The Vance County Commissioners’ annual Planning retreat was held on Thursday January 23, 2014 at the Glass House. Nice view of the lake and would be better place in the summer time. The Peanut Gallery was across the room from the fireplace with its big roaring fire. The fire was nice to look at although it provided no heat to the Peanut Gallery. A housekeeping notes for those who choose to listen to the recording. Changing batteries in the microphone proved a complex task for the mechanically challenged. The two heavy duty AA batteries are inserted in the same direction not in opposite directions as most batteries are configured. The incorrect insertion of the batteries was corrected unfortunately we miss the first five or seven minutes of the meeting on the recording. You may listen to the audio below:
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You may also download the audio by clicking this link.
Overview of the State of the County
For openers we learned that the State’s failed computer systems, NC Fast and NC Track, have impacted Vance County as they have every other county in the State. The NC Department of Social Services State installed two adequately tested systems causing major service issues for our county’s social service staffing. DMV is the shinny bright spot in the State’s computer systems. Financial Overview began with these encouraging words, “I think we are on solid ground” followed with, I “see some trends that are improving” but “there are a lot of people dependent on county services”. Some good news was that sales taxes have bounced back. Another slice of good news was that spending is on track with budgeted projections. The best news was that property tax collections rate have improved, by how much was not shared. Sadly, Vance County is still lagging behind the state rate. Then came the morning’s reality check, 2016 property revaluation. The projection is that overall property tax values will decline some 39% leading to a lower total property tax collections for 2016 – 2024.
Items Submitted for Consideration
This part of the meeting is the longest of the entire day and is only the fat around the meat of the retreat. There were ten items submitted for consideration, three from the public and one from each commissioner. One of the purposes of the retreat is to “Encourage citizen input and promote awareness of issues to improve decision-making with county government.” Chairwoman Brown informed her fellow commissioners that addressing items submitted from the public was new approach of the retreat. She then advised the commissioners that next year there may be more citizen input and they will need a way to evaluate the submissions into items for considerations. For example someone may think a good idea is to toss all the commissioners out. That would not be an item the retreat is intended to handle that’s what the ballot box handles. Or several citizens may suggest doubling the wages of county employees. That could be an item for the retreat and the County Manager would need to consolidate the multiple similar suggestions into one suggestion.
The big ticket item submitted came from Commissioner Brummitt and revealed for the first time all the details of the cost of the County Wide Water Project. The long shrouded financial details of the project revealed an aneurism on the County’s aorta, the fund balance. The simple fact is that there have never been sufficient committed property owners to make the project financially viable. Whether this fact was unknown by the commissioners or concealed from the public is a separate issue from the one the commissioners need to address first, finding a palatable solution. Finding that palatable solution for was high on the list of possible goals for the items submitted for consideration, the meat of the day-long meeting.
Placemaking Initiatives/Goals
Mr. Asycue introduced Placemaking as “… a people centered strategic process for transforming communities by planning and designing public spaces that promote citizens’ health, well-being, happiness, and potential. It is a process that fosters the creation of vital public destinations where people feel a strong stake in their community.” After Mr. Asycue explained the purpose of the Placemaking, the meeting moved to picking which items submitted for consideration would become a goal for the Board. The following four items were selected:
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Goal to Improve Affordability of County Water – to attempt to reduce the initial cost of hook ups, increase the number of signups in Phase 1A by 5% by the end of fiscal year 2014 – 2015, increase the number of customers in Phase 2A & 2B by 35% in same time frame.
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Goal to Grow Local Economy through Small Businesses – to plan for establishing a redevelopment authority or other similar entity for the purpose of creating jobs, expanding the counties tax base, and bringing new life into neighborhoods and business districts. (Commissioner Taylor said this sounds like forming another government agency.)
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Goal to Reduce the Number of Vacant County Buildings – by 67% (3 out of 4) by the end of the fiscal year end 2014 – 2015.
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Goal to Develop Action Plan for New Animal Shelter – to develop a three year action plan for constructing a new animal shelter by October of 2014 including objectives to do the preliminary clearing of the lot, an aggressive fund raising plan by fiscal year end 2014 – 2015; to pursue the acquisitions of the adjoining ten acres of land from the State of NC by fiscal year end 2014 – 2015.
Item #1 is an actionable, measurable, non-repetitious goal. Here is how goals #2 – #4 could be stated as actionable, measurable, and non-repetitious.
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Goal to Grow Local Economy through Small Businesses – start by discussing at next year’s planning retreat the viable sustainable small business ideas gathered during a scheduled 20 minute appointment at every Board meeting from March – December 2014.
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Goal to Reduce the Number of Vacant County Buildings – by 67% by the end of the fiscal year end 2014 – 2015, and through zoning ordinance prohibit the building of government subsidized housing on the newly vacated land.
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Goal to Develop Action Plan for New Animal Shelter – begin construction of the new animal shelter by June 30, 2017.
Other Items for Consideration
Before the long day concluded Commissioner Garrison expressed the need to budget a salary increases for county employees. A commendable idea for our county employees; yet how do we funded a necessary salary increase when (1) facing a pending 38% overall decline in property values, (2) the strain of the financial debacle of county wide water, and (3) building a new animal shelter.