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HomeMy WebLinkAbout013112ssmHARNETT COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS Minutes of Special Session January 31, 2012 The Harnett County Board of Commissioners met in special session on Tuesday, January 31, 2012, in the Commissioners Meeting Room, County Administration Building, 102 East Front Street, Lillington, North Carolina. Members present: Staff present: Timothy B. McNeill, Chairman Beatrice B. Hill, Vice Chaiuuan Dan B. Andrews, Commissioner Gary House, Commissioner Jim Burgin, Commissioner Scott Sauer, County Manager Tony Wilder, Deputy County Manager Dwight Snow, Staff Attorney Sylvia Blinson, Finance Officer Margaret Regina Wheeler, Clerk to the Board Chairman McNeill called the meeting to order at 9:00 am and led the pledge of allegiance and invocation. Representatives from the NC Department of Transportation (NC DOT) updated the Harnett County Board of Commissioners on the 1 -95 Corridor and Finance Study. Ms. Christine O'Conner, NC DOT Project Planning Engineer, reported the need for the study; which started in September of 2009 with a $6.4 Million budget, was to: 1) pinpoint deficiencies and needs of I- 95, 2) create a master plan for corridor improvements, 3) streamline development of future projects, and 4) determine a feasible funding strategy. Project elements included environmental screening, traffic forecast modeling, public involvement, needs assessment, alternative analysis, and phasing and finance plan. Ms. O'Conner said the report shows it would be most feasible and practical to widen the existing road with a cost of $4.4 Billion to make the improvements. Recommendations are: > Improvements o Widen to 6 or 8 -lanes o Faun changes to 17 interchanges o Combine 2 interchanges i' Financing o Tolling recommended as most feasible option i> Phasing o Two main phases • Phase I (Exit 31 — 81) • Construction starts in 2016 • Completed in 2019 January 31, 2012 Special Session Minutes Harnett County Board of Commissioners Page 1 of 5 • Tolling begins on entire I -95 corridor • Some smaller projects included Phase II (Remainder of Corridor) • Construction beginning in 2019 • Fund improvements with toll revenues as available Ms. O'Conner noted NC DOT is considering public - private partnerships to get these projects completed and discussed tolling considerations. Ms. O'Conner estimated the toll cost could be approximately $19 if traveling all of I -95 but reported they still do not have tolling authority so many decisions have yet to be made. Ms. O'Conner noted that NC DOT spends approximately between $9 Million to $16 Million a year in maintenance of I -95. Commissioner Burgin requested the amount the federal government contributes to I -95 yearly. Ms. O'Conner said the traffic count for I -95 was available on the NC DOT website along with alternatives and the environmental impact statement for this study. Mayor Oscar Harris, City of Dunn, asked if a special commission would be set up to oversee the I -95 project which it is not that Ms. O'Conner is aware of. Mayor Harris said they are pleased with the possible changes for Exits 72 and 73. Mr. Gary Pope, Director of Emergency Services, presented Buies Creek Fire & Rescue Department's request to purchase a service truck chassis at the cost of $289,655. It was reported the cost of the service truck had been broken up in several budgets in capital outlay totaling $147,980 with the final cost of $126,675 being budgeted for in FY 2012 -2013 and no financing would be required. Mr. Kenneth Stewart, President of Board of Directors and Mr. James Rose, Chief of the Buies Creek Fire and Rescue Department were present. Mr. Pope stated he felt this was a legitimate concern and purchase. Mr. Rose stated the new service truck would greatly enhance the response capabilities of the department in areas such as off road rescue and meet the needs of the Harnett County Airport. Mr. Rose said not only would the service truck allow them to have all of their rescue tools and equipment on one truck but also provide for onsite SCBA bottle refills. Mr. Rose said this truck would enable them to respond with one truck instead of many and given it would also be a ladder service truck it will also allow them to serve people in areas where the ladder truck could not currently go. It was the consensus of the commissioners to add this request to their February 6, 2012 consent agenda. Mr. Ronald S. Huff, Oakmont Development Partners, LLC, asked the commissioner to consider allowing Oakmont Subdivision to be a