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02-06-2023 Agenda Packet BOC
PERSON COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MEETING AGENDA 304 South Morgan Street, Room 215 Roxboro, NC 27573-5245 336-597-1720 Fax 336-599-1609 February 6, 2023 7:00 pm This meeting will convene in the County Office Building Auditorium. CALL TO ORDER…………………………………………………………… Chairman Powell INVOCATION PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE DISCUSSION/ADJUSTMENT/APPROVAL OF AGENDA ITEM #1 (pg. 3) RECOGNITION A Proclamation Celebrating 100 Years of Roxboro Savings Bank ……….. Chairman Powell ITEM #2 (pgs. 4-8) PUBLIC HEARING Person County Fire Prevention and Protection Ordinance ……………………. Adam Morris ITEM #3 (pgs. 9-39) Consideration to Adopt a Fire Prevention and Protection Ordinance ……. Chairman Powell INFORMAL COMMENTS The Person County Board of Commissioners established a 10-minute segment which is open for informal comments and/or questions from citizens of this county on issues, other than those issues for which a public hearing has been scheduled. The time will be divided equally among those wishing to comment. It is requested that any person who wishes to address the Board, register with the Clerk to the Board prior to the meeting. 1 ITEM #4 DISCUSSION/ADJUSTMENT/APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA A.Approval of Minutes of January 3, 2023 (pgs. 40-87),B.Approval of Minutes of January 17, 2023 (pgs. 88-117),C.Budget Amendment #14 (pgs. 118-119),D.Person County Health Department Fee Request for the administration of the COVID-19 Pfizer Bivalent Vaccination for ages 5-11 (pgs. 120-121), E.Report of Unpaid 2022 Taxes (pg. 122),F.Advertisement of Unpaid Real Estate 2022 Taxes (pg. 123),G.Tax Adjustments for February 2023 (pgs. 124-131),a.Tax Releasesb.NC Vehicle Tax System pending refunds H.Resolution Supporting Compression Increases for Division of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Detention and Youth Development Center Staff (pgs. 132-133), andI.Teens Space Initiative State Library EZ Grant Application (pgs. 134-138) NEW BUSINESS: ITEM #5 (pgs. 139-156) Cypress Creek and Person County ……………………………………………… Harrison Cole ITEM #6 (pgs. 157-164) Permitting Process Update …………………………………………………... Katherine Cathey ITEM #7 (pgs. 165-170) Charters of Freedom ………………………………………………………… Katherine Cathey ITEM #8 (pgs. 171-173) Person County Office Building Auditorium Renovation ………………………... Ray Foushee ITEM #9 (pgs. 174-175) Public Comments Rules and Procedures …………………………………… Chairman Powell CHAIRMAN’S REPORT MANAGER’S REPORT COMMISSIONER REPORTS/COMMENTS Note: All Items on the Agenda are for Discussion and Action as deemed appropriate by the Board. 2 A Proclamation Celebrating 100 Years of Roxboro Savings Bank WHEREAS, Roxboro Savings Bank was founded in 1923 to serve the greater Person County community; and, WHEREAS, Roxboro Savings Bank is a state-chartered community bank, headquartered in Roxboro; and WHEREAS, Roxboro Savings Bank operates two branches in Person County which supports the continued growth in our community; and, WHEREAS, Roxboro Savings Bank’s mission is to continue to be recognized as “second to none” in the level of customer service provided in Roxboro, Person County and surrounding areas; and, WHEREAS, February 14, 2023 marks the 100th anniversary of Roxboro Savings Bank’s founding charter. NOW, THEREFORE, the Person County Board of Commissioners, do hereby urge citizens to celebrate the Centennial Anniversary of Roxboro Savings Bank for the 100 years of modern banking products, personalized services as well as community service, and proudly proclaim February 14, 2023, as “Roxboro Savings Bank Day in Person County.” Adopted this, the 6th day of February 2023. ____________________________________ Gordon Powell, Chairman Person County Board of Commissioners Attest: ____________________________________ Brenda B. Reaves, NCMCC, MMC Clerk to the Board 3 AGENDA ABSTRACT Meeting Date: February 6, 2023 Agenda Title: Public Hearing for a Person County Fire Prevention and Protection Ordinance Summary of Information: At the Board’s January 3, 2023 meeting, the Fire Marshal introduced a proposed Fire Prevention and Protection Ordinance which outlines and authorizes the duties of the Fire Marshal’s Office and explains procedures for enforcement of fire codes, inspection frequency, civil penalties, false fire alarms, open burning, permits, Knox Boxes and response to hazardous materials incidents. At this time, the only documentation on file with the Office of the State Fire Marshal is a letter, dated August 12, 1992, which lists the frequency of conducting various types of inspections. Person County also has in place a False Fire Alarm Ordinance and a Resolution Authorizing the Fire Marshal to Implement a Local Burn Ban. The proposed ordinance incorporates each of these documents and defines how the Fire Marshal’s Office carries out its work in accordance with State and Federal regulations and local expectations. Approval by the Board of Commissioners, the new ordinance will be submitted to the North Carolina Building Code Council for approval at their June 2023 meeting per North Carolina General Statue 143-138 (e). In the absence of approval by the Building Code Council, or in the event that approval is withdrawn, local fire prevention codes and regulations shall have no force and effect. The Board of Commissioners, at its January 3, 2023 meeting, called for and instructed staff to advertise for a public hearing to hear public comments on this matter. Recommended Action: Conduct the public hearing to hear public comments. The Fire Marshal recommends the Board of Commissioners to adopt a Fire Prevention and Protection Ordinance as well as repeal the existing False Fire Alarm Ordinance and the Resolution Authorizing the Fire Marshal to Implement a Local Burn Ban on this date, with an effective date July 1, 2023. Submitted By: Adam Morris, Person County Fire Marshal 4 5 G.S. 143-138 Page 10 reasonably to those ends. Requirements of the Code shall conform to good engineering practice. The Council may use as guidance, but is not required to adopt, the requirements of the International Building Code of the International Code Council, the Standard Building Code of the Southern Building Code Congress International, Inc., the Uniform Building Code of the International Conference of Building Officials, the National Building Code of the Building Officials and Code Administrators, Inc., the National Electric Code, the Life Safety Code, the National Fuel Gas Code, the Fire Prevention Code of the National Fire Protection Association, the Safety Code for Elevators and Escalators, and the Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and standards promulgated by the American National Standards Institute, Standards Underwriters' Laboratories, Inc., and similar national or international agencies engaged in research concerning strength of materials, safe design, and other factors bearing upon health and safety. (c1) Exemptions for Private Clubs and Religious Organizations. – The North Carolina State Building Code and the standards for the installation and maintenance of limited-use or limited-access hydraulic elevators under this Article shall not apply to private clubs or establishments exempted from coverage under Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §2000a, et seq., or to religious organizations or entities controlled by religious organizations, including places of worship. A nonreligious organization or entity that leases space from a religious organization or entity is not exempt under this subsection. (d)Amendments of the Code. – Subject to the procedures set forth in G.S. 143-136(c) and (d), the Building Code Council may periodically revise and amend the North Carolina State Building Code, either on its own motion or upon application from any citizen, State agency, or political subdivision of the State. In addition to the periodic revisions or amendments made by the Council, the Council shall, following the procedure set forth in G.S. 143-136(c), revise the North Carolina State Building Code: Residential Code for One- and Two-Family Dwellings, including provisions applicable to One- and Two-Family Dwellings from the NC Energy Code, NC Electrical Code, NC Fuel Gas Code, NC Plumbing Code, and NC Mechanical Code only every six years, to become effective the first day of January of the following year, with at least six months between adoption and effective date. The first six-year revision under this subsection shall be adopted to become effective January 1, 2019, and every six years thereafter. In adopting any amendment, the Council shall comply with the same procedural requirements and the same standards set forth above for adoption of the Code. The Council, through the Department of Insurance, shall publish in the North Carolina Register all appeal decisions made by the Council and all formal opinions at least semiannually. The Council, through the Department of Insurance, shall also publish at least semiannually in the North Carolina Register a statement providing the accurate Web site address and information on how to find additional commentary and interpretation of the Code. (d1) Cost-Benefit Analysis. – When the Building Code Council revises or amends the North Carolina State Building Code as provided in subsection (d) of this section and considers an economic analysis or cost-benefit analysis of the proposed revision or amendment, the Council shall not limit its review to an economic analysis or cost-benefit analysis submitted by the proponent of the proposed revision or amendment but shall either conduct its own economic analysis or cost-benefit analysis or consider an economic analysis or cost-benefit analysis submitted other than by the proponent of the proposed revision or amendment. This section shall not apply to a proposal for revision or amendment made upon motion of the Council or submitted by a State agency or political subdivision of the State. (e)Effect upon Local Codes. – Except as otherwise provided in this section, the North Carolina State Building Code shall apply throughout the State, from the time of its adoption. Approved rules shall become effective in accordance with G.S. 150B-21.3. However, any political subdivision of the State may adopt a fire prevention code and floodplain management 6 G.S. 143-138 Page 11 regulations within its jurisdiction. The territorial jurisdiction of any municipality or county for this purpose, unless otherwise specified by the General Assembly, shall be as follows: Municipal jurisdiction shall include all areas within the corporate limits of the municipality and extraterritorial jurisdiction areas established as provided in G.S. 160D-202 or a local act; county jurisdiction shall include all other areas of the county. No such code or regulations, other than floodplain management regulations and those permitted by G.S. 160D-1128, shall be effective until they have been officially approved by the Building Code Council as providing adequate minimum standards to preserve and protect health and safety, in accordance with the provisions of subsection (c) above. Local floodplain regulations may regulate all types and uses of buildings or structures located in flood hazard areas identified by local, State, and federal agencies, and include provisions governing substantial improvements, substantial damage, cumulative substantial improvements, lowest floor elevation, protection of mechanical and electrical systems, foundation construction, anchorage, acceptable flood resistant materials, and other measures the political subdivision deems necessary considering the characteristics of its flood hazards and vulnerability. In the absence of approval by the Building Code Council, or in the event that approval is withdrawn, local fire prevention codes and regulations shall have no force and effect. Provided any local regulations approved by the local governing body which are found by the Council to be more stringent than the adopted statewide fire prevention code and which are found to regulate only activities and conditions in buildings, structures, and premises that pose dangers of fire, explosion or related hazards, and are not matters in conflict with the State Building Code, may be approved. Local governments may enforce the fire prevention code of the State Building Code using civil remedies authorized under G.S. 143-139, 153A-123, and 160A-175. If the Commissioner of Insurance or other State official with responsibility for enforcement of the Code institutes a civil action pursuant to G.S. 143-139, a local government may not institute a civil action under G.S. 143-139, 153A-123, or 160A-175 based upon the same violation. Appeals from the assessment or imposition of such civil remedies shall be as provided in G.S. 160D-1127. A local government may not adopt any ordinance in conflict with the exemption provided by subsection (c1) of this section. No local ordinance or regulation shall be construed to limit the exemption provided by subsection (c1) of this section. (f) Repealed by Session Laws 1989, c. 681, s. 3. (g) Publication and Distribution of Code. – The Building Code Council shall cause to be printed, after adoption by the Council, the North Carolina State Building Code and each amendment thereto. It shall, at the State's expense, distribute copies of the Code and each amendment to State and local governmental officials, departments, agencies, and educational institutions, as is set out in the table below. (Those marked by an asterisk will receive copies only on written request to the Council.) OFFICIAL OR AGENCY NUMBER OF COPIES State Departments and Officials Governor ............................................................................................................. 1 Lieutenant Governor ........................................................................................... 1 Auditor ................................................................................................................ 1 Treasurer ............................................................................................................. 1 Secretary of State ................................................................................................ 1 Superintendent of Public Instruction ................................................................... 1 Attorney General (Library) ................................................................................. 