1958-08-04 Regular Meeting,2W 8?
Wilmington, N.C. August 4, 1958
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ASSEMBLY -
The regular weekly meeting of the Board of New Hanover County Commission-
ers was held this dtty in the Commissioner's Room in the Court House at 9:30 A. M.
PRESENT: Chairman J. M. Hall, Jr., Commissioners L. E. Broadhurst, Ernest R. May-
han, and Berry A. Williams, County Auditor T. D. Love, County Attorney John Bright
Hill and Commissidner-Elect Peter H. Braak. Commissioner J. E. Holton, Jr. xE out of
city and unahle to attend the meeting.
INVOCATION -
The Chairman called the meeting to ordeT and asked Reverend E. T. Small,
Pastor of the Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, to open the meeting with'prayer.
APPROVAL 'OF THE MINUTES - ' '
" Upon motion of b1r. Williams, seconded by Mr. Mayhan, the minutes of the regular meeting held on Monday, July 28th and the minutes of the special meeting
called for July 30th were approved'unanimously. , .,
WILMINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY - '
In addition to letters and petitions received by the Board, several dele-
gations from varibus sections of the County appeared in the interest of the,restora-
tion of supporting funds to the Puhlic• Library and..Bookmobile. The consensus,of opin-
ion among'those who verbally expressed themselves, as well. as the ideas in letters
and petitions, as to discontinuing the Bookmobile and possible restriction of full
membership privileges in the Public Library was, that it would be a backward step in
the cultural and social wellbeing of our citizens and not contribute to'a,stable and
happy community. After hearing all the various groups who wished to be heard,the
Chairman explained that the thinking of the Board behfnd the action in withdrawing
support from the Library was based on the fact that within the last few years, the
County had assuroed approximately $100,000 of obligations which had previously been
borne by the City and that the Library would be an additional attraction for the County
residents to visit the City. He informed those present that a joint meeting with the
City Council was scheduled at 11:00 A. M. and invited any and all of those present to
the joint session.
PROPERTY SALE PROPOSAL -
fi Pursuant to instructions of the Board to the County Attorney and County
Auditor at the meeting of July 28th in regard to the-proposal to_purchase 536 acres of
County owned property at the intersection of North 23rd Street extension and the Blue
Clay Road known as the Sanitorium site,they recommended,that the Real Estate Board be
employed to make an appraisal of the property and base the sale on their findings. Mr.
E.. Moseley Fonvielle representing. the Willetts Realty Company for the Tidewater Natur-
al Gas Company, informed the Bota.aaithat an examination of..the property.recorded by the
Register of Deeds indicated that -there was a little less than 5 acres in the tract
owned by the County. After discussion of the factors involved, Mr. Broadhurst offer-
ed a motion that the land be ?lc. A" 1,000 per acre net to the County (excluding
surveying expense and sales coromission). There was no second to this motion and it
was ruled dead by the Chairman. L4r. Mayhan then offered a.substitute motion that a
net price of $7,000 be placed on the property and that the Board approve the sale on
that basis if the purchasers were agreeable. This motion was seconded by Mr. 1Pi11-
iams attd when the question was called, bfessrs. Broadhurst and Hall voted "IVO". Since
there was a division of opinion on.the matter, it was agreed to defer.any decision un-
til the return of Mr. Holton.
RECESS - ' t -
/ The Chairman, at this point, informed the Board that they were%`scheduled to
meet jointly with the City Council in the Council Chambers at 11:00'A. M. and by'com-
"v mon consent of the Board,, the meeting was recessed for that
purpose and, to resume as
soon after the joint meeting as practical.
Council Chanbers, Municipal Building, 11:00 A. M. August,4, 1958
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A joint meeting of the New Hanover County Commissioners and the City of 1Yi1-
mington Council met with the following members present: Commissioners - Chairman J. M.
Hall, Jr., L. E. Broadhurst, Ernest R. Mayhan and Berry A. Williams, County Attorney
John Bright Hill, County Auditor T. D. Love and Commissioner-Nominee Peter H. Braak.
