TownTalk: More On Vance County Jail
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TownTalk: Sheriff Brame Discusses Detention Center With County Commissioners
As Vance County Sheriff Curtis Brame sees it, this county needs a new jail, no two ways about it. He’s said it before and he said it again during an April 15 commissioners’ work session, during which commissioners reviewed several options from an architect’s needs assessment and received an update on current conditions from the sheriff.
Commissioners agree that something needs to be done, but as the old saying goes, “All it takes is time and money.”
Replacing the jail comes with a $42 million price tag, according to the assessment by Moseley Architects. An expansion would cost north of $31 million and repairing the existing facility would cost more than $5.2 million, according to the architect’s report. Board Chair Dan Brummitt speculated that even if the board decided now to build a new jail, it would be between five and eight years before the first detainee would be housed there.
There are no easy answers to the challenges that face the aging jail, but Brame said he’s worried about the lack of basic safety measures being in place – for detainees and for staff.
He said the jail has 20 staff openings right now, and that overnight staffing is sparse at best. Hiring is difficult, he said, partly because of the salary offered and partly because of the jail conditions.
“Pay does help,” Brame told commissioners. “We do need an increase in pay. But they will not come because they feel unsafe … those inmates could take over the facility any time they want to.”
The county recently spent half a million dollars to replace security doors at the jail, but Brummitt said they were not installed properly and the Georgia company that installed them has not returned to finish the job to the county’s satisfaction.
County Manager C. Renee Perry said she would look at the terms of the contract to determine if the county has any recourse in the matter.
There are other more routine maintenance issues that need attention, and the jail does have an employee who handles them, but other issues like replacing light fixtures and moving outlets away from inmates’ reach are things that require an electrician.
And tradespeople don’t want to do the work because it’s unsafe.
“We have an unsafe facility down there,” Brame said, “from the doors, to how it’s designed, to staffing.”
Commissioner Sean Alston said there are federal grants to apply for help with paying for a new jail and he is hopeful that recent talks with Don Davis and others are going to pay dividends in that area.
Perry said she had submitted to Davis two capital projects for funding consideration – the jail and a new EMS building.
It all comes down to safety, Brame said. “We’ve got a lot of dangerous people in our facility,” 40 in jail for murder. Between June 2021 and July 2022, there were 26 major incidents that occurred in the jail, including death, rape and assault.
From 2019 to 2024, Brame said there were 636 incidents at the jail that came in to 911 – from the jail. “Ninety percent of our people are violent offenders,” Brame said.
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TownTalk: County Commissioners April 1 Meeting Coverage
Monday’s (4-1-24) Vance County Commissioners meeting was an example of local government at work: there was a little bit of everything, from employee recognition, a few zoning requests, a proclamation, a public comment period and some motions made and approved to keep things moving in the right direction.
Frankie Nobles introduced Michelle Green as the Employee of the Month and said she had received several different nominations from colleagues at the Emergency Operations Department. As a telecommunicator, Green goes above and beyond, Nobles told commissioners. With a mind on teamwork, Green’s initiative and motivation are ever-present when she steps in and steps up to cover shifts or lend a helping hand to colleagues.
Vance County Manager C. Renee Perry officially introduced Stephanie Williams as the county’s new budget and finance director. April 1 marked Williams’s first day on the job and she had taken her seat beside Perry.
As a formality, the board appointed Williams and it became official. Williams told commissioners that she is looking forward to working with the board and to help all the citizens of Vance County.
Commissioners observed April as National Fair Housing Month, and also reminded residents that the NC DOT Spring Litter Sweep runs from April 13-27.
One county resident signed up to address the board about concerns he has about people discharging guns in the vicinity of his residence.
View the meeting in its entirety on YouTube.
The next scheduled commissioners’ meeting is May 6.
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The Local Skinny! County Commissioners Discuss Unified Development Ordinance
Vance County commissioners unanimously approved at the April 1 meeting a partnership with a company to help in the creation of a Unified Development Ordinance, or UDO, designed to bring consistency to county regulations with regard to property development.
The county’s Planning/Environmental committee reviewed a proposal at its most recent meeting in mid-March from NFOCUS, and County Manager C. Renee Perry recommended to the full board that NFOCUS be given the job of bringing under one “umbrella” document the various sets of regulations that govern development within the county.
Perry told the commissioners that funding the project is in the current budget, with the second half of the payment to be made next year.
A UDO is a comprehensive document that brings together the full complement of a county’s policies and regulations and works to eliminate conficting language among the various sets of rules.