1 Commissioner of Agriculture .............................................................................. 1 Commissioner of Labor....................................................................................... 1 Commissioner of Insurance ................................................................................ 1 Department of Environmental 7 PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE The Person County Board of Commissioners will conduct a Public Hearing on Monday, February 6, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. to receive public comments related to a proposed Person County Fire Prevention and Protection Ordinance. The Public Hearing will be held in the Auditorium of the County Office Building located at 304 S. Morgan St., Roxboro, NC 27573. The new proposed Fire Prevention and Protection Ordinance would enforce items such as the fire inspection frequency of buildings within Person County and the fees or fines associated with this, permits and plan reviews, false fire alarms, and open burning guidelines. If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact the Person County Fire Marshal’s Office at 336- 330-2315, Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. For more information, including a copy of the proposed ordinance, visit: https://www.personcountync.gov/government/departments-a- h/fire-marshal. 8 1 Person County Fire Protection and Prevention Ordinance 9 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 – ADMINISTRATION ............................................................................................................ 5 SECTION 1.1 - TITLE ............................................................................................................................................. 5 SECTION 1.2 - INTENT .......................................................................................................................................... 5 SECTION 1.3 - CODE AND AMENDMENTS ....................................................................................................... 5 SECTION 1.4 - APPLICABILITY .......................................................................................................................... 5 SECTION 1.4.1 – INAPPLICABILITY OF CODE ................................................................................................. 5 SECTION 1.5 - JURISDICTION ............................................................................................................................. 5 SECTION 1.6 - EFFECTIVE DATE ....................................................................................................................... 6 SECTION 1.6.1 – DEFINITIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................. 6 SECTION 1.6.2 – TERMS NOT DEFINED ............................................................................................................ 6 CHAPTER 2 – DUTIES OF THE PERSON COUNTY FIRE MARSHAL .................................. 7 SECTION 2.1 – FIRE MARSHAL TO ENFORCE CODE ..................................................................................... 7 SECTION 2.2 – DUTIES AND AUTHORITY OF THE FIRE MARSHAL’S OFFICE......................................... 8 CHAPTER 3 – INSPECTION SCHEDULE FOR EXISTING BUILDINGS ............................. 10 SECTION 3.1 – FREQUENCY OF INSPECTIONS ............................................................................................. 10 CHAPTER 4 – PERMITS & PLAN REVIEWS ................................................................................... 11 SECTION 4.1 – DEFINITIONS ............................................................................................................................. 11 SECTION 4.2 – REQUIRED PERMITS ............................................................................................................... 11 SECTION 4.2.1 – RENEWAL ............................................................................................................................... 11 SECTION 4.3 – INFORMATION REQUIRED WITH APPLICATIONS ............................................................ 11 SECTION 4.3.1 – CONTRACTOR’S LICENSE REQUIRED .............................................................................. 11 SECTION 4.3.2 – ADDITIONAL DATA .............................................................................................................. 11 SECTION 4.4 – PLAN REVIEW.......................................................................................................................... 12 SECTION 4.4.1 – PENALTIES ............................................................................................................................ 12 SECTION 4.4.2 – REVOCATION........................................................................................................................ 12 SECTION 4.4.3 – NONTRANSFERABLE ........................................................................................................... 12 CHAPTER 5 – UNSAFE BUILDINGS ...................................................................................................... 13 SECTION 5.1 – UNSAFE DEFECTED BUILDINGS OR SYSTEMS ................................................................. 13 SECTION 5.1.1 – SUMMARY ABATEMENT .................................................................................................... 13 SECTION 5.1.2 – ABATEMENT .......................................................................................................................... 13 CHAPTER 6 – CIVIL PENALTIES .......................................................................................... 14 SECTION 6.1 – CIVIL PENALTIES .................................................................................................................... 14 CHAPTER 7 – REPORTING A HAZARD OR VIOLATION ......................................................... 15 SECTION 7.1 – HAZARDS AND VIOLATIONS ............................................................................................... 15 SECTION 7.1.1 – HOW TO REPORT A HAZARD OR VIOLATION ................................................................ 15 SECTION 7.1.2 – REQUIRED INFORMATION FOR COMPLAINTS .............................................................. 15 SECTION 7.1.3 – RECORDS ................................................................................................................................ 15 10 3 CHAPTER 8 – COLLECTION OF FEES ................................................................................................ 16 SECTION 8.1.1 – INSPECTION FEES (NEW CONSTRUCTION) .................................................................... 16 SECTION 8.1.2 – INSPECTION FEES (EXISTING BUILDINGS) .................................................................... 16 CHAPTER 9 – FALSE FIRE ALARM ORDINANCE ........................................................................ 17 SECTION 9.1 – FINDINGS ................................................................................................................................... 17 SECTION 9.2 – PURPOSE .................................................................................................................................... 17 SECTION 9.3 – DEFINITIONS ....................................................................................................................... ….17 SECTION 9.4 – PROHIBITED ACTIONS ...................................................................................................... ….17 SECTION 9.5 – CIVIL PENALTIES ..................................................................................................................... 18 SECTION 9.6 – EXCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................................. 18 SECTION 9.7 – NOTIFICATIONS ....................................................................................................................... 18 SECTION 9.8 – APPEALS .................................................................................................................................... 19 SECTION 9.9 – ENFORCEMENT OF VIOLATIONS ......................................................................................... 19 SECTION 9.10 – DISBURSEMENT OF FEES COLLECTED ............................................................................ 19 SECTION 9.11 – HISTORY .................................................................................................................................. 19 CHAPTER 10 – OPEN BURNING ORDINANCE ............................................................................... 20 SECTION 10.1 – DEFINITIONS ........................................................................................................................... 20 SECTION 10.2 – WHERE ALLOWED ................................................................................................................. 20 SECTION 10.2.1 – EXCEPTIONS ........................................................................................................................ 20 SECTION 10.3 – ACCORDANCE ........................................................................................................................ 20 SECTION 10.4 – ILLEGAL BURNING ............................................................................................................... 20 SECTION 10.5 – ATTENDANCE ......................................................................................................................... 20 SECTION 10.6 – EXTINGUISHMENT ................................................................................................................ 20 SECTION 10.7 – BURNING BAN ........................................................................................................................ 21 SECTION 10.7.1 – CONDITIONS WARNING .................................................................................................... 21 SECTION 10.7.2 – NOTIFICATIONS .................................................................................................................. 21 SECTION 10.7.3 – REPEAL ................................................................................................................................. 21 SECTION 10.8 – CIVIL PENALTIES ................................................................................................................... 21 SECTION 10.9 – GUIDELINES FOR OPEN BURNING ..................................................................................... 22 SECTION 10.10 – ITEMS NOT ALLOWED TO BURN ..................................................................................... 22 CHAPTER 11 – KNOX BOX SYSTEM .................................................................................................... 23 SECTION 11.1 – PURPOSE .................................................................................................................................. 23 SECTION 11.2 – GUIDELINE .............................................................................................................................. 23 SECTION 11.3 – ISSUED KNOX BOX KEYS .................................................................................................... 23 SECTION 11.4 – KNOX BOX ORDERING PROCEDURES .............................................................................. 23 SECTION 11.5 – INITIAL PIN CODE ISSUING PROCEDURES ...................................................................... 24 SECTION 11.6 – FORGOTTEN PIN CODE PROCEDURES .............................................................................. 24 SECTION 11.7 – LOST/STOLEN PIN CODE PROCEDURES ........................................................................... 24 SECTION 11.8 – USE/MISUSE OF PIN CODES ................................................................................................. 24 SECTION 11.9 – KNOX BOX KEY SECURE PROGRAMMING ...................................................................... 25 SECTION 11.10 – KNOX BOX ORDERING PROCEDURES ............................................................................ 25 SECTION 11.11 – ORDERING OF KNOX BOX KEY ........................................................................................ 25 SECTION 11.12 – KNOX BOX INSTALLATION PROCEDURES .................................................................... 25 SECTION 11.13 – EVENT OF AN EMERGENCY .............................................................................................. 25 SECTION 11.14 – NON-EMERGENCY PROCEDURE TO ADD OR REMOVE KEYS ................................... 25 SECTION 11.15 – PROCEDURE FOR VERIFICATION .................................................................................... 26 SECTION 11.16 – BENEFITS OF THE KNOX BOX SYSTEM .......................................................................... 26 11 4 CHAPTER 12 – FIREWORKS ..................................................................................................................... 27 SECTION 12.1 – PYROTECHNICS (FIREWORKS ............................................................................................ 27 CHAPTER 13 – HAZARDOUS MATERIALS AND SUBSTANCE ABATEMENT ............. 28 SECTION 13.1 – PURPOSE AND AUTHORITY ................................................................................................ 28 SECTION 13.2 – DEFINITIONS ........................................................................................................................... 28 SECTION 13.3 – FINANCIAL AND LIABILITY RESPONSIBILITY ............................................................... 29 SECTION 13.4 – PAYMENT AND COLLECTION OF PENALTIES ................................................................ 30 12 5 CHAPTER 1 PERSON COUNTY FIRE PREVENTION AND PROTECTION ORDINANCE 1.1 – Title These regulations shall be known as the “Fire Prevention and Protection Ordinance of Person County, North Carolina,” and may be cited as such and referenced to herein as the code. 1.2 – Intent It is the intent of the code to prescribe regulations consistent with nationally recognized good practice for the safeguarding of life and property from the hazards of fire and explosion within the jurisdiction of the county. The code shall not be construed to hold the county responsible for any damage to persons or property by reason of the inspection or re-inspection authorized herein, failure to inspect or re-inspect or the permits issued or denied as herein provided, or by reason of the approval or disapproval of any equipment authorized herein. 