Loading...
1965-01-18 Regular Meeting?2:? Wilmington, N. C. - January 18, 1965 ASSENiBLY - The regular semimonthly meeting of the New Hanover County Board of Commiss- ioners was held on this date with the following in attendance: Chairman, Dr. Jos. W. Hooper, Jr., Commissioners M. H. Vaughan, and J. M. Hall, Jr., County Auditor T. D. Love, Jr. and County Attorney L. Bradford Tillery. Commissioner Laurence O. Bowden was absent due to illness and Commissioner Peter H. Braak was out tot,m and unable to be pre- sent for the meeting. INVOCATION - - Chairman Hooper called the meeting to order and asked Reverend L. Stanley Jeffery, Pastor of St. Andrews-on-the Sound Episcopal Church, to open the meeting with a prayer for guidance. ?APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES - Before approving the minutes of the last meeting, Mr. Vaughan observed that the correction which he made was misunderstood and asked that it be changed to read as follows: I"This explanation was not a satisfactory one to Mr. Vaughan who could not understand why !if the 1962-63 audit was 95% complete in May, 1964, it could not have been delivered by August 1964." Dr. Hooper requested in the paragraph headed "DISTRICT MEETING" that the ?name Cicero P. Yow, Jr. should be changed to L. Bradford Tillery, and Mr. Tillery suggested that in the paragraph under "INSURANCE OR GOVERNMENTAL INilNIJNITY", the words "Workmen's jCompensation" be deleted and lnsert the words "or be a self insuror and" Mr. Hali then offered a motion that the minutes be approved as amended above. It was seconded by IDr. Hooper and unanimously carried. . LIABILITY INSURANCE - In discussing the Insurance Program for the County, the question of whether the County should continue to carry liability insurance or become a self insuror and depend on governmental immunity was considered. The County Attorney recommended that the coverage be continued in force. After a brief discussion, it was decided to ask the County Auditor to furnish the itemized c ost of the coverage whd'ch we now have and schedule a discussion for the next meeting. SALVAGED TRUSSES - The Executive Secretary reported that he had complied with the instructions of the Board and advertised the salvaged trusses from the old Insect and Rodent Control Build- ing in the classified section of the Wilmington Morning Star for one week. He has re- icelved four calls requesting information as to whether they were steeel trusses or wood ?trusses and, if wood, whether they were made from 2 x!}'s or 2 x 6's. Ail of the in- quiries said they would go:.look and if they could use them they would make a bonafide offer to pruchase. THE PRESS TABLES - • The Executive Secretary had two tables on consignment for use of the news ser- vices as instructed at the last meeting. The Chairman of the Board polled the newsmen pre- sent as to whether or not they were considered satisfactory. All of them were 100% pleased with the tables and the Chairman asked for the Board's approval for their purchase. The Executive Secretary reported that they were priced at $25.00 each and also that a chair which he exhibited as being on approval could be purchased in the same type wood for $17.00 each. After proper consideration, the Board, by common consent, authorized the purchase of the tables but deferred any action on the chairs at this time. LOCFtED CABINET - GRAND JURY ROOM i The Executive Secretary reported that he requested a description from the Clerk ?of Superior Court who receives the Grand Jury Reports in an effort to determine just what size cabinet was desired and needed by the Grand Jury. The Deputy Clerk has been in touch with the foreman of the Grand Jury but so far has not reported what they need. He will continue to work on this problem. ? COMNUNITY PIANNING AND DEVELOPMENT COPM9IS5ION APPOINTMENTS - The Chairman reminded the Board of his request for each member to submit sug- gested names for consideration in making appointments to the Community Planning'and Develop- ment Commission for replacing Messrs. Hugh MacRae II and Richard A. Shew who have been annex- ed into the City and therefore, are ineligible to serve on that board as representatives of perimeter area within one mile of the City limits. After a brief discassion, it was de- cided to defer ang action on this appointment today until a full Board is present. TAX PENALTY - The Executive Secretary called the BoardTS attention to the request at the meet- ? ing of December 21, 1964 by Mr. H. C. Blake for waiving the penalty on a piece of property in the name of E. D. Biake. After notifying Mr. Biake that the Board had not seen