Perry also told commissioners that part of the scope of work of NFOCUS would be to align county regulations with existing state regulations; NFOCUS, she said, had identified several inconsistencies in county documents that do not comply with NC General Statutes Chapter 160D that talks about minimum model regulations.
NFOCUS will provide support to the county for two years after completing the project.
According to information from the UNC School of Government, “Chapter 160D of the N.C. General Statutes consolidated city- and county-enabling statutes for development regulations and reassembled them into a more logical, coherent organization. While the new law did not make major policy changes or shifts in the scope of authority granted to local governments, it did provide clarifying amendments and consensus reforms.”
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TownTalk: Property Tax Revaluation
Property owners in Vance County have been waiting – and waiting – for those tax revaluation notices to hit their mailboxes, but so far, it’s just bills, junk mail and candidates’ postcards.
At their board meeting on Mar. 4, commissioners were told that the notices would be sent out “in the next few weeks.”
In a followup conversation with Vance County Manager C. Renee Perry earlier Monday, Perry reported that Tax Administrator Porcha Brooks said the notices will go out by the end of this week.
County residents have been bracing for news of what most certainly will be an increase in the value of their property – it’s been eight years since the last revaluation, after all. Expected increases in Vance County range from 67 percent to 72 percent, with a base increase of 55 percent. And that doesn’t include the actual land values, said Ryan Vincent, who updated commissioners during last week’s meeting.
Most all of the county’s property owners will see an increase in their property revaluation – 93 percent, in fact. And it all will be revealed in those notices, which were originally supposed to be received in February.
In addition to indiviudals and businesses, however, county staff and elected officials also need that information to inform their budget process, which is usually approved before the new fiscal year begins July 1.
Once property owners get their new valuations, they have time to appeal if they don’t agree, said Ryan Vincent, whose company was in charge of this revaluation process, which began a couple of years ago.
“The plan is to mail notices in the next two to three weeks,” Vincent explained to commissioners on Mar. 4. The notices are NOT bills; tax bills would be sent in summer 2024.
Vincent said the deadline to appeal is May 6; after that, the county’s Equalization and Review Board would begin the process of deliberating the appeals.
Right now, the seven county commissioners serve as the E&R board; Commissioner Tommy Hester’s motion on Mar. 4 to form a separate board failed.
The 2016 revaluation saw 640 property owners appeal the tax value of their properties. Of those, all but 11 were settled during the informal appeals process and were settled within the tax department. Those 11 came before the board of commissioners, acting as the E&R board, for a decision.
This year’s revaluation most likely will bring a higher volume of appeals, simply because it’s been eight years since the last valuation, when some property owners even saw a decrease in their property’s assessed value.
Vincent said commissioners should plan to allow for “anywhere from 10 to 20 to maybe 30 working days to hear the appeals,” with those being full days – 6-8 hours each. “It’s a substantial time commitment,” he said, and something that likely couldn’t be done during regular evening meetings of the commissioners.
That’s on top of extra budget sessions that will undoubtedly be held over the next few months.
The E&R board must have a quorum – that’s four commissioners – to hold the hearings.
Perry stated “it’s definitely a tight timeline” but that “the plan is for the Board of E&R to open on May 6 and close on June 3. Appeals can be submitted as soon as notices are received. The last day to appeal will be June 3.” Vincent had noted to commissioners on Mar. 4 that the appeals window would be from April 1 to May 6, but Perry confirmed Monday that those dates had been adjusted since the commissioners’ meeting.
The City of Henderson also is dependent on the results of this revaluation process as it plans for the new budget, and City Manager Terrell Blackmon said he and his staff asked for – and received – the information from the county as soon as it was available.
In a written statement to WIZS News, Blackmon said, “Just for reference, the City is not just now looking at the schedule of values…and we have been using the data we have to begin working through the FY 24-25 budget process. The City’s Finance staff and I have already completed our preliminary budget meetings with all department heads and we are crunching numbers as we speak trying to balance expenses with projected revenues based on our current tax rate and other various scenarios tied to the new schedule of values resulting from the revaluation process. Staff and Council are aware of the potential burden taxpayers may experience when there is a revaluation and we will try to remain revenue neutral as a goal. However, we also have to keep in mind that the City’s tax base has remained fairly unchanged the past several years… but our expenses continue to increase due to employee retention and other inflationary factors that impact our service delivery and ability to improve the City’s infrastructure. We will work to find a balance that’s beneficial to both the City and our citizens.”
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TownTalk: County Commissioner Candidate Archie Taylor
Vance County Commissioner Archie B. Taylor, Jr. is seeking re-election to his District 2 seat and said he’s interested in helping the county continue to attract economic development, work on public transportation, reduce crime, support education and get a new jail built.
