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1958-10-13 Regular Meeting313 ' Minutes of the Meeting October 6, 1958 Continued' HURRICANE DAMAGE - I The Executive Secretary was authorized to repor"t damages to the Insurance Carriers covering all County property such as the Airport, the County Home and Farm, Community Hospital, Court House and the Public Health Building in order that adjustors might exp'edite the settlements as soon as possible, r CAP APPROPRIATION - ? An invoice was received £rom the Cape Fear Club amounting to $311.95 cover- .?- ing the entertainment in connection with the air show held during the CAP Friendship Days in which the County was to share on a 1/3 basis, therefore, Mr. Broadhurst offer- ed a motion that $104.00 be appropriated from the Advertising Fund to cover this ex- pense. The motion was seconded by Mr. Mayhan and unanimously adopted. BLANKET BOND Tax Collector Sam W. Johnson submitted a Public Employees Faithful Perform- ance Blanket Position Bond amounting to $5,000 and upon motion of Nr. Broadhurst, second- ed by Mr. Mayhan, the Bond was accepted provided it met the approval of the County Attor- ney who ruled that he would approve it immediately as to form. The motion was adopted. GHAND JURY REPORT - The report of the Grano Jury £or the September 195$ Criminal Term was received and showed that 136 witnesses had been examined resulting in 126 true bills and that all reports and 6Varrants of the Justices of the Peace were checked and found in order. The report was ordered filed. , VETERANS SERVICE OFFF.7CCCE - The regular monthly report submitted by the Veterans Service Office revealed tYa t awards amounting to $4,46$.95 w.ere made during the current monthg It was ordered filed for information. ' • COMMUNITY HOSPITAL DIRECTOR - ` Pursuant to the action taken on September 22 relative to the appointment of ? Mr, Rutherford Leonard to the Board of Directors of Community Hospital replacing.Dr.,M. N. Leary, resigned, Mr.`tidilliams observed that the Board had voted to appoint a Board of T'rustees to replace the Board of Directors and give them full authority to operate the hospital as a non-profit institution and he was of the opinion that the Board of Trustees should be appointed. The Chairman remarked that he was now in the process of securing information covering the cost of the indigent on a per diem basis. Mr.,Holton remarked that if a change was made in that direction he was convinced if would cost the the County more money to care for its indigents than on the present basis. The appoint- ment of the Director was delayed for further study. DITCHING REQUEST = A letter was received from Nrs. Maude P. Martin renewing her request of Septem- ber $th for some use of the prison labor in having some pipe installed in front of'her home at 116 Channel Drive on Harbor Island. As explained to Mrs. Martin at the time of her original request that since the streets were o-Aned by the Shore Acre Development Com- pany, a private corporation, and they collected fees for the use of those streets and sidewalks from the property owners, it was their responsibility to maintain them in a satisfactory manner and that her request differed from the average citizens for the use ? " o£ laying pipe in that the Shore Acre,Development Company in recognizing their responsi- 6f? ? bility for the maintenance of the street furnished the pipe and not the property owner ? as in the usual case 5f this sort of assistance. In order to expedite the handling of this request the Chairman appointed a committee of Messrs, Williams, Chairman, Broad- hurst and Mayhan to investigate and report back to the Board at next Monday's meeting. TAX ABATEMENT - • Mr. Charles L. Justice, llg Vance Street, appeared before the Board and stated that he had been penalized on his 195$ City property taxes because he failed to list them in January. He explained that all of his life he had lived in the County outside of the City limits and had only listed County property but since last year he had pur- --rel chased property inside the City and did not know that he woul`d have to list them in Wil- mington Township in addition to his Masonboro Township listing, The County Auditor ex- plained what had happened and after instructing Mr. Justice in the proper procedure for listing his taxes he recommended that the penalty be abated. Mr. Holton, therefore, offered the motion, which was seconded by A4r. Broadhurst, and unanimously adopted. ADJOURNNiENT - There being no further business presented to the Board, the Chairman declared the meeting adjourned. ' ,? I W.?G. Houk,UExecutive,Secretary Wilmington, N.C. October 13, 195$ ASSEMSLY - The regular weekly meeting of the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners was held this day in the Commissionerst Room of the Court House at 9:30 A. M. PRESENT: "Chairman J. M. Hall, Jr., Commissioners L. E. Broadhurst, Ernest R. Niayhan, •J.