaches, and other folks were in compliance with all of the requirements that we were not doing. If we were going to do, we needed to do it right.” Hepler said, “Which is Option B.” Chairman Mallory said, “Look at the price tag. If you go with option B we are going to have to…if the revenue stream does not present itself then you are going to be forced to come up with dollars out of the General Fund or you are going to say how do we cut or get out of it. If you recall, the red-headed stepchild was soccer because all of the other sports grew up on their own. They had leagues that managed themselves and we were involved in soccer because there was nobody to do it 25 years ago and never got out of it. The whole point is to say look soccer, you guys have grown up. Take charge of your own league and run yourselves. We don’t need to be in that business. We need to concentrate on park trails and facilities. It sounds like the comparison, the other counties are not heavily involved in managing leagues. Babe Ruth is just that portion that has been really involved in Jennings Park. If they are the exception to the rule then that is what they ought to be. The exception to the rule until the rule is applied to them as well. We can do that for one or two years. That does not change that we said we are doing Option C. Giving up the charter is just part and parcel with we don’t have any need for it. There was an issue with Impact having the charter. It was a joint charter because another league was keeping them out of the NCYSA. Just by virtue of us having that charter blocked them from being accepted into that organization. It was purely a competition kind of thing.” Hepler said, “We finally have that permission and they’ve been grandfathered if in fact, we get rid of it. It sounds like Commissioner Houpe wants us to keep it until we figure out what we are going to do. I am hearing you say we need to go ahead and get rid of it. I need some clarity. If in fact, the City of Statesville gets a charter and provides recreation play it would not be my department’s intention to compete with that if we ever brought sports back on. Mainly because for the last 25 years there has been an understood agreement that if the City of Statesville is offering something then we don’t necessarily want to compete with them. Let’s leverage resources so that the citizens can have all the options.” 21 May 6, 2021 Commissioner Houpe said, “I agree. That is why I said if we keep our option on the table and we ever get the revenue stream then we can consider B then you wouldn’t compete with Mooresville or Statesville programming. We still do C if we can keep the charter and function the way you’ve been functioning. It doesn’t cost us.” Commissioner Norman said, “The legal liability is what I am thinking about.” Hepler said, “They are still playing. If it is tied to our charter we maintain the MoA to operate with Impact providing recreation level play. If the City is going to offer rec play Impact, in theory, could just do the challenge, but that is a conversation we have to have tomorrow. All of that has to be determined and filed by May 31.” Commissioner Houpe said, “I didn’t realize when we were doing C we were thinking about giving up the charter. I didn’t know about that.” Commissioner Brown said, “I guess I misunderstood that too. Having it Statesville do it or we do it, as long as it is being done in Iredell County is the main thing. Right now, going back to your C and giving a pass for Jennings. We still have problems there we need to work with to make them feel warm and fuzzy.” Chairman Mallory said, “The impact on Impact if we stay in the charter is they are still frozen out.” Hepler said, “If we stay in the charter, Impact still has the capacity to offer the challenge level play through our charter, but I don’t know the sustainability of that organization now that the City is going to offer recreation play. They can still do travel teams and support themselves internally.” Commissioner Brown asked, “What do we gain and lose by giving them our charter.” Hepler said, “If we give it up, we lose the ability to bring in revenue. All of the money associated with any of the players registered through us. That wont come to us. If we keep it, we gain the ability to potentially offer the program in the future. But again, if the City is building a program starting in the Fall we will be competing with them if we go back and start offering again.” Commissioner Brown said, “Going back to what Gene said. What do we lose by keeping it at this moment?” Hepler said, “Just the staff time that Daniel is managing from a Risk Management perspective because it is our charter tied to our federal tax ID tied to us, Iredell County. We are responsible for the liability piece of sexual abuse training, background checks, registering recreation players at the State level.” Commissioner Brown asked, “One staff member?” Hepler said, “One for us. If we keep the charter and not really running the program is right now we are paying $15,000 a year to maintain Fairview Baptist Church for that recreation level 22 May 6, 2021 play to be played there. If we play at the City of Statesville complex we have to pay to use the facility. Our relationship with the property at Fairview has afforded the Impact recreation players to play there at a much cheaper rate.” Commissioner Houpe said, “I think that is a reasonable investment to get kids involved. I think it is a good compromise to leave our options open at least until we say where we can go. We can