June 5, 1997 - 7:00 PM - County Board of Commissioners Meeting Minutes (Recessed)

June 5, 1997The Johnston County Board of Commissioners met in recessed regular session Thursday, June 5,1997, at 700 oclock pm in the Commissioners Room, Johnston County Courthouse Annex,Smithfield, North Carolina, with the following membersPresent Norman C Denning, Chairman, James W Cash, Vice Chairman, Jerry F Wood,DDS, Eleanor N Creech, Cookie Pope, Thomas M Moore and James H Langdon, JrAbsent NoneAlso Present Richard B Self, County Manager, and Joyce H Ennis, Clerk to the BoardThe Chairman called the meeting to order and the following business was transacted1 Recreation Grants - Change of ProjectsUpon a motion by Commissioner James H Langdon, Jr, seconded by Commissioner Jerry F Woodand carried by unanimous vote, the Board approved the following changes of projects for recreationgrants1 South Johnston High Athletic Dept 49697 -6 - Projects to include football goals2 South Johnston High Trojan Club 49697 -7 - Projects to include concession stand2 Information Concerning Countys Authority to Set Different FeesThe County Manager clarified an issue that was brought up at the June 2, 1997 meeting concerningwhether the County has the authority to set different fees in different areas for the same service Hereferred General Statute § 153A- 277a which statesA county may establish and revise from time to time schedules of rents, rates, fees, charges,and penalties for the use of or the services furnished by a public enterprise Schedules of rents,rates, fees, charges, and penalties may vary for the same class of service in different areas ofthe county3 Budget RequestsA Airport AuthorityDr N B Grantham, Jr, chairman of the Airport Authority, and Roy Dixon, airport manager,addressed the following two requests He asked the Board to consider waiving or reducing water andsewer fees for new construction at the airport, and requested an additional 100,000 allocation in the1997 -98 budgetConcerning the utility fees, Dr Grantham stated the Authority is in the process of building hangersto encourage aircraft to locate in the County The fees add to the hangar rental cost, and in many casesdiscourage new tenants He pointed out the Airport is a part of County government and asked if the feescould be waived or reducedCounty Manager, Richard Self, explained the county has standard fees and all county agencies paythe same as the private sectorDr Grantham stated the second request for an additional 100,000 would provide matching fundsfor state and federal money to allow the Authority to build another maintenance hangar and 16 smallhanger spaces He noted the maintenance hanger is badly needed, and there is currently a demand for moresmall hangar spaces, which will mean more rentThe Board thanked Dr Grantham and Mr Dixon for their comments and complimented them onthe great job they do at the airportB Council on AgingDonna Creech, Executive Director of Johnston County Council on Aging, stated her agency isrequesting 130,13 1 Ofthat amount, 10,762 would be for the senior center in Four Oaks She explained551that 80 of her budget comes from the federal and state governments, with approximately 10 from theCounty The remaining funds are from the municipalities, donations, clients and fund- raisers She notedher agency affects many elderly people in the County and many needs are not met due to lack of fundsShe hopes for additional money from the state to replace a nutrition van, however, this would require 10matching funds She asked the Board to please consider her request and allocate the entire 130,131C Sheriffs DepartmentSheriff Freddy Narron outlined his budget requests and noted he is proud of what his office isaccomplishing, considering the amount of resources available He pointed out that Johnston County is theonly county in the state with a population of over 100,000 that does not have a major city This means thatmost of the people are in the rural areas and his office must respond to their needs He stated his officershave worked harder and smarter in order to meet the needs of the citizens, however response timecontinues to be a problem because of the lack of personnel He stressed the need for the additionalrequested positions and noted that many of his officers are losing their vacation time in order to keep pacewith the needs of the departmentCounty Manager, Richard Self, commented that the State, instead of having employees lose unusedvacation, allows a roll -over of vacation time to sick leave The County does not have this policy Both heand Sheriff Narron agreed that if the County had the same policy, it would helpSheriff Narron also commented on the urgent need for more personnel in the jail The satellitefacility in the old Courthouse averages 30 or more inmates and currently has only one jailer The stateinspector is requiring two full -time jailers at all times, which will necessitate four additional positionsSheriff Narron stated that equally important to having the necessary staff is keeping them Hestressed the need for salary increases in order to keep the good employees we have Johnston County notonly has to compete with the State and surrounding towns and counties, it also competes with the privatesector In the long run, training new employees costs more than keeping salaries competitiveBoard members commented on the good job being done by the Sheriff and his staffD Public UtilitiesHaywood Phthisic, Public Utilities Director, asked the Board to consider a staff engineer He notedthat much ofthe cost for this position would be off -set by the current engineering fees the County is payingfor jobs that could be handled in- house He pointed out there would still be outside engineering costsassociated with most projects such as surveying, etc, however these expenses would certainly be reducedwith a staff engineer He recommended someone with considerable experience to oversee the