by Blake Proctor
Following an hour-and-a-quarter-long budget workshop – to be detailed in a later story – the Bladen Board of Commissioners met at 6:35 pm on Monday, May 17th. The meeting was the first held in their Chambers down in the bowels of the courthouse since the onset of the Xi Jinpingfluenza over a year ago.
With a bang of his gavel, Commission Chairman Charles Ray Peterson welcomed everyone back to the Chambers. The Reverend Bruce Miller of Hickory Grove Baptist Church provided the invocation, and County Manager Greg Martin led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Commissioner Arthur Bullock asked for a closed session at the end of the meeting for a general discussion of personnel, but Chairman Peterson informed him that “general personnel discussions” were not permitted under State statute for calling closed sessions.
The thirteen-item Consent Agenda was then unanimously approved.
There were no “individuals or delegations” wishing to come before the Board, and the only Commissioner comment was from Commissioner Cameron McGill, who informed the Board that he would be absent from the next meeting. The Commission then got into the meat of the meeting.
Chairman Peterson came out from behind the podium to present recognitions of service to two retiring employees: Wanda Wilson was recognized with a plaque for 30 years’ service to the County with the Department of Health and Human Services; Rodney Warwick was then presented a plaque in recognition of 24 years’ Service with the Sheriff’s Department.
Lastly, the Chairman called upon Emergency Management Director Nathan Dowless and Emergency Medical Services Director David Howell to present them a plaque in honor of EMS Week, May 16th through May 22nd.
Donning their dungarees and straw hats, the Board sat as the Bladen County Water District for the purpose of hearing about the major May 7th water outage in the White Lake area. General Services Director Kip McClary and Water Department Director Alan Edge came forward to give a slide presentation of the outage.
They started with the initial callout on Friday, May 7th, in the vicinity of Willard Tatum Road and NC242 North, followed by a search for a break in the main, and finally locating the break in a 12-inch main going under Turnbull Creek.
Calling out specialized contractors, the Department had the line repaired by 7:00 pm Sunday evening. As it turns out, the culprit causing the break was a Friday evening lightning strike on a tree whose roots were wrapped around the PVC pipe, blowing the line out.
Services were restored progressively by neighborhood, with the last fifteen families coming back online later Sunday. To help alleviate some hardships on that Mothers’ Day, several County employees, including County Manager Martin, delivered water to those folks who had not had their services restored earlier on.
Reverting to their suit-and-tie Commissioner attire, the board next heard from Tax Administrator Renée Davis, with an update on the upcoming property revaluation. She reported that all property record cards and GIS maps have been printed; all properties have been routed for fieldwork.
Sixty percent of fieldwork has been completed and photographs processed, and computer data entry is being done on all completed fieldwork. The Revalue Team is in receipt of 2020 property sales to use in developing market values; final property value reviews should begin by September.
EMS Director David Howell returned to the dais to provide the Board an update on a recent joint training exercise. Held at Bladen Community College, this was a simulation of a mass-casualty situation caused by a gas line explosion, and included the local hospital as well as an emergency helicopter transport.
BCC paramedic graduates and EMS staff were evaluated on their ability to triage and initiate treatment. The exercise was designed to partner multiple local agencies to respond to possible mass casualty incidents. Full funding for this exercise was provided by an EMS SAMHSA grant.
Finance Director Lisa Coleman provided the monthly Financial Dashboard, indicating that the County is in a sound fiscal position. Additionally, her Federal Inmate Summary showed a fiscal-year-to-date surplus of $397,419.
Ms. Coleman then provided the Board a synopsis of the Federal Coronavirus Recovery Fund; she said that municipalities have their own monies earmarked. The approximately $6.2 million allocated for the county would be coming in two equal annual installments of $3.1 million. She also provided a list of approved uses.
Dr. Terri Duncan, Director of Health and Human Services, came before the Board to request their approval of a service agreement with NAVEX for an HHS Policy Tech Setup and Subscription. This request was unanimously approved.
She then requested consideration of approval of a Field Site Affiliation Agreement with Walden University; this request was also approved unanimously.
Her final request was for approval of a Letter of Intent (LOI) with the Bladen County School System relating to their health program. Again, unanimous approval was given.
In closing, Dr. Duncan provided her periodic Xi Jinpingfluenza update, this time with a broad smile, as positive cases and deaths statewide are moving downwards.
POSITIVE
CASES DEATHS RATIO**
STATE 991,956 12,891 1.30%
BLADEN 3,280 42 1.28%
**RATIO is percent deaths to positive cases
Vickie Smith, Director of the Department of Social Services, appeared before the Board to request their approval of a Hosting & Maintenance Agreement with Information, Inc. regarding that firm’s reception application.
The AS400 system DSS currently uses to operate the front desk reception system will become obsolete at the end of this fiscal year and must be replaced. The Commission voted unanimously to approve this purchase.
Turning to appointments to various Boards, the Commission unanimously approved the appointment of Warren Holden to fill the unexpired term of the late Lenox Harrelson to the Bay Tree Lakes Fire Department Firefighter Relief Fund Board.
Mr. Holden was then appointed to the Bay Tree Lakes Fire District Committee, again to replace the late Mr. Harrelson, who had also sat on that Board.
Finally, Dean Robinson was reappointed by unanimous vote to the Kelly Water Dike and Drainage District Committee.
Before leaving the matter of appointments, Chairman Peterson reminded the Commission that for the next meeting, there were going to be 62 appointments to 17 various boards; he advised the Commissioners “so you’d best read up on these appointments.”
County Manager Martin then provided his twice-monthly Calendar Update.
He followed this with an update on the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program, which provides families whose children receive free or reduced-cost lunches at school with up to $50 per household of the cost of broadband service.
Lastly, he updated the Board on the status of the Opioid Litigation Settlement: Currently, 78 counties and 17 municipalities in North Carolina have joined with other states and cities to take opioid manufacturers to court; a tentative settlement looms.
The State is seeking participation from all 100 counties and as many large and medium-sized municipalities as possible in order to maximize North Carolina’s portion of the settlement.
The Commission discussed the benefits of joining the lawsuit, but could not vote on it until the next meeting as it was not on this agenda as an action item.
Under Matters of Interest to Commissioners, Commissioner Bullock stated that he had information of allegations from employees of inappropriate attitudes towards them from others; he asked to whom he should direct his apprehension.
Pointing to Mr. Martin, Chairman Peterson said that the chain of command starts with Mr. Martin, and all such questions and concerns of an employee nature should be directed to him for attention and, if warranted, action.
Commissioner Michael Cogdell asked if that means it prevents a Commissioner from conversing with employees, and was informed that there is nothing wrong with talking with employees generally, but if matters come up that need to be looked into, that Commissioner should share it with the County Manager.
With that matter settled, the meeting adjourned at 7:45 pm.
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