July 20 Board of Commissioners recap

SMITHFIELD — At its meeting on July 20, the Johnston County Board of Commissioners:

• Presented Johnston County’s first Cypress Legacy Award to Sherrill Stevens, a World War II veteran, a former Army Reserve chaplain, and a longtime pastor of churches in North Carolina, Kentucky and Virginia. The new Cypress Legacy Award is Johnston County's highest honor, recognizing individuals whose leadership, service, and commitment have helped shape the County and improve the lives of its citizens. 
  
  
• Agreed to support construction of a digital air traffic control tower at Johnston Regional Airport, the third busiest airport in North Carolina. A control tower will help ensure that air traffic moves safely. Commissioners committed $2.75 million in 2026-27 and $1.75 million in 2027-28 to the project. A traditional control tower relies on controllers looking directly at tower windows to manage aircraft. This will be a digital tower, using high-definition cameras and sensors to provide the same view remotely on video displays.
  
  
• Agreed to move forward with full design of a new home for the Johnston County Department of Social Services, which is currently housed in five buildings. The decision followed review of schematic designs. Also, Commissioners chose to build the new DSS home using the construction manager at risk method. CMaR brings the construction manager onboard during design to provide input on cost, scheduling, and constructability. The construction manager still solicits bids for the various building contracts.
  
  
• Endorsed transportation projects that staff hopes the N.C. Department of Transportation will include in its next State Transportation Improvement Program. The projects include wider stretches of Cornwallis and Cleveland roads; a turn lane on Pierce Road in the Cleveland community; a center turn lane on U.S. 70 Business in Smithfield from Interstate 95 to U.S. 70 East; an access road, hangar and wider taxiway at Johnston Regional Airport; greenways from Wilson’s Mills to Smithfield and along U.S. 301 from the Neuse River bridge in Smithfield to the Rose Dairy Nature Preserve near Four Oaks; and a sidepath along a stretch of Cornwallis Road.
  
  
• Heard a report on the condition of all county-owned buildings. The report gives Commissioners the information they need to target funding to buildings before costly repairs become necessary. Broadly, the report shows County Government has its problem buildings — the Livestock Arena and Mental Health Building among them. But most are in good to fair shape, according to the assessment.
  
  
• Heard an update from Josh Jensen, director of the Johnston County Area Transit System, or JCATS. Jensen said ridership had climbed 26% since 2023, though demand from the elderly and disabled was starting to outpace available dollars. Separately, Jensen said JCATS hoped to expand QuickRide, its ride-hailing service, to Clayton and Flowers Plantation.
  
  
• Adopted a resolution declaring the County’s intent to participate in North Carolina’s Capital Property Assessed Commercial Expenditure Program, or C-PACE for short. Commissioners called for a public hearing on the matter on Aug. 17. The program allows commercial properties to obtain long-term private financing for energy-efficient HVAC systems, solar panels and other renewable energy systems, water-conservation measures, and similar projects.
  
  
• Took under advisement a request from the Wilson’s Mills Fire Department. The Fire Commission has asked fire departments with large cash reserves to spend them down, and a preferred option is to pay off mortgages on fire stations, reducing interest expense. But Wilson’s Mills would like to use the money instead to place a down payment on a new ladder truck. Commissioners said they wanted to run the numbers before making a decision.
  
  
• Gave the following fire departments permission to purchase tanker trucks for $644,337 each: 50-210, Antioch, Bethany, Four Oaks, Micro and Princeton.
  
  
• OK’d a request from Emergency Services to allocate $152,054 in Fire District taxes to the fire departments in Benson, Clayton, Four Oaks, Selma and Smithfield. The money will pay for services the towns provide to the fire departments.
  
  
• Approved an agreement between the County and the Town of Clayton. The agreement says Clayton will provide retail water and sewer service to previously annexed land along Castleberry Road. The town, at its expense, will install master meters and make upgrades to two pump stations. Because the land sits in the Archer Lodge Water District, commissioners briefly recessed their meeting and then, sitting as the water district board, OK’d the agreement with Clayton.
  