Commissioner J. E. Holton, Jr. was absent from the meeting due to being out o% town.
Councilmen- Mayor J. E. L. Wade, W. Ronald Lane, R. T. Burney, City Attorney Cicero
P. Yow and City Manager J. R. Benson.
INVOCATION
The meeting was called to order by Mayor J. E. L. Wade who acted as Chairman
and declared the joint Boards an official session. After a prayer for guidance and
wisdom, he explained the purpose of the meeting was for a discussion of matters of joint
interest of both Boards.
WILMINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY -
Since a group of citizens interested in the continuance of Libr.ary services
for the County were in attendance, this subject was the first presented for discussion.
City Manager Benson read the comparable figures of the last Fiscal Year with the propos-
ed 1958-59 Budget Requests'revealing a total of $34,000 from the City and $17,000 from
the County. Chairman Hall explained to the group that the thinking behind their former
action in deleting funds from the Library from their Budget was that in the last few
years, the County had assumed approximately $100,000 of burdens which had formerly been
borne by the City, then too, that they thought•the city could use the Library as a.draw-
ing card to lure residents into the City. After discussing the matter freely, there
seemed to be no mutual grounds on which they could agree., so Chairman Hall proposed that
the County own and pay the operative expense including the salaries for the Bookmobile
personnel and allow the City to operate the Library in all other respects. After this
idea was discussed pro and con between ,the members, there still seemed to be no common
ground on which the two Boards might agree so the Chairman finally ruled an impasse on
this subject and suggestefl that they next take up the Consolidated Board of Health.
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Minutes of the Meeting August 4, 1958 Continued
CONSOLIDATED BOARD OF HEALTH -
The Mayor requested City Manager Benson to read the 1957-58 Budget items
as compared to the 1958-59 Budget requests for the Health Department. Dr. C. B. Davis,
Health Officer, and Miss Elizabeth L. Watling, Supervisor of Nurses, were recognized
and explained that the services of one of the nurses which had been discontinued, had
been in the past paid by State Funds exclusively and that the deletion of funds from
the Board would seriously handicap the health program in this County. The service
rendered by the nurse was an essential part of the health program in that she visited
the homes at the request of physicians, only, supervising the convalescense of those
who had been hospitalized, most of whom were indigent and would remain in the hospital
for convalescent care at the expense of the County unless the nurse's service is pro-
vided. In the area of inental health, the clinical psycologist would perform a pre-
ventive service in that many mental problems would be resolved, thus the County would
be relieved of the burden of otherwise caring for them. MissWatling was of the opin-
ion that some of those served by either the psycologist or the nurse were in a posi-
tion to pay a minimum for the service but a large majority would come in the indigent
class. After a free discussion by the members of both Boards, Councilman Lane offer-
ed a motion that funds sufficient to pay the salaries of a clinical psycologist and
nurse be added and the necessary attendant expenses such as travel, telephone, postage
and social security be included. Commissioner Hall seconded the motion and all mem-
bers of both Boards voted in the affirmative except Commissioner Broadhurst, who voted
in the negative.
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RULES OF PROCEDURE
During the morning's discussion, the question arose about the procedure of
making motions and the seconds,in a joint session. It has been the custom in previous e?
years that if a member of one of the Boards offered a motion, a member,of the other
Board should second it and in order to clarify the handling of matters in the future,
Mr. Burney offered a motion that if the member of one Board offered a motion,?it must
be seconded by a member of the other Board before it could be considered valid when
voted on. Mr. 4Uilliams seconded this motion, and it was unanimously adopted.
CONSOLIDATED TAX OFFICE - • 1__?