fit to grant his request, he came into the office with Mr. H. S. McGirt, a former Tax Assessor, who remembered that Mr. Blake had come in to list at the time and asked for all property in the name of E. D. Blake. Through an oversight on the part of the tax lister who was 'serving him at the time, this one piece failed to get listed. The Tax Supervisor recom- mended that in view of the newly discovered information that the penalty of the County amounting to $6.09 and the City of $8.02 be abated, or waived. Upon motion of Mr. Hall, seconded by Mr. Vaughan, the Board unanimously approved waiving the penalties ahove in !accordance with G. S. 105-331 (d). TAX LISTING PERSONNEL - The Tax 5upervisor reported that as instructed at a previous meeting of the ?iBGa rd he had asked for permission to employ another regular--*.. in the Tax Listing Depart- ment as the work load has increased to the point that they are badly needed in order to efficiently handle the tax records. It will require a salary appropriation of $1250.00 for the balance of 1965 on the basis of an annual salary;of $3;000.00 per year. Mr. Hall then offered a motion that the request be approved and that the Executive Secretary be authorized to call a meeting of the Civil Service Commission for the purpose of selecting aemployee on the basis outlined above. It was seconded by Dr. Hooper and during the 'discussion, Mr. Vaughan observed that he thought the County should have some standard Iimethod, or system, of making classification of employees and evaluating their work. Mr. person continued - I r??4? Minutes of the Meeting January 18, 1965 Continued - TAX LISTING PERSONNEL - (continued) Mr. Hall remarked that the employment problem of the County has been in the minds of the Board for a long time and he recognized some need of a method for claasi- fying employees. The ballot was then taken on the above motion and unanimously carried. CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM - After the above discussion with reference to a system of classifying employee$, Mr. Vaughan offered a motion that the Executive Secretary be instructed to confer with the City Manager in an effort to get preliminary information on this sub,ject. He sug- I gested a possible central data processing system for use of the various governmental units in the County and mentioned that if the I.B.M. National Cash Register or Burroughs Companies were contacted they would be glad to make a study of the possible needs and recommendations. Mr. Hali suggested we might contact the Institute of Government, the State Association of County Commissioners and the Employment Security Office as possible sources of information and recommendations. Nr. Hall them seconded the motion! and it was unanimously approved. ? AUDIT REPORTS Complying with the request of the Board, Mr. g. C. Barfield, the Independent Auditor employed by the County, made the following reports: " We have audited the accounts and related records of the Office of the County Auditor of New Hanover County, North Carolina, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1963 and June 30, 1964 and present our report on the examination herewith, consisting of comments and financial statements as shown in the accompanying index. From the examination that we have made, all coilectible monies belonging to p and accruing to New Hanover County in the periods under review for which the County Auditor is responsible, appear to have been deposited in approved depositories and with- drawais 'tiher.efrom appear to have been made on proper authority for appropriated ob,Jects of expenditures and balances of money and securities remaining have been counted, verifie and/or reconciled by us and were on hand at June 30, 1963 and June 20, 1964 as reflected by the Balance Sheet - Exhibits A". He then presented each of the Commissioners with a detailed copy of the completed audit including all Schedules and Exhibits verifying his report. SPECIAL AUDIT - Mr. Barfield then presented his special audit of the Clerk of recorder's Court with the following remarks: "Pursuant to contract approved by the Local Government Commission, we have made a detailed audit of the accounts and records of the Clerk of Recorder's Court of New }ianover County for the purpose of being able to make comparisons on a fiscal year basis, we commenced our audit with entries of July 1, 1961. The results of our audit are set forth on the Exhibit A being a summary of our findines. We have received excellent cooperation from Colonel J. J. Fitzpatrick, the present Clerk of Recorder's Covrt, from his staff, and from all persons contacted during '.he course of this audit, including Mr. Liston W. Humphrey and Mr. Y. H. Sponcler, former I Clerks of Recorderts Court. However, our work was hampered to a laroe exLent by poor and at times illegible handwriting in the records and by the omission of over 3,000 docket numbers and over 11,000 warrant numbers from the cash books, which required many hours.of searching before the cash books could be checked to the docket books and war- I rants. While we understand the stress and pressure of time under which these records - ? are maintained, the utmost care should be taken to see that in the future handwritten entries are made in a legible manner and all pertinent data recorded. 