1.3 – Code and Amendments For the purpose of prescribing regulations governing conditions hazardous to life and property from fire, explosion, or exposure to hazardous materials, the North Carolina Fire Prevention Code and Appendix H is set forth herein as the Fire Code for Person County. Any amendments to the aforementioned code, which are adopted, amended, and published by the North Carolina Fire Code Council, shall be effective in the county at the same time. 1.4 – Applicability The provisions of this ordinance shall apply to all buildings and occupancies in the North Carolina Building Code, General Construction and the North Carolina Building Code, Fire Prevention and any other building referenced by this ordinance. The provisions of this code shall apply equally to existing as well as new buildings. 1.4.1 – Copy on File A copy of the fire prevention and protection ordinance, and all technical codes and standards adopted by reference shall be available for public inspection at the Fire Marshal’s Office. 1.5 – Jurisdiction In accordance with the General Statutes of the State of North Carolina and the provisions of the Person County Fire Prevention and Protection Ordinance, it will be the responsibility of the Person County Fire Marshal’s Office to issue all fire prevention permits, conduct all fire inspections for the county and enforce the provisions of the North Carolina Building Code, Fire Prevention and the Person County Fire Prevention and Protection Ordinance in the unincorporated areas of the county and within municipalities where the Person County Fire Marshal or Fire Code Official has jurisdiction. The City of Roxboro Fire Department will conduct fire prevention and fire code inspections within the city limits of Roxboro. 13 6 1.6 – Effective Date These regulations shall become effective on the date this ordinance is adopted by the Person County Board of Commissioners. 1.6.1 – Definitions and Abbreviations A. For the purpose of this code, certain abbreviations, terms, phrases, words, and their derivatives shall be construed as set forth in this and following sections. B. Words used in the present tense include the future. Words in the masculine gender include the feminine and neuter. Words in the feminine and neuter gender include the masculine. The singular number includes the plural and the plural includes the singular. C. Fire Code Official – The Fire Chief or other designated authority charged with administration and enforcement of the code, or a duly authorized representative that holds a certification certificate issued by the North Carolina Code Qualifications Board. 1.6.2 – Terms Not Defined Where terms are not defined in this code and are defined in the International Fire Code, International Building Code, International Fuel Gas Code, International Mechanical Code or International Plumbing Code, such terms shall have the meanings ascribed to them as in those codes. Where terms are not defined through the methods authorized, such terms shall have ordinarily accepted meanings such as the context implies. 14 7 Chapter 2 DUTIES OF THE PERSON COUNTY FIRE MARSHAL 2.1 – Fire Marshal to enforce code The Fire Protection and Prevention Ordinance of the county, state and federal laws and ordinances, as they pertain to fire safety and fire prevention, shall be enforced by the Person County Fire Marshal and their authorized representatives or as otherwise provided in this chapter. The Fire Marshal is hereby authorized to promulgate rules, regulations, and procedures necessary to enforce this chapter. 2.2 – Duties and Authority of the Fire Marshal’s Office A. Inspections of buildings and premises. Inspection of buildings and premises are subject to the limitations and conditions stated in the state building code. It shall be the duty of the Fire Marshal’s Office to inspect or cause to be inspected as often as he/she may deem necessary or appropriate all buildings, structures and premises, such as schools, churches, day care facilities, commercial buildings, foster homes, group homes, nursing homes and hospitals, within the jurisdiction, for the purposes of ascertaining and causing to be corrected any condition which may cause fire or explosion, or any violations of the provisions of this chapter, or any other ordinances pertaining to fire or explosion hazards. Inspections may be announced or unannounced. Included in the Fire Marshal’s Office power to inspect is the authority to take photographs or videotapes of violations. The Fire Marshal’s Office shall make inspections of buildings, institutions, facilities and premises required to be inspected by the North Carolina State Fire Prevention Code and G.S. 115C-525(b), based on the following schedule in Chapter 3 of this ordinance. B. Investigation of fires and recordkeeping. The Fire Marshal’s Office shall investigate the cause, origin, and circumstances of every fire occurring in the county which is of a suspicious nature or which involves loss of life or injury to persons, or when notified by the Sheriff’s Department, or any fire department of a fire protection district or when circumstances warrant. Such investigation shall begin immediately upon occurrence of such fire and if it appears that such fire is of suspicious origin the Person County Fire Marshal’s Office shall be immediately notified and coordinate investigation activities with the fire department having jurisdiction. Any information obtained pursuant to any such investigation shall be confidential as authorized by law. The City of Roxboro Fire Investigation Team as well as the Person County Sheriff’s Department, upon request of the Fire Marshal or his/her authorized representatives, may render such assistance as necessary in the investigation of any fire believed to be of suspicious origin. The Fire Marshal’s Office investigative powers and responsibilities shall include photographing and/or videotaping the scene, evidence collection pertaining to origin and cause, and other activities necessary to determine the origin and cause in accordance with nationally set standards. The Fire Marshal’s Office shall keep a record of all fires and of all of the facts concerning the same, including statistics as to the extent of such fires and the damages caused thereby. All such records shall be public except those deemed confidential by law. 15 8 The Fire Marshal’s Office shall keep records of all reports of alleged violations of this chapter. The Person County Fire Marshal’s Office shall require all fire protection districts to keep a record of all emergency alarms and submit reports of these alarms to the Fire Marshal’s Office as the fire marshal may prescribe. C. Fire Prevention Programs. The Person County Fire Marshal’s Office shall assist fire departments, schools, industries, and the general public in developing fire prevention programs. The Fire Marshal’s Office shall also plan and conduct public fire prevention and safety programs, answer public inquiries on fire prevention matters and speak before clubs, societies, schools, and other organizations on fire prevention and safety. D. Fire prevention, advice, plan approval and signing of certificates of occupancy. The Person County Fire Marshal’s Office shall provide fire prevention advice to engineers, architects, and contractors responsible for the construction or alterations of buildings. The Fire Marshal’s Office shall also review and approve building plans dealing with fire protection measures, fire detection measures, and water distribution plans. It shall be a violation of this chapter to begin constructing without receiving the Fire Marshal’s Office approval of plans. All plans submitted for review by the Fire Marshal’s Office shall follow the North Carolina Administrative Code section 204.3.5 regarding the seal of a registered design professional unless one of the exceptions is met. The Fire Marshal’s Office shall issue construction permits required by this chapter and is hereby authorized to sign off on certificates of occupancy for buildings or structures governed by this chapter. E. Applications and permits. The Person County Fire Marshal’s Office shall require and evaluate applications and issue, if approved, all permits for those conditions as prescribed in the North Carolina State Fire Prevention Code and this chapter. The Fire Marshal’s Office may refuse or deny the issuance of a permit if all of the conditions of this chapter or other policies or procedures promulgated by them have not been met. F. Fees. The Person County Fire Marshal’s Office shall charge and collect such fees and civil penalties as the Person County Board of Commissioners may authorize and adopt as part of this chapter. The Fire Marshal’s Office shall also charge and bill users of services, any user fees instituted and adopted by the Person County Board of Commissioners. The specific kind of fees and the amount thereof shall be fixed in an annual schedule of fire prevention fees approved by the board in coordination with the annual budget ordinance. G. Entry upon premises. For the purposes of conducting inspections, responding to complaints and making investigations pursuant to this chapter, the Fire Marshal and their designee are hereby authorized to enter upon private premises, including any building or other structure subject to this chapter, after obtaining the consent of the owner or occupant. If consent to enter is withheld or denied by the owner or occupant, the Fire Marshal or their designated representative shall seek an administrative search and inspection warrant per N.C. General Statue §15-27.2 16 9 H. Emergency entry. The Person County Fire Marshal, their designated representative, or any Fire Chief and or their authorized representatives of a fire department serving fire protection districts shall have the right to enter any building or premises without permission or warrant in the event of any emergency situation constituting a threat to human life, property, or the public safety, for the purpose of eliminating, controlling, or abating the dangerous conditions or situations. I. Fire lanes. The Person County Fire Marshal shall have the authority to require the designation of fire lanes. The Fire Marshal shall also have the authority to require owners or occupants to erect all signs necessary to designate an area a fire lane. J. Removal of obstructions and illegally parked vehicles. The Person County Fire Marshal or their designee shall have the authority to remove any vehicle found obstructing any fire station, fire hydrant, fire protection equipment, or designated and marked fire lane. K. Enforcement remedies. In enforcing this chapter, the Person County Fire Marshal’s Office is authorized to issue notices of violation, corrective, or abatement orders, stop work orders, citations and civil penalties, to cause the issuance of criminal summons and to seek injunctive relief from the courts. The Fire Marshal shall have the authority to summarily abate any condition that is in violation of any provision of this chapter or the North Carolina State Fire Prevention Code and that presents an immediate fire hazard to life or property. 17 10 CHAPTER 3 INSPECTION SCHEDULE FOR EXISTING BUILDINGS 3.1 – Frequency of Inspection Inspections of buildings and premises are subject to the limitations and conditions stated in the state building code. It shall be the duty of the Fire Marshal’s Office to inspect or cause to be inspected as often as he/she may deem necessary or appropriate all buildings, structures and premises, such as schools, churches, day care facilities, commercial buildings, foster homes, group homes, nursing homes and hospitals, within the jurisdiction, for the purposes of ascertaining and causing to be corrected any condition which may cause fire or explosion, or any violations of the provisions of this chapter, or any other ordinances pertaining to fire or explosion hazards. Inspections may be announced or unannounced. Included in the Fire Marshal’s Office power to inspect is the authority to take photographs or videotapes of violations. The Fire Marshal’s Office shall make inspections of buildings, institutions, facilities and premises required to be inspected by the North Carolina State Fire Prevention Code and General Statue §115C-525(b), based on the following schedule: OCCUPANCY CLASSIFICATION INSPECTION FREQUENCY Public Schools Every Six Months Hazardous Every Year Institutional Every Year High Rise Every Year Assembly Every Year Residential* (Excludes one- and two-family dwellings) Every Year Industrial Every Two Years Educational (Except Public Schools) Every Two Years Business Every Three Years Mercantile Every Three Years Storage Every Three Years Churches and Synagogues Every Three Years * The North Carolina Fire Code definition of a residential occupancy is a multi-family building; the Fire Code does not apply to one-and two-family dwellings. - New and existing lodging establishments, including hotels, motels, and tourist homes that provide accommodations for seven or more continuous days (extended-stay establishments), bed and breakfast inns, and bed and breakfast homes as defined in North Carolina General Statue§130A-247 for the installation and maintenance of carbon monoxide alarms and detectors in accordance with North Carolina General Statue §143-138(b2). - These facilities would be required to have an annual inspection on the smoke detector and carbon monoxide alarms within the facility. - For Schedule of Inspection Fees, reference the Person County Fire Protection and Prevention Fee Schedule approved by the Person County Board of Commissioners. Frequency rates for inspections of occupancies as mandated by the state General Statutes shall supersede the above schedule. Nothing in this section shall prevent the Fire Marshal’s Office from conducting more frequent inspections than the schedule listed above or any schedule promulgated by any state regulatory agency. 18 11 Chapter 4 PERMITS AND PLAN REVIEWS 4.1 – Definition “Permit” is an official document issued by the Fire Marshal’s Office authorizing performance of a specified activity, use, operation or installation. This includes, but is not limited to the following types: Use Permit, Special Use Permit, Burning Permit, Operational Permit, Construction Permit and Permits for Fire Protection Systems, Storage Tanks, and any other items needing a permit. 