2016-02-11 Agenda Review
NEW HANOVER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BOOK 33
AGENDA REVIEW MEETING, FEBRUARY 11, 2016 PAGE 462
ASSEMBLY
The New Hanover County Board of Commissioners met for Agenda Review on Thursday, February 11, 2016
at 4:01 p.m. in the Harrell Conference Room at the New Hanover County Government Center, 230 Government Center
Drive, Wilmington, North Carolina.
Members present: Chairman Beth Dawson; Vice-Chairman Jonathan Barfield, Jr.; Commissioner Skip
Watkins; Commissioner Woody White; and Commissioner Rob Zapple.
Staff present: County Manager Chris Coudriet; County Attorney Wanda Copley; and Deputy Clerk to the
Board Kymberleigh G. Crowell.
Chairman Dawson called the Agenda Review meeting to order and announced that the purpose of the meeting
is to review and discuss the Board’s agenda items for the February 15, 2016 Regular Meeting with discussions as
noted:
Consent Item 4: Approval to Apply for LSTA EZ Literacy & Lifelong Learning Grant.
Library Director
Harry Tuchmayer reported the access provided by the grant will be for both paper and electronic library materials. It
is a good opportunity to have the State pay for things that are already being done and in turn not be deducted from the
department budget. It will not be a future or recurring expense and will actually cover replacing things such as
outdated computers.
Consent Item 6: Adoption of Budget Amendments.
Chief Strategy and Budget Officer Beth Schrader
reported that in regard to the Department of Social Services (DSS) Budget Amendments 16-047 and 16-058, the type
of purchases made through the Family Support Program depends on the need of the particular parent. It can be for
items including, but not limited to, mediation services to help with relationships between the noncustodial and
custodial parents (if mother is custodial parent), job training services, visitation, and negotiations in effort to have the
father be more involved with the child. It is a voluntary program, participants are identified through DSS and a case
worker meets with the parents to identify the necessary services based on the particular family unit needs. Monies
used are in part from child support enforcement. Due to the County’s effectiveness in being able to encourage
participation, the State gives back to child support additional dollars that can be reinvested. This is a program the State
allows the County to reinvest in to encourage additional support and involvement. This program has a number of
evaluation measurements such as the number of hours/degree of contact between parent and child, amount of financial
support, and whether or not the father is actually working. Ms. Schrader will provide the Board with additional
information on the evaluation measurements used for this program.
Regular Item 7: Consideration of a Resolution Recognizing Judge Gilbert H. Burnett for His Years of
Dedicated Service to New Hanover County.
Vice-Chairman Barfield will read the resolution into the record and
noted that a number of judicial officials will be in attendance. Mr. James R. Fullwood, retired Administrator, Second
Judicial Division, Division of Community Corrections and Mr. Kenneth Keith, former Juvenile Probation Officer and
Retired Pender County School Administrator will make the presentation.
Regular Item 8: Recognition of New Hanover County Fire Rescue Captain Stephen "Kraig" Knotts
Who Was Selected by Both the Eastern NC Fire Chief's Association and the NC Association of Fire Chiefs as
Career Fire Officer of the Year.
Fire Chief Donnie Hallreported that Captain Stephen “Kraig” Knotts will be in
attendance and there will be a plaque to present to him.
Regular Item 10: Presentation of New Hanover County Schools 2015 Facility Needs Survey.
County
Manager Chris Coudriet reported that New Hanover County Schools Superintendent Dr. Tim Markley, Assistant
Superintendent Bill Hance and Facility Planning and Construction Director Eddie Anderson will be present at the
meeting. Staff will make sure the school representatives are ready to address on Monday the policy position concerning
mobile classroom units not being considered in capacity, if projects have changed or are still in line of priorities
accepted in the bond, and if best use of the facilities is being practiced in regards to capacity versus enrollment. Mr.
Coudriet stated he does not think it is an exclusive decision of the School Board to not count modular/mobile units in
a capacity measure. Rather, it’s a basic standard used by the State due to not being considered permanent structures.