6 We were unable to locate approximately 176 warrants which had been docketed. A list of these missing warrants has been turned over to the State Bureau of Investiga- tion to ascertain if there might be accountable funds involved which we have been uuable to trace. Minimum general and specific recommendations for improving existing proceduret and establishiRg internal control over cash follow the Exhibits and Schedules. Schedules 2, 5, 10 and 11 are bound separately and are presently withheld at the request of the District Solicitor; however, the information contained therein is reflected in total in Exhibits A, B, C, D and E." report: Recommendations - The Following recommendations were included in the audit (1) Posting and validating machine. I (2) The machine should be located adjacenL to the Recorder's Court. (3) A locked cash box for each person handling money. (f}) A post binder for recording cash receipts and disbursements. (5) Cash bonds should only be accepted and pre-numbered receipt signed by person acceptino the money. (6) Commitments and releases should be made on numbered forms in triplicate. (7) Loose-leaf docket books with pre-numbered pages in triplicate, (8) Alphabetical Card Index System for each defendant. (9) Support records on a pre-numbered combined receipt-check. (10) Removal of telephone from the Courtroom and install an inter-com sy5tem between the Clerk's Office and his desk. (11) ImpQementation of these recommendations should be made under the super- , vision of a Certified Public Accountant." ; continued- ` - \ ?2r) Minutes of the Meeting January 18, 1965 Continued rECIAL AUDIT - (continued) ? At this point, Mr. Hall offered a motion that a copy of these audiLs be made avail- able to the news agencies with the understanding that they would be returned to the County Commissioners' Office. It was seconded by Mr. Vaughan and unanimously approved and the Chairman delivered copies of the audit reports to the several news reporters pre- sent at the request of Mr. Vaughan. Ns. Vaughan then asked Mr. Barfield if this audit I?is for the County Commissioners. Mr. Barfield answered that the schedule of reports ? outlined above were withheld on orders of the District Solicitor and so far as he knew are available for review and release by any member of the Board of Commissioners. At this point, Clerk of Superior Court H. Foster Edwards was recognized by the Chairman and stated that the recommendations made by the Auditor paralleled the three phase system proposed by him in 1961 when he recommended a cash register, card index system, and a loose-leaf record book. Mr. Vaughan observed that in the audit reports of 19$4 and 1955 attention was called to the out of date, antiquated Court Record System in office and that maybe if some attention had been given to the recommendations, the situation caus- ing these recommendations would not have happened. He then asked Mr. Barfield if he had ever made any recommendation in his past audits. He answered that he had not audit- ed the Recorder's Court records before except to spot check them, however, he had always kept in close touch with the department heads and all of his employees were alerLed to keep their eyes open for any improvement. Nr. Vaughan asked him if, in his opinion, any other offices in the County needed outside audits. He replied that it is always a safe- guard to have outside audits. Mr. Vaughan then asked what the cost of the recommenda- tions amounted to and he answered between $3500.00 and $4,000.00. Dr. Hooper then asked how this system would fit into the new Court system proposed for installation by 1970 and observed that it is his understanding that some pilot counties will have this system next year. Clerk of Superior Court, Mr. Foster Edwards, said that he is informed that the system would be implemented in a complete sweep across the State within a six month's period after it began. Mr. Vaughan then asked