4.2 – Required Permits In accordance with the detailed requirements of the county, a permit shall be obtained from the Fire Marshal’s Office pursuant to the procedure set forth in Chapter 1, Section 105 of the N.C. Fire Prevention Code, along with the N.C. Amendments and this ordinance. Permits shall be obtained to conduct those activities or operations as set forth in the permit and service fee schedule as approved by the Person County Board of Commissioners. An operational permit must be obtained from the Person County Fire Marshal’s Office as per the schedule of fees as adopted by the Person County Board of Commissioners. 4.2.1 – Renewal All permits will be valid for a period of 1, 2, or 3 years and will be renewable upon completion of fire inspection in accordance with Section 105 of the NC Fire Prevention Code. Renewal fees will be based on the fee schedule approved for inspections in accordance with Section 105. 4.3 – Information Required with Applications An application for a permit shall be filed with the Fire Marshal’s Office on a form furnished for that purpose, provided by the county and shall include the applicant’s answers in full to inquiries set forth in such forms. Applications for permits shall be accompanied by appropriate fees and such data as may be required by the Fire Marshal. 4.3.1 – Contractor’s License Required When the General Statutes require that general construction, plumbing, mechanical, electrical, fire protection, or gas work be performed by the appropriately licensed individual(s), no permit for such type work shall be issued to an unlicensed person or firm. 4.3.2 – Additional Data The Fire Marshal’s Office may require details, computations, stress diagrams, professional certification and other data necessary to describe the construction or installation of a system. 19 12 4.4 – Plan Review Plan review shall apply to all buildings and occupancies in the N.C. Building Code General Construction and the N.C. Fire Prevention Code. This review will be for the determination of compliance with this ordinance and the Fire Code, and shall be completed within a reasonable time of receipt of plans. If the Fire Marshal’s review of these plans indicates the need for a fire permit, as outlined in this ordinance and the Fire Code or if there are corrections to be made to the plans, the building permit shall not be issued until the fire permit has been issued or until the corrections are made to the plans. This plan review shall not apply to one- and two-family dwellings. 4.4.1 – Penalties See Civil Penalties Schedule in Chapter 6 of this ordinance. 4.4.2 – Revocation The Fire Marshal and/or Fire Code Official may revoke a permit upon determination that the permit holder, or any agents or employees of the permit holder, have violated any provision of the N.C. Fire Prevention Code, this ordinance, or any stated condition of the permit. The Fire Marshal or Fire Code Official shall advise the permit holder, in writing, of the reason for the revocation. 4.4.3 – Nontransferable Any permits issued shall not be transferable. Permits shall be valid only as specified on the permit for the time period, use, and/or project specified. Permits shall be valid only for the individual or entity listed on the permit application. 20 13 Chapter 5 UNSAFE BUILDINGS 5.1 – Unsafe Buildings or Systems Every building or service system that appears to be especially dangerous to life because of its liability to fire or because of bad condition of walls, overloaded floors, defective construction, decay, unsafe wiring or heating systems, inadequate means of egress, or other causes shall be held to be unsafe. All such unsafe building or service systems shall be abated by repair and rehabilitation or by demolition in accordance with the provisions of the technical codes and N.C. General Statues §160D-1118, §160D-1119, §160D-1120, §160D-1121, and §160D-1122. 5.1.1 – Summary Abatement Where conditions exist that are deemed hazardous to life and property, the Fire Marshal or Fire Code Official is authorized to abate summarily such hazardous conditions that are in violation of applicable requirements. 5.1.2 – Abatement The owner, operator or occupant of a building or premises deemed unsafe by the Fire Marshal or Fire Code Official shall abate or cause to be abated or corrected such unsafe conditions either by repair, rehabilitation, demolition or other approved corrective action. 21 14 Chapter 6 CIVIL PENALTIES 6.1 – Civil Penalties Any person who shall violate any of the provisions of the N.C. Fire Prevention Code or this ordinance, or fail to comply therewith, or who shall violate or fail to comply with any order made thereunder, or who shall build in violation of any detailed statement of specifications or plans submitted and approved thereunder or any certificate or permit issued thereunder, shall be subject to penalties as specified below as approved by the Person County Board of Commissioners. These penalties shall be recovered by the county in a civil action in the nature of debt if the offender does not pay the penalties within a period of 30 days after the issuance of the notice of violation. The notice of violation shall be in writing, signed by the Fire Marshal and/or the Fire Code Official charged with the enforcement of the N.C. Fire Prevention Code or this ordinance, and shall be delivered or mailed to the offender either at his/her residence or place of business or at the location where the violation occurred. Each day’s continuing violation shall be a separate and distinct offense. Any action to recover such penalties may be joined in an action for appropriate equitable remedy, including injunctions and orders of abatement and including an action to recover damages by the county in abating, correcting, limiting, and otherwise dealing with the harmful effects of the offending action. Civil penalties are assessed in accordance with North Carolina General Statues Chapters 153A and 160A. *For Civil Penalty Schedule, reference the Person County Fire Protection and Prevention Fee Schedule approved by the Person County Board of Commissioners. Violation(s) consisting of locked and/or blocked exits, impedance of the occupants to quickly evacuate a structure or premise, or conditions posing imminent danger to the occupants on or about the premise or violation(s) of occupancy limits established pursuant to the North Carolina State Building and/or Fire Code shall be issued a Civil Citation for the violation as referenced in the Person County Fire Protection and Prevention Fee Schedule as addressed under Civil Citations. Violation must be corrected during the time of the inspection if at all possible. 22 15 CHAPTER 7 REPORTING A HAZARD OR VIOLATION 7.1 – Hazards and Violations The Fire Marshal’s Office will respond to any complaint regarding a life safety hazard, illegal burning, and any other fire code violation or fire ordinance violation in Person County. 7.1.1 – How to Report a Hazard or Violation A hazard or violation may be reported at any time. They may be reported directly to the Fire Marshal’s Office at 336-330-2315. After normal business hours, please call 336-598-2167 or 336-597-0545. 7.1.2 – Required Information for Complaints All complaints will require the following information to be recorded in order for the complaint to be processed: Name of the person(s) filing the complaint Address and phone number of person(s) filing complaint Location of hazard or violation Type of problem, hazard or violation 7.1.3 – Records A written record of all complaints will be maintained in the Fire Marshal’s Office. A report will be attached to the complaint stating any violations or hazards found and what actions were taken. 23 16 CHAPTER 8 COLLECTION OF FEES 8.1.1 - Inspection Fees (New Construction) In the event additional fees are required to be assessed during a construction project, any and all fees must be paid in full prior to the issuance of the building’s Certificate of Occupancy. Occupying a building that has not been issued a Certificate of Occupancy will be subject to a civil penalty for each day of continued offense. 8.1.2 - Inspection Fees (Existing Buildings) The fee for an inspection of an existing building, which is based off the fee schedule adopted by The Person County Board of Commissioners, shall be assessed and an invoice will be supplied to the owner, occupant, or designee at the time of inspection. Subjects will have thirty (30) days to remit payment. After thirty (30) days the bill will be placed in a past due status, a twenty-five ($25.00) dollar late fee will be added, and a second invoice will be sent to the owner. After period of sixty (60) days of non-payment, the account will be subject to a second twenty-five ($25.00) dollar late fee. After a period of (90) days of non- payment the account will be turned over to the County Attorney for further collections. If appropriate, The Person County Attorney may institute civil action in the name of the county in the appropriate division of the General Court of Justice of Person County for recovery of the penalty, recommend application of the debt setoff program, or any other recovery mechanism allowed under State law. 24 17 CHAPTER 9 FALSE ALARMS 9.1 – Findings The Person County Board of Commissioners finds that excessive false alarms unduly burden the county’s public safety resources and desires to reduce the number of false alarms and enhance valuable public safety resources by establishing clear standards for the use of alarms and clear disincentives for the negligent and inappropriate use of alarms. 9.2 – Purpose To encourage residential and commercial fire alarm users to properly use and maintain the operational effectiveness and proper utilization of alarm systems and to reduce or eliminate false alarms which may unduly divert fire resources, this Chapter governs systems intended to summon a fire public safety response, establishes fees, provides for penalties for violations, and establishes a system of administration. 9.3 – Definitions For the purposes of this Chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning. A. Alarm System means sensors, controls and enunciators connected to detect and report a fire. This definition shall not include alarms which do not require a response from law enforcement or fire departments, such as self-contained residential smoke detectors and vehicle alarms. B. Alarm System User (or “user”) means any person, corporation, partnership, or governmental or educational entity that owns, leases, or occupies a property that utilizes an alarm system. C. False Alarm means activation of an Alarm System that elicits a response by fire or other emergency response units when no situation requiring such a response exists because the responding party finds no evidence of fire or combustion. False Alarm includes accidental, avoidable, and unnecessary alarm activation due to user error, equipment malfunction, improper or unsuited equipment, but does not include alarm activation caused by violent conditions of nature or other extraordinary circumstances beyond the control of the Alarm System User. 9.4 – Prohibited Actions It shall be unlawful for any person to activate an alarm for the purpose of summoning fire departments when no fire exists at the location or otherwise cause an alarm when there is no valid reason for activation of the alarm. It shall be unlawful for a person to continue an action, process, or maintain a situation which continues to create false alarms occurring at the same location. 25 18 It shall be unlawful for an alarm system user to fail to reimburse Person County in accordance with this ordinance’s criteria, for alarm responses deemed false. 9.5 – Civil Penalties Whenever a Person County Fire Department (paid or volunteer under contract with Person County), the Person County Fire Marshal, or other public safety department responds to a fire alarm and finds it to be a false alarm, a record will be started for that location. Monitoring of the location over the 12-month tracking period will begin and warning letters and notification of civil penalties will be sent to the Alarm System User, based upon the following schedule: For false alarm 1 through 2 – written warning For false alarm 3 through 5 – civil penalty of $50 each For false alarm 6 through 7 – civil penalty of $100 each For false alarm 8 through 9 – civil penalty of $250 each For false alarm 10 and up – civil penalty of $500 each Subjects will have thirty (30) days to remit payment. After thirty (30) days, the bill will be placed in a past due status, a twenty-five ($25.00) dollar late fee will be added, and a second invoice will be sent to the owner. After a period of sixty (60) days of non-payment, the account will be subject to a second twenty-five ($25.00) dollar late fee. After a period of (90) days of non- payment the account will be turned over to the County Attorney for further collections. 9.6 – Exclusions For the purpose of computing the number of alarm responses, a false alarm shall not include an alarm that is: A. Determined to have been activated by adverse weather conditions reported by the Person County Emergency Services Director, Person County Fire Marshal, the National Weather Service, Director of Inspections or the responding agency. B. Activated by an outside non-domesticated animal. C. An alarm where there is physical evidence of a fire at the premises where the alarm was activated. D. A local alarm activated in the testing of the alarm system procedure shall not count toward alarm responses as long as the alarm user notifies Person County 911 Center of the alarm test prior to the testing. 9.7 – Notification The Fire Marshal shall have the Alarm System User notified in writing after the first and each subsequent false alarm. The notification shall include: The amount of the civil penalties for each false alarm. The date by which the civil penalty must be paid (for false alarm 3 and above), and A description of the appeal procedure available to the alarm user. 26 19 9.8 – Appeals Any determination that the fire alarm activation was not one of the exclusions herein may be appealed to the Fire Marshal within ten (10) days of notification in writing. The decision of the Fire Marshal shall be final. 