) STOKES COUNTY GOVERNMENT
COUNTY OF STOKES ) DANBURY, NORTH CAROLINA
) FEBRUARY 19, 2007
The Board of
Commissioners of the County of Stokes, State of North Carolina, met
to continue the Board Retreat in the Commissioners’ Chambers of the
Ronald Wilson
Reagan Memorial Building (Administrative Building) located in Danbury,
North Carolina on
Monday, February 19, 2007 at 4:00 pm with the following members
present:
Chairman
Leon Inman
Vice-Chairman
Jimmy Walker
Commissioner Ron
Carroll
Commissioner
Ernest Lankford
Commissioner
Stanley Smith
County
Personnel in Attendance:
Clerk
to the Board/Interim County Manager Darlene Bullins
Finance
Director Julia Edwards
Support
Services Supervisor Danny Stovall
Vehicle
Maintenance Supervisor Elwood Mabe
Others in Attendance:
Executive Director JoAnn Larkins
Charlie Walker – YVEDDI Transportation
Chairman Leon Inman called the meeting to
order.
Commissioner Smith delivered the invocation.
Chairman Inman opened
the meeting by inviting the citizens in attendance to
join the Board with the Pledge of Allegiance.
GENERAL
GOVERNMENT – GOVERNING BODY – PROPOSED YVEDDI/COUNTY GARAGE FACILITY
Executive Director
JoAnn Larkins and Charlie Walker – YVEDDI met with the
Board to discuss the proposed YVEDDI/County Garage Facility. Interim County Manager
Darlene Bullins, Support Services Supervisor Danny Stovall and Vehicle
Maintenance
Supervisor Elwood Mabe (Stokes County) who have worked with Charlie
Walker on the
proposed project were also in attendance for the discussion regarding
the proposed facility.
Chairman Inman
reiterated the need to make sure all aspects of the proposed project
were covered in order to get the project started as soon as possible.
Mr. Walker-YVEDDI
noted the following regarding the proposed project:
·
Spoke with NCDOT engineers today who will be approving the scope of the
project
·
Reiterated to NCDOT the need for approval in order to move an existing
helipad and to get the project started as soon as possible
·
Approval is expected to be received by YVEDDI within the next two weeks
from NCDOT Public Transportation
·
Proposed facility is 40x140 with a 16ft IE, metal structure with a
brick or rock front, 3 (30 ft) bays
·
Funding will be available for site preparation and paving
·
Maintenance on the YVEDDI vehicles will be performed by Stokes County
such as changing brakes, hoses, oil changes, general maintenance etc. on 16
vehicles
·
YVEDDI will fund the salary for a part time employee who will work
under the supervisor of the county
·
Major repairs such as transmission problems will not be performed by
the County
·
Need to work on the amp service to the building
·
Any item in question will be discussed between YVEDDI and the County
before bids are released
·
Formal bids will be released after approval from the State
·
Permits will be obtained after approval from the State
·
Need to get the project started before June 30, 2007
·
NCDOT in Raleigh has 4 bids for review
Commissioner Lankford noted the following regarding the proposed
facility:
·
Reiterated that the helipad would not hold the proposed project up
·
Expressed the County’s desire to see the proposed project start as soon
as possible
·
County will help in anyway possible to get the project started as soon
as possible
Vice Chairman Walker noted the following regarding the proposed
facility:
·
Need to plan for the future
·
Concern for the need of a fourth bay
·
Advantages of having a fourth bay
Commissioner Carroll noted that there would be
office space available in the
Community Services Building when YVEDDI moved into the new facility.
Vehicle Maintenance Supervisor Elwood Mabe
noted the following regarding the
proposed facility:
·
Fourth bay would be very valuable for the county
·
Funding available in capital reserve for lifts
·
Existing equipment can be transferred to the new facility
Support Services Supervisor Danny Stovall
noted the following regarding the
proposed facility:
·
Need for garage door openers
·
Need for county staff to review the bid proposal to ensure items are
included needed by the county
The Board discussed the pros and cons of
adding a fourth bay at the time of
construction, desire to get the project started, proposed schedule for
the proposed project and
the need to start the project before June 30, 2007.
Commissioner Lankford
confirmed with Charlie Walker that the proposed project
is ready and just waiting for NCDOT’s approval. Charlie Walker
confirmed that YVEDDI
was only waiting for NCDOT’s approval to start the proposed project.
