THE BOARD OF
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
DURHAM, NORTH
CAROLINA
Monday, February 28, 2005
AGENDA
6:00 PM
Closed Session
Pursuant to G.S. § 143-318.11(a)(5), the Board of Commissioners is requested to adjourn to closed
session to instruct staff concerning the position to be taken on the terms of
possible acquisition of property known as
- the
Preserve at Erwin Trace, PIN # 0801-03-12-7186, owned by Duke University;
- farmland
conservation easements at 1801 Tilley Farm Road, owned by Roger Tilley;
and 1807 Tilley Farm Road, owned by Arthur Tilley;
- conservation
easements—Childers Heirs property bordering Buffalo Creek on Bill Poole Road
(#189471 and #189472);
- easements
or fee simple on the North Fork of the
Little River at 0 Becky Drive
(#189389 and #189390), owned by John Oxaal.
7:00 PM Regular Session
“Public Charge"
The Board of Commissioners
asks its members and citizens to conduct themselves in a respectful, courteous
manner, both with the Board and fellow citizens. At any time, should any member of the Board
or any citizen fail to observe this public charge, the Chairman will ask the
offending person to leave the meeting until that individual regains personal
control. Should decorum fail to be
restored, the Chairman will recess the meeting until such time that a genuine
commitment to the public charge is observed.
As a courtesy to others, please turn off cell phones during
the meeting.
1. Opening
of Regular Session—Pledge of Allegiance
2. Agenda
Adjustments
3. Minutes
- January 31, 2005 BOCC/City
Council
- February 14, 2005 BOCC Regular
Session
4. February Anchor Award Winner – Brenda
Watson
Brenda Watson, Branch Manager for
the Stanford L. Warren Library, was selected to receive the February Anchor
Award.
·
Ms.
Watson’s commitment to her staff and the library was put to test with preparations
for Stanford L. Warren Library renovations.
She made sure that the entire community was included in the branch closing
celebration.
·
Ms.
Watson and her staff worked tirelessly to pack items for storage, discarding, disposal,
and recycling.
·
During
this period, Ms. Watson was also trying to take on a new department Outreach
Services; thus, managing two areas at once.
She did all this with a smile and a can-do spirit.
County Manager’s Recommendation: Present the February Anchor Award
to Brenda Watson along with congratulations of the entire organization.
5. Consent
Agenda
c. Appointment of the 2005 Equalization and
Review Board Members (appoint a special E&R Board, designate membership,
appoint Chair and Vice Chair, and establish rate of compensation at $50.00 per
session and $15.00 per hour after the three-hour session);
d. Adoption of Substance Abuse Treatment
Analysis and Plan for Durham
County;
e. Changes to the Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) Between the Board of Elections and the County of Durham (approve the
Board of Elections’ request to change the MOU to place the Director of
Elections on the County’s compensation plan);
f. Budget Ordinance Amendment No.
05BCC000039—Library—Gift Funds from Friends of the Durham County Library ($17,250);
g. Budget Ordinance Amendment No.
05BCC000040—Fire Marshal/Emergency Management—FY 2004 State Homeland Security
Grant Program Citizen Corps Grant Award (apply the $9,500 Grant Award received through the NC Department of Crime
Control and Public Safety for expenditure in FY 2004-2005);
h. Budget Ordinance Amendment
05BCC000041—Return Salary Funds to Redwood Volunteer Fire Department (approve
to adjust the FY 2004-2005 Redwood Volunteer Fire Department budget);
k. Set a Public Hearing to Consider the
Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) for FY 2007-2013 (adopt the resolution
to schedule a public hearing for March 14, 2005);
l. Reimbursement Resolution for Voiceover
IP-Telecommunications Project (adopt the resolution so the County can reimburse
itself from the 160A-20 security interest financing in an amount not to exceed
$1,410,000);
m. Budget Amendment No. 05BCC0000044—Employment
of Lobbyist (approve hiring the firm of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough
LLP as lobbyist for the long session of the Legislature and appropriate $50,000
from the Commissioners Contingency to the Board of Commissioners’ budget for
the proposed contract);
n. Engineering Services for Wastewater
Treatment Plant Improvements (authorize the County Manager to: amend the
contract with McKim & Creed for Phase 2 Improvements at a cost not to
exceed an additional $272,937; enter into a new Engineering Services contract
with McKim & Creed for the Biosolids Treatment Facilities in the amount of
$1,060,670; and, approve amendments to the Bio-Solids Treatment Facilities
contract from a contingency of $100,000 for items that may be identified during
the project that are related to the work);
o. Approve Grant Application from the Criminal
Justice Resource Center to the NC Department of Correction, Division of
Community Corrections, for Criminal Justice Partnership Program Funds (a
recurring grant application and approval process the County participates in
each year);
p. Service Contract for Program Administrator
of the Community Development Block Grant Scattered Site Housing Program
(authorize the Manager to enter into a contract with LEAH Consulting Group Inc.
to provide grant administration services not to exceed $40,000.00); and
q. Budget Ordinance Amendment No.
05BCC000043—Sheriff’s Office—Governor’s Crime Commission Grant to Access
Justice Xchange (to support the Sheriff’s Office initiative to gain access to
the national database, Justice Xchange).
6. Public
Hearing on the Community Block Grant—2005 Scattered Site Housing
The State Department of Commerce—Division of
Community Assistancehas made $400,000
in grant funds available to the County of Durham for rehabilitating low-income
housing. The funds can be used only in
unincorporated areas of the County. The
primary objective of the Community Development Block Grant Scattered Site
Housing Program is to improve housing conditions of very low-income households
at or below 50 percent of area median income.