always give it up later.” Chairman Mallory said, “But during Covid we’ve given it over to Impact to run. We can leave it that way. It is just a pass through although we have a joint charter with them. We are doing a minimal amount of administrative work. To what extent is there increased liability?” Hepler said, “It is not that much more. The biggest thing is the confusion for the end user because they don’t know whose program it is. When things go bad because parents are unhappy or whatever it is an Impact program but we are still supporting it and it is our charter. So the parents don’t understand who to complain to or who to be frustrated with. It is frustrating for us. Impact is doing the best they can with the resources they have but I don’t think the parents recognize that because there is a significant level of frustration. It just looks bad for us.” Commissioner Houpe said, “But if we give it up or Impact goes under then those parents are going to look to a Rec Department to be able to provide some type of outlet even if it is a pass through. I agree with you on not competing with someone later. Let the keep doing what they are doing well. We can pick up the slack in other programs maybe. I just don’t want to lose our options.” Chairman Mallory said, “It would be nice if the City of Statesville started a rec league. Commissioner Houpe said, “Of course, they’re doing it now.” Jones said, “The city is not doing rec soccer.” Commissioner Houpe said, “They are getting ready to. We don’t have to give up our charter to do it because they are going to do it.” Jones said, “They are doing it anyway because we were given the direction to get out of it. That is why the City of Statesville is applying for a charter.” Commissioner Houpe said, “Us getting out of it could be temporary depending on a revenue stream. I don’t want to shut the door to the charter. I think that is providing service to the kids.” Vice Chair Neader said, “Lisa, do you have any advice from a legal standpoint.” Valdez said, “As long as you have the charter you have liability exposure for the program whether or not it is funneled through Impact or not. If there is some program going on underneath it there is exposure. They are going to get anything from Impact. They will look for the one holding the charter.” 23 May 6, 2021 Commissioner Houpe said, “We are providing the facilities, doesn’t that still leave us with a level of liability?” Valdez said, “We are providing the facilities. We don’t own Fairview Baptist…” Commissioner Houpe said, “I know but the facilities we maintain I would assume there is liability involved. If someone breaks an ankle at a field we are maintaining they are going to sue us.” Vice Chair Neader said, “I was looking at the charter perspective of it versus the facility. Because it is two separate policies.” Commissioner Houpe said, “We are the deeper pocket.” Valdez said, “There is a difference between the general liability and the property. Keep in mind there are other activities happening other than running on the field. Whether they aren’t training their coaches properly, that liability exposure stays as long as we hold the charter.” Hepler said, “They are hiring and paying their own referees.” Valdez said, “We are still connected to them is the point.” Commissioner asked, “How long have we been that way?” Hepler said, “We have been operating this way for a year. There was no program in the spring but we operated this way in the fall and this past spring. Prior to that the referees were our and our staff was on site double checking the coach’s cards to make sure no one was on the field that wasn’t screened. We are not doing that now. We will do whatever you tell us to do.” Commissioner Brown said, “We are trying to do the best for the County that we can do. We don’t want to overwork you. If we hire one person would it make this carry on another year until we get a revenue?” Jones said, “She has one person on staff now. We were going to reassign.” Hepler said, “He is working on the field right now. He has been doing three days a week prepping fields.” Commissioner Brown said, “I am talking about to do the checking of the coaches.” Commissioner Houpe asked, “If we did the turf management, would it free the person back up?” Hepler said, “Some.” Jones said, “We will find a way to make it work. We just need a definitive direction. Commissioner Norman asked, “How much is Statesville going to charge the kids to play?” 24 May 6, 2021 Hepler said, “Less than us.” Commissioner Brown asked, “Can only residents of Statesville play?” Hepler said, “They have a resident fee and non resident fee. The non resident fee is less than what we have ever charged.” Jones said, “Because we have a percent cost recovery we put on the Parks & Rec department. The city does not have that. They don’t expect cost recovery.” Commissioner Houpe said, “If we give up the charter you take options A & B off the table. You will be left with C. That is what I don’t want to do. It is good to have options.” Chairman Mallory asked, “Does it negatively impact Impact to give up the charter?” Hepler said, “They are saying I can transfer the charter completely to Impact and they can do whatever they want.” Chairman Mallory said, “What is being suggested is we retain the charter and it all stays the same. What was the detriment to Impact?” Hepler said, “They are coming out like a dream because we are doing the work.” Valdez said, “Before the current agreement. In the current agreement they took on that work. Registration, referees…” Chairman