•E.• Holton, Jr. and Berry A. Williams; and County Attorney John Bright Hill. .County Audi- tor T. D. Love was not present for the meeting since he vras out of the city on vacation. INVOCATION - Chairman Hall called the meeting to order and asked Reverend W. V: Ra.ridolph, Pastor oE Middle Sound Christian Advent Church, to open the meeting with a prayer for guidance. 7 ! ,e? ? t.?Vz oo? ? C? A?? CI k :?vyvUY? c, al" Minutes of the Meeting October 13, 195$ Continued APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES - Upon motion of Mr. Broadhurst, seconded by Mr. Holton, the minutes of the meeting of October 6th were unanimously approved as written. TIDEWATER NATURAL GAS CON?PANY - • Mr. E. Moseley Fonvielle; representing the Willetts Realty Company, agents for the Tidewater Natural Gas Company, informed the Board that his company had approv- ed the purchase of the 5 acre tract known as the old Sanitorium site at the end of North 23rd Street Extension and the Blue Clay Road and that their attorneys were now in the process of checking the title but that there was no access to the highway from this property and they•had discovered a small triangle made by the intersections of the North 23rd Extension Road, the old Gordon Road and.the Blue Clay'Road which would give them an ingress and egress to their property but they were not sure who owned the tri- angle. The County Attorney was instructed to investigate the ownership and in view o£ a possibility that the State Highway had an easement or lease on this triangle, they should secure a quit claim deed from them. He offered to purchase the triangle at the same r.ate as t he other 5 acre tract. The County Attorney was instructed to prepare a deed 'immediately for the 5anitorium tract, Mr. Holton offering the motion which was se= ,conded by Mr. Broadhurst-and unanimously approved. APPROPRIATIONS - County Attorney John Bright Hill informed the Board that he had recently attended a seminar for County Attorneys at the Institute of Government at Chapel Hill and that the matter of advertising appropriations was brought ihto the discussion and the consensus of opinion of those present was that the intent of the law governing these appropriations was that the Commissioners should not lose control of the money they appropriated. He advised the Board that they were perfectly within the law to appropriate advertising money to the Chamber of Commerce and, or,the Merchants Associa- tion provided the.y control the spending,.therefore, Mr.•Broadhurst offered a motion, seconded by Mr. Williams, that the $4.,000 appropriation to the Chamber of Commerce and the $500 appropriation to the Wilmington Merchants Association be paid after the County Attorney had approved the drawing of the chs. The motion was unanimously carried. The County Rttorney approved the follovaing checks: 1- Wilmington Chamber of Commerce $2,257.29, to pay for advertising in the Greensboro Daily News, Durham, Raleigh, Charles- ton, West Virginia, and other papers; State Magazine, Wilmington Printing Company, ° also Carolina Printing and Stamp Company, Jackson and Bell, and photographs et cetera. 2- Wilmington Chamber of Commerce $430.50 to pay for advertising and promotion of Fat Stock Show, and Sale, awards et cetera and a ricultural development of New Hanover County. 3- Wilmington Chamber of Commerce ?1,312.21 to pay for advertising and pro- motion of Junior Stock Show and Sale, Awards et cetera and agricultural development of County. . An invoice was received from M. H. Lander, Civil Engineer, for the survey ? map and description of the old Sanitorium site as authorized on September 15th in the ? amount of $93.00. IIpon motion of Mr-. Holton,•seconded by Nr. Broadhurst, the Board unanimously approved an appropriation to cover this bill from Unanticipated Revenue resulting from the sale o£ this property. • Invoices were received from the Queen City Coach;Company, Jacksonville, ' North Carolina in the amount o£ $72.00 and the Seashore Transportation Company, Incor- ? porated of New Bern, North Carolina for $245.76 authorized by the Wilmington Merchants Association as a result of the allocation o£ $500.00 from the Advertising Fund on Sept- ? ember 22. U on motion of Mr. Holton, seconded by Mr.'Hroadhurst, an appropriation amounting to ?317.76 was made to pay these two bi11s and unanimously approved by the Board. ; . • DRAGLINE TRUCK - Mr. Nayhan