Recent changes by the General Assembly now provide that eligible
counties receive these funds every three years on a noncompetitive basis. As lead agents, counties will receive funds
by submitting a detailed plan describing how funds will be distributed to meet
housing priorities. The application
deadline for receiving funds from the State Department of Commerce—Division of
Community Assistance is February 28, 2005.
The application has been completed and was submitted on February 25.
An informal RFP was posted on the County
website. Proposals were solicited until
February 10, 2005 for the purpose of hiring a consultant to administer the
Scattered Site Housing Program. The
selection committee met to review the proposals and recommends that the Board
award the contract to Leah Consulting Group.
The first of two public hearings was held on
February 14, 2005 for receiving citizen comments on the County’s intentions of
receiving this grant and awarding a contract to one of the consulting
firms. No public comment was received at
that meeting.
Staff requests that the second public hearing be
held for receiving additional citizen comments.
County
Manager’s Recommendation: The Manager recommends that the Board hold the second of two public
hearings on the 2005 CDBG Scattered Site Housing Program and receive public
comment.
7. Time Warner Cable-Raleigh/Durham Division—Cable Television
Rate Report
A Review of Time Warner Cable’s 2005
FCC1240, FCC1235 & FCC1205 Rate Filing Seeking Approval to Set New Rates
for Regulated Cable Services in Durham County.
On September 30, 2004, Time Warner
Cable (TWC) submitted a form FCC1240—Basic Cable Service Tier to set a new
regulated rate for basic cable service.
It requested to continue the rate set in its initial Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) Form 1235—Abbreviated Cost of Service Network
Upgrade Charge filed five years ago. TWC
also submitted Form 1205—Equipment and Installation Charges to set new
regulated rates for equipment rental and installation services. These documents were submitted to the County
for approval.
The proposed Basic Service,
Equipment, and Installation rates comply with the FCC’s rate rules; however,
the Form 1235 “Add-on" rate submitted by Time Warner does not comply with the
rules and should be rejected.
8. Durham Open Space Commission Matching
Grants Recommendation
The Durham Open Space and Trails
Commission (DOST) received two applications for Matching Grants Program funds
to assist nonprofit community organizations with recreational and open space
projects. The following financial
summary shows the Commission’s recommendation to the Board to fund the second
application at $49,000 (highlighted) using part of the $85,000 of contractual
funds requested and recommended under the General Fund, “Open Space Matching
Grants" Organization of the County’s FY 04-05 Budget. The first application for $28,543 was
approved by the Board in December 2004.
|
2004 CYCLE MATCHING GRANTS
APPLICATIONS
|
|
|
|
|
Applicant /
Project
|
Request
|
Cost
|
Grant
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Forest
Hills Neighborhood Association/Walking Trail
|
$
28,543.00
|
$
57,543.00
|
$
28,543.00*
|
|
SEEDS/Farmer’s Market Pavilion
|
49,000.00
|
525,692.00
|
49,000.00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total
|
$ 77,543.00
|
$ 583,235.00
|
$
77,543.00
|
*The BOCC received a recommendation
and approved funding for this application in December 2004.
County Manager’s Recommendation: The Manager’s recommendation is to
allocate $49,000 of grant funds, which represents a gain to the County of $476,692
in matching funds as more than half the projects proposed value of $525,692.
The County Manager recommends
approval for funding the SEEDS Farmer’s Market Pavilion project and the
allocation of the $49,000 of the budgeted Matching Grants Funds.
9. Tax Office—Request for Additional
Revaluation Positions
The County’s revaluation date is set
for January 1, 2007. It has been
recommended that at the conclusion of the 2007 reappraisal, the County should
advance to a four-year reappraisal (January 1, 2011) and each fourth year
thereafter. The potential also exists
for the state legislature to change the current mandated octennial revaluation
plan to a four-year plan.
Current appraisal staff is
responsible for yearly maintenance of 97,000 parcels of real property. Historical data indicates that as of January
1, 2007, the County parcel count will exceed 103,000.
With revaluation forthcoming and
workload increasing, an immediate staffing need is evident. Revaluation functions are in addition to
all regularly scheduled, yearly, real property appraisal work. It is imperative that current staff be
allowed to execute their existing job functions separate and apart from general
reappraisal.
Hiring four full-time employees to
carry forward the revaluation process for 2007 and retain such employees for
future four-year general reappraisals are requested herewith.
The positions are:
Revaluation Supervisor 1
Residential Appraiser 2
Commercial Appraiser 1
These employees will execute all
duties associated with general reappraisal, ensuring that current staff
maintains yearly cycle appraisal functions.
These positions are being requested at
this time because of the timing and need with the upcoming revaluation. The timeframe does not allow the Tax office
to wait until the new fiscal year to fill these new positions and have the
schedule of values completed a year from now.
The FY 2004-05 budget had already been approved when the Board made the
decision to conduct the next revaluation on January 1, 2007. Therefore, the establishment of these
positions was not included in last year’s budget request. The approval of these positions will place
them as continuation items in the FY 2005-06 Tax Administration-Revaluation Budget
and funded through the Revaluation Fund.
Staff is requesting the authority to
establish the four above-enumerated positions.
Durham County has, per North Carolina General Statutes, budgeted for the
2007 general reappraisal, and funding is currently available in the budget for
hiring the four employees. This matter
has been reviewed and approved by the Budget and HR Departments.
