HomeMy WebLinkAbout1958-10-01 Regular Meeting,3 10.'
Minutes of the Meeting - September 29, 1958
HURRICANE HELENE -
Board of County Commissioners to the State Highway Patrol officials, Civil De-
fense, Sheriff, and Civil Air Patrol in appreciation of the splendid work done by their
departments during the recent Hurricane by the name of Helene. This was approved by
common consent. -
RECESS -
There being no further business to be presented before the Board, Mr, Holton
moved that the meeting recess until 5:30 P. M. Wednesday afternoon, October lst. The
motion was seconded by Dir. Broadhurst and unanimously adopted.
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Commissioners' Room 5:30 P. M. October 1, 195$
RECONVMTION - ,
Pursuant to a recess taken at the regular meeting held Monday, September 29th,
the Board reconvened with the following members present: Chairman J. M. Hall, Jr.,
Commissioners L. E. Broadhurst, J. E. Holton, Jr., E. R..Mayhan and Berry.A. Williams
and Commissioner-Elect Peter H. Braak,?County Attorney John Aright Hill and County Audi-
tor T. D. Love. .
AIPORT -
The Chairman called the meeting to order to receive a report on their• confer-
? ence with the owners of the property necessary for use in.the airport improvements of the
r?v?.rptr? approach landing lights for the safety of instrument landing of modern airplanes. Mr.
V ? J. B. Holton, Jr. spoke for the committee and informed the Board that they had unanimously
agreed to the following proposal: "For the consideration of $500.00 per acre(acreage to
be determined by'a competent surveyor), I will deed a permanent avigation easement on a
fifty to one glide angle extending into my land to a point3500 feet SouthHrardly along the
axis o£ Runway # 34 and running Eastwardly from this ooint $75 feet perpendicular to the
axis of the runway; thence Northwardly and parallel to the axis of the Runolay to Smith's
Creek; thence Northwestwardly with Smith's Creek to a point where the Creek is $75 feet
from-the axis of the Runway measured per,pendicular to the axis; thence Southwardly and
parallel to the axis of the Runway to a point opposite (on the perpendicular) to the point
oY beginning; thence Eastwardly to the point of beginning.
In addition, I will give a fee simple deed and title for an area 200 feet on
each side of the projected axis of the Runway from Smith's Creek to a point 3200 feet
Southwardly from the end of the Runway with the proviso that in event that this property
at any future date is not needed in connection with the Airport, easement will be relin-
quished and the land resold to the seller or his heirs at the same price paid o it in
? their option." This means that Mr. Cameron has agreed to sell sufficient acreage and
give a fee simple deed to a strip 400 feet xide and 3200 feet in length from the end of
the present Runway and to give a permanent easement on.the property-alongside for a width
of 1750 feet and a length to include the resent center marker. Mr Holton moved adopt-
ion and acceptance of this proposition. ?his was seconded by Mr. Williams and unanimous-
ly adopted. During the discussion, the Chairman reminded the Board that in considering
this proposition they must keep in mind that an apprisal had been made at $125.00 per
acre and that the Board had some obligation to the taxpayers which must be considered.
He also observed that the Federal Government would pay half of the cost of this project.
He further remarked that while the Realty Board appraised the land at $125.00 per acre,
the owners thought this ridiculous,and considered the land to be worth from $2,000 to
$3,000 per acre since they were selling land at that price within three blocks of this
same location. The County Attorney and Airport Manager were instructed and authorized
to pxoceed immediately to draw the necessary papers and notify the proper authorities of
this action.
APPROPRIATION - ? .
s-? Upon motion of Mr. Mayhan, seconded by Nir. Holton, an appropriation from the
Emergency Fund was unanimously authorized sufficient to cover all the expenses and costs
in connection with the handling of this Airport project, such as easements, land purchases,
surveys, legal and appraisals in accordance with the contractural agreement above.
PUBLIC HEALTH LUNCHEON -
The Consolidated Board of xealth in£ormed the Board that a group of instructors
-? and students from the University o£ North Carolina at Chapel Hill would arrive in Wilming-
7A.a? ton on October 6th to study the Public Health system.in this County and that in the past
it had been the custom of the City and County to entertain them at a luncheon so upon mo-
Lion of Mr. Broadhurst,,seconded by Mr. Williams, the Chairman was unanimously authorized
to proceed with arrangements for approximately fifty people, to be held at the Ark at
12:30 F. M on Monday, October 6th.
ROAD PETITION -
A Petition was received for maintenance of Parkwood Drive by a group of property
owners on that street. Upon motion of Mr. Williams, seconded by Mr. Broadhurst, the Bca rd
unanimously authorized it sent to the State Highway Commission for their consideration and
? approval. ' .
e?
AMBULANCE SERVICE - '
' The Chairman reminded the Board that unless some action was taken with reference
to supporting the Ambulance Service in this County, they sould suspend public operation
effective October '3rd. He was disturbed about the County and City being without some
sort of ambulance emergency service and urged the Board to give it very careful thought.
It was recognized that this was a joint obligation of the City and County and that further
study should be made before the service was allowed to be suspended. After .some discuss-
ion, it was agreed that the Chairman be instructed to discuss the matter with Mr. D. L.