It was confirmed that the project list in the agenda packet is over and above the bond and is the ongoing inventory of
needs.
Regular Item 11: Presentation on the Concept of the CTE High School.
County Manager Coudriet
confirmed thatDr. Tim Markley, New Hanover County Schools Superintendent and Dr. Amanda Lee, CFCC President
will be participating in the presentation and ready to answer any Board questions. Board members requested that Drs.
Markley and Lee be made aware that they would like clarification on what are the ready core requirements and how
do they fit into real life curriculum; what level of participation Pender County will have, the type of feedback received
from the Pender County School Board and County Commissioners, the per capita head count and who gets enrollment
priority; and what security measures are in place or will be in place as there will be high school students being placed
with community college students.
Regular Item 13: Public Hearing. Economic Development and Economic Incentive Agreement.
Chief
Strategy and Budget Officer Beth Schrader provided a brief review of InnovateNC and how it was determined that
three counties (Wake, Durham and Mecklenburg) host more than two-thirds of all the high-tech innovation jobs in the
state. Recognizing this, the Institute for Emerging Issues at NC State University and nine other public, private and
nonprofit entities have partnered to launch InnovateNC, a new initiative to support the development of five new
regional innovation centers in North Carolina. Wilmington is one of the five cities selected as a regional innovation
NEW HANOVER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BOOK 33
AGENDA REVIEW MEETING, FEBRUARY 11, 2016 PAGE 463
thth
center. Wilmington will be the host city April 11 – 12 for a Cross-City Convening of the five cities and nine entities
who are working with NC State University’s Institute for Emerging Issues. There will be a variety of meetings, tours
and events during that time. In regard to the agenda item, a public hearing has to be held because of the economic
development related payments. The County agreed to fund one-half the application fee if it was selected as a region
to receive the grant. The expenditures are for a payment of $7,500 made to the City of Wilmington as it fronted the
$15,000 application fee and to appropriate and expend $10,000 in funding given to the County by InnovateNC to
offset the cost of hosting the Cross-City Convening.
At the request of County Manager Coudriet, Ms. Schrader reported that InnovateNC claims a minimum value
of $250,000 of “in-kind” consulting. She believes this is a very conservative statement as to the value that will be seen
as they are trying to bring to bear far more resources in such areas as assisting from the perspectives of strategic
planning, policy development, and how to market. They will also give access to a level of data analytics information
that will not only be at the state level but regional and city levels. In response to questions about the Wilmington
Innovation Council, Ms. Schrader reported that approximately forty people represent a wide range of sectors such as
educators, entrepreneurs, the Presidents of Brunswick and Cape Fear Community Colleges, persons designated by the
UNCW Chancellor Office, tekMountain, MARBIONC, the Chamber, and economic development representatives. She
will send the member list to the Board and noted that these people are also part of the InnovateNC group. There are
also four subcommittees that allow a large number of people from the community to participate in the process.