called the Board's attention to f about the dragline operator, Ray Mitchell, using the backward and forward to work. He did not think this that he was in the same position as other County emp portation to and from work, therefore, the Executive cuss the matter with him and correct the situation. some complaints he 'had received County truck for transportation exactly right and the Board agreed Loyees who a£forded'their own trans- Secretary was instructed to dis- DRAGLINE REPAIRS • . Our mechanics have informed us that the Fairlead on the dragline was complete=. ly worn out and damaging our cables to such an extent that the purchase of new cables , is becoming prohibitive, in fact, will soon exceed the cost of a new fairlead. The Board authorized the Executive Secretary to use the money in the Budget allocated the Maintenance and Repairs to cover the cost of this essential part. In discussing the bucket, which was reported almost depreciated beyond efficient use and must be replaced shortly, it is not available through any of our surplus property sources and, there- fore, bids were ordered secured including prices on the 1 yard, 3/4 yard, and 1/2 yardr. sizes. After the meeting, the Executive Secretary investigated the matter and found . , that for ditching such as we do, there is only one bucket manufactured that meets all- of the requirements and it sells for $965.00 less 10%, plus freight delivered to us for $93z.5$. . . CAROLINA BEACH GROINS - Pursuant to instructions of September 29th, the Executive Secretary and Mr. Rhoda Farrow recommended certain requisitions before the proposed groins could be erect- ed by the County on the northern end of Carolina Beach. The first necessity is a road across the beach sand, solid enough to support the heavily loaded trucks hauling riprap. Mr.,C.,E. Brown, District Engineer for the State Highway Commission; is away on vaca- tion and Mr. Hiberstein was not available for discussion so Mr. Mallard was contacted and he made it clear that he had no authority to speak for the Highway Commission but that many requests £or a road into the northern end of Carolina Beach have been made but the Commission have never felt that it was practical to do any work on that end of the beach and, therefore, in his opinion, would not look with favor with such a request by the County. The Chairman suggested that it might be wise to contact Mr. E. L. White,- our local Commissioner for the State Highway Commission and the Executive Secretary was instructed to make an appointment with him at his convenience. Mr. Berry Williams.. ? , ? ?? , Minutes of the Meeting October 13, 195$ Continued CAROLINA BEACH GROINS - (Conti.nued) suggested that we might check with the State Highway Department for riprap for use in building the groins and also thought estimates of required equipment should be presented even before the road question was determi_ned. At this point, a delegation was heard headed by their Town Manager Head and Councilmen Bost, Collier and Knox and Town Attorney Addison Hewlett stressing the dire need for haste in construction of the groins because of the £act that at high tides the water was now breaking over at th`ree places and that during November the high tides would usually aggravate the situation: The Chairman informed the delegation that,they were now in the process of ascertaining facts leading to a decision and it wasztheir thinking that by doing the work with County forces two groins could be erected for the price of one if contracted. Councilman Col- lier reiterated the request the town presented a few weeks ago that they had set aside $10,000 for that type of work inside the town limits and were hoping that the County could match that figure to aid them but that they wanted help regardless of who built •. the groins. The Chairman explained that the County wanted to cooperate and correlate their plans with the Carolina Beach plans and, therefore, they instructed the Executive Secretary to contact Town Manager Head for a discussion of their plans and to make sure that whatever we did would conform to good engineering principals. TAX COMPLAINT - TW A4r. S. B. Beacham, o£ Raleigh, North Carolina, who owns property at Kure Beach appeared before the Board and complained that when he was notified of the new values placed on his property, the notice carried the figure of $625.00 which hei-hought was reasonable and, therefore, did not take any action on it. When he received his Tax it was so much more than he had anticipated that he came dovrn to investigate the matter and found that an error had evidently been made on the notice sent him in the summer and his valuation had