Tag Archive for: #vancecountycommissioners

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TownTalk: Vance County Commissioners Adopt 60-Day Data Center Moratorium

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The Vance County Board of Commissioners voted 5-2 to put a 60-day moratorium in place for data center development.

Commissioners Leo Kelly and Valencia Perry voted against the motion put forward by Commissioner Tommy Hester.

Commissioner Perry told WIZS News Tuesday that the 60-day moratorium was “a smokescreen. The text amendment will be fixed and it will no longer be needed.”

Before Hester made the motion, Kelly made a motion for a 6-month moratorium, but County Attorney Jonathan Care said the motion could not be made because proper notice had not been advertised.

Because the legal notice publicized a 60-day moratorium, that was what commissioners could vote on.

During two public hearings – both involving data centers – commissioners on Monday heard from members of the public who oppose the data center development on a roughly 500-acre tract along U.S. Hwy. 158.

In comments to those in the audience, Kelly said he didn’t think a 60-day moratorium was long enough. He said he would be in favor of a 6-month or longer moratorium.

Commissioner Yolanda Feimster said she agreed with Kelly that more time was needed, but ultimately voted in favor of the 60-day moratorium.

In comments as much to the audience as to her fellow commissioners, Feimster said she has learned about data centers from the public as well as doing her own research.

“I think the public assumes because we have not acted in this way or that way…that we are not listening to what they are saying. We get the emails, we read the emails,” she said.

“We are in a situation where we have to look at the entire picture,” Feimster continued. “There’s a whole county full of people and everybody has their own opinions, everybody has their own concerns. We have to look at the concerns of everybody. And that’s not something that can happen overnight. It does take time.”

Commissioner Perry said Tuesday that she would be in favor of a year-long moratorium for the future, in the event that other developers approach the county that commissioners will have time to consider it and “learn from this experience.”

The 60-day moratorium began upon its adoption Monday night, and County Manager Renee Perry clarified Tuesday that it would terminate on Nov. 13 or upon adoption of an amendment to the requirements for data centers in the current Vance County zoning ordinance.

County Manager Perry stated, “The Board reserves the right to extend, amend, or repeal this moratorium as deemed necessary in accordance with N.C.G.S. 160D-107.”

At a meeting in August, Attorney Care said that, by law, commissioners must clearly identify four specific areas to satisfy the requirements necessary to put a moratorium in place, including a statement of the problems and conditions, the development approvals that would be subject to the moratorium, a date for termination of the moratorium and a statement of actions and schedule of actions that the county will undertake during the moratorium.

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TownTalk: Vance County Commissioners, Planning, Environmental Committees Will Meet Aug. 10 To Discuss Possibility Of Moratorium On Data Centers

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The Vance County Board of Commissioners Chair Carolyn Faines has called for a planning and environmental committee meeting on Monday, Aug. 10 to discuss requirements for a moratorium as part of the ongoing debate about the possibility of a proposed data center on a parcel of land recently rezoned along Hwy. 158 Business.

Commissioner Leo Kelly said he had planned to enter a motion at Monday’s regular monthly meeting calling for a moratorium, but was informed that it would not comply with North Carolina General Statutes.

Kelly recalled last week’s town hall community forum at Bearpond Fire Department, during which he spoke briefly about his opinions surrounding the idea of a data center locating in Vance County. “I was for slowing the process down,” Kelly said following the public comment portion of Monday’s meeting, during which more than a half dozen people signed up to speak – most in opposition to data centers coming to Vance County.

Kelly said the upcoming meeting will be a step toward considering the issues and concerns raised by community members and to see what next steps should be taken.

“I hope that we can reach a decision that will benefit us all,” he said.

Find the reference to the state law at https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/PDF/BySection/Chapter_160D/GS_160D-107.pdf

The meeting will begin at 4 p.m. in the commissioners’ meeting room, 122 Young St. and will be streamed on the county’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUMNYAAhyvKx5leijt5iK6Q

 

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Water Line Extension Promotes Economic Growth For Henderson-Oxford Airport, Regional Presence

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With the sound of small aircraft in the background and a corporate jet parked nearby, local officials gathered Monday morning for a groundbreaking ceremony to kick off a water line extension project at the Henderson-Oxford Airport.