Mallory said, “Which is what we wanted out of. Going back to the original discussions we had. We did not want to be involved in picking coaches and playing time. We don’t do it for anyone else. They are doing it because of Covid because they could operate when we couldn’t.” Commissioner Houpe said, “Let’s continue with the agreement.” Chairman Mallory said, “If they are willing to do that then we get the benefit of being out of the day to day and maintain the option in the future, but it all depends on their willingness to sign multi-year agreement. That also will trigger the Statesville Rec Department to do the rec league.” Hepler said, “Impact wanted to build an empire. The more travel players you have the more income you have. Lake Norman Soccer merged with Charlotte Independence and became an organization with more than 15 full-time employees. Impact could not compete with that. The roadblock was we don’t want them to have their own private charter because kids who would have otherwise come in our program.” Chairman Mallory said, “Continuing under this – as modified by the Covid arrangement…” 25 May 6, 2021 Hepler said, “They are going to do travel only because we are going to support Statesville’s recreation league.” Chairman Mallory said, “If they stand it up. If the reason the y‘re standing it up is because we are getting out of the charter business. On the other hand when we went to this current arrangement that didn’t cost them to stand up a rec league.” Hepler said, “It did because Impact just couldn’t do it.” Chairman Mallory said, “We can probably get to the win-win.” Jones said, “Let’s be clear. No one is bad mouthing Impact. They are an amazing organization who offers very affordable travel league soccer. They are knocking it out of the park. They have never done rec level play before. We asked them to do that for us and it is very different.” Chairman Mallory said, “We are out of the day to day and have a general liability issue and the City comes up to run a rec league. We continue to march.” Jones said, “So the direction is to stay out of the programming. We are going to retain the charter, continue the partnership with Impact, what we have with Babe Ruth Baseball but we are not providing programming, but we are going to retain our charter.” Chairman Mallory said, “Yes. And, we are going to wean Babe Ruth off.” Continued Departmental Budgets (only departments with discussion and/or changes are outlined) Library – Staff is recommending to eliminate overdue book fines. Parks & Recreation – Addition of Parks Ground Manager to oversee the field maintenance crews. Requesting a rental fee change to East Iredell Lions Club and Scotts Rosenwald to set off the addition of wifi. The hourly fee of the rental will increase from $25 to $50 and the daily rental from $150 to $200. Debt (outside of the schools) The only facility with debt is Public Safety; it will roll off in FY28. In addition, the vehicle financing will roll off FY24. SANS (IT) will roll off FY23. Cardiac Equipment lease will roll off this current year. Motorola Radio lease for the Fire Departments. The All-County Fire District pays back the general fund. Capital Reserve and Transfer Funds Taylor said the under new the school funding model all of the pennies that have designated for previous GO bonds are used to pay for debt, if there is anything left over it is put into Capital Reserve designated for a fund balance for the Board to direct on how to purchase. Staff anticipates not having enough the next GO bonds are issued, the plan is to use these designated funds. 26 May 6, 2021 Jones said one the school safety and security goes away those funds will go back into the general fund. This is the last year for the half cent school safety and security. Capital Improvement Government Center – Exterior renovation and window and door restoration. New entry way is also included. ADA Accessibility - any buildings that need ADA improvements. SANS - Instead of leasing again, staff allocated for the project. The project will not be completed until the lease is up in FY23. EMS Radios – Funded 100% instead of split into two years. Justice Quadrant – Setting aside money for the justice quadrant master plan. Commissioner Houpe asked to take those funds and pave the lot behind Elections. The geo matting is not working properly. Jones said if the lot is paved there will also need to be stormwater, and curb and gutter. Commissioner Houpe said it will be beneficial to go forward in paving the lot. A number of people use the overflow lot. The Harrill Street lots are also being paved. Jones said the paving will costs more than $100,000. Chairman Mallory recommended funding the master plan and the paving project at Elections. DSS Call Center and Lab Space – the department has a file room they are no longer using and would like to renovate it to accommodate other uses. Some of the cost will be reimbursed from the State. Setting money aside for the other half of the DSS Government Center South project. Future Park Fund - $300,000 payback from the previous borrow. ICATS – Setting money aside for the grant match. Chairman Mallory asked about the fairgrounds. Jones said there is money set aside in the fund balance for the fairgrounds. ARP funds can possibly be used for this project. Facility Improvement Funds Small roof replacement at Animal Services. Add awnings to one side of Animal Services. (This would cover all the kennels) Roof of boiler room at Building Standards Courts – replacement of ceiling, LED lighting EMS Mooresville Base – roof replacement Government Center South – roof replacement over the DA’s office and Judge’s chambers. 