Chairman Inman
reiterated to Charlie Walker the County’s commitment to get the
project started as soon as possible and informed the Interim County
Manager to assist
YVEDDI if the County could be of any further assistance.
GENERAL
GOVERNMENT – GOVERNING BODY – BOARD RETREAT- CONTINUATION
The Board continued
the Board Retreat.
User Friendly
The Board continued
discussion regarding User Friendly Departments.
Commissioner Carroll noted that expectations
had been set by the Board regarding
User Friendly Departments and questioned if the Board needed to make
training available to
Department Heads and/or employees to accomplish this expectation.
The Board discussed
the need to make sure that training was available if needed by
employees. The Board continued
discussion regarding expectations of departments to treat
citizens with dignity, respect, and courtesy. Commissioner Lankford noted the need to
revise county’s personnel policy manual to include user-friendly
expectations.
The Board directed
Interim County Manager Bullins to poll the department heads
regarding the following:
·
What each department is currently doing to be user friendly?
·
What plans are the departments making to meet the Board’s expectations
of User Friendly?
·
What can each department do to make their department more user-friendly?
·
Does any department need training to achieve the Board’s expectation?
Interim County Manager Bullins noted that
plans are being considered to provide
departments with a workshop at a staff meeting regarding “user
friendly”.
Goals
Chairman Inman
requested Board members to present their top goals.
Commissioner Carroll
noted the following goals:
·
District System
·
Community College present in the County
·
School Facilities
·
Economic Development and Infrastructure
Commissioner Lankford noted the following
goals:
·
Health Care Issues
·
County Vision
·
2- 4 year County planning
Vice Chairman Walker noted the following
goals:
·
Economic Development Infrastructure
·
Water and Sewer Authority
·
I-74 Corridor
·
Pinnacle Area – Development of Businesses
·
Recreation
·
Staffing of County Departments
·
Privatizing EMS – Convalescent Care
·
Schools
·
Historical Preservation
·
Tourism
Commissioner Smith noted the following goals:
·
Reopening of King Clinic
·
Health Department Services
·
County owned facilities
·
EMS- location at Sauratown Vol. Fire Department
·
Salary Study
Chairman Inman noted the following goals:
·
Reopening of King Clinic
·
Old Prison Camp Facility – clean up
·
FTCC – Stand alone facility
·
Economic Development
·
Infrastructure
King Clinic
The Board discussed
the following issues regarding the reopening of the King Clinic:
·
Originally called the Southwestern Service Center for Stokes County
·
Originally had services at the center provided by Social Services,
Mental Health, Sheriff’s Department, etc
·
Staffing an issue with the Health Department – need to fill vacancies
before opening the clinic per Health Director Don Moore
The Board discussed the following issues
regarding the reopening of the Old Prison
Camp located on Highway #89:
·
Need to begin to clean up the area
·
No longer a prison camp, need for it to look like a facility other than
a prison camp
The Board suggested the following visions for
consideration:
·
Framing our future through Agriculture, utilities, businesses,
education and tourism.
·
Stokes County: North Carolina’s best-kept secret.
·
Stokes County the place to be.
·
Stokes County is a good place to be, not just to be from.
·
Stokes County is a beautiful place with good, honest, hard working
people.
·
Stokes County will be a great place to live, work, and play by
preserving our natural aesthetic heritage and embracing the future.
·
Stokes County to become the most outstanding County in the area.
·
Stokes County is a natural wonder of the Sauratown Mountains.
The Board discussed the visions proposed by
the Board members, the vision that will
take Stokes County into the future, what makes Stokes County an
outstanding place,
capitalizing on the features that Stokes County has to offer, and the
goals needed to get Stokes
County where it needs to be.
Chairman Inman directed the Board members to
review the vision statements
submitted and for each member to have their vision statement for Stokes
County ready for the
next retreat meeting.
The Board discussed
goals for the future of Stokes County.