Or, to borrow Airport Manager Amanda Welsh’s term: Hotel November Zulu. HNZ – the airport’s official 3-letter code.

Welsh and husband Chris established flyHNZ in 2018 and are the fixed-based operators at the local airport situated in Granville County near the Vance County line. The couple, along with Chris’s father, handled everything at first, but Welsh told those gathered at the airport to officially kick off the $1 million-plus project on Monday that it now takes a full-time staff of 8 to manage the operation.

Granville County Economic Development Director Charla Duncan said although project involves less than a mile of water line, it represents a critical infrastructure investment that is needed to keep up with growth and support economic development.

The whirr of plane engines at times drowned out speakers at the podium, but as Golden Leaf Foundation representative Scott Hamilton noted, “That’s the sound of money.”

The airport got a $600,000 grant from the Golden Leaf Foundation for the project to go along with the initial state appropriation of $500,000 that then-N.C. Rep. Frank Sossamon was instrumental in securing. But the airport authority learned pretty early in the process that it would need at least that much again, if not more, to see the project to completion.

Granville County Commissioner Rob Williford represents District 2, where the airport is situated. He told those in attendance that he learned a lot about the airport from Airport Board Vice Chair Jon Carver, who painted a rosy picture for the future of an airport with appropriate infrastructure.

To see growth, there needed to be infrastructure, Williford said. For the airport to grow and be able to provide hangar space for corporate jets, there needed to be adequate fire suppression. And that meant having public water.

Williford, a Democrat, said he and fellow commissioner Russ May, a Republican, worked together across the aisles of the legislature to seek additional funds. “We went to see them all together,” Williford said, referring to state legislators of both parties. “They all listened. They all understood. And they all said, ‘We can’t get you the money.’”

But the Granville County Board of Commissioners voted 7-0 to provide up to $300,000 for the project and then the Golden Leaf grant came through, so the project is set to begin.

With dozens on the wait list for hangar space, Duncan said there’s a focus on promoting the concept of a regional airport.

She said as RDU looks to move away from general aviation services, HNZ could be a good option for businesses and individuals for hangar space,  flight training and more.

“We want to be able to say that our transportation facilities – whether it be highways or whether it be general aviation resources – can compete with the Piedmont Triad, with the Sandhills as well,” Duncan said.

Welsh said the aviation industry continues to grow, but there’s a pilot shortage and a support personnel shortage.

And flyHNZ is poised to train and bring up the next generation of aviation professionals.

“Once the water service is in place, our business in and of itself hopes to add additional services,” she said, from flight school and training options to the heavier restoration of older aircraft.

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TownTalk: Vance Commissioners Retreat Recap – Part 3 – Tax Reval Cycle

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The Vance County Board of Commissioners is likely going to consider a shorter time between real property revaluations than the current eight-year cycle.

It’s a move that county staff recommends, and following a discussion at the Jan. 9 annual retreat, it’s something that most commissioners would appear to get behind.

Vance County is one of about 30 counties across the state still using the eight-year cycle – which is the maximum time the state allows. Granville and Franklin counties, for example, currently are a on six-year cycle. By comparison, Wake County undergoes a revaluation every two years; about two-thirds of the state’s 100 counties use either a four-year or six-year cycle.

Many county residents experienced “sticker shock” when they opened their 2024 tax bills. More than 1,400 residents made appeals, according to County Tax Adminstrator Jennifer D. Williams.

Commissioner Dan Brummitt asked how many of those appeals resulted in adjustments to tax bills.” That would be good information to have,” Brummitt stated, expressing criticism about the results of the 2024 revaluation process.

The county contracts with an outside company to conduct the revaluations – it’s a long process that takes a couple of years to complete and costs hundreds of thousands of dollars.  The 2024 revaluation cost was about $892,000 – one reason for the high price tag was because the reval included a full measurement of every single property in the county. That process doesn’t happen with every revaluation cycle, so future revals shouldn’t be as costly, Williams noted.