27 May 6, 2021 All-County Fire Tax District Taylor said staff budgeted the revenue at $13.5 million and so far $13.2 million has been collected. Taylor predicts this line to be just be under budget. Taylor is expecting expenditures to be $600 higher than revenues. Staff suggests reduce the transfer to the general fund. Taylor said funding is based on number of personnel and bases the departments have. They also have facility and apparatus debt. Two departments receive a supplement payment. Staff is recommending a 3% increase in the base funding. Taylor noted that Troutman Fire Department will receive a 4.3% because instead penalizing them for debt roll-off, the department will continue to keep that funding because they would have in their old district. As debt rolls off, it will roll into their base funding. An increase in insurance, contracted services, VTS feeds is expected. There is a decrease in water and sewer. Part of the new funding plan includes the County funding any new apparatus and equipment to departments need next year. The equipment requests total $830,000. There is not enough funds to cover the total. Green is working with the departments to identify what items can be pushed to next year. Chairman Mallory asked about the assumption of increase to ad valorem. Taylor said the anticipated ad valorem is 3.4%. Commissioner Houpe asked what is in the old County-Wide Fire District. Taylor predicted $1,498,000. Commissioner Houpe asked what is committed out of that. Taylor said none. Commissioner Houpe does not want to be unfair to any of the departments. On-Call Pay Jones said Fair Labor Standards Act is very specific regarding standby. If an employee is at home and on call they are not compensated. However, if they are required to be at their workplace to accept call (example: EMS) they are compensated. There were questions about employees being at home and on call. When they receive a call, they are compensated for a minimum of 2 hours. Jones noted this is for non-exempt employees. Chairman Mallory said employees on call are not free to do as they wish. Federal law may not require them to not have alcohol but they should not have consumed alcohol if they respond. In most industries on-call staff are compensated. They are altering their lifestyle. Commissioner Houpe agreed. It is fair for standby and on-call staff to be compensated. Commissioner Brown asked how many departments have on-call staff. Gregory said Solid Waste, Facility Services, Public Safety, IT, and DSS. Vice Chair Neader asked if there was a concern of any employees having any weekends off. Jones has not heard any complaints and asked what the issues are. 28 May 6, 2021 Gregory said if the on-call pay is increased it will also increase overtime pay. Commissioner Houpe asked if there has been an issue with getting on-call staff to work extra. Jones said if there are issues the departments call from the part-time pool. Gregory asked how she should move forward. Chairman Mallory said the County is an employer choice. It is difficult to get qualified people in certain positions. Mallory suggested looking into adding it as a benefit. There was a discussion about the current employment benefits. Jones said turnover and employee retention is a current issue. It is difficult to hire anyone. Permanent part-time work a regular schedule and they are included in the salary scale adjustments starting back in 2017, but they’ve not been included in the performance evaluation. Jones recommended starting the evaluation for permanent part-time to help with retention. Vice Chair Neader asked how many permanent part-time employees there are. Taylor said 35. Chairman Mallory said department heads have to understood they are competing in a dynamic department. Commissioner Houpe said the Board is concerned about the turnover in critical departments. Gregory said she and Pierce were working diligently with Candy Miller before Covid, but will start back with the employment engagement survey. Commissioner Houpe recommended contacting employees who have recently left because some current employees are scared to speak up. Jones said HR is going to host a public sector job fair. Jones recommend using ARP funds to offer sign-on bonuses. Employees will receive a portion at 6 months and the other after one year. Jones recommended a one-time bonus for employees and reward those long-time employees. This will help with retention. Jones cautioned about an economic downturn. A pay scale adjustment adds to base pay. The Board discussed the proposed options. Chairman Mallory urged to be a motivator but not set an expectation. Commissioner Brown said there are so many different departments. Chairman Mallory said the department heads may be able to be assist and target the problems. Gregory said money is a temporary motivator but there needs to be some recognition. 29 May 6, 2021 Commissioner Houpe supports the sign on but would also like to consider a 2% increase across the board and merit increase of up to 3%. Houpe said base pay needs to be looked at. Houpe appreciated the creative employment benefits. Commissioner Norman supports up to 5%. Chairman Mallory thanked everyone for a great budget session. The Board entered into Closed Session GS 143-318.11 (a) (6) Adjournment: Chairman Mallory adjourned the ________________________________ ______________________________ Date Approved Amy B. Anderson, Clerk 30 May 6, 2021