Staff Updates:
2017 Revaluation Update
County Manager Coudriet reported that it has been about six months since the status of the 2017 Revaluation
process and asked Revaluation Coordinator Scott Saunders to present the update:
Residential Progress:
Parcels visited to date are 70,276
Percentage complete is at 87.6 %
Percentage complete should be at 93% or 74,558 parcels
9,898 residential parcels are left to visit
Projection completion of visiting all residential property is April 1, 2016
7 appraisers measuring 20 parcels per day, 6 days per week
5 appraisers will shift back to revaluation work after reviewing permitted properties
This will complete the residential field data collection in 8 weeks
Commercial Progress:
Parcels visited to date are 7,393
Percentage complete is at 91%
Percentage complete should be at 92.5% or 7,504 parcels
718 commercial parcels are left to visit
Projection completion of visiting all commercial property is April 1, 2016
2 appraisers measuring 9 parcels each per day, 6 days per week
This will complete the commercial field data collection in 8 weeks
Administrative:
Number of parcels encoded is currently 68,520 parcels
88% of the field work
Citizen’s Participation of the 70,276 parcels visited:
44,926 (64%) people were not home
20,095 (28.6%) door hangers were returned
5,255 (7.5%) email/online questionnaires were returned
Changes to date (per parcel):
2,236 story height changes
4,293 total number of full baths changed
3,616 total number of half baths changed
4,953 total number of bedrooms
1,570 fireplaces
25,003 residential square foot changes
585 commercial ‘Business Living Area’ changes
821 average wall height
Miscellaneous:
5 appraisers will field visit the remaining 476 parcels and work the permits on them prior to February
19, 2016
3 additional vehicles are on loan from Property Management for staff to use for revaluation field work
Staffed with 5 temporary data collectors
Staffed with 2 temporary data encoders
1,911 sales verification forms returned of the 9,465 mailed out
212 income questionnaires have been returned of the 5,481 mailed out
All received property questionnaires have been reviewed and interior information has been updated in
our CAMA system
NEW HANOVER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BOOK 33
AGENDA REVIEW MEETING, FEBRUARY 11, 2016 PAGE 464
Mr. Saunders explained that the following timeline for when Tyler Technologies will perform the data
evaluation of each component in regard to the process to value the properties:
Start End
January 4, 2016 August 11, 2016
Residential Land Price
July 24, 2016 August 1, 2016
Residential Neighborhood Delineation
February 29, 2016 August 8, 2016
Market Model
March 14, 2016 November 25, 2016
Residential Review
March 4, 2016 August 11, 2016
Commercial Land Price
October 2, 2015 August 1, 2016
Commercial Neighborhood Delineation
October 2, 2015 May 31, 2016
Income & Expense Analysis
February 29, 2016 June 1, 2016
Commercial & Industrial Models
June 15, 2016 November 25, 2016
Commercial Review
June 15, 2016 November 25, 2016
Industrial Review
January 20, 2017 March 3, 2017
Informal Hearings
Revaluation Timeline:
April 2016 - Complete residential and commercial field data collection
November 2016 - Residential and commercial value reviews
First Commissioners meeting in August 2016 - Presentation on the proposed 2017 Schedule of Values
First Commissioners meeting in September 2016 - Public hearing on the 2017 Schedule of Values
Second Commissioners meeting in September 2016 - Approval of the 2017 Schedule of Values
January 1, 2017 - Effective date of county wide reappraisal
January 2017 - Mail out 2017 ‘Notice of Values’ letters
January 2017 to March 2017 - Informal Hearings
April 2017 - Board of Equalization and Review Hearings
County Manager Coudriet noted that in 2012 the base size went from $34 billion to $29 billion. It is unlikely
the base through the revaluation and natural organic growth will return to $34 billion. Although things are improved
we probably will not have recaptured $6 billion in loss with this revaluation.
Bond Refunding Opportunity Update
Chief Financial Officer Lisa Wurtzbacher reported on an opportunity that the County has to refund portions
of several bond issues for schools, CFCC, and Parks from 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010. It is estimated this opportunity
will produce a savings of about $5.3 million in cash flow which is present value of about $4.5 million or about 7.5%
of the refunded bonds. The savings would start in FY17 and would range anywhere from $47,000 to $550,000 in a
given year. In regard to the question as to how this affects the debt service projections in the budget book, CFO
Wurtzbacher reported that for the first 5 years savings are estimated at $142,000 in FY17, $145,000 in FY18, $250,000
in FY19 and in FY20 it goes up to $554,000. The savings will vary throughout the remaining life of the debt. This is
not an extension of the life of the debt but rather refunding it to save money. The matter will be brought before the
th
Board for consideration on March 7 and if approved, it will be sent to the Local Government Commission (LGC) for
th
approval in April with the sale to be around April 30.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business, Chairman Dawson adjourned the meeting at 4:45 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Kymberleigh G. Crowell
Deputy Clerk to the Board
Please note that the above minutes are not a verbatim record of the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners meeting.