Another reason the price tag was so high is because the county doesn’t have the personnel in-house to do the work. With one appraiser on the county payroll, it simply isn’t something the county can do itself, and so it must contract with an outside company.

Williams said the N.C. Dept of Revenue and the UNC School of Government recommend having one appraiser on staff for every 10,000 parcels; Vance County has more than 20,000 parcels.

There’s a lot more to the revaluation process than many realize, and, despite efforts to communicate with county residents that the process was taking place, Williams said there was a great deal of “citizen frustration” and “sticker shock” once the bills hit mailboxes.

She said the county disseminated the information in a variety of ways, from putting notices in bills to speaking at events in the community.

“There was at least a two-year ramp-up leading up to a revaluation date,” Williams said, adding that the goal is to inform and educate – “we try to let them know what’s coming…(and) that the assessed value may not always mean an increase (in tax bills).”

Commissioner Leo Kelly said, “I don’t know what the answer is…you just do a little bit of everything” to try to communicate with residents in the most effective way.

Kelly said he would like to see future public information sessions held in the commissioners’ meeting room where county staff could address residents’ questions.

Williams said a six-year revaluation cycle would promote accuracy and improve taxpayer confidence.

Brummitt agreed that it may be time to start a conversation about a shorter revaluation cycle, but he would not be in favor of changing it right now.

“To knee jerk and move to a shorter cycle doesn’t make sense,” he said, adding that the county needs to be prepared for a shorter cycle, but he isn’t ready to introduce that change just yet.

“We’re seeing pretty consistent growth throughout the county,” he said, mentioning the nearby I-885 shortening the time it takes to get to RTP and the increased interest in properties around Kerr Lake thanks to the Microsoft data center near Boydton.

If the revaluation cycle shortens to six years it would be conducted in 2030 instead of 2032. But the county would need to get started in 2028 to get everything in order, Williams said.

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TownTalk: Commissioners Discuss Detention Center Updates, Fiscal Policy Adoption, ABC Expansion

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The Vance County Board of Commissioners approved a budget amendment Monday that will continue covering expenses for detainees held in jails outside the county and other costs stemming from challenges associated with the current state of the detention facility.

Sheriff Curtis Brame and detention center co-administrator Capt. Shannon Hawley appeared before commissioners at the regular monthly meeting to request that funding continue as the county makes decisions about repairs to the existing jail while making plans to construct a new facility.

In the spring of 2025, the state declared that the jail be depopulated – between the physical condition of the jail itself and a staffing shortage, the maximum number of detainees was slashed from more than 100 to 20.

Since that time, with improvements, repairs and better staffing, the jail houses 45 detainees. But there are 100 or more who should be housed locally but are farmed out to other jails willing to take them. That comes at a cost to the county, however.

“The county has invested an inordinate amount of money…a ridiculous amount of money,” Hawley said, but it’s necessary.

“We ask that we continue to fund housing our inmates outside the facility until a new facility can be built,” he added.

Brame said his staff is “scrambling…hurting each and every day,” adding that he worries about the safety of his officers working at the jail, as well as the safety of the detainees.

County Manager C. Renee Perry said the county has spent roughly $1.2 million since April, including $732,000 in emergency pay and $324,000 in repairs to the jail.

Commissioner Dan Brummitt said he’d visited the jail recently and sees “substantial” improvements but added there’s a long way to go. The electronic doors do not work, for example, creating a risk to personnel and to detainees.

“These are things that have got to be done…(we) don’t have a choice,” Brummitt said.

The repairs are projected to be completed in November 2026, Perry said, but noted that the jail capacity would only be 90. The problem will persist, she said, until there is a new facility.

Commissioners also approved a spending cap of $2.93 million to complete the repairs to the existing jail facility as part of the design-build concept being used to bring the jail up to speed as it moves forward with plans for new construction.

The approval places a cap on spending for the renovation/repair portion of the project at $2,938,278.

Commissioners also approved a plan submitted by the local ABC Board to remodel and expand the ABC store on Beckford Drive.

