March 20, 1961 - 11:00 AM - County Board of Commissioners Meeting Minutes (Special)

March 20, 19611 2Fit width457Moeting of Board of Commissioners -for the County of JohnstonMarch 20, 1961The Board of County Commissioners of Johnston County reconvened on March 20,1961, at 11;00 A M, in the Commissioners Room, to sit as a Board of Equalizationand Review and in their capacity as the Governing Body of the County, with thefollowing members presentH M Johnson, Chairman, J D Bailey, Floyd C Price, Sr, R G Gurley andFrank B HoldingAbsent NoneThe following business was transactedBoard of Equalization and ReviewThe following persons appeared before the Board requesting a reduction in thevaluation of their property1 td M Gaskin for Mss Joe Jones on the valuation of personal property, mostly,electrical equipment, being a differential between the personal property as listedby her on file with the Tax Supervisor and as it appears on her tax abstract2 Mrs Mary Bradberry, 907 W Waddell Street, Selma House and lot at 907 WI Waddell Street, Selma, N C Valued at 1000003 Joseph F Davis, Jr, listed with 83 acres, Micro Township, whereas his deedin Book 529, page 518, calls for 7065 acres, and verified by records in the ASCJ officeThere being no further business, the Board recessed to meet on April 4, 1961,at 1100 A M to complete their findings as a Board of Equalization and ReviewhairClerkBoard of County Commissioners1 Upon the request of Sheriff B A Henry, Commissioner J D Bailey moved that5000 be appropriated from the contingent fund and transferred to the radio servicefund of the Sheriffs Department for the purpose of paying the Costal Electronics,Inc, of New Bern, N C for the installation of longer aerials on the cars of DeputySheriffs Alphonza Eason and Charles Woodall to afford better receptionCommissioner R G Gurley seconded the motion, which was carried2 Upon the request of T L Upchurch Tax Collector, and under provision of Mach-inery Act 1713 G S 105 -385, Commissioner J D Bailey moved that T L Upchurch,Tax Collector, be authorized to solicit the presence of the Sheriff, or any otherpeace officer, in making a levy on personal property when he deems it necessary forhis and his field Deputies protectionCommissioner Frank B Holding seconded the motion, which was carried3 Commissioner Floyd C Price, Sr introduced the following report, which rep-resented a long range planning program for the BoardTo Members of the BoardSince we are just about to enter another year since passing our tenth or eleven-th, I wish to present our Board with some very interesting facts which I am sure youwill be very glad to know, since we need more money to accomplish our urgent needsNow, as we have just begun another ten years period, are you members as interest -ed as I can say with emphasis I am Therefore, let us inagurate a program setting agoal certainly within the next ten years, at least, to have a complete agriculturalbuilding, which would be number one project Then, number two, a generally over-hauling of our court house, which is, as you know, about forty years old Everyoffice in it needs more room and a new face What I mean by a new face is a complete,,overhauling I have given this matter quite a 16t of thought ever since I have beensitting on the Board So often have different officers called to our attention thecrowded conditions I am sure Mr Harry McGee, architect, at anytime we can see ourway clear, can figure out for us a plan for a new interior, maybe including basementto have quite a different look with an enlarged office space I even visuAlize theappearance as looking new almost•fMarch 20, 1961-ContIf you members will letrs set this as a goal for the next ten years, to poolour energy with every cent we can to this end, I believe I have the answer as tofinancing such projects Certainly, this can and ought to be a reasonable task forUS If we do and act as the average county has done and is doing in North Carolina,we can, I believe, easily accomplish themGentlemen, what I did was to visit other counties to learn what I could, for Ifelt sure that things being done in other counties, and our county being larger andonly second place in North Carolina agriculturally, there must be some way or morebrains that we have shown Here is the picture; in a county of only two- thirds thesize of Johnston County, they had a limited amount in their general fund in 1951They, with a will to improve their buildings, etc, got their legislators to have alaw passed that any tax for non - payment in arrears for three years, when collectedon personal property or real estate, to channel to the general fund account There-fore, they have accumulated since 1951 250,00000 They have built an annex totheir court house at a cost of 6180,00000, have furnished it for 20,00000 and madeother improvements They have an agricultural building In fact, they have had two,the first one was built in W P A days Uf course, we need a large agriculturalbuilding, which no one disputes For the publics information, this law is alreadyon the books in local laws It does not increase taxes; it will only be used to helpyour county make way -past due improvements The only thing is for the Boardof CountyCommissioners to see that these taxes are collected, which will be a must if we ac-complish the goals sought out by these mattersNow, Gentlemen, in my opinion it will be simple for us to get our county attorneyand each Commissioner contact our Legislators having our county added, which, in myopinion, should be very simple, in chapter 114 in local laws 1951, section 39I am very pleased in being able to inform you gentlemen, for I am almost sureit will be the means of our having a very sizable fund to do these finds mentionedabove, I hope in less than the ten years goals setFinally, Fellow Commissioners, does it not make sense if a county of only42,000 people can achieve these things in fact, I know of much more they have acc-omplished, our county of above 60,000 can meet any reasonable goal with this act onthe Books Therefore, Mr Chairman, from here it is in your hands if you get theBoard to act quickly in getting this measure through, maybe we can salvage a greateramount for the general fund out of the accumulation of old uncollected items nowpending, additionallyYours very truly,Floyd C Price, SrFollowing the reading of the program, a discussion ensued among the members withthe concensus of opinion being that it had merit but should be deferred a reasonablelength of time for a definite decision4 W G Massey, Clerk, was instructed to notify W R Britt, County Attorney, toproceed with abstracting the title to the Broadhurst property located at the cornerof North Street and Highway No 301 and request deed for said property from James AWellons, Jr, Attorney, Smithfield, representing Mrs Broadhurst5 W G Massey, Clerk, was instructed to notify C W Tarlton, Agricultural Agent,to request the Extension Department, North Carolina State College, to furnish plansand drawings for the proposed agricultural building6 W G Massey, Clerk, was instructed to draft a letter to Mr Merrill J Evans,Chairman, State Highway Commission,requesting the Commission to give equal prominenceto Highway No 301 consistent with the best evaluated safety measures at the inter-section with Interstate No 95 south of Kenly, as they understand that the Commissionhas appropriated 32,000 for proposed changes at said intersection7 Commissioner Frank B Holding introduced the following resolution and moved itsadoption;According to the records, onJanuary 9, 1961, Johnston County received 06,00000from Springfield Fire insurance Company in the payment of the claim for the fire lossof the Pleasant Grove Community Building, and also the 600000 was deposited in theGeneral Fund to the credit of Pleasant Grove Community Building FundTherefore, on this date, March 20, 1961, the General Fund Budget is hereby amend-ed by appropriating the 4600000 deposited to the credit of the Pleasant Grove Comm-unity Building Fund for the necessary expenditures in the replacement of the communitybuilding, these funds to be expended by the County Auditor as directed and recommendedby the County AttorneyCommissioner R G Gurley seconded the motion, which was carriedThere being no further business, the meeting adjourneder m n