03/28/2024
County Board of Commissioners and Staff
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By: Robert G. Hester
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County Board of Commissioners and StaffBladen County Commissioners continue to work on the FY 2015-2016 budget Monday afternoon in a Special Meeting.
Only three departments were on the scheduled agenda.
Dr. William Findt, President of Bladen Community College and Dennis Troy, Chairman of the Board of Directors spoke very briefly, thanking commissioners for their support and reminding them that they were working for the youth of Bladen County and the betterment of the area.  While they made no direct plea for additional funds, it was clear they could use more local dollars.
Sheriff Jim McVicker and Capt. Jeff Singletary asked the board to consider additional staff for the new jail, with much of the conversation related to the hiring of an IT person to work with the 911 system.  They asked commissioners to fill the position during the coming fiscal year so they can “get in on the ground floor as the process of building the jail begins.”    Capt. Singletary estimated the salary for an IT person would be in the range of $40,000 plus benefits.  He estimated the county spent about $75,000 for IT assistance in the current fiscal year.  Commission Chairman Charles Ray Peterson asked County Manager Greg Martin to add to the list of items to be re-visited prior to the adoption of a budget.
David Howell, Emergency Medical Services Chief, asked the board to consider his earlier request for money to cover the cost of a used ambulance and the remounting of another unit.  Howell told commissioners he needed 7 quality units to serve the county.  Most of his units have over 200,000 miles on them and for many counties in the state, 200,000 miles is the life of a unit.  He told the board he had a unit breakdown on a trip to Kelly with a patient on board this past weekend.  At about the same time he had a call from the East Arcadia area for a person with chest pains.  He called on Pender County for help in the Kelly area and the Elizabethtown Rescue Squad answered the East Arcadia call.  A remount is much less expensive than a new unit.  The service unit (box) is moved from an old chassis to a new chassis on a remount.  He asked the board for $16,500 to purchase an ambulance, with 60,000 plus miles, from the Elizabethtown Rescue Squad and funds to do one remount.  Last year the cost of one remount was in the range of $84,500.  He also asked the board to consider a  quick response vehicles (QRV) in the range of $28,500.  Chairman Peterson asked Martin to place his request on the list for final decision at a later budget workshop.
Bladen County EMS Director, Bradley Kinlaw, relayed a request from the White Lake Water Rescue Squad.  For several years commissioners have approved $5000 to assist the unit.  Kinlaw  told the board the agency had recently added a land search component to their services and additional training and equipment was needed.  He asked the board to consider a $10,000 appropriation. 
The Board then began discussions related to a request for an appropriation for the current fiscal year for the Board of Education, in addition to their budget request for the coming fiscal year.  In a recent meeting with the Board of Education there was a  request to transfer money from a capital outlay fund to current operating expenses.  That request was denied.  The Board of Education was requesting an amount in excess of $350,000 to be transferred so they could close out the current year.  Chairman Peterson said he would support an expenditure of $350,000 out of the counties fund balance, but deduct it from the next fiscal year budget.  Several objected, saying if they were short on money this year, taking $350,000 from their budget for next year would just compound the problem.  In the end, the board agreed to allow the transfer on a 6-3 split vote.

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