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1957-07-22 Regular MeetingFi 68 Wilmington, N. C., July 22, 1957. The regular weelzly meeting of the 13oard was hel.d Lhis day at 10:00 o'clociz A.M. Present: Mr. J. M. 1{all, Jr., Chairman and Conunissinners Lrnest H. Piayhan, L. S. 13road- hurst, James E. Holton, Jr., Berry A. IJilliams, John Bright Hil.l, County Attorney and T. D. Love, County Auditor. The meeting was opened with prayer by the 13everend Milton Boone, Pastor of Ma.sonUoro I3ap- tist Church.. Copies of Lhe minutes of the meeting oY Jul.y 8, 1957, ha,ving previously been mailed to eacli member of t}ie 13oard, the same wer.e unon ttiotion of Mr. Williams anproved after correction made in the last paragraph of the County Attorney's interpretation of the forms of County Goveriiment, by letti.ng it read, "We are operating under a canbination of the two systems" which was inadvertently omitted. A delegation of inembers representing the Neio lianover County Aiedical Sor,iety, IIospital Steer- ?---? ing Committee and tlie Board of liducation appeared to urge action on the proposed.l3ond issues for the proposed new Hospital, School construction, WiLningtun Co17.ebe and submission of the 15¢ supplement for teachers' salaries to the vote of the people. Peter Brox%nZ HufFiii, speaking for tlze liospital Steering Committee urbed that a clate most feasible be set for tlie elect.ion on the proposed 400-bed liospital. "If we shoi.ild start today, it would be at least thr•ee years before we can get a neiallospital and time is of the essence", he said. iAir. C. M. Harrington, Chairman of the CFiamber of Commerce 1'ax Committee said the position of his group was not to defeat any of the issues, buL to advise the peopl.e on thie over-all situation and urged that an election on tLe l3ond issues be defcrred until such time we re- ceive, the .ltevaluation re;port anu f'igures. Messrs. Hargrove l3ellamy ancl Afarsden Be].lamy concurred in Atr, liarrington's tlzinlcing. It would be unfair to submit the issues until a report of the Revaluations has been made and studied. As to the Hospital question, llr. Koonce sai.d the lloctors considered. it an emereency and stressed the necessity of action now as the present Hospi.tal facilities will not take care of the needs. We are twenty (20) years behind time; tliis matter has been posPoned sevei^al times. Civic Cl.ubs are baclring the issue a.nd delay will cause additional expense. . Communicatioris from the WiLnington Lions Club, WiLni.ngtori Junior Chamber of Commerce and the New lianover County Pledical Society wei^e in favor of reports submitted. by the ]iospital Steer- ing Committee and requested that the Citizens of the County Ue given Lhe privil.ege to vote on tliis iwportant 13ond issue at the earliest possible date• ** - Qn Pabe 169. Upon motion of Mr. Holton, seconded by Mr. Idilliams, the Chainnun was autliorized to sign a ltiglit-of-Way Agreement for thr State llighway Commission to .provide a wider rigl'it-of-way for ? the Monkey Sunction-Castle liayne liighway at the llu;h rlacRae Park area, and to complete right- of way over County I.iroPerty for 23rfl Street II:ighway project. The ]3oard approved a half page advertisement in the Golden Anniversar,y issue of the State Association of County Convuissioners 50th Anniversary Conveiztion Proceedings ]3oo1c at a cost of $100.00 on a fifty-fifLy basi.s with the Cit3r, [dith reference to receipti of a conununication concerning Change in the procedure on petitions / for Hoad improvements and additia7s to our County Hioliia•ay System. Mr. Wi].:l.iams aslced that a representative of the State Higlnaay Conmiission be invited to meet with us to explain it. Upon motion of Mr. Broadl7urst, seconded by Mr. Plolton, the I3oard acce,pted an of'fer submitt- ed by William L. Lowe, 112 South 14th Street to purchase tax foreclosure T,ot, Part 3 in , ??(y,Bloclc 490 for ?p375.00 subject to approval by the City. ??'