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2015-02-02 Regular MeetingNEW HANOVER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BOOK 33 REGULAR MEETING, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 PAGE 224 ASSEMBLY The New Hanover County Board of Commissioners met in Regular Session on Monday, February 2, 2015, at 7:00 p.m. in the Assembly Room of the New Hanover County Courthouse, 24 North Third Street, Wilmington, NC. Members present: Chairman Jonathan Barfield, Jr; Vice-Chairman Beth Dawson; Commissioner Skip Watkins; Commissioner Woody White; and Commissioner Rob Zapple. Staff present: County Manager Chris Coudriet; County Attorney Wanda Copley; and Clerk to the Board Teresa Elmore. INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Pastor Wayne Johnson, Sr., St. Stephen A.M.E. Church, provided the invocation and Commissioner White led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA Chairman Barfield asked if any member of the Board would like to remove or discuss any item on the Consent Agenda. Hearing no comments, Chairman Barfield requested a motion to approve the Consent Agenda. Motion: Commissioner Watkins MOVED, SECONDED by Vice-Chairman Dawson, to approve the Consent Agenda as presented. Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. CONSENT AGENDA Approval of Minutes – Governing Body The Commissioners approved the following minutes as submitted by the Clerk to the Board: Agenda Review Meeting held on January 13, 2015 Regular Meeting held on January 20, 2015 Adoption of State Road Resolutions – Governing Body The Commissioners adopted North Carolina Department of Transportation State Road Resolutions supporting the addition of the following roads to the state road system:  Monterey Drive Extension located within the Harbor Villa Subdivision (Section 3) in New Hanover County (Division File No. 1210-N).  Pine Hollow Drive located within the Pine Hollow (Phases 1 & 2) and Cambridge Heights (Phases 1 & 2) sections of Johnson Farms Subdivision in New Hanover County (Division File No. 1212-N). Copies of the resolutions are hereby incorporated as part of the minutes and are contained in Exhibit Book XXXIX, Page 3.2. Appointment of Directors to the New Hanover County Financing Corporation – Legal Department The Commissioners appointed County Manager Chris Coudriet and Finance Director Lisa Wurtzbacher to serve on the New Hanover County Financing Corporation to replace the former Manager and Finance Director. Their terms will run through 2018. Approval to Submit a 2016 Grant Application to the N.C. Governor's Highway Safety Program for Funding in the amount of $20,000 for the "Booze It and Lose It" and "Click It or Ticket" – Sheriff’s Office The Commissioners adopted a resolution authorizing the Sheriff's Office to submit a grant application to theGovernor's Highway Safety Program for funding in the amount of $20,000 for the "Booze It and Lose It" and "Click It or Ticket" to be used for in-state and out-of-state travel reimbursements for Sheriff's Office personnel assisting in the campaigns and training. A copy of the resolution is hereby incorporated as part of the minutes and is contained in Exhibit Book XXXIX, Page 3.3. Adoption of Resolution Awarding Audit Services Contract to Cherry Bekaert, LLP – Finance Department The Commissioners adopted a resolution awarding the audit services contract to Cherry Bekaert, LLP in the amount of $74,000 for fiscal year 2014-2015, with the option to renew the contract for each of the following four fiscal years based upon satisfactory performance each year. A copy of the resolution is hereby incorporated as part of the minutes and is contained in Exhibit Book XXXIX, Page 3.4. Approval of New Hanover County Board of Education’s Application for NC Education Lottery Project Funding for Renovations of the Sidbury Road Site – Budget Department The Commissioners approved the Board of Education’s application to use $1,163,569 of North Carolina Public Schools Building Capital Fund (Lottery Distribution) for the Sidbury Road Elementary School site as a "Swing Space" for the College Park Elementary School during the two-year school construction project. A new NEW HANOVER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BOOK 33 REGULAR MEETING, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 PAGE 225 school facility is planned for College Park Elementary School as part of the 2014 Bond Program. The elementary school will be at the Sidbury Road location for two school years (SY2017-18 and SY2018-19) while the new school facility is being built. Approval of New Hanover County Board of Education Capital Outlay Fund Budget Amendment #5 – Budget Department The Commissioners approved the Board of Education’s budget amendment #5 for the following:  The budget amendment appropriates County funding for the Northeast Elementary Land Purchase in the amount of $1,627,374. County Commissioners approved funding for the land purchase on November 17, 2014.  The budget amendment reduces budgeted lottery funds for completed projects: $845,253.  Records the budget for construction phase of Williston Middle School Chiller lottery project: $150,000.  