been increased to $1225.00 instead of $625.00 and had he known this be£ore the Board of Equalization and Review adjourned he would have most certainly appeared before them for consideration of a revaluation. The Chairman explained that because an error was made in his notice it did not relieve him of his tax obligation and that the correct values in the County were subject to a tax assessment but that if an error had been made in the evaluation it could be corrected and since Tax Supervisor Love was on vacation, they suggested that he review the matter and that he get in touch with Mr. Beacham for an explanation. Mrs. Ebert W. Bell, 150 Me`rcer Avenue, was recognized by the Board and com- plained about the amount of her tax assessment as a result of the new Revaluation and. Assessment and she requested that the Board reconsider and give her some relie£. The Chairman explained that unless an error in the mathematical figuring had been made, the law prohibited them changing any of the valuation until they sat again as a Board of Equalization and Review beginning Narch 16, 1959 and if she would present her request at that time they would be glad to hear her but under the circumstances, they were un- able to make a change. PRISONER CObiPLAINT - $ I I George T. Ahrens, o£ 1022 North 4th Street, appeared before the Board and in- formed them that he was picked up for public drunkenness, Thursday, September 25th and that within thirty minutes after his entrance to the jail a group of young "punks" beat him up using wet cloths wadded up which left no visible marks and stated that he thought the Sheriff was supposed to protect people in his custody from such indignities. He also said that he had witnessed the same sort of treatment to others, including an old man. He stated further that some of the window panes had been broken out and that there were only 16 bunks £or sleeping and no mattresses on some of them and implied that there were considerably more occupants in the jail than there were bunks to accomodate them, and that he had to sleep on tfie floor under one of the bunks, and after two or three days following the beating, he developed an abscess in his groin and had to go to the hospital £or eight days. He cited as witnesses to the mistreatment,. Carl Loven of 31$ South 2nd Street and Edgar.Hines, 14 H Nesbitt Court, and others whose names he did not have with him at the moment. Deputy Sheriff W. D. Bass reported that he took George T. Ahrens to the hospital on the night he claims to have been abused and it was his understanding at the time he was going because of an alcoholic convulsion or the "shakes" and that at no time did he complain to him or to the doctor in his presence on that Friday night of any mistreatment by other prisoners. Upon motion of Mr. Holton, seconded by Mr. Broadhurst, the Board unanimously instructed the Executive Secretary to notify the Sheriff and jailor for an investigation and recommendation. GARBAGE DISPOSAL Mr. N. W. Merritt, who is temporarily managing the operation of the Count,y Trash Dump, reported that he was having some trouble about people coming in after 5:00 P. M.?and on Sundays when no one was in attendance at the dump arid scattering their trash and garbage all over the surrounding yard and he suggested that we have some signs printed to direct people tahere they should dump each particular classification of their refuse. After conferring with Mr. Herbert Rivenbark regarding this matter, he informed the Executive Secretary that a prisoner was on hand at the dump,daily, on,Holidays and Sundays until 5:00 but that he had no means of stationing anyone out,there aPter that time. By common consent o£ the Board, the Executive Secretary was directed,to arrange the details for having the requested signs made. SOUTHERN LACES, INC. - Pursuant to authorization to the Chairman at their meeting on September 15th, he reported that the engineers were in the process of drawing up specifications £or the extension of the water lines to the site of the proposed plant and that at present they were undecided whether to let the contract in two parts or.include both the County and City work in one contract. `Phe details are being wor]<ed out,some of which involves the use of ditch diggers and the diff'erence of the cost of work inside the City amd outside the City but negotiations were in progress and included the use of prison labor on the County's end of the project. ) ??