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2016-03-17 Agenda Review NEW HANOVER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BOOK 33 AGENDA REVIEW MEETING, MARCH 17, 2016 PAGE 479 ASSEMBLY The New Hanover County Board of Commissioners met for Agenda Review on Thursday, March 17, 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; Commissioner Skip Watkins; Commissioner Woody White; and Commissioner Rob Zapple. Vice-Chairman Johnathan Barfield, Jr. was absent. 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 March 21, 2016 Regular Meeting with discussions as noted: Consent Item 3. Adoption of Budget Amendments. Chief Strategy and Budget Officer Elizabeth Schrader and County Manager Chris Coudriet responded to questions about Budget Amendments 16-067, 16-068 and 16-070:  Budget Amendment 16-067: Assistant County Manager Tim Burgess will follow-up with the Emergency Management/911 department to see if selling the tower to get some monetary value out of it is an option, if there are no structural issues, and report back to the Board. Currently, the tower is considered scrap metal and all of the equipment has already been removed.  Budget Amendment 16-068: Items explicitly identified in this matter are not normally covered by insurance. The cost was not for actual equipment rather it was a need to bring the electrical wiring in the facility up to code after the lightning strike. The Risk Management department reviews the County’s insurance policies on a yearly basis.  Budget Amendment 16-070: It is regular practice for county deputies to guard federal inmates at the hospital. There are no federal detention officers or federal prison officials in the County jail. Operationally these are federal inmates but they are housed in the County jail, it’s our deputies who oversee the detention center and follow the same process that would be used if it were a county inmate being taken to the hospital. The overtime pay to provide the service is an eligible reimbursable expense from the Federal government. The County has a contract with the Federal government which allows, for a fixed daily price, federal inmates to be brought to the jail for housing. The federal inmates could be from anywhere in the country but court appearances are set for the Eastern and Central Districts. Regular Item 8. Consideration of the North Carolina Department of Transportation's (NCDOT) Acquisition of a Portion of Ogden Park for the Military Cutoff Extension and Request to Budget Proceeds from Sale to Fund Phase 2 of the Ogden Skatepark and Complete a Walking Trail at Ogden Park. In response to Board questions, County Manager Coudriet reported that the North Carolina Department of Transportation's (NCDOT) acquisition of a portion of Ogden Park for the Military Cutoff extension has always been part of the plan. NCDOT has only recently moved into the property acquisition phase. A meeting was held approximately a year or so ago to begin the process of looking at and acquiring the property with an offer being made in February. The County countered with an offer that is the negotiated offering price. In response to questions about using the sale proceeds towards paying down the Parks Bond debt rather than further capital improvement projects that were not in the Parks Bond original allocation of funding, County Manager Coudriet reported that staff discussed a number of options about the sale proceeds. Staff’s opinion is that as this sale is a direct impact to Ogden Park due to the property loss, the proceeds should be reinvested in it as opposed to some other parks function. As there is a viable project with the skatepark, which is a public-private partnership, staff has recommended that the proceeds go towards completing Phase 2. Discussion was held that Phases 1 and 2 will cost $452,000 of which the County has allocated $265,000 towards Phase 1 and an additional $125,000 has been raised in the form of in-kind and cash donations. The sale proceeds will fund Phase 2 of the skatepark and complete a walking trail at Ogden Park. In response to questions, Parks and Gardens Director Tara Duckworth stated that the estimate of the walking trail is $355,000 and projects were in the Capital Improvement Plan with the design phase in year 1 and development in year 2. Regular Item 9. Consideration of Award of Request for Proposals (RFP) #16-0236 to Lanier Parking for Parking Services at the New Hanover County Parking Deck and 320 Chestnut Street Surface Lot. In response to Board questions, Deputy Finance Director Jennifer Maready stated that staff is recommending the contract with Lanier Parking without cashiers. While there are currently cashiers in place, staff is looking to have a more automated system with two Lanier Parking maintenance staff providing a physical presence on the County parking deck. This staff will be able to assist customers and there will be a monitor/intercom system installed so the Lanier Central Office can provide assistance. There is approximately a $64,000 savings without having full time cashiers in place. Ms. Maready confirmed that the current contract cost is lower and includes full-time cashiers. It was noted that the current cashiers are not in place 24-hours and an automated system takes over when the cashiers are not working. She further explained that the new bid fits the model the staff is wanting by including more automation and more service from Lanier in form of auditing, reporting, and cash control. Regular Item 10. U.S. Highway 421 Corridor Utilities Preliminary Engineering Report (PER). In response to questions, County Manager Coudriet confirmed that $4.1 million of the $16.7 million cost to eliminate two pump stations is from the fire services district and would leave $12.6 million being paid from the general fund and that staff is recommending this proposal. County Manager Coudriet stated there are three pump stations proposed with staff NEW HANOVER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BOOK 33 AGENDA REVIEW MEETING, MARCH 17, 2016 PAGE 480 recommending proceeding only with pump station 2 and setting aside pump stations 1 and 3. Pump stations 1 and 3 have a combined capacity of 65,000 gallons. McKim and Creed Vice-President Tony Boahn reported that if an immediate need arises with respect to capacity, the areas are small and they would be able to add pump stations 1 and 3 in the future. County Manager Coudriet also reported that staff is exploring the option of having funding partners. Discussions have been held with the Economic Developers Association (EDA) and City staff and the idea has been mentioned at a recent Cape Fear Public Utility Authority (CFPUA) meeting. Staff Updates: Wilmington International Airport and AT&T Certification County Manager Chris Coudriet asked AT&T Regional Director of External Affairs for Eastern NC John Lyon to speak about a partnership opportunity between Wilmington International Airport (Airport) and AT&T. Director Lyon reported that last year AT&T started a nationwide program where it began to certify certain business and/or industrial parks as “AT&T fiber ready.” To obtain certification, there needs to be at least one location in the business park with the fiber and if park owners want to obtain the official fiber ready certification they enter into a promotional agreement with AT&T. There is no financial obligation connected with the agreement. It allows the park owner the right to advertise its park as “AT&T fiber ready” while AT&T would give its logo and usage of it in any promotional materials not only for the park owner but by extension to any economic development group working on the owner’s behalf. There is not exclusivity as part of the agreement and it does not mean that only AT&T fiber can be in the park. Once an agreement is signed, AT&T likes to do a big announcement event that a park is fiber ready, present the park owner with the official certification and provide copies to the economic development group working with the park owner. To date, there are four business/industrial parks in the state that have received the certification with the first being Pender Business Park. In response to questions about Board action being needed to allow staff to move forward with signing the agreement, County Manager Coudriet stated that no board action is needed as administratively staff has authority to execute the agreement and desires to do so at the end of the meeting. However, staff did not want to move forward without making the Board aware of it as it is essentially branding an asset that the County owns and Airport operates. It will be the first publicly owned site in the County to be certified and during the announcement it would be publicized as such. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, Chairman Dawson adjourned the meeting at 4:31 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.