June 9, 2014 - 6:00 PM - County Board of Commissioners Meeting Minutes (Special)

10 118 Meeting of the Johnston County Board of Commissioners June 9 , 2014 6 00 pm The Johnston County Board of Commissioners met in special session Monday , June 9 , 2014 at 6 00 pm in the Commissioners Meeting Room , Johnston County Courthouse Annex , Smithfield , North Carolina The following members were present Present Chairman Jeffrey P Carver , Vice Chairman Tony Braswell , Cookie Pope , Allen L Mims , Jr , DeVan Barbour , Ted G Godwin , and Chad M Stewart Absent None Also Present County Manager Rick J Hester , Clerk to the Board Paula G Woodard , County Attorney David F Mills , Finance Officer and Assistant County Manager J Chad McLamb , and Paralegal Deputy Clerk to the Board Dana Cuddington Chairman Jeffrey P Carver called the meeting to order at 6 00 pm and announced the purpose of the meeting is to discuss the proposed Fiscal Year 2014 - 2015 County budget and related matters The Chairman called for anyone wishing to address the Board to come forward 1 Johnston County Arts Council Johnston County Arts Council Executive Director Darlene Williford addressed the Board Ms Williford stated the main source of funding for the Johnston County Arts Council is from the North Carolina Arts Council in the form of a grassroots grant that has decreased by 10 – 15 every year since 2010 Ms Williford stated because Johnston County is classified as a “ Designated County Partner ” the Johnston County Arts Council has to give half of their funding to non - profit organizations in the County to promote the arts She stated non - profit organizations apply for funding and this past year a total of 19,000 was awarded to 13 non - profits Ms Williford stated they would like to increase these grants to non - profits by 10 Ms Williford provided an overview of all the non - profits that receive grants Ms Williford stated the Johnston County Arts Council depends on supporters donors , grants and fundraisers She continued they have received much needed support in the past from Johnston County ; however , the non - profit grants from Johnston County have been phased out Ms Williford stated the Arts Council still needs the support from Johnston County and she asked the Board to consider allocating funding this fiscal year Ms Williford presented an itemized list of funding needed to keep promoting the arts as well as a background on the different programs She also presented information on how other Arts Councils are funded in their respective counties Ms Williford offered to answer any questions The Board thanked Ms Williford for the information 2 Department of Social Services Director of Social Services Tina Corbett addressed the Board regarding the need for temporary staffing at the Department of Social Services DSS Ms Corbett stated DSS is still experiencing a backlog of work due to challenges with technology changes as well as significant changes to the Medicaid Program through the Affordable Care Act Ms Corbett stated with their already increasing caseload continuing to grow even faster , they are not able to keep up with the workload and are getting even farther behind She reported based on the caseloads , they have a need for 25 additional permanent positions , although no new positions were recommended in the proposed budget Ms Corbett stated she is faced with the challenge of how to move forward and accomplish the workload at DSS , specifically the Medicaid caseload Ms Corbett spoke on the growing caseload coming in to DSS from the Federal Market Place through the Affordable Care Act and noted a lot of those applications are already way overdue since most of them were made in October 2013 in the Federal Market Place , but DSS is only now receiving them She stated they are also continuing to receive cases through NC Fast ePass as well as those that come in physically to the DSS office Ms Corbett stated they had to take a step back and look at how overwhelmed the staff had become with the technology changes and retrain them in certain areas such as policies , the NC Fast system , and the new technology She stated they have a better handle on the situation and because Johnston County is a pilot County they were given 13 OSS over the shoulder support State temporary workers who have been helping However , Ms Corbett noted those 13 State temporary workers are scheduled to leave at the end of June which will put thePage119 June 9 , 2014 – 6 00 pm Continued DSS office behind once again Ms Corbett noted all counties are now being given a deadline to catch up the workload for Medicaid of August 31 , 2014 Ms Corbett asked the Board to consider allowing her to hire at least 12 temporary workers in the hopes she can attract the current State temporary OSS workers , since they are already familiar with the system and have the knowledge to keep the work going Ms Corbett stated these experienced workers will save the time of having to train a completely new person with not only the technology but the policies She stated with these workers she feels the DSS office could make significant improvements over the next few months Ms Corbett stated after that , the DSS office will need to revisit the staffing situation to determine how they can be more st productive once the technology defects are resolved Ms Corbett stressed with the August 31 deadline coming , she needs the additional temporary workers At the inquiry of Chairman Jeffrey P Carver , Ms Corbett explained that NC Tracks is the payment part of the Medicaid program while NC Fast is what the Income Maintenance Workers use to