?O"'p An of'fer subriitted by Idillia,m M. Hill to purchase the following tax foreclosure Lots: Lot 18 ]31ock 1 " 6 " 18 " 6 " 20 ° 6/7 14 " 46 " 12 " 1/2/23/24 " 28 ? Oakside Park in Piasonboro Township at a price of yy'302.00 saas approved and the Chai.rman and Clerk were authorized and directecl to sigri a lleed tr:insferri_iig the said Lots to the purclias- er upon payment of the purchase price. Afte.r a substitute moti.on made by Mr. idil.liams to have the `Pax Assessor appraise the property and report to the Board, fai.led of a secoild and Mr. Williams votea °no" on the motion. i?? letter was received from the Wilmington Business and Professianal lvbmens Club urging the e,vt?- Cowity Coinmissioiaers to appoint a Civil llefense Leader. right away. A letter was received from Mr. William G. 13ruadfoot, Jr., requesting the P??}'rmari to appoint ? a member of this l3oard as an official representative to the Lower Cape Fear/Uevelo.Pment Com- ? mittee. The Coimnittee has Ueen snear-heading efforts to obtain a deeper charu7el in the Cape F'ear Hiver, improvements favorable to the location of Industries ancl other factors af- fecting physical malee-up of tlie River. The Chairman appointed Mr. lti'illiams to i.his Commit- Wo?C-T tee. Upon motion of Mr. Holton, secancled by Mr. PSayhan, the coritract to furriish all. materials and labor and instal.l a new 600 AN1Y electric service to come into the Court I3ouse from the Prin- ` cess Street side to provide sufficieilt electricity to operate proposed Aix Condi.tioning ?? Units to be installed in the various offices of the Court liouse, and to take r,are of future ?-` electrical neects, was awarded to John E. Sdood Electrical Company on their low bid of July lst, 1957 at and for the sum of $1,420.00. And, also awarded the contract to Thri.f-T-Stores for f'ui°iiishing anil installing Air Cazd,itioizing Units in the offices of the Clerlt of Court, Register of Ueeds and County Audi.tor in accordance with tYieir low bid of JLU1e 17, 1957. The installation of the above services to be done without furtl.ler delay. P? 6 ?C. Upon motion of Mr. Wiiiiai»5, the Clerk was instructed to malce an effort to fi.nd. some other office of less noise to hold County Corimissioners' meetings. Upon notion of Mr. Will.iams, the Clei^lc was allowed two (2) "eel<s vacation beginning July 23, 1957. ' , ? 6 9 1 Meeting of July 72, 1957 - Continued ? -0 The Coixnty Attorney exp].ained proceedings necessary to be foll.owed in connection ?aith the y? ?r??--- , proposed Bond Issue Blection, and we should start in Ja.nuary for Atarch 1 Election. Upon motimi of P1r. liolton, seconded by Mr. IIroadhurst, a recess was tal.en until 9:00 o'clock A,M., '1'hursd.ay July 25, 1957 to be held with the City Council. *?'F _ I+Y^orn I'age 168 llr. John T. Hoggard, Chairman of the Board of Education said, "Wilmington College issue can't be put off, must have an e.lection and can't zaait until next year, time is essential.,"he said. f3. A. Shew, Y. B. Graham and Fred Willetts urged postponement of the School and Hospital issues pendiizg receipt of Revaluation values and study. After riuch further discussion, Mr. Wi.lliams moved and it was seconded by Pir. Mayhan and car-? ried that we refer the teachers' 15¢ supplement back to the Board of Education for recon- 'edv-c", sideration and at next-PI'onTay's meeting will set a date for the Bond Issue Election. llr. Hoggard said he understood the SchooI 13urlget would be considered at this meeting. The Chair- maii suggested a joint meet#.ng with the City Council, Tiiursday mornilig at 9:00 and to hear the k3oard of Education on their Budbet proUlems at their office. v sa.-. it. Clerk. ? Wilmington, N. C., July 25, 1957. A recess meeting from meeting of July 22, 1957 was held by the Board of Count,y Commissioners on this day, Jul.y 25, at 9:00 A. M., with the fo].l.owing members Present: James M. Hall, Jr., ' Cliairman and Commissioners Berry A. Williams, Ernest R. Playhan, L. E. Broadhurst and James E. Holton, J'r. In the absence of Mr. T. K. Woody, T. D. Love acted as Cl.erk of the Board. Mr. Hall opeiied the meeting at which time T. D. Love, Auditor reported that the County had been approved on June 28, 1957 for Social Security coverage and tYiat all employes of the Cowity were noia eovered by Social Security ancl tliat arrangements were being made to pay Soe- ial Security coverage from January 1, 1956 where same was necessary. Mr. Woodus Kellum, Attorney appeared befor•e the 13oard asking for relief for assessmei7t on T? Snow White Laundry for tlie year 1957. He aslzed that ca•isideration