^ -A F' 316 Niinutes of the Tsieeting October 13, 1958 Continued DITCH DRAINAGE - The committee, appointed by the Chairman at the last meeting to investigate ? the request of Nirs. N[aude P. Martin for installing drainage pipe in front of her resi- ?.i?s?'n a-- dence at Harbor Island, reported that two members of the committee voted negatively on the matter while one member voted in the affirmative. After some discussion, Mr. Broadhurst offered a motion that the construction work be done with prison labor for Mrs. Martin provided she would construct a catch basin. This motion was seconded by A4r. Holton w;.th the remark that he realized it was over-riding the recommendation of of•the committee and orhen the vote was called, Messrs. Mayhan and Williams voted against the motion, and Messrs. Broadhurst, Hall, and Holton voted for the motion and the Chairman declared the motion adopted. HEALTH BUILDING - ? The Executive Secretary reported that Paul R. Jennewein, a reporter for the local necvspaper came into his office and reported that he had just come from the Health Department and that it was damaged considerably by Helene and in fact the door frame in -? (a? the front was warped to such an extent that he could hardly enter the building and that th l t f lli d e p as er was a ng own and the building cracked in other places. Upon investiga- tion by the Executive•Secretary, it was found that it is true that the front door had swollen because o£ recent heavy rains and that the building did have some cracks in the _ walls but so far as evidence there seemed to be no damage caused by the Hurricane Helene, so upon motion by Mr. Holton, seconded by Mr. Broadhurst, the Board'unanimously ordered a letter written to the Health Department asking them for a report on the conditions of the building. • ? COURT HOUSE REPAIRS - The Executive Secretary reported to the Board that some water seepage was causing some damage to•the paint and wall's of the lower floors because the lower cornice ?- on the annex needed re-tuckpointing. Mr. Holton was appointed as a committee to investi- Clk(-yuo? gate with the Executive Secretary and determine the proper recommendation. We found some deterioration in the cement between the stones which we decided could be corrected by our custodians but most of the damage evidently was caused by seepage around the window framing which we found needed caulking. This will be done by the custodians. AIRPORT - Chairman Hall reported that Mr. John T. Talbert, a former CAA engineer, had contacted the Federal Governmental authorities and they had informed him that they would ` go along with the approval of the minimum purchase of the 521 acres on which to construct the approach landing lights and that the easements could be secured at a later date, how- Q? ever, he suggested that two additonal appraisals be secured as the Federal officials would not recommend governmental aid beyond a fair and reasonable price so if they do not consider the present offer fair and equitable they would not participate beyond the fig- ure they considered fair. REPORTS - I ? The £ollowing reports were reyiewed and ordered filed for information: (a) Wilmington Colored Library (b) New Hanover County Agent (c) Home Demonstration Agent " (d) Negro Home Demonstrat ion Agent (e) 49ilmington Public Library (f) Letters from several of the agencies in response and appreciation for our commendation to their departments for their contribution to the comfort and wellbeing of our citizens during the stress period caused by Hurricane Helene. ADJOiJRNMENT There being no further business presented for discussion, Mr. Holton moved adjournment, seconded by Mr. Broadhurst, and unanimously adopted. .--?. W. G. Houck, Executive Secretary Wilmington, N. C. October 20, 195$ ASSEMBLY The regular weekly meeting of the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners was held this day in the Commissioners+ Room of the Court Housejat 9:30 A. M. PRESENT: Chairman J. N. Hall, Jr., Commissioners L. E. Broadhurst, J. E. Holton, Jr., Ernest R. Mayhan and Berry A. Williams, Commissioner-Elect Peter H. Braak, County Attorney John Bright Hill. County Auditor T. D. Love was absent from the meeting since he was away on vacation. • IIVVOCATION. - • I The Chairman asked Reverend Paul Browning, Pastor of Epworth MeT,hodist Church, to open the meeting with a prayer for guidance. APPROVAL OF THE NiINUTES - Upon motion of Mr. Holton, seconded by Mr. Mayhan, the minutes of the last meeting were unanimously approved as written. ,- AIRPORT - I County Attorney John Bright Y.ill reported that he had drawn the contract to ? buy and sell the necessary acreage for the approach landing liohts at the New Hanover County Airport. He read the agreements including the permanent easement contract and after a discussion of some of the stipulations, Mr. Holton offered a motion that the R\ \