9.9 – Enforcement of Violations Any person violating any of the provisions of this chapter shall be subject to the civil penalties set forth. Any violation of this chapter shall be deemed a non-criminal violation and shall not be a misdemeanor or infraction pursuant to G.S. §14-4. If payment is not received or equitable settlement reached within ninety (90) days after demand for payment is made, the matter shall be referred to the Person County Attorney. If appropriate, The Person County Attorney may institute civil action in the name of the county in the appropriate division of the General Court of Justice of Person County for recovery of the penalty, recommend application of the debt setoff program, or any other recovery mechanism allowed under State law set aside by Chapter 6 in this ordinance. 9.10 – Disbursement of Fees Collected Civil penalties will be deposited into the Person County General Fund and tracked by the Fire Marshal’s Office. Once payment is received, the funds will be distributed in the following manner: 50% to the responding department(s), and 50% to Person County 9.11 – History This Chapter replaces and repeals the False Alarm Ordinance that was originally adopted on September 11, 2017 and revised September 21, 2020 and again on November 16, 2020. 27 20 CHAPTER 10 OPEN BURNING 10.1 – Definitions A. Open Burning – The burning of leaves, grass clippings, and other natural, unprocessed vegetation in which the products of combustion pass into the open air without passing through any type of chimney or duct. B. Recreational Fire – An outdoor fire utilized for the cooking of food for human consumption or social entertainment. C. Structure – For the purpose of this section of the ordinance, a structure shall be defined as an occupied or unoccupied building. D. Illegal Burning – The burning of trash, paper, plastics, lumber, tires, chemicals or any other man-made materials. 10.2 – Where Allowed Open burning is not allowed within 50 feet of any structure, and provisions shall be made to prevent the fire from spreading to within 50 feet of any structure. It is the burner’s responsibility to ensure that the fire is maintained on their property and not allowed to spread to adjoining property. 10.3 – Accordance Open burning in Person County shall be conducted in accordance with all applicable State Air Quality and Solid Waste Disposal Laws, other applicable state requirements, and shall also be in accordance with the Person County Fire Prevention Ordinance. 10.4 – Illegal Burning In accordance with North Carolina Administrative Code 15A 2D.1900 “Open Burning”, any person found in violation of this section could be subject to civil penalties as outlined in Chapter 6 of this ordinance. 10.5 – Attendance Open burning must be constantly attended at all times by a competent person. The person conducting burning should take safety precautions to prevent spread by using minimum fire protection equipment. A minimum of a portable fire extinguisher or other appropriate onsite fire- extinguishing equipment such as dirt, sand, water barrel, garden hose or water should be available for immediate utilization. 10.6 – Extinguishment Any open burning found to be in violation of this Chapter, or any State or Federal law shall be extinguished immediately by the responsible party, and open burning will be immediately discontinued. 28 21 10.7 – Burning Ban In the event that the Person County Fire Marshal or designee issues a ban on outdoor burning within 100 feet of a structure, at that time in accordance with state law, all open burning shall be immediately discontinued until such ban is lifted by the Person County Fire Marshal’s Office. During this ban, no open burning shall be conducted at all within 100 feet of a structure; this includes any outdoor burning at residences. A warning will be issued for a first offense before issuing a citation to be enforced with civil penalties for subsequent violations. 10.7.1 – Conditions Warranting A burning ban on outdoor burning within 100 feet of a structure may be issued by the Person County Fire Marshal or designee in the event that atmospheric conditions or local circumstance make such fire hazardous. Atmospheric conditions that warrant a burning ban include, but are not limited to: Extended periods of low humidity (below 50%) High winds Elevated temperatures Lack of substantial rainfall At the request of the North Carolina Forest Service Local conditions that may warrant a burning ban include, but are not limited to: Flammable and/or combustible liquid spills or leaks close to a burning site A hazardous materials incident where the proximity of the burn site could cause a possible ignition source or prove hazardous to operations controlling the incident The proximity of adjacent structures or other such hazards 10.7.2 – Notification In the event a burning ban is issued, citizens shall be notified through the local news and social media that a burning ban is in place, and fires shall be extinguished immediately. In conjunction with a North Carolina Forest Service burning ban, the Person County Fire Marshal or designee shall issue a burning ban of all open burning within 100 feet of a structure and all fires shall be extinguished immediately. 10.7.3 – Repeal Any burning ban issued by the Fire Marshal or designee shall be repealed in the same manner. 10.8 – Civil Penalties Any person found in violation of this Section of the Person County Fire Prevention and Protection Ordinance shall be subject to the Civil Penalties outlined in Chapter 6 of this ordinance. 29 22 10.9 – Guidelines for Open Burning The following are guidelines for open burning (within 100 feet of a structure): YARD TRIMMINGS ONLY (leaves, limbs, grass, vines, etc.) Must originate at a private residence and be burned on that site. (Land clearers follow the rules set forth by the NC Division of Air Quality Land Clearing Section) Fire must be a minimum of 50 feet from any structure and must not spread to within 50 feet A competent person shall constantly attend the fire until such fire is extinguished Must provide fire control tools to match the size of the pile being burned (garden hoses, rakes, shovels, extra help, fire extinguisher, etc.) An area should be cleared completely around the material to be burned If a burning ban has been issued, all fires must be extinguished immediately If at any time during the burning, the regulations regarding open burning are not met or are neglected in any way, the fire will be extinguished and a civil citation may be issued 10.10 – Items Not Allowed to Burn The following items are not allowed to be burned: Newspaper, cardboard, and other paper products Rubbish, trash, or any other household goods Plastic and other synthetic materials Paints, household and agricultural chemicals Tires and other rubber products Asphalt shingles, Asbestos containing materials, and heavy oils Lumber and other building materials Wire, buildings, and mobile homes These are all items that are on the North Carolina Division of Air Quality Open Burning Rule, Section .1900 that was first adopted in 1971. This rule prohibits much outdoor burning and sets conditions for allowable fires. Under this rule, it is always illegal to burn trash and other non- vegetative materials. Leaves, branches, and other plant growth can be burned under certain conditions. The North Carolina Division of Air Quality can issue fines up to $25,000.00 or more for violations found. 30 23 Chapter 11 KNOX BOX SYSTEM 11.1 – Purpose In an effort to provide both fire department emergency access and security for buildings, the Person County Fire Marshal’s Office has selected the Knox Box Public Safety Key Box System for use in securing access to a key for nondestructive entry into a building. 11.2 – Guidelines Per Section 506.1 of the North Carolina Fire Code, where access to or within a structure or an area is restricted because of secure openings or where immediate access is necessary for life- saving or fire-fighting purposes, the Fire Code Official is authorized to require a key box to be installed in an approved location. This is a mandatory system for commercial establishments within the Person County code enforcement jurisdiction with automatic fire sprinkler systems, fire pumps, fire alarms, gated communities, multi-family residential structures, governmental structures, nursing care facilities, or facilities storing hazardous materials in excess of exempt amounts per Chapter 50 of the North Carolina Fire Prevention Code, and any building deemed necessary by the Person County Fire Marshal. With this system, the building owner/occupant must order the key box from the Knox Box Company, using authorized forms, to install on their building and to secure the key(s) required to make emergency entry into the property by the fire department. 11.3 – Issued Knox Box Keys Issued Knox Box Keys are keys that are assigned to specific individuals who are required to maintain the security and accountability of the key(s) at all times. Keys shall be issued to the following staff: County Fire Marshal (1) County Fire Inspector (1) City of Roxboro Fire Department (5) Allensville Volunteer Fire Department (1) Ceffo Volunteer Fire Department (2) Hurdle Mills Volunteer Fire Department (2) Moriah Volunteer Fire Department (2) Semora Volunteer Fire Department (1) Timberlake Volunteer Fire Department (1) Triple Springs Volunteer Fire Department (2) 11.4 – Knox Box Ordering Procedures Commercial business owners/occupants needing to install a Knox Box at their location must contact the Person County Fire Marshal’s Office for the proper form with authorization. All Knox Boxes ordered for use within the Person County code enforcement jurisdiction shall comply with the installation procedures outlined in Section 11.12 of this policy. 31 24 11.5 – Initial PIN Code Issuing Procedures All Fire Chiefs within the Person County Fire Protection System will issue codes to assigned personnel of their department. It is the responsibility of the Fire Chief of the individual station to notify the Fire Marshal’s Office of any new personnel needing a PIN code added to Key Secure Boxes or any changes in current personnel status requiring the deletion of the individual’s name and PIN code. A Fire Chief can request to deactivate any PIN code from their Key Secure Box. The security of individual PIN codes once issued is the sole responsibility of the individual assigned the PIN code. If the PIN code is forgotten, lost, or stolen, the individual shall follow the appropriate section of the policy. 11.6 – Forgotten PIN Code Procedure If an individual has forgotten their PIN code, they must contact the Fire Chief of the department for their PIN code. 11.7 – Lost/Stolen PIN Code Procedures If an individual has reason to believe that the security of the PIN code issued to them has been jeopardized, they must immediately notify the Fire Chief of the department. The Fire Chief will notify the staff at the Person County Fire Marshal’s Office to disable the PIN code. A new PIN code will be assigned by the Fire Chief of the individual’s respective department and the staff of the Person County Fire Marshal’s Office will install the new code into Key Secure Boxes at that fire department. 11.8 – Use/Misuse of PIN Codes Not using the Knox Box Rapid Entry System when it is available with proper access keys may lead to disciplinary actions due to unnecessary property damage. Any use of the PIN codes assigned to individuals is recorded. The time accessed, the time the key was removed, the duration the key was removed, as well as the time the key was replaced is recorded. The name of the person accessing the key is also recorded. It is the sole responsibility of the individual or individuals assigned the PIN code to protect the security of that PIN code, and that person will be held responsible for any use/misuse of the PIN code that was assigned to them. Using the PIN code system for any means other than fire operations is prohibited. An individual may periodically test their PIN code and the proper operation of the Key Secure Knox Boxes installed in the fire apparatus, but the test shall be no longer than 3 seconds in length and the individual will be held responsible for re-securing the Knox Box Key and any possible misuse related to the test. 32 25 11.9 – Knox Box “Key Secure” Programming It is the responsibility of the Fire Marshal’s Office to program all Knox Box Key Secure Boxes. Any new boxes must be programmed by Person County Fire Marshal’s Office. 11.10 – Knox Box Ordering Procedures Commercial business owners/occupants needing to install a Knox Box at their location must contact the Person County Fire Marshal’s Office for the proper form with authorization. All Knox Boxes ordered for use within the Person County code enforcement jurisdiction shall comply with the installation procedures outlined in Section 11.12 of this policy. 11.11 – Ordering of Knox Box Key(s) Any new or additional key(s) shall be ordered through the Person County Fire Marshal’s Office. 11.12 – Knox Box Installation Procedures The Knox Box shall be installed outside, in sight of the main entrance doors, or as approved by the Fire Marshal’s Office. The Knox Boxes can be equipped with “Tamper-alarm” features. If equipped with tamper alarm it must be tied to fire alarm system and show on the fire alarm panel as a supervisory alarm. The property owner/occupant must notify the Person County Fire Marshal’s Office in order to secure the Knox Box and confirm proper installation. 11.13 – Event of an Emergency Fire department personnel shall not enter a Knox Box unless an emergency exists. Fire department personnel shall immediately notify dispatch that entry will be made utilizing a Knox Box and dispatch will record this action in the CAD notes. The time entered and the time exited shall be noted. Fire department personnel shall notify the Fire Marshal that entry into the box was made. Fire department personnel shall document any use of the Knox Box System in the department’s fire report and email the call report to the Person County Fire Marshal’s Office. 