City Manager Benson was requested to read the comparative itemized figures To-?
of the 1957-58 Budget with the proposed 1958-59 Budget. He explained that these re-
quests for salaries were the same as for last year but that there were two particular
employees that should have salary adjustments because of upgrading_in position. Dur-
ing the discussion of this office, it was brought out-that the Tax Collector was re-
ceiving 236 9'o commissions from the Town of Carolina Beach as renumeration for collect-.. .
ing their taxes. Commissioner Williams expressed the opinion that our representative
to the Legislature during the next term be requested to seek an enactment that would
allow that commissions from Carolina Beach be receipted._in the .tax office arid the Tax
Collector's income be adjusted accordingly. It was hoped that this might be accom-
plished in time to be effective at the next Budget Year. Commissioner Williams, after
further discussion of the tax office, offered a motion that the representative to the
Legislature prepare and present the bill authorizing the salary of the Tax Collgctor
1Se"f'ixe?y the joint bodies of the New Hanover County Commissioners and the Wilmington
City Council. This motion was seconded by Councilroan•Burney and unanimously adopted.
LUNCHEON -
By unanimous consent of the Board, it recessed for luncheon to meet back at
2:00 P. M. .
RECONVENTION -
• M83*or J. E. L. Wade again called the meeting to order and Tax Collector
Sem W. Johnsoft was invited to participate in a further discussion of the Tax Collect-
or's Office Budget in which he requested adjusting salaries for the employees of his
office and stated that if they approved the same salary Budget for 1958-59 Fiscal Year,
he would have sufficient funds to make whatever adjustment in individual salaries he
thought were merited since two employees were replaced at a losver salary. The total
amount was $185.00 a month. He read an itemized list of the employees and the propos-
ed salary adjustment for each and explained that the Tax Office on several occasions
had been deprived of earned increases because of a difference of opinion between between
the two Boards. It seems that on d'ifferent occasions, one Board approved increases for
their employees and the other Board, for that particular year, did not feel,it justified,
therefore, the Tax Department did not, receive an, increase,. The next year the situation
would be reversed and the Board that was agreeable to an increase the year before would
not be inclined to approve an increase even though the Board that had declined the year
before was then willing to do so, so thus again the T,ax Office failed to receive an in-
crease. Mr. Johnson stressed the fact that at least two of his employees were entitled
to increases, viz., N. E. Davis, Sr. and S. B. Ledbetter who had been given additional
responsibilities. It seemed to be 'that there was no common.ground on which the two
Boards-could agree on the matter`, so Commissioner Broadhurst offered a motion that the
Chairroan of the Board of County 'Commissioners and the Mayor of the City of Wilmington
be a committee to confer with ttie Taac Colloor and bring back a recommendation on which
they thought both Boards might aLree. This motion was seconded by Commissioner Burney
and when the votes were cast, Commissioners Hall, Mayhan, and Williams voted "NO", while
all of the Councilmen voted "YES" and Commissioner Broadhurst. Mayor Wade ruled bhe mo-
tion had prevailed and proceedecf to confer with Chairman Hall and Tax Collector Johnson.
After a short conference, the coinmittee reported that they had agreed on increasing the
salary of the Tax Collector $157M per roonth and that the salaries of Messrs. Davis and
Ledbetter would remain the same as recommended in the proposed Budget but that all other
salaries should remain the same. Councilman Burney then offered a motion that this recom-
mendation be approved and it was seconded by Commissioner Broadhurst and when the quest-
ion was called, all members present voted in the affirmative except Commissioner Mayhan
who voted "NO". • •
TAX OFFICE EXPENSE - ' ,
Commissioner Berry A. Wi-lliams reminded the Board•that it was time to•revise -?-?
the proportion of Tax Office expense and suggested that the legislative action•be left
in the hands of the Committee. •
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Minutes of the Meeting August.. 4, 1958 Continued
CIVIL DEFENSE -
The various phases of the Civil Defense Budget were discussed by the mem-
?R bers and after each had expressed himself on the subject, Commissioner Broadhurst
? offer.ed.a mo,tion that the Civil Defense Budget Requests be approved on the basis of
$4200.00 from each of the contributing sources with the understanding that the County
Budget would include $2,000.00 toward the establishment of rural warning signals.
This motion was seconded by Councilman Burney and unanimously adopted.
INFANTRY - MUSEUM
There was coroplete agreement atnong the members on the contributions to the
Infantry Units and the Sorosis Museum. By common consent, they were approved as re-
quested.