Commissioner Lankford noted the following
short-term goals:
·
Improve the fund balance this year by 3% to a total of 12% by the end
of
June 2008 – approximately $1 million
·
Review county departments – staffing
·
Review legal needs – county attorney versus staff attorney
Vice Chairman Walker noted the following short
term goals:
·
County to try to obtain all grants possible for utilities, education,
economic development, etc (example –Piedmont Partnership -$15 million for
training)
·
Recreation – bring back to be a county department – to provide more
recreational activities for the youth of the county
·
Infrastructure other than water and sewer
The Board discussed the current recreational
activities currently provided by the
YMCA, the work being provided by volunteers in the County operating
recreational
programs, recreational opportunities for family activities, allocation
funded each year by the
County for recreation, and the recreational advisory committee set up
by the County.
Commissioner Carroll noted the following
short-term goals:
·
Hire a County Manager
·
Appoint a committee to study the District Committee
The Board discussed the following issues
regarding appointing a committee
to study the District Committee:
·
Structure the committee with open-minded individuals who go out and
receive input from the citizens of Stokes County and return to the Board with a
recommendation
·
Need for an objective committee
·
Need for an objective study
·
Need to place this item on the action agenda for the next meeting for
further discussion and planning to authorize the appointment of a committee
·
Possible selection criteria
o
Referrals from the executive committees of the Republican and Democrat
Parties
o
Possible seven member Board
o
One from each quadrant of the County
o
3 at large members
o
Possibly one member from each township of the county -9 members
o
Referral from Board members
o
Members from the Democrat, Republican, and Unaffiliated Parties
o
No stacking of the appointments
·
Must truly be objective to give the citizens information about the
District System
·
Possible Town Hall Meetings
·
Committee members must be educated regarding their purpose of serving
on the committee
·
Time needed to complete the study
·
Possible Public Hearings at each precinct
·
Need for advertisements to inform the citizens of the purpose of the
committee, purpose of the meetings, the time and place of the meetings, etc.
·
Major objective of the committee is to provide the Board with
information regarding whether the citizens in Stokes County want a District
System
·
Number of members to be appointed to the Committee
·
Whether to include the Board of Education in the study
·
Need for a poll survey instead of a committee study
·
Need to place the item on the upcoming action agenda to start the
process
o
Action to establish a committee to study a District System
o
Number of appointees- design of the committee, 5, 7, or 9, etc.
o
Selection of the committee
o
Time frame for the study
o
Education of the committee
o
Consider a poll survey
Chairman Inman
requested Board members to take all the goals listed during the
planning sessions and prioritize them by short term and long term goals
by the next planning
session.
Agenda
Structure
Vice Chairman Walker requested that the Board
discuss the agenda structure.
Vice Chairman Walker expressed concerns with
the changes recently made to
Agenda- Consent Agenda, Information Agenda, Discussion Agenda, and
Action Agenda.
The Board discussed the following recent
changes made to the agenda:
·
The purpose of the Discussion Agenda which will allow members to have
time before having to vote on the item
·
Eliminates surprises to the agenda
·
The opportunity to add or delete items from the agenda during the
approval of the agenda
·
The opportunity to move items on the Consent Agenda to the Discussion
or Action Agenda if needed
·
The opportunity to move items on the Discussion Agenda to the Action
Agenda if needed
·
Elimination of seconding the motion
·
Extra time involved placing the item on more than one agenda
The Board unanimously agreed to continue with
the current agenda format.
CLOSED SESSION
Chairman Inman
entertained a motion to enter into closed session for the following:
·
To consider the
initial employment or appointment of an individual to any office or position,
other than a vacancy in the Board of County Commissioners or any other public
body, or to consider the qualifications, competence, performance, character,
and fitness of any public officer or employee, other than a member of the Board
of Commissioners or of some other public body pursuant to G.S. 143-318.11(6)
Commissioner Lankford moved to enter into
closed session for the following:
·
To consider the
initial employment or appointment of an individual to any office or position,
other than a vacancy in the Board of County Commissioners or any other public
body, or to consider the qualifications, competence, performance, character,
and fitness of any public officer or employee, other than a member of the Board
of Commissioners or of some other public body pursuant to G.S. 143-318.11(6)
Vice Chairman Walker seconded and the motion
carried unanimously.
The Board returned to the regular meeting of February 19, 2007.
There
being no further business to come before the Board, Chairman Inman
entertained a motion to
adjourn the meeting.
Commissioner
Smith moved to adjourn the meeting.
Commissioner Lankford
seconded and the motion
was unanimous.
_________________________ _____________________________
Darlene M.
Bullins J. Leon Inman
Clerk to the
Board
Chairman