the question whether the purchase of the machine would constitute a labor saving device. This was answered by the Deputy Clerk of Court, John J. Fitzpatrick, stating that he doubted if they would be able to dispense with the services of any of their present personnel as a result of installing this system. It may save additional employees but would establish control. At this point, County Auditor T. D. Love,Jr. was recognized and stated that there had been some specu2ation and rumors that there was a shortage in his office and asked the Independent Auditor to make a..public statement with reference to these rumors. Mr. Barfield emphatically stated that no short- age existed in the County Auditor's Office. Mr. Hall then moved that the Auditor's re- ' port be accepted and that Mr. Barfield be authorized to submit his bill for the services rendered and that an appropriation be made to pay St. It Was seconded by Dr. Hooper. Mr. Barfield was then asked about the amount still remaining unpaid on the totai audit. He reported the following: ? Audit Audit Audit To services F/Y/E F/Y/E Recorder's 6-30-63 6-30-64 Court IiReported cost at meeting December 21, 1964 $6,000.00 $6,110.00 $24,357.50 Accumulated costs since last ? 300:00 300.00 900.00 billing $1,500.00 .: 6,300.00" $6,410.00 $25,357.50 Previously billed and collected 6,000.00 2,500.00 19.500.00 i BAI1aNCE $9,967.50 $ 1300.00 3,910.00 5,757.5o At December 21st meeting, I stated that 1 hoped that $1,500.00 would cover the additional cost to complete the three audits. The cost exceeds $1,500.00,, but I am i billing for only $1,500.00 additional. I In the discussion of the above motion and the bili, it was decided that it would be better for the entire membership of the Board to be present and since Messrs. Braak and Bowden ; were not in attendance, Mr. Hall withdrew his motion which was accepted by the seconder with the observance that the audit reports be accepted for study and action at the next meeting. , CLAIM DEMAND ON BONDS - The discussion then developed around the procedure for making a formal claim II on the bonding companies for. restitution of the tota2 amount of the shortage discovered by the Independent Auditor in the amount of $7,618.40. The County Attorney suggested that the next step was for him to confer with the Independent Auditor and proceed to make a claim for ali of the many shortages through the Corporate Surety Company for recovery ? of the amount. Mr. Vaughan then asked the County Attorney if it is necessary for the Board to pass a resolution to accomplish this since the District Solicitor is involved. The County Attorney reported that it would be a question he would have to look up in the General Statutes. "The Board, then by common consent, authorized the County Attorney to proceed to make demand for recovery of the entire amount of alleged shortages from the , h Corporate Surety holding the bond covering the Recorder's Court. It was the consensus H, of opinion that the bonds on the Deputy Clerk of Recorder's Court should be increased as they are now limited to $5,000.00. _ PLUMBING INSPECTOR - The County Attorney reported that a search of the Public Local Laws governing I the Plumbing Inspector require him to be under the supervision of the Health Department I and unless there is a legislative act changing this law, he must report to the Health Department. After a brief discussion of this subject, Mr. Vaughan offered a motion ./ ? that the County Attorney be directed to initiate action necessary for placing.the Plumbing I Inspector under the County Commissioners and out from under the Board of Health. ? (continued) J rQ6 Minutes of the Meeting January 18, 1965 Continued _--.. - - _ ? PLUMBING INSPECTOR - (continued) - 'I:n the di-scussibn,:, Mr.. Ha,11, expressed-?the;,opinion t_hat there are many com- • plications which may arise that might not work to the best interest of public health if the supervision is withdrawn from the Health Department and offered a motion to table the above motion until the next meeting. It was seconded by Dr. Hooper and unanimously ? approved, however Mr. Vaughan expressed the opinion that the Board should begin to take . responsibility from the Health Department where individuals are concerned. BUILDING INSPECTOR - \ The Chairman read a letter from Mr. I. John Tinga, Chairman of the County Planning Board, recommending that 1- Mr. Charles Ray Register be notified to assume i I I for use in the Tax Listing Department some time ago and was instructed to get bids and in- vestioate the source of an appropriation for this capital outlay. He reported that I had received