ABC Board Chair Jerry Stainback said the expansion could take up to one year to complete, but he anticipates being able to pay off any financial obligation quickly.

In 2007, when the current store was approved, the ABC Board was able to pay off the note four years early.

The plan calls for a 4,500 square-foot expansion of the current store. “We can’t pay for it all in a year, but we can get it paid in significantly less than 10 years,” Stainback predicted. He said the store does $6 million in sales each year.

Commissioners also approved an updated fiscal operations policy, which had been brought before commissioners at an earlier meeting. Commissioner Tommy Hester made the motion to approve the policy. Commissioner Brummitt voted against.

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The Local Skinny! Vance County Schools Asks Commissioners For 5% Match Of State Grant Funding For Repair Projects

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The majority of Vance County’s schools need some work, from roof repairs and paint  to sewer lift station upgrades and new windows and doors. All that work would surely come with a hefty price tag, but Superintendent Dr. Cindy Bennett has a work-around that she presented Tuesday to the Vance County Board of Commissioners.

The work-around comes in the form of a state-administered grant for capital improvements and Vance County could stand to get more than $47 million to make those necessary repairs and renovations, Bennett told commissioners Tuesday.

“The capital needs grant allows us to apply for $47.2 million as a school district,” Bennett stated in her comments to the board. All the commissioners need to do is agree to a 5 percent match.

If the school district were to be approved to receive the maximum amount, the 5 percent match would amount to about $2.5 million.

The matching funds wouldn’t have to be paid all at once; rather, the money could come in over the course of the projects, which could take several years.

Bennett and Vance County Manager C. Renee Perry agree that Vance County is poised to receive the funding because of its Tier 1 designation and because it hasn’t applied previously to get the funding.

Time is of the essence, however, and that’s why Bennett and VCS Chief Finance Officer John Suther appealed to the commissioners for financial support. The grant opened on Aug. 15 and the application came online on Aug. 18, Bennett explained. All documentation must be back to the N.C. Department of Public Instruction no later than Oct. 3.

Although she expressed full support for the plan, Perry said she would request that commissioners have a chance to review the documents shared by Bennett before the board makes a decision.

“I’m in full support,” Perry said, but suggested that commissioners review and discuss the matter at an upcoming work session and then make a decision at a special called meeting in a couple of weeks. As of Thursday morning, that special meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 16 at 4 p.m. The matching funds for the schools is one of three topics to be discussed.

“We need to look at our fund balance,” Perry said. “We also have to think about (other) capital projects. The school district gets money from the county each year that is designated for capital outlay, so perhaps some of that money from the budget line item could be used as part of the 5 percent match, she said.

Commissioner Tommy Hester called the decision a “no brainer” since the school district normally relies on county funding for capital projects. A 5 percent match is like saying the county will get a 95 percent discount if the state approves the grant funding.

 

(Our WIZS written coverage will appear here soon.)

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TownTalk: Sheriff Brame Requests Extension of Support from County Commissioners

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Vance County Sheriff Curtis Brame appeared before the board of commissioners on Tuesday to thank them for the financial support that allows sheriff’s office employees to give much-needed support at the detention center and to ask for an extension of that support through the end of the year.

In the past five months, County Manager C. Renee Perry said the county has paid more than $483,000. And that is an unsustainable amount, Perry told commissioners at their Tuesday meeting.

Brame contends that much of the money comes from lapsed salaries – money budgeted for positions that haven’t been filled.

“It’s still a lot of money,” Perry told commissioners. “Five hundred thousand is excessive in my opinion.”

Perry estimated that the county has paid for roughly 9,671 hours – at $50/hour to sheriff’s office employees to fill in at the jail. She suggested that the agreement be revised to exclude exempt staff. “We’ve got to get this cost down – we have to,” Perry stated.

Brame said he expects that six of the 12 new jail hires can be certified by Dec. 1.

He said it takes time for employees to be trained, much less certified, for the positions they’ve been hired for.

“Right now, we need it,” Brame told commissioners. The ongoing staffing shortage, coupled with corrective action plans in place by the state spell big challenges for the sheriff, who oversees the detention center.