private, gated community. Mr. Huff said there would be approximately 370 homes in the development when completed. Mr. Huff said the streets would be constructed to NC DOT standards to ensure their durability and maintenance of streets would be maintained through the homeowners association with sufficient required fees. Mr. Joseph Jeffries, Planning Director said this isn't allowed in standard subdivision because NC DOT January 31, 2012 Special Session Minutes Harnett County Board of Commissioners Page 2 of 5 usually takes over the roads in subdivisions once completed. Mr. Jeffries noted there are connectivity issues and school bus issues with allowing this. Mr. Huff said they would be willing to keep the gates open during nonnal business hours with 24/7 access for emergency vehicles. It was the consensus of Board to direct the Planning staff to work on writing parameters for gated communities within the Unified Development Ordinance outside of the PUD. Mr. Jeffries said it would be the middle of March before staff could bring something back to the Board for consideration. Commissioner Burgin shared his concern regarding the additional number of children this development could add to the already over - capacity schools in the area. Chairman McNeill responded this growth was considered in school projections. Mr. Mike Edwards, owner of Edwards General Store, and Mr. Jack Homan, owner of Duncan Junction, requested commissioners schedule a referendum to allow beer and wine sales at commercial retail establishments in the Buckhom and Hector's Creek precincts of Harnett County. The gentleman distributed a handout to commissioners stating their reasons for this request which are to increase tax revenues that are currently being lost to Wake County, to capitalize on past and future growth opportunities, and to help existing and new small business owners compete on a level playing field in an increasingly competitive market place. It was the consensus of the Board to let the people decide so therefore they would add to their February 6, 2012, meeting agenda a resolution to request the Board of Elections to hold elections in Buckhorn and Hector's Creek Townships on the sale of malt beverages and unfortified wine within 120 days of the request. Mr. Wilder discussed the establishment of tax districts for Anderson Creek and Johnsonville Townships as requested by Commissioner Burgin. Mr. Wilder worked with the NC School of Government to research this request and reported there are two ways this could be set -up. The first would be as a service district which has been done with fire departments and water services but could not be done to fund a library. Mr. Wilder did not ask about police protection. The second could be by schools, such as Averasboro, but would now have be district wide. Mr. Wilder said it takes a house valued at $223,000 to generate enough taxes to school one child in Harnett County. Mr. Wilder was asked to provide values per township to commissioners. Mr. Ronnie Autry, Manager of the City of Dunn, updated commissioners on the Tyler Park Enhancement Project. Mr. Autry announced the project would be funded by a $500,000 grant along with $1.7 Million from City of Dunn. Mr. Autry shared a site plan with the group laying out the format for the new park. He also noted there would be a Miracle Filed field built for handicapped accessibility with approximately $600,000 funding through the Miracle Network. Mr. Autry requested the county's assistance regarding the property line of the old health department property owned by the county. He noted the City of Dunn has been using approximately 20 feet of the county property over the last 60 years. He reported in, order to obtain the grant needed for this project, the City of Dunn must own all of the property. He said January 31, 2012 Special Session Minutes Harnett County Board of Commissioners Page 3 of 5 the minimum amount of property the city would need to acquire would be 40 feet of the 60 feet between the property line and the building but said the city would like to ask commissioners to consider letting the City of Dunn take over the whole property. John Rouse, Director of the Harnett County Public Health Department, alerted the group that his office uses the old health department building for the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program and they must have space in Dunn to provide those services. He noted they see over 3000 people in the WIC program a month but not all of those clients are from Dunn. Mr. Autry said if the city owned the property