manycomplex water and sewer projects the County is involved withThe County Manager noted there would be some start-up costs, but the position should pay for itselfCommissioner Thomas M Moore noted the County has a huge investment in water and sewer and,in his opinion, needs someone with engineering expertise on staffMr Phthisic asked the Board to increase the cost of solid waste decals The current 45 fee coversthe landfill disposing cost of the solid waste collected at the compaction sites, however, at present theoperation of the compaction sites themselves are funded by ad valorem taxes It was noted that an increaseto 52 should basically offset the cost of operating the sitesSolid Waste Decal Fee IncreasedFollowing discussion, Commissioner Thomas M Moore moved the Board increase the fee for solidwaste decals to 52 Commissioner Jerry F Wood seconded the motion, which carried by the followingvoteYea Norman C Denning, James W Cash, Jerry F Wood, Eleanor N Creech, Thomas M Moore,and James H Langdon, JrNo Cookie Pope552Mr Phthisic and Landfill Supervisor, Warren Grimes, informed the Board the new Solid WasteManagement Plan will be completed and ready for review within the next few days Mr Grimes noted hehas been working with the municipalities on this 10 year comprehensive plan which stresses reduction,reuse and recycling The draft plan will be presented to the Board for approval prior to the July 1, 1997deadline Final adoption of the plan can be done at a later meetingIn closing Mr Phthisic stressed how difficult it is to attract and keep good employees He asked theBoard to consider the requested salary increase and approve the pay plan studyE Planning ZoningCal Genereux, Planning Director, reminded the Board of his presentation at the recent retreat, duringwhich he outlined the needs of his office He stressed the need for more space and three additionalpositions a stormwater administrator, an additional planner and a clerk He also asked the Board toapprove an increase in salary for the employeesF Department of Social ServicesEarl Marett, Director of Social Services, spoke of the critical situation with Foster Care He askedfor another foster care worker to work with the increasing number of abused and neglected children, andthe children from domestic court cases that are placed under Social Service care He also stated the Countyoften runs out of places to put children, and asked the Board to consider a temporary receiving homefacility where children could stay until a more permanent home could be foundCommissioner Cookie Pope asked ifthe Benson Childrens Home, owned and operated by Ms HazelSorrell, could be used for this purpose if a parenting couple were found Mr Marett noted this could bea possibilityA second request concerned the need for an additional social worker in the Adolescent ParentingProgram He noted this program, which deals with teen mothers, has been very successful in meeting thegoals of preventing a second pregnancy and encouraging the young mothers to complete their educationso they can become self supporting The program also strives to discourage younger students frombecoming teenage parents Each year a panel of the teenage mothers speak with 8th grade classesthroughout the County to give the younger students the real facts and difficulties associated with being ateenage parent Currently the one social worker in this program has more than the State recommendednumber of participants, and there are many more identified teenage mothers that would be eligible and needthis assistanceG GIS DepartmentTerry Ellis, Director of Geographic Information Services, asked the Board for two new positionsHis department has heavy demands from the public and needs additional staffto accommodate this growthHe also noted the new public records law is greatly impacting his officeH Inspections DepartmentC P Thompson, Chief Building Inspector, requested four new employees, two for constructioninspection and two for fire prevention inspections He noted the growth in the County has greatly impactedhis office He recently moved his fire code inspector to construction inspection in order to be able toprovide services in a reasonable time limit He stressed the need for competitive salaries in order to attractand keep quality employees He also stated the need for additional space in his departmentI Child Support EnforcementJim Henderson, Director of Child Support Enforcement, spoke on behalf of all employees andencouraged the Board to approve the salary increase553J CommunicationsAl Gaskill, Communications Director, stated he can certainly attest that the County is growingrapidly and this growth is impacting every department of government He commented that approximately300 new telephone numbers are being added in Johnston County each month He thanked the Board forthe new courthouse addition that is being constructed and stated he is looking forward to having enoughspace for his employees He too asked the Board to approve the salary increase in order to keep the goodstaff we haveK Additional StaffCounty Manager, Richard Self, noted that this is the first time he has ever recommended this manyadditional staff, however with the increasing growth in the County, there will, in his opinion, be a decreasein the level of service if the positions are not approved In general government, he recommended thefollowing positions a staff attorney, an internal auditor, a public records administrator a positionresulting from the new public records law, and a public information officerThere being no further comments, Chairman Thomas M Moore moved the Board recess until 645pm Monday, June 9, 1997 Commissioner James H Langdon, Jr seconded the motion, which carried byunanimous voteNorman C Denning, ChairmanJoyce K Ennis, ClerkDetailsAnnotationsEntry PropertiesModified11192013 20924 PMCreated3282003 71023 AMTemplateMinutesFieldsMinutes - TypeRecessedMinutes - Date651997Book20