April 8, 2009
The Martin County Board of Commissioners met in Regular Session on Wednesday, April 8, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. in the Board Room of the Martin County Governmental Center, 305 East Main Street, Williamston, North Carolina.
ASSEMBLY
Chairman Ronnie Smith, Vice Chairman Elmo “Butch” Lilley, Commissioners C. Mort Hurst, Tommy W. Bowen and Derek Price, County Manager W. Russell Overman, County Attorney J. Melvin Bowen and Clerk to the Board Linda G. Hardison were present. No one was absent.
Chairman Smith called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Following the Pledge of Allegiance which was led by Commissioner Hurst, Vice Chairman Lilley offered the Invocation.
Chairman Smith began the meeting in his usual manner by introducing the Board of Commissioners, elected officials and staff.
Before proceeding with the meeting, Chairman Smith asked for a moment of silence for the Lenoir County Deputy Sheriff who was killed in the line of duty and for the other Deputy which was wounded.
AGENDA APPROVAL
Commissioner Hurst made a MOTION, with a SECOND by Vice Chairman Lilley, to approve the Agenda as presented. The motion was unanimously APPROVED by the Board.
PUBLIC COMMENTS
There was no one present for the Public Comment period.
CONSENT AGENDA
Commissioner Bowen made a MOTION, with a SECOND by Commissioner Hurst, to approve the Consent Agenda as presented. The motion was unanimously APPROVED by the Board.
The following items were included on the Consent Agenda and were approved with this motion.
· Minutes: March 5, 2009 Special Meeting and the March 18, 2009 Regular Meeting and Closed Session.
· Financial Report for March, 2009.
· Tax Collector’s Report for March, 2009.
March, 2009 Year to Date
Property Taxes $ 373,171.26 $ 11,884,486.14
Motor Vehicles 136,203.69 1,071,026.63
· Tax Relief Orders for March, 2009 in the amount of $818.81.
Year
Levy Name Remarks Value Total
2008 Brown Richard Earl Double List 3,760 34.54
2008 Burroughs Devin Eugene Clerk Error 890 8.27
2008 Chapman Elsie Double List 4,200 35.07
2007 Eastwood April Delynn Sold Mobile Home 1,380 12.67
2008 Eastwood April Delynn Sold Mobile Home 1,290 11.76
2008 Hunt Gertrude Payne Error in Listing 2,799 23.65
2008 Land Velverton Gaylord Error in Landfill Fee 324.00
2008 Manning Carl Jerome Repo 12,600 117.12
2007 Manning Carl Jerome Repo 1.68
2008 State Farm Mutual Out of County 1,532 12.72
Automobile Insurance
2008 Bagley Enterprises Double List 7,890 61.94
2008 Bir Richard Anthony Jr High Mileage 1,725 14.40
2008 Bullins James L Jr High Mileage 1,100 9.19
2008 Bullins James L Jr High Mileage 1,100 - 9.19
2008 Gennosa Thomas J Bill of Sale 8,340 115.51
2008 Holliday Herman Bill of Sale 1,915 15.99
2008 Taylor Elbert Roy Bill of Sale 3,490 29.49
Total Relief Orders $818.81
· Clerk’s Report is included in each Commissioner’s packet for informational purposes.
OLD BUSINESS
Albemarle Mental Health: Chairman Smith turned the meeting over to Vice Chairman Lilley who is the Commissioner serving on the Albemarle Mental Health Board. He stated that all correspondence is being sent by email to the managers of the various counties involved in Albemarle Mental Health. The providers are being paid and hopefully back payments will be caught up in a timely manner. The Albemarle Board is pleased that thinks are beginning to turn around.
Manager Overman stated that Albemarle is taking cost-cutting measures to help the situation. He met with two representatives of Albemarle and they discussed moving mental health back to the old hospital building where Tideland Mental Health was housed. The rental on the space they are now occupying at Martin General is high, and they would like to utilize the space formerly used by Tideland Mental Health. Manager Overman has already discussed this with the Directors of MTW District Health Department and Department of Aging. There is much work to be done to this area and the cost of renovation has not been determined yet. However, this location would give Albemarle a presence in Martin County. They would occupy 8-10 rooms.
Manager Overman then explained the options as taken from State Statutes. He also pointed out that the earliest one could withdraw from a mental health authority is the end of a fiscal year.
Mental Health Options
North Carolina General Statute 122C-115(a) states that A county shall provide mental health, developmental disabilities and substance abuse services through an area authority or through a county program established pursuant to G.S. 122C-115.1. It further states that The catchment area of an area authority or a county program shall contain either a minimum population of at least 200,000 or a minimum of six counties. According to G.S. 122C-115(b) Counties shall and cities may appropriate funds for the support of programs that serve the catchment area, whether the programs are physically located within a single county or whether any facility housing a program is owned and operated by the city or county.
The statutes above address the requirement that counties provide for mental health, developmental disabilities and substance abuse services programs. Mental health reform has dictated that we establish the local management entities to serve a certain number of persons or at least have a certain number of counties. These requirements have been established to more cost effectively administer the programs.
As you well know when we were finally “forced” to merge Martin County along with Hyde, Tyrrell and Washington counties joined with the Albemarle Mental Health agency and Beaufort County joined counties that formed East Carolina Behavioral Health. If a board of county commissioners decides that an area authority is not operating in the best interest of its consumers a county may withdraw from a particular area authority. G.S. 122C-115.3 states that Whenever the board of commissioners of each county constituting an area authority determines that the area authority is not operating in the best interests of consumers, it may direct that the area authority be dissolved. In addition, whenever a board of commissioners of a county that is a member of an area authority determines that the area authority is not operating in the best interests of consumers of that county, it may withdraw from the area authority. Dissolution of an area authority or withdrawal from the area authority by a county shall be effective only at the end of the fiscal year in which the action of dissolution or withdrawal transpired.