determine eligibility for the programs She noted there are still challenges with both systems at the present , but they are getting better Upon a question by Commissioner Cookie Pope , Ms Corbett stated the County has an opportunity to be reimbursed for staffing , retroactive back to January 1 , 2013 , at 75 from the Federal Government for all work performed for Medicaid through the NC Fast System Commissioner DeVan Barbour DSS Board Commissioner Representative stated Ms Corbett and the DSS staff has done an excellent job and although the situation is getting better , they still have a significant backlog of work He noted mandatory overtime and weekend work is ongoing and there are a lot of employees getting burned out as well as employee turnover Commissioner Barbour urged the Board to take advantage of the 75 reimbursement opportunity so DSS can pick up the temporary OSS workers who can hit the ground running Commissioner Barbour stated not only does DSS need the help with the backlog , he reminded everyone that this involves Medicaid and there are citizens out there that desperately depend on Medicaid Commissioner Chad M Stewart asked how much the County would have to fund for the temporary workers Commissioner Barbour stated the net cost to the County would be approximately 120,000 to fund the 12 temporary positions after the 75 reimbursement County Manager Rick Hester stated if the Board approves Ms Corbett’s request , he would ask them to include the revenues and expenses in the budget motion for the 12 temporary employees Ms Corbett reiterated the OSS employees are currently temporary employees for the State and their contract is over at the end of June Ms Corbett stated she would like to be able to keep them on in a temporary employment capacity with Johnston County before other counties go after them for their knowledge of the system Commissioner Barbour stated the total expense would be 480,000 and the revenue reimbursement 360,000 with a net cost to the County of 120,000 At the inquiry of Commissioner Ted G Godwin , Ms Corbett stated even with the temporary workers , they will still need overtime ; however , she feels they would no longer have to make it mandatory completely across the board In response to Commissioner Stewart , Ms Corbett stated the NC Fast system is supposed to make the system more productive once all the technology issues can be worked out Commissioner Allen L Mims , Jr asked Ms Corbett for estimates on how far behind the DSS workload actually is Ms Corbett stated because all cases are different and require different amounts of time to work in the system , she cannot put an actual daily figure on how far they are behind Ms Corbett stated they currently have 809 applications from the Federal Market Place but she noted they have not received all applications to date that have been submitted through the Federal Market Place She added they have , at the moment , 2,790 total pending Medicaid applications and 10,938 Medicaid recertification applications pending Page120 June 9 , 2014 – 6 00 pm Continued Allison Smith with DSS reported they have set a production goal for the recertifications at 10 cases per employee per day until the system has the defects worked out She stated there are some employees that are more productive than others ; however , it is not necessarily because of the person keying in the case , but the fact that all cases are different and some cases require much more time to work through the system Ms Corbett stated DSS presently has 124 Income Maintenance Workers but they are not all working on Medicaid cases She noted DSS also has a significant workload of Food & Nutrition cases coming in everyday that must be processed Upon a question by Commissioner Tony Braswell , Ms Corbett confirmed that recertifications must be submitted each year and the Federal Market Place will have open enrollment again in November Commissioner Barbour stated time is of the essence and the Board is anticipating adopting the budget th on June 30 He asked if the Commissioners would be willing to go ahead and agree to put the revenues and expenses in the budget motion for the 12 temporary workers Commissioner Barbour stated it is important to be able to retain the temporary OSS workers in Johnston County It was the unanimous consensus of the Board to account for the 12 temporary workers at DSS by adding 480,000 for expense and 360,000 for revenue reimbursement with a net cost to the County of 120,000 in the th Fiscal Year 2014 - 2015 budget motion on June 30 Mr Hester stated the net 120,000 would have a minimal impact on the County’s Fund Balance Ms Corbett thanked the Commissioners for their support to the DSS employees 3 Public Utilities – Brookside Landing Infrastructure CDBG Project Closeout Director of Utilities Chandra Coats , PE , reported in 2012 the County received a Community Development Block Grant for water and wastewater in the Glen Road area She stated the project is now completed , grant funds have been received , the contractor has been paid and the project is being closed out 4 Capital Project Ordinance – East Clayton Industrial Area Wastewater Improvements Project Per staff’s request , upon a motion by Commissioner Tony Braswell , seconded by Commissioner Allen L Mims , Jr , and carried unanimously , the Board adopted the following Capital Project Ordinance CAPITAL PROJECT ORDINANCE FOR EAST CLAYTON INDUSTRIAL AREA WASTEWATER IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT BE IT ORDAINED by the Board of Commissioners of the County of Johnston , North Carolina the “ County ” , that pursuant