Christian, owner of the present ambulance service, and see if he would be willing to con-
tinue service until after the first o£ next week so that a conference could be held in-
cluding the City and County officials, Recorders Court Judge Smith and the Highway Patrol.
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Minutes of the Meeting September 29, 1958
ADJOURNMENT -
Upon motion of Mr. Holton, seconded by Mr. Mayhan, the Board unanimously voted
itself adjourned. .
: - •.
W. G. Houck, Executive Secretary
Wilmington, N.C. Octbber 6, 195$
ASSENiBLY - ?
The regular weekly meeting of the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners
was held this day in the Commissioners+ Rdom of the Court House at 9:30 A. M. PRESENT:
Chairman J. M. Hall, Jr., Commissioners L. E. Broadhurst, J. E. Holton, Jr., Ernest
R. Mayhan and Berry A. Williams, Commissioner-Elect Peter H. Braak, County Auditor
T. D. Love, and County Attorney John Bright Hill. _
INVOCATION -
Chairman Hall called the meeting to order and asked Reverend J. Ray Butler,
Pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, to invoke the Divine Presence through prayer.
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES -
The minutes of th`e meeting of 5eptember 22 and September 29, not having been
previously approved, were upon motion of Mr. Holton, seconded by Mr. Mayhan and unani-
mously adopted with the following corrections in the minutes of September 29th: In the
paragraph headed "County Dragline", the motion by Mr. Williams should read as follows;
"That an advisory drainage committee be appointed to work out recommendations for a long
range program to be presented to the Board for their determination of the schedule of
priority and that the Executive Secretary be charged with the responsibility,of carrging
out the program in accordance with the established policy of the Board and, further, that
the Executive Secretary be authorized to employ Ray Mitchell as an operator of the drag-
line on the basis of a 40 hour work week at the rate of $2,00 per hour." Mr. Holton se-
conded the motion which was adopted by the Board but Mr. Broadhurst voted "NO". The se-
cond correction in the minutes was under the paragraph entitled "Advertising Allotment"
in which "the County Attorney was requested to investigate the legality of making the
advertising allotment to the Chamber of Commerce and report back to the Board," instead
of "No action was taken".
TAX BOOKS -
The County Auditor submitted the 195$ Tax Books together with the necessary --T-,ry
orders required by Statute reflecting a_total valuation of $143,775,066.00 on which the
tax amounts to ?1,690,139.43. The Tax Collector's report of Insolvent Taxes of 1957-5$
Fiscal Year was accepted at the meeting on September 22nd and the report on the 1957-5$
taxes was submitted and accepted on September 29th and upon motion of Mr. Holton, second-
ed by Mr. Williams, the Tax Report was accepted and approved unanimously authorizing
the Chairman anri the Clerk to sign the orders and turn the books over to Tax,Collector
Sam W. Johnson.
AIRPORT HURRICANE DANAGE - -
Mr. John A. Westbrook, Airport Manager, informed the Board he had received
two bid's covering the damage to the hanger occupied by the Pennington Flying Service,
the lowest of which was $5,000 and that the insurance adjuster had already approved-it.
He was very anxious to have the work done immediately because further damage amounting aAA?
to $500 had already incurred because of the original impairment to the roof,allowing
the elements to enter the building. DZr. Broadhurst offered a motion that since the,ad-
juster had approved the low bid, it would serve the best interest of the County, the
Board approve the immediate repairs. There being no second to this motion, the Chairman
declared it dead and Mr: Holton offered a motion that recognizing the emergency condi-
tion due to Hurricane Helene, that A4anager J. A. V7estbrook be authorized to secure three
bids and enter into a contract for repairing the damage after it had been approved by
the County Attorney. It was seconded by Mr. Williams and unanimously approved,
EMERGENCY AMBULANCE SERVICE - ?...?
Pursuant to'order of the Board at their meeting on September 29th, the Chair-
man explained to those present that the purpose of the request for the different depart-
ments to meet was to discuss and formulate a program that would insure the continuance
of emergency service by the Cape Fear Ambulance Company. He was of the opinion that it ?
would be detrimental to the betterment and progress of a county this size to be without
ambulance service and in his opinion it .oaould save the taxpayers money although he did
not like the use of the word ";subsidy", he did feel that some guarantee might be worked
out whereby the indigent calls might be borne by the County. ,
N1r. Donald L. Christian, president of the Cape Fear Ambulance Company,'stated
that it woul.d require approximately $15,000 annual supplement to continue.to render the
public service which they were now doing because the equipment was_depreciating and the
cost of upkeep was increasing. Their greatest unpaid expense developed iahere they were
called to the scene of accidents to find their services not needed and in cases where
patients were carried to the hospital on an emergency, basis with injuries not sufficient
for hospitalization and'in cases where they sued for the ambulance cost and the patient
preferred serving'a thirty day prison sentence to paying the Court cost which included
their ambulance fee.
The Chairman then recognized•Mayor J.E. L. wade who informed the Bca rd that the
matter had been presented to the City Council and discussed thoroughly with the result
that the City Attorney ruled that there was no legal way for them to contribute to such an
emergency service and that while the Council had not approved the program as yet, he was
of the opinion that they/would go along with the Police Department using their emergency
station wagons which wete equipped to render that service and that he definitely considered
it a responsibility of the Niunicipal Government within the corporate limits.