two bids as follows: Harrison Typewriter Co. $161.71 LTypewriter Inspection Co. 156.56 After a brief discussion of this proposal, Mr. Hall offered a motion that the Tax Super- visor be authorized to purchase the typewriter best suited to their needs and that an appropriation of $156.56 be made from Unanticipated Revenue over and above the antici- pated amount in the Intangible Revenue Fund to Capital Outlay. Dr. Hooper seconded the motion and it was unanimously carried. VOTER REGISTRATION - ' Mr. Vaughan reminded the Board that no definite action had been taken with reference to the setting up of Wilmington Township voting precints preparatory to the ' installation of a loose-leaf registration system. He then offered a motion that County Attorney Tillery, in cooperation with the Election Board Chairman and the City officials, be authorized to take whatever action is necessary to establish new precinct arrange- ments, keeping in mind its effect on its economy in the County, but at the same time take into consideration the convenience and best interest of the voting public. It was ' seconded by Mr. Hall and unanimously carried. SERVICE RECOGNITION - The County Attorney presented a Re,solution in recognition of the long tenure of service to the County by Miss Ada Louise N?cCulloch who will retire as Register of Deeds, February lst.;after a long term of service to the County. It was dec;ded,by common consent, that this matter should be deferred until the next meeting when a full , Board would be present. The Executive Sec.retary was instructed to arrange for a photo- ? grapher and her employees of the office to be present. PARKING PRIVILEGE Jailor Joe E.Jdhnson appeared before the Board and stated that since his home is here in the Court House he feels that he should have a parking space designated for his use. He cited the fact that his wife may times went out to buy groceries and came back and was unable to find a place to park. After a brief discussion, Mr. Hall T moved that a space be designated and reserved for the Jailor only and marked accordingly since the Court House is his place of residence. It was seconded by Mr. Vaughan and unanimously passed. COUNTY AUDITOR LEGISLATION - Mr. Vaughan observed that so far no definite action had been taken with refer- ence ? plans for abolishing the office of County Auditor and establishing a County Accountant which would be an appointive office and responsibile to the Board of Commiss- ioners. After some discussion of this subject, he offered a motion that the Covnty Attorney be authorized to proceed with such steps as were necessary to accomplish this change and set up legislation to that effect. It was seconded by Mr. Hall and unanimous1y passed. REPORTS - The following reports were reviewed and ordered filed for ittformation: II 1- County Extension'Services Report for December, 196!}. , 2- Home Economics Exfension Report for December, 1964. ? 3- Wilmington Public Library Report, December,1961?. 4- Grand Jury Report for the Criminal term during January, 1965 5- State Board of Public Welfare Inspection Report, December 1961?. ADJOURNMENT - There beinc no further business to be brought before the Board, Mr. Hall move? that the meetirig be adjourned. The motion was,seconded by Mr. Vaughan and uanimously approved. . Houck ? Ex? cutive Secretary _ / Inspector and tha ? t?hey be furnished a secretary; 3- That the Board of County Commiss- -°? - ioners take the ap ropriate action to enforce the State Building Code. After discuss- hiTAXs LI duties STING as BuiTYPEWRlIdiTERng I-nspector immediately. 2- That a single office be made avail- -. ing this problem, Mr. Hall offered a motion that Mr. Charles Ray Register be instructed, -? to assume his duties as of today `- , January 18, 1965 ar.d that he be authorized and instruc? - ? ed to enforce the State Building Code in New Hanover County and that ali fees or charges he collects be paid into the Auditor's Office for the time being and that his salary be able in the The Court Tax HousSupee rvi fosr or r the em uise nded of the the BuBoailrdding that Inhespecthadorr, eques the te Edlaectricatypwrl iter T=hao j?based on the appropriation made in the Budget. It was seconded by Dr. Hooper and unanimously adopted. The Executive Secretary was directed to send a letter to both Mr.Register and Mr. Tinga advising them of this action I ? . The Executive Secretary is to invite Mr. Tinga to the next meeting of the Board and aiso investigate through the Recorder?s Court Offices to see if the fees and charyes . m:ade..; by the Inspector \ I mioht be run Lhrough their cash reaister machine I? . '-- ,