The state mandated the jail be depopulated, dispersing detainees to other facilities from Cherokee County in the mountains to Brunswick County on the coast.

On any given day, up to four transport teams are traveling to fetch detainees from where they’re being housed to court here in Vance County or to medical appointments. All the while, these teams are on the clock, racking up hours in vehicles, as well as lodging and other associated costs.

The Vance County jail has between 45 and 50 detainees as of Wednesday, but that number can swell temporarily as individuals come in for court appearances and other matters related to due process. Brame said there are about 150 detainees housed in facilities across the state at this time.

Perry said there will come a time when she will have to come before the commissioners to ask them for more money for the jail situation.

“At some point, we won’t have enough money to do a jail,” she said.

Commissioner Dan Brummitt said he would like commissioners to take some time to review the current plan, “probably make some revisions to it to try to tighten the belt a little bit.”

A motion by Commissioner Tommy Hester, seconded by Brummitt, passed unanimously to table a decision until the commissioners’ work session in a couple of weeks.

 

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TownTalk: Commissioners Expected To Adopt $66M Budget Monday, June 23

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The Vance County Board of Commissioners is expected to adopt the FY 2025-26 budget at a meeting to be held at 4 p.m. on June 23. At a budget work session on Monday, June 16, commissioners discussed increasing teacher supplements, skyrocketing insurance costs and cost-of-living adjustments – all of which contributed to $3.1 million in new expenses that caused the budget to be about 10 percent more than last year’s approved budget.

County Manager C. Renee Perry said the 2025-26 budget stands at $66,383,251, which is $1.4 million more than the budget that she presented to commissioners in May.

Perry said $4,068,875 will come from the general fund to balance the budget.

With $1.2 million for health insurance, $1.2 million in additional funds to the school system and $750,000 in cost-of-living adjustments for county employees, the budget had no way to go but up.

Vance County Schools will use the extra $1.2 million to cover a supplement increase to $1,000 for certified teachers and a 2 percent adjustment for classified staff. “This will be recurring annually and it’s three pennies of the tax increase from last year,” Perry told WIZS News Tuesday morning.

During the budget work session, Commission Chair Carolyn Faines vocalized support for teachers. Despite decreasing enrollment, school consolidation and fewer teachers working in the district, Faines said, “Teachers are still teaching…it’s not about how many students or how many teachers.”

Commissioner Leo Kelly advocated for the supplement increase to show “we support you and we’re doing everything we can to keep you,” Kelly said. “I support giving them as much as we can.”

Property and liability insurance rates also climbed by $85,000, Perry said, because of the situation with the Department of Social Services child welfare liabilities takeover by the state and the ongoing issues at the detention center. And Perry Memorial Library Director Patti McNally asked for an additional $63,000 for library employees’ health insurance.

The rates had not been released when the library budget request was submitted, Perry said, so that’s why it was not included in the original request. Library employees are included among those who get health insurance from the county.

“At some point, we have to have discussions on how to possibly reduce our budget,” Perry stated to commissioners, “but also increase our tax base with economic development – we have to.”

About 20 minutes into the work session, Commissioner Tommy Hester asked where the county could look to decrease the budget.

“I’m going to bring up a touchy subject and I might as well bring it up now while we’re looking at a decrease,” Hester said.

He continued by stating that the Vance County Rescue Squad has received more than $785,000 in the past 35 months – that’s about $25,000 a month, he figured.

How much money would the county save if the rescue squad functions were placed under the umbrella of the Vance County Fire Department?

Addressing commissioners, Fire Chief Marvin Harrison said it would be a matter of millions, over 15 or 20 years’ time.

The current contract with the rescue squad ends on June 30, 2025, and commissioners agreed that a 90-day extension would allow for adequate discussion. Faines said she would like to have rescue squad representatives come to the July meeting.

Perry told WIZS News Tuesday that “the rescue squad would be funded for 90 days while Vance County Fire Department purchases equipment and apparatus needed to provide the same service that the rescue squad offers. “A lot of people in this community think that because it’s in Vance County that that’s part of the county. It is not,” Hester emphasized.