ADJOURNMENT -
There being no further matters of joint interest to come before the Boards,
Councilman Lane offered the motion for adjowrnment, seconded by Commissioner Broad-
hurst, and unanimously adopted.
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Oommissioner's Room 4:00 P.M. August 4, 1958
RECONVENTION -
Pursuant to the morning recess, the Commissioners wer.e.called to order by
the Chairman to resume their regular work for the day.
WILMINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY -
The Chairman explained that in his opinion they would be able to maintain
? the declared tax rate of $1.15 per 100 and still approve some funds for the operation
of the Bookmobile and the Public Library even though it .might dip into,reserves for
the next year. He informed the Board that he would like to see them reconsider the
Library action. There are times that expenditures of this nature can not be justi-
fied from a purely commercial standpoint, but that in this case, he felt very strong-
ly that the funds should be reinstated in the proposed Budget. After a free discuss-
ion by members of the Board, Mr. Williams offered a motion that $12,500 be appropriat-
ed to. the Wilmington Puhlic Library as an annual donation for the next Fiscal Year.
This motion was seconded by Mr. Mayhan and when the question was called, all of the
Commissioners voted in the affirmative except Mr. Broadhurst who requested that he be i
recorded as voting "NO".
RECORDER'S COURT -
Mr. John M. Walker, Solicitor of Recorder's Court, was recognized by the
Chairman and stated that the.noise had progressively grown worse as the motor traffic
increased up and down 3rd Street and that it had gotten to the point that it was diffi-
cult for the witnesses to be heard and suggested that a possible solution of the prob-
lem would be to air condition the Court Room so that the windows might be kept closed
to keep out some of the noise. No action was taken on this subject at,this time.
DRAINAGE
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Pursuant to a repetition of a request for drainage relief in the Murray-
ville section of the County at their meeting on July 21st, the Executive Secretary
and T4r. Rivenbark had Mr. J.B. Simpson, Soil Conservation.Engineer go out and make a
survey and the consensus of opinion now is that this project should receive primary
consideration by the drainage committee during the year's operation of the dragline.
TAX COLLECTOR'S REPORT -
Tax Collector Sam W. Johnson submitted the following monthly statement of
back taxes:- ,
Totals 1956
Open 7/1/58 62,993.62 23,537.44
Collected-July,1958 2,932.54 21072.81
Balance-August 1,1958 .
60,061.08 21,464.63
1955 1954 1953 Prior
129826.04 9,252.70 59464.11 115913.33
608.35 145.40 74.20 31.78
12,217.69 99107.30 59389.91 11;881.55
1957 Tax Collections October 426,931.35
Novemb'er 1459733.36
December 86,065.84 '
January 1799752'.35
February 59,460.04 , ot1n. oYi
March 179069.01 ?I-
April 189809.96
, May 139110.91 • June 35,015.28
• July 22,581.25
11004,529.35
/S/ Sam W. Johnson
. Tax Collector
/ TAX ABATEMENT -
Mr. James C. Jordan appeared before the Board requesting abatement,for his
poll taxes because of military disability, as provided by Statute. He presented a
letter from the Veteran's Administration in support of his condition for 10096 disabil-
ity. Upon motion of Mr. Williams, seconded by Mr. Br.oadhurst, the back tax amounting
to $4.62 be abated and poll tax for 1958 not be levied. This mot.ion unanimously car-
ried.
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Minutes of the Meeting August 4, 1958
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McCAIN SANITORIUM -
A letter was received from the Medical Records Department of the Community
Aospital informing the Board that Lucille Davis of 506% North'7th Street had been trans-
ferred to the Sanitorium at McCain, North Carolina on July 29, 1958. Her diagnosis
was Tuberculosis Pleurisy, with Effusion.
BARN INSURANCE - '
County Auditor, T. D. Love reported through his office that the new cattle
barn recently completed at the County Farm had not been placed on our Insurance polic-
ies and suggested that this be done immediately. By common consent of the Board, the
Executive Secretary was instructed to authorize insurance coverage up to $,10,000 on
this structure.