  
• Sitting first as the Wilson’s Mills Water District Board and then as the Little Creek Water District Board, commissioners OK’d an agreement with the Town of Wilson’s Mills. The agreement spells out where Johnston County will provide water and sewer service inside Wilson’s Mills and to properties that might later be annexed to the town. For noncontiguous, or satellite, annexations, developers must go through a review process, and the County can approve or deny service requests based on capacity, infrastructure needs, growth plans, and the long-term needs of its utility system. Properties served under the agreement will remain retail customers of Johnston County. It’s the same agreement that the Board of Commissioners approved in June.
  
  
• Recognized County Government’s summer interns, who are listed with their departments: Josie Harrell and Maggie Williams, Cooperative Extension; Taylor Boyette, Emergency Services; Kalyn Kyle and Logan Tyler, Finance; Jadyn McLean and Emma Williford, Human Resources; Marissa Costodio, Public Health; Noah Tripp, Public Utilities; Riley Baker, Soil and Water; Benjamin McLamb, Technology Services; and Gabriel Dixon and Kayley Stanley, Veterans Services.
  
  
• Named Commissioner Ted Godwin its voting delegate at the 2026 N.C. Association of County Commissioners Conference.
  
  
• Received an update on the schedule for adopting a new Unified Development Ordinance. The latest draft of the UDO will be posted to the County Planning Department’s website no later than Aug. 4. A drop-in community meeting on the UDO is scheduled for Sept. 9 at the Johnston County Agricultural Center.
  
  
• Called for a public hearing on proposed amendments to the County’s mass gathering ordinance. Among other things, the amendments would require the organizers of mass gatherings of 2,500 or more people to obtain a permit. The County wants to ensure it can have adequate public safety personnel on hand for such gatherings. The public hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. Aug. 3 in the Commissioners Meeting Room at the Courthouse in Smithfield.
  
  
• Endorsed an N.C. Department of Transportation plan to add the following streets to the roster of state-maintained roads: Mahogany Way, Bonsai Way, Mangrove Court, Everwood Drive, Cherry Tree Lane, Orange Grove Lane and Apple Grove Lane in Everwood subdivision, Elevation Township; Ivey Hollow Court in Bright Ridge subdivision, Pleasant Grove Township; Streamside Drive, Autumn Breeze Court, West Spring Showers Trail and East Spring Showers Trail in Weatherford subdivision, Pleasant Grove Township; and Johnson Ridge Way in Johnson Ridge subdivision, Elevation Township.
  
  
• Heard from several Johnston County residents during the public comment portion of the meeting. Among other things, they talked about water quality, the draft Unified Development Ordinance and the loss of farmland to development.
  
  
• Hired the accounting firm of Thompson, Price, Scott, Adams & Co. to audit the County’s 2025-26 financial records. The audit, required by state law, would cost $91,750. That’s about $4,000, or 4.5%, more than the County paid Thompson, Price, Scott, Adams & Co. for the 2024-25 audit.
  
  
• Revised a 2023 policy governing the spending of federal COVID relief dollars. The revised policy applies to the spending of all federal awards.
  
  
• OK’d a request from Solid Waste Services to declare a compactor surplus and sell it on govdeals.com.
  
  
• OK’d budget revisions for the Sheriff’s Office, $37,030.39 in miscellaneous revenue; Social Services, $50,000 in trust disbursements and $22,807.80 to allocate reimbursements; fire departments, $12,396,552 in revenue from fire district and vehicle taxes; the Johnston County Tourism Authority, $120,836 to match the Tourism Authority Board approved budget request; and Finance, a $41 million transfer from the General Fund to support various public school and community college building projects. The Finance Department will reimburse the General Fund with proceeds from bond sales.

 

Page last updated on:  July 31, 2026