NEW BUSINESS
Budget Amendment #17: Commissioner Bowen made a MOTION, with a SECOND by Commissioner Hurst, to approve Budget Amendment 17 as presented. The motion was unanimously APPROVED by the Board.
BUDGET ORDINANCE AMENDMENT – 17
BE IT ORDAINED by the Board of Commissioners of Martin County, North Carolina, that the following amendments be made to the annual budget ordinance for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2009.
Section 1. To amend the General Fund, the expenditures are to be changed as follows.
Increase Decrease
Education
Public School Building Cap Fund Exp $217,032
Human Services
Department of Social Services
Assistance Program 10,682
Office of Aging
Adm & Operations 1,200
Other Human Services
Office of Juvenile Justice 1,917
General & Administrative
Miscellaneous 9,135
This will result in an increase of $239,966 in the expenditures of the General Fund. To provide an increase for the revenue above, the following revenues will be changed.
Restricted $230,831
Fund Balance Appropriation 9,135
Section 2. Copies of this budget amendment shall be furnished to the Clerk to the Governing Board and to the finance Officer for their direction.
Explore Having Meetings on Cable TV: Commissioner Hurst stated that he asked for this item to be placed on the agenda. The Manager was instructed to explore the cost of having the meetings on Cable TV. He said this would keep the public better informed.
DMV: Manager Overman explained that Commissioner Hurst had requested this item be placed on the agenda; however, he had already begun research when he heard that the Martin County Chamber of Commerce might give up their License Plate Agency franchise. He stated that he had heard several Commissioners say how important it is for our citizens to have this agency within the county. Manager Overman had seen that this same situation came up in Edgecombe County and that they were seeking to get the franchise. Manager Overman has spoken with Lorenzo Carmen, County Manager of Edgecombe County about their situation.
Mr. Carmen indicated that when the local agency there was giving up the franchise the county decided to pursue obtaining the franchise primarily due to the scheduled change regarding the collection of motor vehicle property taxes by the DMV. They felt like they could improve the collection rate of motor vehicle taxes if they were handling the DMV license plate sales.
According to Manager Carmen, there are two other counties and one town that operate DMV License Plate agencies. Edgecombe is operating theirs as a division of the tax collector’s office. It is not physically located in the collector’s office but is just down the hall. They were able to hire two of the people that were previously employed by the local agency giving up the franchise.
If the commissioners are interested in the agency, Manager Overman stated that he thought it should be a part of the tax collector’s office. In reviewing the standard operating procedures manual, Manager Overman stated that he did not know if the state would approve the location of the agency within the existing tax collector’s office. Even if the State would approve it, he stated that he did not know that it should be located there. It is only the physical facility requirements that give him cause for concern if the Board chooses to obtain the franchise. He said he thought we could develop the space to make it work. It would work best if you have employees whose primary responsibilities are the DMV work that also could serve as backup to tax collections and certainly the tax collection staff would need to be able to support the DMV staff. He stated that he felt the fees would come close to supporting this type structure. If this office has to stand alone, Manager Overman does not believe it can be operated in the black.
Manager Overman gathered the following information.
1. Some offices are on a 2 or 5 year contract with the state. These offices have to pay the state $69 per terminal/computer every month. Anyone who takes over the contract may have to pay $207 a month (3 computers) which is $2,484 a year.
2. The lobbyist for the contractors is working on an increase in fees. An increase in fees will not be looked at until January 2010. He believes this will be added into another bill.
3. The lobbyist also does not believe that contractors will be required to collect property taxes next year. He thinks if this were to pass, the legislature would add this into another bill. This will probably not go up to the legislature until January 2010.
4. Notary fees are set by the state. Contractors receive the following:
a. $5 for 1 signature
b. $6 for 2 signatures
c. $7 for 3 signatures
5. Transaction fees are set by the state. Contractors receive the following:
a. $1.43 standard transaction (registration card)
b. $1.00 title
c. $1.27 HUT (Hwy use tax)
6. The transaction fee was increased for $1.35 to $1.43 in 2001. Since then the standard fee has not been increased.
The consensus of the Board was that this service needs to be provided in Martin County. Commissioner Bowen made a MOTION, with a SECOND by Commissioner Hurst, that the county pursue taking over the DMV franchise. The motion was unanimously APPROVED by the Board.
Water District 3: Manager Overman and Finance Officer Cindy Ange have been in conversation with Gundars Aperans with Robinson, Bradshaw and Hinson, the county’s bond attorney. There are two resolutions that need to be approved: the Preliminary Resolution gives the county the official authority to start the process and complete Local Government Commission application and the Reimbursement Resolution which allows the county to be reimbursed for costs expended prior to the bond sale. The prospective date for the bond referendum is July, 2009. These two resolutions were not ready for this meeting; however, the following Notice of Intent will run in The Enterprise on Thursday, April 9th.
NOTICE OF INTENT TO
APPLY TO THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION
FOR APPROVAL OF BONDS
NOTICE is hereby given of the intention of the undersigned to file an application with the Local Government Commission, Raleigh, North Carolina, for its approval of the issuance of the following proposed bonds of the Martin County Water and Sewer District No. 3, in Martin County, North Carolina, which bonds shall be subject to the approval of the voters of said District at a referendum:
$3,000,000 WATER BONDS for the purpose of providing funds, with any other available funds, for acquiring and constructing a water system of said District, within and without the corporate limits of said District, including the acquisition, construction and installation of an elevated water storage tank, water mains and lines, metering stations and appurtenant facilities and the acquisition of necessary land, rights of way and equipment.