11.14 – Non-Emergency Procedure or to Add/Remove Keys The building owner/occupant or a fire official (whichever requests the change) shall schedule an appointment to meet with the owner/occupant to witness the placing of the keys (and any other paperwork) in the box and lock the Knox Box for the owner/fire department. The Fire Marshal’s Office shall notify the local fire department of the observed transaction. All parties shall sign the fire inspection form with copies being distributed as follows: Fire Marshal’s Office Building Owner or Designee Fire Department (email) 33 26 11.15 – Procedure for Verification Person County Fire Marshal’s Office staff shall conduct a check of each Knox Box during routine fire inspections. This will consist of checking for accuracy of keys, box lid operation, and tamper-alarm operation if applicable. This shall be documented on the fire inspection form. 11.16 – Benefits of the Knox Box System Fire department shall use the Knox Box Key Box to gain access to any property that utilizes the Knox Box rapid entry systems. Fire department personnel are required to know the location of any Knox Box Key Box within their assigned area. Fire department personnel are responsible for communicating the purpose, benefits and positive impact the Knox Box System will have on the community, providing enough information about the benefits of the Knox Box System so that a mutual trust is created. The cost to the property owner for a Knox Box should be compared with the potential saving realized by: Eliminating forced entry damage Reducing the response time needed by the fire department to gain access into a structure during any time of the day or night and holidays, therefore reducing damage Accessing information pertaining to the chemicals an or preplans that may assist the fire department in addressing the emergency situation The Knox Box System eliminates entry delays; therefore, it minimizes internal damage to the structure. In addition, the fire department is able to achieve maximum efficiency when responding to alarms. Potential firefighter injuries are reduced as well (no forced entry is required and delayed fire attack due to having to force entry is eliminated). The system also provides valuable Haz-Mat information, emergency contact info, etc., to responding emergency personnel. 34 27 Chapter 12 PYROTECHIC (FIREWORKS) 12.1 – Pyrotechnics (Fireworks) The Person County Fire Marshal or designee is hereby granted the authority, given to the Person County Board of Commissioners by General Statue §14-413, to issue permits for use of pyrotechnics (fireworks) within Person County in which the Person County Fire Marshal’s Office has enforcement jurisdiction. No person shall use pyrotechnics without first applying 30 days prior to the date of the display for approval. Application must be complete with all names of display operators with copies of their valid North Carolina Certification for display of fireworks. Permit must be issued by the Fire Marshal’s Office prior to any display or use of pyrotechnics (fireworks). The Fire Marshal shall issue the permit upon a determination that the requirements of Chapter 56 of the North Carolina Fire Code and the insurance requirements of North Carolina General Statues §14-413(d) have been met and the appropriate fees for issuance of the permit have been paid. 35 28 Chapter 13 HAZARDOUS MATERIALS AND SUBSTANCE ABATEMENT 13.1 – Purpose and Authority The Person County Director of Emergency Management or designee shall have the authority to summarily abate, control, contain, remove or remedy hazardous materials or substances which are emitted into the environment or are left unattended in such a manner as to endanger the health, safety or welfare of the general public or the environment. The Person County Director of Emergency Management or designee shall have the authority to enter public or private property, with or without the owner’s consent, to respond to such hazardous materials emergencies. The Person County Director of Emergency Management or designee shall determine the type, amount and quantity of equipment and personnel required to adequately abate, control, contain, remove or remedy all hazardous materials or substances which are emitted into the environment or which are left unattended in such a manner as to endanger the health, safety or welfare of the general public or the environment. 13.2 – Definitions For the purpose of this section, the following definitions shall apply unless a different meaning appears from the context: A. “Hazardous material or substance” means any material or substance defined as a hazardous material under North Carolina General Statutes Section 166A-21, and also includes any material or substance which, when discharged in any quantity, may present a danger to either the health, safety or welfare of the general public or the environment. Exercising or having control over means, but not limited to, any person using, transferring, storing, possessing or transporting a hazardous material or substance immediately prior to release of such hazardous material or substance onto the land or into the air or the waters within the county limits. B. “Hazardous material and substance” response means the sending of any fire department and/or rescue department equipment, that receives any funding by county, and/or personnel to abate, control, contain, remove or remedy any hazardous material or substance which endangers the health, safety or welfare of the general public or the environment. C. “Person” means any individual, firm, partnership, association, institution, corporation, organization, unit of local government, governmental agency, or any other group acting as a unit. D. “Hazardous materials emergency response team or hazmat team” means an organized group of persons specially trained and equipped to respond to and control actual or potential leaks or spills of hazardous materials. E. “Hazardous materials incident or hazardous materials emergency” means an uncontrolled release or threatened release of a hazardous substance requiring outside assistance by a local fire department or hazmat team to contain and control. 36 29 F. “Regional response team” means a hazmat team under contract with the state to provide response to hazardous materials emergencies occurring outside the hazmat team’s local jurisdiction at the direction of the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety, Division of Emergency Management. G. “Secretary” means the Secretary of the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety. H. “Technician-level entry capability” means the capacity of a hazmat team in terms of training and equipment as specified in 29 Code of Federal Regulations 1910.120; to respond to a hazardous materials incident requiring affirmative measures, such as patching, plugging, or other action necessary to stop and contain the release of a hazardous substance at its source. I. “Terrorist incident” means activities that occur within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States, involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any state and are intended to do one of the following: i. Intimidate or coerce a civilian population ii. Influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion iii. Affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination or kidnapping 13.3. – Financial & Liability Responsibility Any property owner and/or person exercising or having control over any hazardous material or substance, or property owner and/or person that creates a hazardous material or substance emergency shall be held financially responsible and liable for the response, abatement, control, containment, removal and remedial costs incurred by the county and any county fire department during the emergency. The property owner and/or the person exercising control over such hazardous material or substance shall assist the fire department in the abatement, control, containment, removal and remedial measures associated with the hazardous material emergency. Assistance shall consist of, but is not limited to, any or all of the following: Compliance with the direction of the fire department and/or rescue department. Supply of emergency response plan information for the site. Supply of emergency response equipment, personnel and materials available on site. Informing fire department and/or rescue department personnel of all matters pertaining to the incident. 37 30 13.4 – Payment and Collection of Penalties A. The cost incurred by the County and any county fire department and/or rescue department in responding to, abating, controlling, containing, removing, or otherwise remedying a hazardous material or substance emergency shall be assessed to the responsible party. The assessment invoice shall be in writing and delivered to the responsible party and/or its registered agent by personal delivery, first-class United States Mail, commercial delivery carrier or by registered or certified United States Mail return receipt requested, and shall be paid within thirty (30) days of receipt thereof. All assessed charges or portions thereof not paid within thirty (30) days after the receipt of an invoice will be placed in a past due status, a twenty-five ($25.00) dollar late fee will be added, and a second invoice will be sent to the owner. After a period of sixty (60) days of non-payment, the account will be subject to a second twenty-five ($25.00) dollar late fee. After a period of (90) days of non- payment the account will be turned over to the County Attorney for further collections. The Person County Attorney may seek to obtain payment of civil penalties and late fees, and interest, as provided in Section 6 of this ordinance. B. All reasonable attorney’s fees and costs of collection shall be added to charges not paid within the required time period. 38 31 Adopted, this, the 6th day of February 2023. Upon approval of the North Carolina Building Code Council, this ordinance will become effective July 1, 2023. In witness whereof, the parties have hereunto set their hands and seals, by authority duly given, on the day and year first above written. PERSON COUNTY ______________________________________________________ Gordon Powell, Chairman, Board of County Commissioners ______________________________________________________ Attest: Brenda Reaves, NCMCC, MMC, Clerk to the Board 39 January 3, 2023 1 PERSON COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS JANUARY 3, 2023 MEMBERS PRESENT OTHERS PRESENT Gordon Powell Katherine M. Cathey, County Manager C. Derrick Sims Brenda B. Reaves, Clerk to the Board Kyle W. Puryear S. Ellis Hankins, County Attorney Charlie Palmer Jason Thomas The Board of Commissioners for the County of Person, North Carolina, met in regular session on Tuesday, January 3, 2023 at 7:00pm in the Person County Office Building Auditorium located at 304 S. Morgan Street, Roxboro, NC. Chairman Powell called the meeting to order and offered an invocation. Vice Chairman Sims led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance. DISCUSSION/ADJUSTMENT/APPROVAL OF AGENDA: A motion was made by Commissioner Palmer and carried 5-0 to approve the agenda. RECOGNITION: DUKE ENERGY FOUNDATION GRANT AWARD TO PERSON COUNTY: Tanya Evans, Duke Energy District Manager presented a Duke Energy Foundation Grant Award to Person County Emergency Management in the amount of $50,000. Ms. Evans noted Duke Energy was proud of its history of working together with emergency management partners throughout the state. In recognition of that, Ms. Evans said Duke Energy announced a grant program awarding $750K across 24 organizations throughout the state to support their emergency management resilience and efforts. Thom Schwalenberg, Emergency Manager and Director of Emergency Services said the Department of Emergency Services, through the Office of Emergency Management (OEM), is responsible for the response to and mitigation of any hazardous material emergencies, to include, but not limited to, spills, accidents, illegal dumping, and other releases or threatened releases of hazardous materials requiring control that are a threat or potential threat to public safety. The Office of Emergency Management is also responsible for collaborating with and supporting all public safety agencies in the County to prepare, prevent, respond to, mitigate and recover from large-scale incidents. The impetus for this project was based on two events; one actual and one exercise. The actual event was a fuel leak at a gas station facility in Roxboro that happened in the fall 2022. Multiple public safety agencies responded to the incident in an attempt to control the fuel from getting into the 40 January 3, 2023 2 sewer drainage system and a nearby tributary. The after-action report from that incident identified a need for a more consolidated response to large-scale incidents of these types where a product release has occurred. Additionally, an exercise that was conducted in November of 2021 at Hyco Lake with a fictional recreational vehicle leaking 80 gallons of gasoline into the lake also identified a similar need. Mr. Schwalenberg stated the award from Duke Energy Foundation will be used for the purchase an Incident Support Vehicle that can be used to support all public safety agencies in Person County. The vehicle can be used to support incident command and control functions for large-scale incidents. It will also be equipped to support basic hazardous material control supplies, mitigation supplies, and provider safety monitoring equipment, hazard identification equipment, and plume modeling capability. These capabilities would allow OEM to assist first responders with initial scene operations and, if needed, support regional response teams when they arrive on scene. This is a collaborative project spearheaded by the Department of Emergency Services but being done with tremendous support from Person County Fire Marshal’s Office, Roxboro/Person County Rescue Squad and Roxboro Fire Department. These entities will help in the design and equipping of the vehicle and have agreed to help respond with the vehicle if requested. Mr. Schwalenberg noted he was very grateful to the Duke Energy Foundation for their financial support of this project and for the great working relationship shared from an emergency preparedness and prevention perspective. This relationship benefits all the citizens and visitors of Person County. PUBLIC HEARING: PETITION SUP-01-23 – A REQUEST BY PERSON COUNTY GOVERNMENT, PROPERTY OWNER OF ±281.5-ACRES (SUBJECT PROPERTY), LOCATED AT TAX MAP AND PARCEL NO. A76 15, TO APPROVE SPECIAL USE PERMIT SUP-01-23 IN AN R (RESIDENTIAL) ZONING DISTRICT FOR A PASSIVE RECREATIONAL PARK USE: A motion was made by Vice Chairman Sims and carried 5-0 to open the duly advertised public hearing for Petition SUP-01-23, a request by Person County Government, property owner of +281.5-acres (subject property), located at Tax Map and Parcel No. A76 15, to approve a Special Use Permit in an R (Residential) Zoning District for a passive recreational park use. The public hearing set to hear a request by Person County Government, property owner of +281.5-acres (subject property), located at Tax Map and Parcel No. A76 15, to