Transfers funds from Capital Contingency for design of the Transportation Facility at Sidbury Road: $108,100. The funds would pay for the design plan of the facility in order to start work on the project. Adoption of Budget Amendment 15-044 for the Department of Social Services – Budget Department The Commissioners approvedBudget Amendment 15-044 for the Department of Social Servicesin the amount of $21,692 as reimbursement for the daycare account for Title IV-E eligible children for the months of May 1, 2014 through August 31, 2014. A copy of the budget ordinance amendment is hereby incorporated as part of the minutes and is contained in Exhibit Book XXXIX, Page 3.5. REGULAR ITEMS OF BUSINESS APPROVAL OF A UTILITY INFRASTRUCTURE REIMBURSEMENT AGREEMENT WITH CAPE FEAR PUBLIC UTILITIES AND HAR-STE INVESTMENTS, LLC Finance Director Lisa Wurtzbacher reported that the Commissioners approved the purchase of a 17.97-acre parcel on Edgewater Road for a new school site, Northeast Elementary School, to be constructed as a part of the $160 million bond projects. In order to provide sewer service to this property and other properties in the area, the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority desires to construct a regional sewer pump station, force main and gravity sewer extensions in conjunction with the development of 85.99 acres of land by a private developer, Har-Ste Investments, LLC. To formalize this arrangement, the Board is being asked to consider a Utility Infrastructure Reimbursement Agreement between Cape Fear Public Utility Authority (CFPUA), New Hanover County (Schools) and Har-Ste Investments, LLC. The agreement provides that CFPUA will design and construct the sewer infrastructure and request reimbursement from the County and Har-Ste Investments, LLC once the project is completed. The total permitted capacity is estimated at 189,420 gpd with the developer’s flow allocation at 63,420 gpd, and the County’s flow allocation (on behalf of New Hanover Schools) at 7,200 gpd. The total cost of the project is estimated at $1,135,033 with CFPUA’s cost sharing portion of $689,577, the developer’s cost sharing portion is $379,929 and New Hanover County’s cost sharing portion (on behalf of New Hanover Schools) of $65,527. New Hanover County’s cost sharing portion will be paid through bond proceeds received through the sale of the $160 million general obligation bonds. The CFPUA Board approved the agreement at its meeting on January 14, 2015. Chairman Barfield requested direction from the Board. Motion: Commissioner White MOVED, SECONDED by Commissioner Watkins, to approve the Utility Infrastructure Reimbursement Agreement betweenCape Fear Public Utility Authority, New Hanover County, and Har-Ste Investments, LLC for construction of improvements that will benefit potential customers of the Authority situated along or near these improvements by providing engineered sewer infrastructure to serve the properties. In discussion, Carel Vandermeyden, CFPUA Director of Engineering, responded to questions on the project reporting that the pump station is designed to serve the surrounding neighborhoods around the school site and on both sides of Edgewater Club Drive. Some areas along Edgewater Road are not on the sewer system, but eventually they would connect to the regional pump station. The undeveloped land would be connected to the system as it is developed. Chairman Barfield called for a vote on the motion to approve the Utility Infrastructure Reimbursement Agreement. Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. PUBLIC HEARING AND CONTINUANCE OF A SPECIAL USE PERMIT REQUEST BY HELLMAN, YATES, AND TISDALE ON BEHALF OF ANGELA W. STEELE LIFE ESTATE TO DEVELOP A 150- FOOT TELECOMMUNICATIONS TOWER, AT 6516 MURRAYVILLE ROAD (S-623, 11/14) Chairman Barfield opened the Public Hearing and announced that the special use permit process requires a quasi-judicial hearing; therefore, the Clerk to the Board must swear in any person wishing to testify. He requested all persons who signed in to speak or who want to present testimony to step forward to be sworn in. NEW HANOVER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BOOK 33 REGULAR MEETING, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 PAGE 226 The following persons were sworn in: Ben Andrea Chris O’Keefe Ken Vafier David Weaver Whitney Prease Gray Styers Haywood Newkirk Blake Hooper Kevin Lee Monang Shah John Wessell Matthew Brenneman Jacob Wessell Kathryn B. Smith Charlie Skipper Lou Galli Bob Jacoby Chairman Barfield announced that the applicant has requested to make a statement before proceeding with the presentations. Gray Styers, attorney for the petitioner, reported that Specialty Communications Services is not registered with the NC Board of Professional Engineers, but the site plans were drawn by a licensed engineer, Samuel T. Curtis. Under the County’s regulations, site plans for special use permits may be drawn by a surveyor, land planner, or landscape architect and do not require to be sealed by a professional engineer. The petitioner was unaware that the firm was not registered in North Carolina and offered to request a continuance for the purpose of either obtaining the registration or replacing the plans without the engineer’s seal. The matter should be resolved by the first meeting in March. At the request of the Board, Attorney John Wessell, representing a client in opposition to the request, stated that whether to proceed or to continue the item would be the decision of the Board, and he noted that the firm has submitted a lot of information, which provided a lot of credibility for a firm that is not licensed to perform work in New Hanover County. Vice-Chairman Dawson expressed concern that the Commissioners have been studying the special use permit request and have been asked to give a lot of credibility to a firm that is not licensed or registered to do business in North Carolina. She regretted that the citizens in attendance were inconvenienced, but she could not consider the request with the provided information. Motion : Commissioner Zapple MOVED, SECONDED by Vice-Chairman Dawson, to continue the request by Hellman, Yates, and Tisdale, on behalf of Angela W. Steele Life Estate, for a Special Use Permit to develop a 150- foot telecommunications tower, at 6516 Murrayville Road, until the March 2, 2015 Board meeting should the appropriate state license be obtained. Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. Commissioner White requested that the attorney representing those in opposition provide exhibits or evidence prior to the next meeting in order for the Commissioners to have sufficient time to review the information. County Attorney Copley advised that any information provided officially to the County may be received for review and the Board may request additional information. . APPROVAL TO PROCEED WITH THE ISSUANCE OF AN RFP (REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL) FOR CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION RECYCLING EQUIPMENT FOR THE COUNTY LANDFILL Environmental Management Director Joe Suleyman reported that the Department of Environmental Management is seeking approval to proceed with the issuance of an RFP for equipment to significantly expand its ability to process construction and demolition (C&D) materials at the County landfill. This plan was approved by the Board when it adopted the FY14-15 budget. As reported in last year’s Solid Waste Plan, a major priority is to preserve landfill air space. In the three-year period from July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2014, the landfill received 175,833 tons of C&D waste, or 28% of the total inbound waste stream based on the last waste composition study. Of this total, 15,974 tons were diverted away from landfill disposal using a time-consuming manual sorting process. Common C&D materials include lumber, asphalt shingles, gypsum wallboard, carpet, scrap metal, appliances, cardboard, concrete, and brick. The semi-automated sorting equipment will expand the department’s ability to divert nearly all of the construction and demolition debris received at the landfill. The landfill would gain one additional year of disposal capacity for every four years the system is in operation. At current disposal rates, the site can divert up to 60,000 tons per year away from landfill disposal and add 20 years of capacityover the life of the site. Also diverting material would postpone costly cell construction and closure projects. Materials diverted from landfill disposal are used by North Carolina companies for power generation, road construction, packaging, soil amendments, and carpet. NEW HANOVER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BOOK 33 REGULAR MEETING, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 PAGE 227 Proposed Solution:  Feed hopper with 60-inch conveyor to an elevated sorting station with canopy  Two-inch screen with discharge conveyor for fines removal  Cross-belt self-cleaning magnet to pick up heavy pieces of metal  Installation of three-phase electric  Expansion of existing concrete pad  Storage bunkers to keep recyclable materials separate  Funding for the project includes design of the system, permitting with NCDENR, purchase of processing equipment, and electrical upgrades  Targeted materials for diversion: scrap metals, cardboard, carpet, gypsum wallboard, scrap lumber and pallets, asphalt shingles, and screenings that can be used as alternative daily cover  Expected Benefits:  Improved landfill compaction rates  Extend the useful life of the landfill  Reduce generation of hydrogen sulfide gas  Postpone costly cell construction projects  Provide a source of valuable raw materials to industries  Reduce wear and tear on heavy equipment The capital and operational costs included in the adopted FY 2014/2015 budget for a one-time capital expense is $1,520,000. Vice-Chairman Dawson reported that the previous Board of Commissioners did an extensive amount of research on alternatives and options for the solid waste management of the landfill. She believed it would be important to have the discussions again to inform the two new Commissioners about the two private companies before spending almost $2 million on removing the C&D materials. Furthermore, the County may be able to contract or do business with private companies that possibly could provide recycling services for C&D materials. Director Suleyman reported that he contacted the State DENR office to find out who has permits for mixed construction and debris recycling in the County. Several companies have permits for either wood waste, scrap metal or landscape debris. The County’s ordinance allows solid waste materials and C&D materials to be taken to recycling locations; however, waste haulers must bring solid waste to the designated location of the landfill to be disposed. Regarding landfill gas, if no more solid waste were taken to the landfill, the landfill would generate gas for the next 30 years at an estimate of 2 megawatts of power. Motion : Commissioner Watkins MOVED, SECONDED by Commissioner Zapple, to approve the issuance of a Request for Proposal for the purchase and installation of construction and demolition recycling equipment for the New Hanover County Landfill. In discussion, Director Suleyman reported that the proposal is structured to use six temporary employees to sort the materials and the facility would not operate unless it had adequate materials to process. The facility should process 30 tons per hour and the cost to operate is about $9.08 per ton. The facility would be an asset that could be moved or sold. The RFP will include the cost of annual maintenance. Chairman Barfield called for a vote on the motion to approve the issuance of a Request for Proposal for the purchase and installation of construction and demolition recycling equipment. Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED 4 to 1. Vice-Chairman Dawson voted in opposition. PUBLIC COMMENTS ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS Chairman Barfield reported that no one had signed up to speak on non-agenda items. ADDITIONAL ITEMS ADOPTION OF RESOLUTION OPPOSING THE PROPOSED INTERBASIN TRANSFER CERTIFICATE MODIFICATION BY THE TOWNS OF APEX, CARY AND MORRISVILLE, AND WAKE COUNTY County Manager Coudriet reported that during the recent meeting with the legislators, the Commissioners discussed the proposed amendment to the interbasin transfer certificate by the towns of Apex, Cary and Morrisville, and Wake County that would increase the transfer from 24 mgd to 33 mgd from the Cape Fear River. He requested the Board to adopt the proposed resolution opposing the interbasin transfer certificate modification. Motion : Commissioner White MOVED, SECONDED by Commissioner Zapple, to adopt the resolution opposing Alternative 2A for the proposed interbasin transfer certificate modifications for the towns of Apex, Cary, and Morrisville and to support Alternative 3A. Upon Vote, the MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. A copy of the resolution is hereby incorporated as part of the minutes and is contained in Exhibit Book XXXIX, Page 3.6. DISCUSSION OF TRAVEL POLICY FOR THE COMMISSIONERS Commissioner White requested the status of the proposed changes to the travel policy as he had to leave the Agenda Review Meeting early on Thursday due to a meeting of the CFCC Board of Trustees. NEW HANOVER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BOOK 33 REGULAR MEETING, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 PAGE 228 County Manager Coudriet reported that the Finance Director presented the draft travel policy and the consensus of the Commissioners present was that they would work within the limitations of the policy but would not subject the Board to the policy. He anticipated that the draft travel policy would be implemented within 30 days as additional time was needed for further staff review. Chairman Barfield commented that the Board set a policy in 2012 that called for Commissioners to reimburse any expense to the County when a Commissioner failed to attend a registered event. As it is important for the Commissioners to attend conferences, his goal is to always be a good steward of County’s resources. In response to questions on the proposed policy, County Manager Coudriet explained that the draft policy uses the GSA (US General Services Administration) rate per diem based on the travel locations. Currently employees use the per diem rate administratively approved in 2012. The draft travel policy would be an improvement for employees over the current policy. Motion : Commissioner White MOVED, SECONDED by Commissioner Watkins, that any travel policy the County Manager implements on behalf of his administrative oversight for employees also will apply to County Commissioners. Commissioner Zapple commented that although the responsibilities of the Commissioners are seven days a week/24 hours a day, the salary of the Commissioners is technically for a part-time job. The proposed policy gives the Commissioners some flexibility for expenses, as the Commissioners should not have out-of-pocket expenses while doing work for the County and attending conferences. Vice-Chairman Dawson commented that she had been frugal with her travel expenses and used the travel policy as a guide. She expressed appreciation for the opportunity to attend conferences, training, and meetings and believed the County benefitted from the learning experiences and networking the Commissioners have with other Commissioners in the State and at national conferences. In regards to which draft policy the Commissioners would be considering, County Manager Coudriet reported that for internal use a travel policy was written to include Commissioners, based on conversations with a Commissioner. However, the draft policy in discussion at the Agenda Review was written for employees. As the Manager, he would not bring a policy to the Board unless the Board directed him to include language for the Commissioners. With that direction, he would prepare a travel policy to bring forward to the Board for adoption. Chairman Barfield called for a vote on the motion to include language in the travel policy that the Commissioners were subject to the travel policy. Upon vote, the MOTION FAILED 2 TO 3. Chairman Barfield, Vice-Chairman Dawson, and Commissioner Zapple voted in opposition. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, Chairman Barfield adjourned the meeting at 8:24 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Teresa P. Elmore Clerk to the Board Please note that the above minutes are not a verbatim record of the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners meeting. The entire proceedings are available for review and checkout at all New Hanover County Libraries and on-line at www.nhcgov.com.