to Section 132 of Chapter 159 of the General Statutes of North Carolina , the following capital project ordinance is hereby adopted Section 1 The project authorized consists of improvements at both the East Clayton Industrial Wastewater Pump Station the “ WWPS ” and the Johnston County Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant “ the WWTP ” to serve the East Clayton Industrial Area the “ Project ” The improvements include 1 WWPS - modifying wetwell ; upgrading pumps ; modifying piping ; installation of a pH monitoring system and modular motor control center ; electrical upgrades ; upgrading a stand - by generator to a new 200 KW diesel driven generator ; and 2 WWTP – removal and replacement of four chemical feed pumps and replacement of piping and valves for chemical pumps ; installation of pH and phosphorus monitoring systems and chemical feed lines ; addition of a methanol feed pump with piping and valves ; completion of power supply , control , and SCADA wiring for new instruments and chemical dosing pumps ; and revisions to SCADA programming The Project is to be financed by an Economic Infrastructure Grant from the NC Rural Infrastructure Authority , a Golden LEAF Foundation grant , a US Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration “ EDA ” grant and an appropriation from the County’s Wastewater Fund “ Fund 68 ” reserves Section 2 The officers of the County are hereby directed to proceed with the Project within the terms of each of the grant agreements and the budget contained herein Section 3 The following amounts are appropriated for the Project WWPS Improvements Construction 808,000 Contingency 82,000 Technical Services 20,000 Total 910,000Page121 June 9 , 2014 – 6 00 pm Continued WWTP Improvements Construction 135,455 Contingency 13,545 Technical Services 7,430 Total 156,430 Section 4 The following revenues are anticipated to be available to complete this Project WWPS Improvements NC Rural Infrastructure Authority Grant 350,000 Golden LEAF Foundation Grant 150,000 EDA Grant 371,000 Fund 68 Appropriation 39,000 Total 910,000 WWTP Improvements EDA Grant 149,000 Fund 68 Appropriation 7,430 Total 156,430 Section 5 The Director of Finance is hereby directed to maintain within the Capital Project Fund sufficient specific detailed accounting records to satisfy the requirements of the NC Rural Infrastructure Authority , the Golden LEAF Foundation , the US Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration and State and federal regulations The terms of the respective grants shall be met Section 6 Funds may be advanced from Fund 68 for the purpose of making payments as due Reimbursement requests should be made to the grantor agencies in an orderly and timely manner Section 7 The Director of Finance is hereby directed to report annually on the financial status of each Project element in Section 3 and the total revenue received Section 8 Copies of this capital project ordinance shall be furnished to the Clerk to the Board , the Budget Officer and the Director of Finance for direction in carrying out this Project Adopted this 9th day of June 2014 5 Fire Departments – Ongoing ISO Rating Inspections Commissioner Chad M Stewart noted a number of the fire departments in the County are presently undergoing ISO insurance rating inspections and he called on staff for an update Fire Marshal Emergency Management Coordinator Paul Whitehurst stated Micro Fire Department had their inspection three weeks ago , Strickland’s Crossroads Fire Department is presently going through their first full inspection , Princeton Fire Department will be inspected in June , Cleveland Fire Department in August and Benson Fire Department after the first of the year Mr Whitehurst stated work on the rating inspections has been going on for months and in some cases years and the fire departments have worked hard to prepare Commissioner Stewart spoke on all that is involved with a fire department going through an insurance inspection and he commended all those that are trying to get a better rating so the citizens can see savings on their homeowners insurance Commissioner Stewart stated he would like the Board to recognize these fire departments at some point for this effort Mr Whitehurst invited the Board to attend a water hauling demonstration this week at Strickland’s Crossroads Fire Department He stated the demonstration is one of the major components of an inspection Director of Emergency Services Kim Robertson thanked Public Utilities Director Chandra Coats and 911 Communications Director Jason Barbour for their assistance during the inspections Ms Robertson stated both Ms Coats and Mr Barbour are interviewed during the inspection process and have to provide information with regards to water infrastructure and communications 6 Board Comments th It was the unanimous consensus of the Board that there was no need to meet on June 10 and the final adoption of the Fiscal Year 2014 - 2015 budget will take place on June 30 , 2014 at 8 15 am in the Commissioners Meeting Room of the Johnston County Courthouse Commissioner Ted G Godwin stated he will be putting together a summary of the discussions held by the Solid Waste Committee recently to share with the Board for their review in advance of talking about the next steps PagePage pageNumber5122 June 9 , 2014 – 6 00 pm Continued There being no further business , Commissioner Cookie Pope moved the Board adjourn Commissioner Tony Braswell seconded the motion , which carried by unanimous vote The meeting adjourned at 6 45 pm Jeffrey P Carver , Chairman Paula G Woodard , Clerk to the BoardPage