Harrison told commissioners that the county has sufficient staff trained for rescue to be successful if a consolidation occurs. Perry confirmed that statement Tuesday. “The county fire department has staff trained currently as well as other volunteer fire agencies trained to assist if needed.”

What the county lacks is the equipment necessary to do the job properly.

Harrison said the rescue squad is supposed to provide the services of heavy rescue, water rescue and another service that he didn’t specify.

Brummitt said the rescue squad assists firefighters on calls. “They…provide air bottles when they’re on scene, they refill air bottles when they’re fighting fires.”

Harrison said it would cost roughly $150,000 – a one-time cost – to purchase the equipment needed to perform the rescue services.

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The Local Skinny! County Manager Releases Revised Budget

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Vance County Manager C. Renee Perry said that her $64.3 million proposed budget presented to commissioners last week had some missing information, which prompted a line-by-line review of the numbers to create a revised budget.

The revised budget seems to be about $600,000 more than the original budget, coming in at $64,933,833.

“I know errors happen, but I hated for this to happen,” Perry told WIZS News. ”There was an issue with the data transfer from one spreadsheet to the next, and some of the expenditures and some of the requests did not make it in my budget,” she explained.

Perry said she and her team used a different process with the spreadsheets used to create the budget and “when we merged the data, we didn’t catch that some of the departments’ recommendations were missing, so it threw my numbers off.”

Perry said “something was on my mind” after the Monday, May 5th presentation to commissioners, and when she started looking through the spreadsheets, she realized something was missing.

She emailed commissioners first thing the next day, Tuesday morning May 6, to inform them of the issue.

“As soon as I was aware, I made them aware,” she said.

Perry said she and her team reviewed the budget over the last week, “making sure that we budgeted properly and that what I’m presenting to the commissioners are the things that they need to consider. I don’t want to go after July 1 and realize, ‘Oh, my God!’ we don’t have money for that,” she said.

“I need to present what we need for fiscal year 25-26 in its entirety, and I did not do that (at the Monday meeting). I’m taking full accountability, being transparent…to be able to present what I need to present to my commissioners.”

The revised budget was posted on the county’s website this Wednesday, May 14, giving commissioners a week to review before the scheduled May 20 budget work session.

The public hearing on the budget remains scheduled on June 2 at the regular monthly commissioners’ meeting.

If you happened to notice the first scheduled budget work session for this past Monday, May 12th, was cancelled.  This is the reason why.

In Perry’s cover letter to the budget presented to commissioners, she wrote:

“With all funds balanced and revenues and expenditures noted, this budget will not only meet statutory requirements but primarily seek to move Vance County forward in the next fiscal year by continuing to address needs within our infrastructure, services, and targeting opportunities of growth to capitalize on the inherent strengths of the communities across the County. The following message will outline points of emphasis and funding within the budget and highlight characteristics of the County that point toward continued strength and growth.”

The manager’s proposed budget does not include an increase nor a decrease in the general fund property tax rate of .7129 per $100 in value. The budget does not include an increase nor a decrease to 5.94 cents fire tax rate.

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TownTalk: Commissioners Will Combine Committee Meetings, Work Sessions – On A Trial Basis

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The Vance County commissioners will begin holding committee meetings in conjunction with scheduled work sessions – in the commissioners’ meeting room – with an eye on more efficient scheduling and as a way to be available to the public.

Based on a recommendation from the county’s IT staff, holding the committee meetings in the main meeting space will allow the meetings to be livestreamed on the county’s YouTube channel.

Merging the committee meetings with the scheduled work sessions will be done on a trial basis, but it’s unclear just how long the trial period will last. The change takes place as a result of the March 17 work session.

Commissioner Leo Kelly said, “I think it’s a good way to handle it right now,” but Commissioner Dan Brummitt said the commissioners’ meeting room may not suit the format of the less formal committee meetings.

Commissioners take no action during committee meetings; rather, committees bring discussion and recommendations to the full board to make decisions. Board Chair Carolyn Faines reminded fellow commissioners that the decision to include committee meetings in the work sessions allows citizens to see this process – either in person, via livestream or by viewing the archived recording.

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