be gi.ven as requested. No action was taken. ? The entire School Board appeared before the Conunissioners relative to their Budget requests for the year 1957-1958. Mr. Emsley Laney spolze to the Board and stated i:hat at that time they ?. were standing on their original request for I'w1ds, and that they were in position to d.i_scuss ,,?'0,u.L, I ttie matter and show tl:iei.r needs were in line taith their request. Mr. Holand, Mr. Laney, Dr. Aiebane, Ur. 1foggard and John ASarshall a:Ll spoke in regard to the Schools' needs and the I matter was discussed at ].ength. Mr. Berry Will.iams, Caronissioner stated that it was his ' hope that some of the repairs which were said to be necessary migllt be held off during this comin; year in order that'we nu gPit be ab:le to reta.in the same tax rate whi.ch was effective I tlze previ!-us year, and it was Furtkler his hope in the next year's ]3udget more money coul.d be granted to the Schoo7. 13oard as there were a number of non=recurring items i.n th:i.s year's Budget. Mr. Holton, Conunissi.oner, expressed himself stating that it was hi.s desire that the School Board, if at all possible get by on the 13udget cahich has been allotted to them. At one I poiiit in the discussion, Mr. IIol.ton made a motion that $15,000.00 additional Ue granted to the Scliools, this money to come from the Emergency Pund and a Capital lteserve Ftuid which ? had been set up. No action was taken on this motion. 1'he amount allocated to the Schools in Lhe Capital Out].ay Budget and the regular School Budget was $58,000.00 short of the amount requested by the School Board, The question of conipromising on the $29,000.00 of ? this $55,000.00 was discussed. No--defznite actinn was takeiz on the School Budget, and both the School ]3oard ancl the County Corruuissioners agreed to study the matter further. llr. Hoggard, Chairman of the School 13oard inforiued the Board of Countiy Cominissioners Lhat the School l3oard were officially withdrawing their request bePore the Board of County Com- missio{iers f'or an elecLion to be held on a 15¢ levy Por Lhe supplementing of teachers, sal- ? aries. The County is now I.evying 20g for this purPose and an additional 15¢ had been re- quested by the School 13oard, llr, 1logaard stated thai; this wou:Ld likely Ue presented at a ? later date. A meeting iaith the City Council was then entered into for joiiit discussion of joint appro- ? priations with the following members present rePresenting the City: Mayor J. E. L. ldade, ? Councilman E.' S. Capps, James 1I. Batuyious, R. T. I3urney, Mr. Sames R. 13ei7son, City Pfanager,?5* and Mr. Cicero Yow, City Attorney. The joint 13udgets were discussed ancl an apPropriation to the Colored Library of $2,500.00 on the part of the County was agreed upon. An appro- y ? priation of $11,623.17 fur the Public Library was agreed upon, tipon a motion made by Mr. Diayhan and seconded by Mr. I3roadhurst, the motion was approved. Appropriation for tlie 'Pax Coll.ector's OfPice was abreed upon with the exception of an in- crease in one salary allotment from $1,260.00 to ?1,500.00 for the County's proportionate part. Tliis enables Lh'e Tax Collector to employ other help on the basi.s oP ?250.00 a ? montri., At this point, the mati;er of investigation into.the opera.tion of Lhe Tax Collector's Office ' was thorouahly cliscussed which ejided by Mr. Hall appoinLi.n?Mr, liolton to represent the ? County, and Mr. idade appointed Mr. Ca2ps to represent the City to look into the work-load , in the Tax Collector's Office and report back to Uoth IIoards in order that the matter be settled to the satisfaction of the Board. P1r, Wade upon a?,?r.eement* made, tliat tl?e find- ings of the Committee be ap.proved and that necesssry liegislat,F#"?e.'be sought if a change was i necessary. ? Mr. Broadhurst moved that'the County agree to this proposition, Lhe motion was seconded by Mr. Tdilliams and approved by the Boarcl of County Commissioners. . ? The Health llepartment was then ciiscussed and was approved as per the County's Budget. Contribution to the Sorosis was approved. . ? The Iludget appropriation made by the Count3r Corimissioners to the Civil llefense was approv- ed with the under^standing that this matter would be discussed at a later date. '-7 ,?