they would eventually remove the building but would allow WIC to continue use of the building until that time which he thought would be years. Chairman McNeill questioned if City of Dunn could provide space for the WIC Program in the future. It was the consensus of the Board to allow attorneys to start working on conveying the property. Mr. Autry said the project would hopefully start in August 2012. Mr. Rouse addressed questions concerning the recent increase in septic tank permitting fees. Mr. Rouse said the permit fee increase prevented the loss of 4 positions in Environmental Health due to budget cuts. Mr. Rouse also clarified that Environmental Health could not accept engineer plan and must follow state requirements. Regarding the request by the NCACC on Federal Issues; commissioners were asked to give input to the Clerk if there were matters they wanted to weigh in on. Commissioners reviewed a draft agenda for their upcoming February 6, 2012, regular meeting. Mr. Sauer announced the Local Government Association would be holding a dinner meeting on March 5, 2012, at Health's Steak House in Dunn. Commissioner Burgin stated he still had questions and concerns regarding the salaries of Johnston - Lee - Harnett Community Action staff as he said their salaries and benefits total over $5 million in a report recently shared with commissioners. Mrs. Blinson presented the Finance Officer's Report which included the following as of November 30, 2011 and December 31. 2011: - FINANCIAL SUMMARY REPORT — GENERAL FUND BALANCE SHEET — GENERAL FUND - FINANCIAL SUMMARY REPORT — Public Utilities Fund FINANCIAL SUMMARY REPORT — Solid Waste Fund - BALANCE SHEET — PROPRIETARY FUNDS Mr. Snow informed the Board that Huey F. and L. Faye Dorman, who now lives in the Eastover area, would like to donate two pieces of property they currently own in Harnett County. They were able to donate one property to the Habitat for Humanity and would like to donate the other property to Harnett County as they do not wish to pay taxes for this property in 2012. The property is located in Phase 2 of the Bentonpoint Subdivision in Angier. It was the consensus of January 31, 2012 Special Session Minutes Harnett County Board of Commissioners Page 4 of 5 the Board to add acceptance of this donation gift of real property to their February 6, 2012, regular meeting agenda. Commissioner Burgin stated he would like to discuss the following at a future work session: 1) parking county vehicles being driven by staff not on call, 2) restoring funds for S.A.F.E for 5 months which would be approximately $10,000, and 3) looking at exempting political parties, churches, and other 5013 -C groups from paying rental fees required for the Commons Area Meeting room but requiring a security deposit to be refunded if the room was acceptable following events. Commissioner Burgin proposed moving the proposed CCCC Health Sciences Building to the CCCC Harnett County campus where he said they have 10 acres of buildable land available. He said this thought this would save the county approximately $2 Million and Campbell University did the right thing by keeping their new medical school close to the University instead of locating it near the new hospital. Commissioner Burgin said he believed the RFP procedure for this project was fundamentally flawed and thinks "we need to back up" and look at the property CCCC already owns. Chairman McNeill stated the intent was to help training by being located near the hospital. Commissioner House questioned why the county's bond counsel was at the meeting regarding this lease agreement. Mr. Snow responded that financially speaking the lease is very similar to a bond. Chairman McNeill distributed a copy of a letter from his attorney regarding his lawsuit against Commissioner House to fellow commissioners; noting he would have to recuse himself regarding this issue as well as Commissioner House. Commissioner Andrews moved that the Board go in to closed session to discuss certain personnel matters. This motion is made pursuant to N.C. General Statute Section 143 - 318.11(a)(6). The motion was seconded by Vice Chairman Hill and passed unanimously. Vice Chairman Hill moved that the Board come out of closed session. Commissioner Andrews seconded the motion which passed unanimously. Commissioner Andrews moved to adjourn the meeting at 12:07 pm. Vice Chairman Hill seconded the motion which passed unanir o}tsl i cNeill, Chairman cs et Regina .0. 644 eeler, Clerk January 31, 2012 Special Session Minutes Harnett County Board of Commissioners Page 5 of 5