1957-07-25 Regular Meeting? 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
,?
,17o
Aleeting of 7uly 25, 1957 - Continue3
/
A
i
ti
Milit
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C
i
ppropr
a
or
ary
on
ompan
es was approved.
At the end of the discussion, Mr. Wade asked that the CounLy Commissioners reconsider the
appropriation for the Publi.c LiUrary, that it be increased to Lhe amount requested by them
before the County's Budget was fina].ly adopted.
? Representatives from the Commwlity Iiospital, namely: Mr. Reese, Planager, iN1r. Coleman
Of-
U( ,
fice Alanager and Mr. E. M. 13utler on the 13oard. of the Community Hospital appeared present-
ing the Budget for the Community Iiospital for the coming year.
The Budget was discussed in detail with these representatives and the,y were urged to do
everything in their power to see that the operation ran as economical.ly as possib].e. The
matter of collections on the Accounts Receivable were discussed and suggestions were to
be put iiito effect.
lluring the discussion, Mr. Love, County Auditor staLed to the Commissioners that we were
starting oPf the ye,ir operating the Commwiity Hospi.tal with approximately $10,000.00 worth
of debts ancl that these bills were now in Lhe process of' being pa.id.
He also called to the attention of the Cmmnissioners that the Anticipated Coll.ections for
services rendered by the Hospital were now dur:i.ng the month oP Jul,y falling behind and it
was his opinion that the col.:Lections anticipated in the 13udget woulcl not be reached. Tliis
was concurrecl in by the Dlanager of the liospital., Mr. Reese. There were no changes made
/ in the Hospital 13udget, but it was suggested by the Coiuity Auditor that exPenses Ue cut in
the Uffice of the Conmiunity Hospital as the Uffice.of LYie County Auditor, effecLive as of
? July 1, is handling all pay-rolls, do5.ng all purChasing, paying all bil.ls ancl this was ad-
ding a considerable burden Lo the County Auditor's Office and it was 1•iis o,pinion that a
saving should be reflected in the Office of the Coimnunity Hospital.
't'here was no_ further busi.riess and upon motion made by Mr. I[olton, the meeting was adjourned.
T. D. Inve,
Actirig Clerk.
Wilmington, N. C., July 29, 1957.
? The Board of County Conunissioners met this iiay, Alonday morning, Sul.y 29 aL 10:00 laith the
fol.loiaing members preseizt: J:imes M. Hall, Jr., Cliairm:in and Commissioners Eirnest R.
Tiayhan, James E. liolton, Jr., 13erry A. Williams, L. E. Broadhurst. In the absence of ,1r.
T. K. Woody, Mr. T. D. Love, acted as Clerlc to ttle 13oard.
Invocatiai was offered by Chaplain Daniel B. Carten of the Salvation Army.
Mr. Hall opened tne meeting stating that it was the i.ntention of the Board a1: this time to
come to a conclusion and settle a detiiiite date for the holding of various Bond el.ections
for the County.
There was a considerable delegation of people on hand at Lhe meeting. Mr. Hall cal.l.ed on
Plr. Peter Brosan Huffin as a representative of the liosPital Steering Committee to malce a
statement. Mr. Ruff'in replying that he was only there to urge that a defi.nite date be
set for the holding of an electi ai for the people to determine as to whether or not the,y
desirecl to..float a 13ond issue to build a Hospital in this County. I1: was Mr. Ruffiri's
opinion that to build a Hospital was badly needed.
llr. llonald B. Koonce urged that a Aorid election be held as soon as possible stating that
Lhe cunclition of James Walker Piemorial liospital demanded attentimi ancl that delay woul.d Ue
expensive. Dr. Koonce esti.mated that the County would receive approxi.matel.y two and a
hal.f (2 1/2) million dollars of State and P'ederal money to apply on a llospi.ta]. :ind that
Lhe equity in the present liospital wou].d probably amount to aUout a half (1/2) million
dollars, and it was his opinion that the liospital could be built with a Bond sale of less
than four (4) million dollars. It iaas Mr. Rutfin's and Dr. ICoonce's opinion that the
James Wallier ,Kemorial liospita7. I3oard would contribute all of their assets to a new Ilos-
pital.
Mr. Hichard Shew, Local Realtor urged that the 13ond election be post7aled until a complete
revaluation figure had been received.
Af'ter lliscussion, Mr. Berry Williams, Commissi.oner stated that he fe.lt that a representa-
tive group of the people from the County had studiecl 1:his matter and that they were all
substantial taxpayers and he was of tkie opinion that the peo,ple should be allowed to vote
on tIv s matter at an early date. Mr. Williams made a motion that the matter of Bond is-
sues for the lIospital and Schools be voted on, on Aiovember 4, 1957. The Motiou received
no secbnd. Mr. James li. Holton, Jr., made a substitute motion that the matter be voted
on, on FeUruary 1, 1958, and Mr. Iiroadhurst seconded this motion, but after some discussion,
Mr. Broadliurst withdrew his second. Upon nuestioning from Mr. Wil.liams, Mr. Love, County
Tax Supervisor stated that tLe Pinal figures oP our reva].uation would not be available on
either of the dates referred to above.
At this point, Mr. Ruffin made a statement that from his view poinL, the date of February
1, 1958 was acceptable. Mr. Sroadhurst expressed himself statiug that he was in favor of
holcling off any definite decision until after the Board of County Commissioners had. met
with tlie IIoard of Directors of James Tdalker Memor•ial Ftospital.
At this point, Mr. Emsley L•aney, representing the Scliool ]3oard staLed that t11e niatter of
a vote on School Bonds had alr.eady been delayed for quite some time and in his opinion-the
matter of a vote on School Ba1ds should not be delayed any later than the fall of 1957.
Mr. lianey confirroed the fact that i:he School Board had withdrawn its request for a 15¢ lev,y
to supplement teachers' pay. This withdrawal was only of a temPorary nature.
Upon questioning,Air. Love, County Auditor stated that there was some possibility tha.t a .
lower interest rate might be received if Lhe Bond. issues were voted on and our assessed
values were higher than they now are. At this point, Mr. Holton made a motion that all
of the contemp].ated 13ond issues be voted on, on P'ebruary 3, 1958. Mr. Williams second-
ed this motion.
Pir, i+layhan made a substitute motion as follows: '
- "After giving the matter of the Bond issue for construction of a Hospi,tal a great deal .
of thought and consid.eration, I am thoroughly convinced that now is not the time to call for
an election on this matter. In vieca of the fact'that we are heaviTy involved in our Reval-
uation Program and do not have any idea how this will work out, I hereby malze the fo].lowi.ng
motion,that this matter be held up iuitil we have our Revaluation problems settled.
/s/ E. R. playhan
(;ounty Commissioner "
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