In the consent agenda on Monday night, the Bladen County Board of Commissioners approved a new contract with Bladen County Economic Development Director Chuck Heustess.
The new contract specifies the relationship between Bladen’s Bloomin’ Agri-Industrial, the County Board of Commissioners, and Heustess. The new contract came about after several commissioners expressed concerns during the SWOT sessions regarding economic development issues in the county.
There were several items of contention that were discussed during the SWOT session including Heustess’ role with BBAI, and how BBAI assists the county with economic development. The new contract seeks to clarify those items.
Heustess said one item which was brought up is the fact no current County Commissioners are serving on the board of BBAI. In the past, BBAI had two commissioners who served on its Board of Directors. Heustess said, to rectify that, two Commissioners have now been appointed to serve on BBAI’s board. Chairman Charles Ray Peterson was appointed to serve on the Executive Board of BBAI and Commissioner Ashley S. Trivette was appointed to serve on the BBAI Board of Directors.
A second issue of contention was the salary Heustess received. The new contract calls for Heustess to receive $75,244.00 in base pay and $7,800 in travel from the county. This does not include benefits. His compensation from BBAI will be $25,000 in base pay, FICA payments of $1,912.50, Retirement (7.34 % to 7.59%) $1,878.26, and Retiree Health of $15,05 for a total of $30,295.76 from BBAI. Heustess’ total compensation by both BBAI and Bladen County is$113,339.76. The reimbursement from BBAI will also be paid monthly to the Bladen County Finance Department, who in turn will disburse it to Heustess.
Chairman Peterson said the County asked BBAI to contribute to the taxes and benefits involved with Heustess’ reimbursement from BBAI. “Even though it looks like more money, it really is not money going directly to Chuck,” said Chairman Peterson.
BBAI board member Robert Hester said that BBAI will no longer pay any bonuses to Heustess. In the past, Heustess has received a $6,000 bonus based on the performance of BBAI.
An earlier agreement with BBAI indicated that reimbursement from BBAI to Heustess was supposed be paid to the County Finance Office but Commissioner Chairman Charles Ray Peterson said for some reason that stopped occurring. He added, hopefully, now that will not occur again.
Heustess, Hester and Chairman Peterson all described the new salary as a reduction in what BBAI was paying. A review of past form 990s filed with the State of North Carolina by BBAI, indicate in 2014, Heustess was paid $35,759 from Bladen’s Bloomin’ Agri-Industrial for his efforts in support of economic development.
Everyone agrees there have been positive elements to come from the recent series of meetings between BBAI Executive Board and the Bladen County Board of Commissioners.
“To me, one really positive thing is the Economic Development Commission board has met and looked at the by-laws and they are a lot more active in the model of BBAI. They are definitely more engaged than any group in my 19 years has been,” said Heustess.
The Bladen County Economic Development Commission, an advisory board appointed by the Bladen County Board of Commissioners, had not been meeting on a regular basis. Chairman Peterson said Heustess has agreed to give monthly updates to the EDC, BBAI and Committee of 100 as well as the Commissioners.
Bladen County Manager Greg Martin said organizations like BBAI reduce the burden to local government when it comes to economic development. He said the Legislature allows non-profits to work with the County on economic development-related activities.
Hester explained there are very specific rules about how counties can conduct business. According to the North Carolina constitution, a county can’t just purchase real estate in the same manner a private citizen can. Instead, there are very specific rules that the county must follow.
For example, the county can erect a building. When the county chooses to build a building, everything about that specific project has to be made public. If a company is looking at buying the building, all of the correspondence regarding the building becomes a part of the public record.
The second thing impacted is timeliness. Hester said county owned buildings have to be duly advertised and you have to have public hearings and go through an upset bid process, which can become lengthy.
Hester also said a county government can build a building, but it could take years before it is occupied by a company. Currently, BBAI assumes all of the risks associated with constructing the buildings. BBAI constructs the buildings, takes on the debt, and assumes all of the liability and the county or town has no obligation. BBAI has ownership of the buildings.
Chairman Peterson said that moving forward, hopefully, information regarding economic development matters in the county will flow better between everyone involved. He said for a period there was a failure to communicate between the groups. He said this new contract along with monthly meetings with each group should help to rectify the communication problem.
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