approve a Special Use Permit in an R (Residential) Zoning District for a passive recreational park use required a quasi-judicial zoning decision whereby witnesses are to be sworn in and subject to cross examination, no ex parte communication and requires findings of fact. 41 January 3, 2023 3 County Attorney, Ellis Hankins said the clerk published the notice of public hearing that is required by law. Mr. Hankins pointed out this was not the usual up or down legislative rezoning; this is a special use permit application and the Person County Ordinance and state laws say that this is called a quasi-judicial hearing which simply means anyone and everyone who wishes to speak can do that and testify after being sworn in. He said the Board is required by the ordinance and state law to hear all the evidence, including live testimony and the documents available with the application and other information including the information and documents that will be submitted by the witnesses probably. He said the Board is required to make a decision based on and only on that evidence in the record. Mr. Hankins said there is now before you in the agenda and agenda packet, an agenda abstract probably from the Planning Director and he will talk with you, he was sure, about the four criteria at the end of this proceeding. He added the Board will have to take the four criteria into consideration and make a decision about whether the evidence that has been offered, as part of the record, allows the finding for each of those criteria to be satisfied. If the Board sees one way or the other, Mr. Hankins said, however the Board votes at the end of the proceeding, the staff will work on a written order to reflect the action of the Board and then present that written order for approval as the law requires. Mr. Hankins stated that was the process and he was happy to answer questions. Chairman Powell administered the Oath of Sworn Testimony to the following individuals who would offer testimony during the public hearing: Chris Bowley, John Hill, Andy Oakley, Barry Allen, Patricia “PJ” Gentry, Carole Pastore, Janna Kisner, Tom Brown, and Al Pastore. Mr. Hankins said the subject of this session is in fact owned by Person County but the Board still has a duty to be impartial and do everything as he said in his previous comments without bias, as the Board would for any other special use permit application for any other property. Planning & Zoning Director Chris Bowley shared the following presentation for SUP-01-23. 42 January 3, 2023 4 Mr. Bowley stated it was a 281.5-acre tract located in the southeast portion of Person County. He noted the SUP application is required to use the site as a passive recreational park based on the zoning district. 43 January 3, 2023 5 44 January 3, 2023 6 45 January 3, 2023 7 46 January 3, 2023 8 Mr. Bowley said the Subject Property is located directly west of and adjacent to property located at 5845 Moores Mill Road (Tilley Property). The site is generally located approximately 1,500 linear feet (LF) west of Moores Mill Road, ±2,000 LF north of Onie Burton Road (Tax Map and Parcel No. A76 15 and Parcel Identification No. 0921-03-20-8848.000), and adjacent to the Flat River. Access to the site would be provided through the Tilley Property within an easement from Moores Mills Road. The zoning designation of R (Residential), a rural land use category for the Subject Property is compatible with the rural future land use designation for the site. Mr. Bowley said if the site was built under the currently zoning designation of 281-acres with residential land use designation would yield 562 homes; that is on the gross, which means you apply the density across the entire parent tract. On the net, which is what would really be developed, Mr. Bowley, less out roads and storm water areas, amenities, so forth, you would end up with 422 homes. He said with a rural category that has a 1-unit per acre limitation but assumes no rezoning on the property, which would have 281 homes on the gross, and the net would be 211 homes, losing 70 units. He noted the trip generation externally generated from a project such as the 211 unit property, you are looking at .99 external trips for a single family home which is the equivalent of 211 new trips onto Moores Mill Road whereas a park generates .11 trip per acre, which is 31 additional new trips on the Moores Mill Road. Mr. Bowley said the low impact use is a passive recreational park meaning it is not active; this means it does not have large playgrounds, its respectful of the existing natural land and situe, it doesn’t clear or grade the property, it doesn’t add curbing, gutter or a lot of paved parking areas, etc. Mr. Bowley said it also makes the site accessible to the entire community used by hikers, bird watchers, environmental groups, trail runners, all-inclusive of handicap residents with limited recreational opportunities, etc. It proposes a minimal impact on land and maximum environmental preservation. 47 January 3, 2023 9 Mr. Bowley told the Board the Findings of Fact are the factors the Board should consider in making a decision on whether to approve this SUP. 48 January 3, 2023 10 49 January 3, 2023 11 Chairman Powell said at one point, we did talk about a graveyard on that property and asked Mr. Bowley if he remembered that and if that was all cleared. Mr. John Hill, Director of the Recreation, Arts and Parks Department said there was a graveyard on the property. Mr. Hankins asked Mr. Hill to include an explanation of in his testimony. Speaking in favor of the request by Person County Government, property owner of +281.5-acres (subject property), located at Tax Map and Parcel No. A76 15, to approve a Special Use Permit in an R (Residential) Zoning District for a passive recreational park use were the following: Mr. Barry Allen of 4391 Moore’s Mill Road, Rougemont affirmed his name and stated he prepared very brief remarks but supplemented with written testimony which the Clerk has enough for each of you. Mr. Allen stated he strongly supports the development of the park on the County Farm property. He said he does not fully support the Special Use Permit Application, as written. For full disclosure, Mr. Allen stated he met with Director John Hill, at his invitation, last Wednesday and was shown the preliminary site plan for the park. The application was not yet available. Mr. Allen said his comments do not pertain to what is in the Application but to what is not in it. He noted important findings of fact are missing from each of the four categories enumerated in the County’s Planning Ordinance. Mr. Allen gave the Board facts for each category. Category 1. Health and Safety: Drinking water protection and water quality are not mentioned or discussed in the application, but the rational for developing the park is to comply with the IAIA by reducing nutrient influx into the Falls Lake. Traffic impacts of the park on Moores Mill Road are not discussed, but this was an important concern of citizens at the public meetings. Measures for assuring safety and security or providing utilities for the park are not mentioned. The easement for future quarry access road, which could cut the park in two, is not shown on the site plan as is required by the Planning Ordinance. Category 2. Meets all Requirements: A deed restriction or protective covenant, to run with the land, will be required by the Planning Ordinance as a condition for a storm water permit. Even better, a commitment to see a Conservation Easement would meet this requirement. Mr. Allen said he provided information in the supplement material about that. The cemetery on the County property must be included in the plan to comply with North Carolina statutes. Mr. Allen said he has provided the statutes. 50 January 3, 2023 12 Category 3: Effects on adjoining or abutting property: Mr. Allen said they have been told that nighttime lighting and noisy activities will not be allowed, but this should be confirmed in the application. At the 17 May 2021 commissioners’ meeting, staff proposed that watercraft would launch from the park. This would make property owners along the river unwitting abutters to activities originating in the park. Although we have been told that this will not happen, that should be stated in the application. Fences and a gate are not shown or described in the application, though they have been promised. Category 4: Harmony and Conformity: More than 18 months ago, a group of property owners on the Flat River requested that staff collaborate with us to assure that the park will be developed in harmony with the environment and with the use and enjoyment of our properties, while assuring that the recreational needs of the county citizens and visitors are met. This collaboration is needed and should be formalized. In conclusion, Mr. Allen said he hoped these comments will help the Board in your deliberations. In written remarks, Mr. Allen provided to Ms. Reaves, (to distribute to the Board) each fact is accompanied by actions in support of the park. These actions are not part of my oral testimony since they are technically evidence, not facts. Mr. Allen said he was happy to answer questions and provide more information. He thanked the Board for their attention. Ms. Patricia “PJ” Gentry of 541 Byrd Creek Lane, Hurdle Mills said Mr. Allen had some very good points which I think can probably be (she said she was not an expert, here) added to the determination of the final outcome; the quantities of the details that may be missing from the site application. Mr. Hankins interjected an answer to her question and perhaps Mr. Allen, is that the Board can impose any conditions to the special use permit if the Board votes to approve this permit; any conditions that the Board sees fit to impose. Ms. Gentry said he has some good points that are probably missing so that is very helpful. Ms. Gentry spoke in support of the County Farm, an asset that has been on the County books for many, many years, 30+ years and what she calls a non-performing asset, as it is not doing anything for the County, not costing the County money, but not generating money either. Ms. Gentry said it was originally acquired by the County to protect water and resources. Unfortunately, the Board, back in the day that purchased the land, did not also purchase access. So there has been no monitoring, no access without permission of other surrounding landowners to get to it. She said she spent hours with staff walking the property and it was unmonitored, unsafe and all kinds of activities going on back there that we don’t know about, and the County is on the hook for that, ultimately. She said to convert this asset into something usable that will be monitored by the county, by staff, is a very good thing for the health and safety of the area and the citizens that are around it. Ms. Gentry 51 January 3, 2023 13 stated she was very much in support of it. She noted by doing so with an asset that we don’t have to go out and purchase an asset to meet the requirements of five years from the Division of Water Quality of over a half-million dollars that the County would have to pay for the stormwater mitigation if we didn’t have this land. Ms. Gentry said this was a real plus for Person County that we don’t have to go out and acquire something else to do this; it doesn’t require the purchase of the land, it meets the storm water regulations, provides mountain biking trails, nature conservation. It does repair and protect the riparian buffers of the waterways, it keeps those protected. Ms. Gentry said we do provide fencing, although it apparently is not clear enough on the site plan, but like you said, that can be added. Ms. Gentry said she mentioned a couple, three, four weeks ago, last year that naming the park is kinda important for some of the people that live in the area and had proposed a Burton/Tilley Park naming honoring the legacy of the families that has settled and worked that land for generations and would be a good thing for the County to do. Ms. Gentry stated she was hoping once the Board gets all the finding of facts in front of them, the Board would make certain conditions to move forward and get this asset working for the County in a positive way. She thanked the Board. Ms. Carole Pastore of 110 Green Mile Road, Rougemont stated she had questions and not sure if she was for or against the park. She said one of her questions is the stormwater fees will fund the development of the park, what fees will be imposed to maintain the Park? Will it be an additional tax burden on the county residents? Mr. Hankins responded and suggested that outside this hearing, she might want to contact County staff to discuss those matters noting the Board does not have a back/forth discussion. Ms. Pastore thanked Mr. Hankins noting she came in with her tax information and that was her question. She added an additional concern that if there were trails, would there be restrooms and who will maintain that? Ms. Pastore thanked the Board. Ms. Janna Kisner of 200 Semora Road, Roxboro stated she was representing the Person County Friends of the Parks. She said the Friends of the Parks were eager to begin volunteer work to prepare the trails, promote and support the opening of this new County Farm Park as soon as possible. She said it has been a long-time coming since it was originally approved in 2021 and the Friends of the Parks hopes that this Board will approve the remaining items needed to clear the path for this project to move forward. Ms. Kisner thanked the Board for its support of this new park to this point as it will be such a new asset as other people have pointed out tonight in their other remarks. Ms. Kisner said 2023 has been officially designated the North Carolina Year of the Trail with the goal of boosting awareness of trails as well as trail use across the state of North Carolina. Officials chose the year 2023 because it will be the 50th anniversary of the 1973 North Carolina Trail System Act. She added this would be a great year to get this project completed and opened to the public and to promote and celebrate that statewide momentum of the North Carolina Year of the Trail. Ms. Kisner urged the Board’s approval of it and stated agreement with all the other remarks that have been made in support of the asset of this park. 52 January 3, 2023 14 Speaking in opposition to the request by Person County Government, property owner of +281.5-acres (subject property), located at Tax Map and Parcel No. A76 15, to