PILING PROPOSAL
The Corps of Engineers served Public Notice that an application had been W
filed for construction of two boat mooring pilings at 21 Lagoon Drive; Wrightsville
Beach, North Carolina and requested an objection, if any, be filed in that office on
or before August 7, 1958. The Commissioners themselves had no objections.
HOUSING AUTHORITY RENT - e_x?
A letter was received from the Housing Authority of the City of Wilmington
informing the Board that they had sent a voluntary contribution of $8,674.38 to the
County representing 10 % of their shelter rent in compliance with'their agreement.
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VETERANS' REPORT - , ?
The regular monthly report of the Veterans' Servi.ce Office showing a total?
award for the amount of $7,253.80 was received through thischannel.
ADJOURNMENT -1
" There being no further
moved adjournment, seconded by Mr.
business presented before the Board, Mr. Broadhurst
Mayhan and unanimously adopted.
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W. G. FIOUCK, Executive
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Secretary
Wilmington, N.C. August 11,1958
' CONVOCATION -
The regular weekly meeting of the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners
was held this day in the Commissioner's Room of the Court House at 9:30" A. M. PRESENT:
Chairman J. M. Hall, Jr., Commissioners L. E. Broadhurst, Ernest R. Mayhan; Commiss-
ioner-Elect Peter H. Braak, Corinty Auditor T. D. Love and County Attorney John Bright
Hill. Commissioners James E. Holton, Jr, and Berry A. Williams were not present since
they are attending the Convention of the National Association of County Officials being
held in Portland, Oregon. '
INVOCATION -
The Chairman called the meeting to order and asked Reverend Jack Newsome,
Pastor of the Oleander and Epworth Methodist Church, to open the meeting with a prayer
for guidance. . .
APPROVAL OF'THE MINUTES -
Upon motion of Mr. hfayhan, seconded by Mr. Broadhurst, the minutes of the
last meeting were unanimously appcoved.
AMBULANCE SERVICE
Mr. John W. Poole, representing the Cape Fear Ambulance Service Company, was
recognized by the Chairman and informed the Board that he had so far been unable to
arrange a suitable conference with the committee composed of Commissioner Broadhurst
and Williams from the County and a similar committee from the City Council with refer-
ence to the problems that they were confronted with in serving the citizens of New Han-
over County. He is hopeful that such a meeting will soon materialiae and that they
will sooi? have some recommendations for future guidance. The particular case in quest-
ion this morning had to do with Bo,yd Evar?A;, a former employee of the City who was shot
in the back on October 26, 1957. 7'he City Police called the,Ambulance Company and
authorized them to take him to the James SYalker Memorial Hospital where he received
emergency treatment by Doctor ponald B. Koonce. Their work indicates that the charges
were paid by some insurance company.' This is likewise true of the x-ray treatroent
which was rendered at the time. He was then transferred by ambulaace to the Community
Hospital where he has been ever since. Mrs. Helen B. Sneeden, Superintendent of the
Welfare Department, and bfrs. Grace S. Hixson, Intake Case Worker, were invited to ex-
plain some of the policies of the Welfare Department in handling this sort of case. It
has been the established policy.of the Welfare Department not to issue permits or to
certify payment of hospitalization or ambulance service until after a request by rela-
tives and an investigation that they were indigent. In this particular case, the am-
bulance service was authorized by a member of the City Police Department and the patient
was employed by the City of Wilmington as a mortar mixer. The accident happened on Oct-
ober 26, 1957 and no request for assistance was made_.on the Welfare Department until
June, 1958. It is reported that all City employees.are.covered by the Hospital Saving
Association under their Blue Cross Plan and that they were liahle for the Hospital costs
on the patient until June. It was the cousensus of opinion by the Board that since a
City employee authorized the use of the ambulance and the pat.ient was not indigent at
the time, the City should assume the responsibili.ty for this ambulance cost. The Com-
munity Hospital workers indicate that the patient was received at 8:00 P. M. October 26,
1957 and gave as his nearest relative, Eva M. Williams of 1111 Dock'StTeet and that the
transfer was made from James Walker Memorial Hospital by ambulance.
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