An interview with Taylor aired on Monday’s TownTalk segment as part of WIZS’s ongoing coverage of local contests in the Mar. 5 primary elections. Taylor faces challenger Valencia Perry. Early voting continues through Saturday, Mar. 2.
Taylor, a highly decorated and retired Colonel in the U.S. Army, has been a commissioner for more than a decade and said that he wants to continue to help attract businesses to the county that will provide jobs for high school graduates as well as for college graduates so people who grow up here don’t “run off to Raleigh or Charlotte” for higher paying jobs.
It’s economic development that will bring jobs to the community, he said.
“I’m interested in helping the sheriff build a new jail,” Taylor said, adding that commissioners are looking for “north of $30 million” to make that a reality.
Public transportation is an issue that Taylor also supports. As a member of the KARTS board, he said he hopes to continue to increase public transportation throughout the county.
He, along with others, are awaiting the release of the county fire study. “I certainly am interested in seeing what the fire study will say about our fire station,” he said. “We are blessed in this county to have something that many in this state envy – we have a county-owned, fully paid fire department,” he said. “It’s extremely important for us to maintain a fully paid station that is reporting to the county and is on the county payroll. I think our study is going to support that.”
He applauded the efforts of McGregor Hall and its contributions of not only culture, but revenue to the city and county. He said he would like to see the city and county return the favor by providing some form of financial support to the entertainment venue.
The current project to create a men’s shelter in the former City Road Methodist Church building is something that Taylor is watching with interest, too. He thanked N.C. Sen. Lisa Barnes and N.C. Rep. Frank Sossamon for their help in getting $150,000 toward the transformation.
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TownTalk: County Commissioner Candidate Valencia Perry
Valencia Perry grew up in Vance County and said she is running for county commissioner so she can be a part of a “powerful team” that uses money wisely to help people.
“Spending money takes research and takes knowledge,” Perry said during a recorded interview on Monday’s TownTalk. “I want to be a part of that team.”
Perry is challenging incumbent Archie Taylor, Jr. for the District 2 seat on the Vance County Board of Commissioners.
She’s gained perspective over the years and said she will be an asset as a commissioner. “I will be a fresh set of eyes,” she said, to help make “long-needed change in Vance County.”
Perry has a background in accounting and she also is an ordained minister. She is a mother and a grandmother who said her personal and professional experiences have shaped her ideas and sharpened her focus.
She said her focus is on education, funding for schools, pursuing services for those with mental health issues and the county jail situation. “My goodness, that’s a sticking point,” she said, adding that it’s important to have a detention center that keeps inmates – and staff – safe.
For Perry, education is the key issue. Without a proper education, she said, people have a tendency to get off track, or make bad decisions that fuel the crime rate, those in detention and in mental health crisis.
Her three-word mantra is “resilience, transparency and reliability” and she said she would work hard for the people of Vance County.
Her work on the Vance County Housing Authority Board helped her realize just how critical financial responsibility is. “I had a chance to help people move forward and not stay stuck,” she said. “We’ve done a lot of great things and I feel good about it,” she said of her work with the housing authority.
Another need she sees in the county is a diversion center for those in crisis because of mental health or substance abuse issues. “It is so important,” Perry said, that people have “somewhere they can be safely cared for by professionals who know what to do.”
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Bigelow Out As County’s Chief Finance Officer
Vance County Deputy County Manager/Chief Finance Officer Katherine Bigelow was relieved of her duties last week, according to County Manager Renee Perry, for fraud and falsification of records for personal profit.
“Katherine was terminated as of Feb. 9 – last Friday,” Perry told WIZS News.
Perry said Bigelow, who had said she was a licensed certified public accountant, used a license number that does not belong to her. “Katherine is not licensed as a CPA,” Perry said.
“The county has to go through an audit every year,” Perry explained, adding that “if a person identifies as a CPA, then auditors request copies of your certification.”
She said Bigelow, who has been the finance director since 2019, submitted “a certification for a CPA licensure that did not belong to her…she misrepresented herself with someone else’s licensure as a CPA.”
Just last month, Perry announced that county commissioners had agreed to a $25,000 bump in pay for Bigelow, bringing her salary to $136,503. That’s when her title was updated to Deputy County Manager/Chief Finance Officer.
Perry said the job posting was put on the county’s website after Bigelow was terminated.
“I wasn’t playing,” Perry said. “I couldn’t wait.”
Chuck Murray, who served as interim finance director before Bigelow came on board, will again serve as interim, beginning Monday, Perry said. He will help out two or three days a week.
A CPA licensure is not a requirement for the position of county finance director.
Perry cited the section in the county personnel policy that refers to “detrimental personal conduct for fraud and falsification of records for personal profit, to gain special privileges or to obtain employment” as the basis for the termination.
The Local Skinny! Vance County Commissioners Meet
Dan Brummitt is the newly elected chair of the Vance County Board of Commissioners. The District 4 representative was selected in a 5-2 vote during the Dec. 4 regular monthly meeting.
Leo Kelly was elected vice chair in a 4-3 vote.
Brummitt thanked outgoing chairperson Yolanda Feimster for her time as chair, saying it’s been a “very trying year,” mentioning the search for a new county manager as one of the challenges on the county’s plate. “Thank you for your leadership through this process,” Brummitt continued.
The commissioners got an update on the two instances of elevated lead reported to the county by the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality.
The samples were taken from residential taps as part of a routine lead service inventory. The next step, most likely, is to take samples from the water system. The county now is waiting to hear back from the state about what will occur next.
In her report, County Manager Renee Perry asked commissioners to consider allowing the fire department to purchase personal protective equipment that will most likely be needed before preliminary results of the fire study are released in early 2024.
In her first few weeks as county manager, Perry said she has been meeting with various department heads within the county government. The budget that was approved in June included a freeze on capital expenditures, and Perry asked the commissioners to allow the fire department to purchase the PPE.
Brummitt, who also chairs the Public Safety Committee, said this request should be reviewed by the Public Safety Committee before a decision is made. The next meeting of Public Safety Committee is Dec. 20.
Brummitt told Perry that the committee had asked fire officials for a complete inventory of equipment, with expiration dates noted.
As part of the ongoing employee engagement efforts, County Finance Director Katherine Bigelow recognized Kathy Hope, who has worked in the finance department since July 2021, when Bigelow said “we stole her” from the Department of Social Services. Hope began working with DSS in December 2006 as a Medicaid caseworker.
Bigelow said Hope is a “truly exceptional” employee who doesn’t merely complete her work, but she elevates her work to a higher level. Her innovative thinking, unwavering dedication and positivity make her a valuable member of the county’s team.
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TownTalk: Follow-Up On Report Of Elevated Lead Levels In Two County Locations
At a work session last week, one of the items that Vance County commissioners discussed was a notice from the state’s division of water quality about two instances of excessive lead levels in county drinking water.
Although the source has not been determined to date, the county’s Special Projects Manager Frankie Nobles told the commissioners during that work session on Nov. 20 that proper notification about the lead levels is one point that the county must address by Wednesday, Nov. 29.
In addition to publishing and posting flyers, Nobles said additional information would be sent out in upcoming bills.
The county buys its water from the city, and Kerr Lake Regional Water System director Christy Lipscomb told WIZS News Monday by phone that she was unaware of the notice received by county staff.
Lipscomb said regulations state that water systems must perform 60 point of testing every three years to check lead and copper levels. And KLRWS is on what Lipscomb called a “diminished schedule” of only 30 tests every three years because there are so few problems with elevated levels.
The most recent testing took place in August, Lipscomb said. The result? Zero “hits,” or problems.
The two locations – one on Warrenton Road and one on Vicksboro Road – showed twice the allowable levels of lead at .030 MG/L. The threshold is .015 MG/L.
“The local health department regularly tests for child lead exposure in our child health clinics (it’s a simple blood test),” said Granville Vance Public Health Director Lisa Harrison. “If any levels are elevated, we have a team of one environmental health specialist together with one nurse who go together into the home to do further environmental testing,” Harrison told WIZS News in an email Monday.
Child health appointments can be made by calling the health department for those who wish to have their children tested. This can also be done easily at a local doctor’s office or pediatrician’s office. The GVPH team is notified regardless if there are concerns for any child tested for lead exposure, Harrison explained.
To learn more, visit https://www.gvph.org/services/environmental-health-services/childrens-environmental-health/
The source of the lead most likely is not from the water supply itself, but from pipes or other sources at the two individual locations. No details about the two addresses were shared at the work session.
Commissioner Dan Brummitt noted during the work session that the water system specs provided for construction without use of materials that contain lead, including the use of solder.
Water doesn’t naturally contain lead, but water can be contaminated with lead through lead pipes and other infrastructure used to bring water to individual households. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the most common sources of lead in drinking water are lead pipes, faucets and plumbing fixtures. Certain pipes that carry drinking water from the water source to the home may contain lead. Household plumbing fixtures, welding solder, and pipe fittings made before 1986 may also contain lead.
Find more information at https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/prevention/sources/water.htm
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