approve a Special Use Permit in an R (Residential) Zoning District for a passive recreational park use were the following: Mr. Tom Brown of 648 Cedar Laurel Lane, Rougemont stated he had been to a couple of the previous meetings about this planned park and he had a couple of questions. Mr. Brown said he was a finance professional so his questions were basically on finances for this operation. He said the woman just mentioned she had some financial concerns and he noted he has spoken with a number of people on the Board and others involved asking these questions and have yet to get an answer. Something such as how is it going to be funded; what is the annual costs; will taxes increase? Mr. Brown said that is obviously a concern just as a taxpayer in general. He said those that he has asked, including John and some other members, Ms. Gentry, they just didn’t know. Mr. Brown said he understood the money has been earmarked to build this park and that is fine; three to five years from now someone is going to have to pay for the upkeep and if that is the taxpayers, then that is something that needs to be considered. Mr. Brown said he has asked a number of people in this room and no one has the answers yet. He said Ms. Gentry made a nice statement, she said “it doesn’t cost us anything” right now he added and that’s about to change. Mr. Brown said it’s gonna cost a lot of money to upkeep that park. He said he lives across from the Flat River and has yet to see anybody out there noting he has been out there eight years. He stated he has never seen anybody on that property, never caused any damage; what he does see yes, there is a lot of wildlife. Is he opposed to the park in general, not really noting his concern was the financial aspect and that is something he thinks the Board should consider. He posed if the county has all this extra money laying around that is going to maintain this park, is there a better use for it? Mr. Brown said one thing that was mentioned was the traffic coming in and out of the park; the rate of speed on that road, outside that park is in excess of 50mph and on a tight corner with already a number of accidents this past year. How many more will there be because of it? He said that has not been addressed at all (any other traffic concerns). One final thing Mr. Brown asked if this was next to your house, would you want it put in? Mr. Brown thanked the Board. Mr. Al Pastore of 110 Green Mile Road, Rougemont said he lives not on the river, but really, really close (one property away). Mr. Pastore stated his concerns were twofold and that is watercraft and people pulling over on what is called on, what you call, the greenway on either side of the river. He asked if there was anything to prevent them from having campfires, and that sort of thing? Mr. Pastore said he did not expect an answer from the Board but just bringing this up. The other thing is water safety; he asked if a provision been made for people falling over; it’s a very rocky area, hitting rocks floating down the river. He asked has there been something put together for emergency services that can get to the river? Other than that, Mr. Pastore said the park is a great idea but was concerned. He asked if people are going to be coming up the river? Are people going to be able to hunt along the river in canoes that come from the park? He said those were his concerns and he hopes to get some information somewhere along the way. Mr. Pastore thanked the Board. 53 January 3, 2023 15 Mr. Hankins said he thought there were going to be other witnesses from staff and questioned if that was the time for that. Clerk to the Board said if that was the desire from the Board, then the answer is yes. Chairman Powell asked staff to proceed. Mr. Hill said he would talk on a number of different things that he heard tonight. He said he took notes on what he had heard were concerns. Mr. Hill said first and foremost a site plan, which is a preliminary plan to get a special use permit; it is not a construction document. Mr. Hill said when moving further into this process, the engineering firm will actually devise a construction document so that we can do things, like, go out to bid, and show specifics of what is detailed into that site. Having said that, Mr. Hill stated they will have to have a number of public meetings and they have a contract with the architecture firm to conduct a couple more public meetings so that all information gathered from the public can be put into the design in the complete construction document. Just to let you know, Mr. Hill said as we are talking about this application, you will see somethings in the application that are required, but if it’s not in the application, it is not required, for example, the fencing. Mr. Hill said the fencing is another contractual obligation that we have in the closing. So there are things that are contractual obligated in the closing and there are some things that are obligated in the actual site plan. Mr. Hankins asked Mr. Hill to go into a little more detail about what he just said. Mr. Hankins said it was his recollection that the county entered into an agreement with the abutting property owner and under that agreement, Mr. Tilley, conveyed to the County the access easement across his property to the County owned property, is that correct? Mr. Hill responded that is correct. Mr. Hankins stated that in that agreement, were there some provisions to which Mr. Hill said there were, noting one of the conditions was (he said he did not have that in front of him) fencing, barriers, signage, ways to keep people out, the riparian buffer, so on and so forth. Mr. Hill said it was a stack rail fence that was on the perimeter of the park; Mr. Hankins asked Mr. Hill for the entire perimeter of the park to which Mr. Hill said it was not the water section of the park where we would actually be doing more environmental harm putting up a fence near the river than just leaving it natural and using the money that we are going to get for the riparian buffer to take care of that project. Mr. Hill said there are obligations that we have contractually from the purchase that are not required to be in the special use permit application. Mr. Hankins said all those provisions in that agreement are binding contractual obligations to which Mr. Hill said correct. Based on this storm water program, Mr. Hill said we are obligated to other things that are not specifically in this application, as well. For example, the trail system is an educational trail system and we didn’t specifically put on the site plan that this particular overlook is educational or whatever. On the site plan, it is just an overlook or a shelter. Mr. Hill said if we were to get specific in it, we haven’t studied the eco system in there long enough to know what exactly we are educating people on, if that makes any sense. Mr. Hill said that is why it is not a construction document, it is preliminary. 54 January 3, 2023 16 Mr. Hill said he had a few notes that he wanted to talk about from the facts of finding. He said let me just go down the line, here. Before he got started also, he said he had a letter or an email correspondence from Michelle Wells who is the Executive Director of the North Carolina Recreation & Parks Association. He said he did not know if she would be considered an expert, but he would think being the executive of this association, that she knows what she is talking about. Mr. Hill said he would like to give this to Brenda (is that who takes this evidence)? Mr. Hankins stated that was permissible and wondered if Mr. Hill would like to, without reading the entire message, just give the gist of it. Mr. Hill said, so basically she touches on what parks, in general, do for communities, and a lot of that touches on the four facts of findings, so for example: parks and green spaces enhance the well-being of the residents, promoting physical activity, mental health, and of course their physical health and that touches on #1. Also #1, Mr. Hill stated crime was a big concern, everybody is talking about crime and we don’t want parks to bring crime into our back yard so on and so forth; he said he did not blame them, he did not want it either. Mr. Hill said she also speaks on that, on how there was numbers of studies out there, right now, and he said he has three studies for the Board to submit as evidence, one from the Indy Weekly, one from National Studies and then one from NC State University on how creating green spaces and parks in communities reduces the amount of crime in that particular community. He added it gives specific reasons why it reduces the crime with the main reason why is because you have good people using parks and they will tell on the bad people, long and short. Mr. Hill said she speaks on that particular point and also mentions, in here, where we are talking about finding of fact #3 where it talks about hurting the property values of the adjoining properties, and of course, I have three or four studies, in here that I want to submit as evidence that show that building a park and green space near communities or near a house actually increases the value of your property and it enhances the marketability of your property if you are wanting to sell it. Mr. Hill said he would leave this letter because it is some of the things that she touches on, not to mention, the other stuff, like how it helps your entire community and how it helps the communities around you with clean air, clean water; this is a stormwater nutrient load project, what this project is all about. Also, Mr. Hill stated he had a letter here from one of our Recreation Advisory Board members, Stephen Vaughan, who is also a member of the Friends of the Parks and he is talking specifically as a police officer; in this particular, where he works in Durham where parks have actually helped prevent crime, in some circumstances. The idea behind that is, just like all of your other parks in Person County, you have good people using your parks. Typically bad people don’t want to hang out where good people are because they get told on or they call John Hill or the law enforcement, so on and so forth. Since we started this project, Mr. Hill said there has been some crime reduction so when we first assessed this particular property, the group that was with me, I pointed out every one of the things that were taking place on the property illegally; Mr. Hill said he loved to hunt, but you have to hunt on your own property or you got to hunt on property that you are allowed to hunt on. He said they pointed out illegal hunting blinds, we pointed out alcohol being used and possibly other substances on that particular property. Since then, General Services has had a conversation with Wildlife, posted the property to make sure the hunting blinds have been 55 January 3, 2023 17 taken away from there, and also, his staff have been communicating with the Wildlife Resource Commission to make sure that before we do any preliminary work that they got on the property to survey the property and make sure that stuff was not happening. So, that in itself, we have started pushing out people that were doing what they weren’t supposed to been doing. Mr. Hill stated he also wanted to touch on emergencies as the gentleman had a question about the emergency action plan. He said of course, they were in talks with the Timberlake Fire Department and we will be having many conversations with the Sheriff’s Department, Highway Patrol, DOT and working on an actual protocol for emergencies. As a matter of fact, Jason, the Chief with the Timberlake Fire Department is ready to go with a plan. Mr. Hill said they do plan on having some type of hub, or something on the inside of this park so that they have actual equipment sitting in there, and be ready for an emergency, whenever the need. But of course, that will be in the construction document. A discussion about the traffic, Mr. Hill said the traffic was a very hot topic because everybody was talking about how traffic and how loaded up that road is during the day, every afternoon. Mr. Hill said he lived in Timberlake for 18 years and knows that road as well. He added he would let the engineer talk a little bit further on that particular thing. Mr. Hill said he had actually had a conversation just recently with DOT and already talking about the process of how once there is a park, if there is a park, that we can put processes in place to help slow down the traffic. He said he did get a comment from a rep in DOT that said there is a difference between concentrated traffic and intermittent traffic. For example, Mr. Hill said drive time is concentrated traffic, at 8:00am or 6:00am or whenever you going to work and of course, 5:00pm or 6:00pm when you coming back (that’s concentrated). Mr. Hill said park use, when you have a park that is passive, you will not have a concentrated group showing up there all at one time. For example, Mr. Hill said a concentrated use would be the Sportsplex at 6:00pm, that is a concentrated use. You will get 500 people showing up at 6:00pm to make that game. When you go mountain biking or hiking, you will only have one or two people in your car so you only have a car, or you may have a friend following you in a car so your load is very light and not making that much effect on the traffic volume. The other concern that was heard, not tonight, but in the other public meetings was to address was not so much the load but the speed on Moores Mill Road. Mr. Hill said right now Parks and Recreation does not have a park so we have nobody in that community right now advocating with DOT or law enforcement, or whatever, to talk about alleviating that speed issue. When Parks and Recreation does finally have a park, if they have a park, that is when we will have deeper conversations with law enforcement, with DOT to put protocols in place, i.e. signage, traffic stops, so on and so forth, to take care of that speed issue. He said it was not a volume issue, but a speed issue. He noted the comment was made during one of his DOT conversations that if you have speed issues on a road and you have a park entrance that you getting ready to enhance, or getting ready to put signage up for that park entrance, typically the person coming into the park is not going 65mph as they are the ones that are getting ready to stop, so of course, they are going to help the 56 January 3, 2023 18 situation by slowing traffic up on that particular road. Mr. Hill said that was not a scientific thing, that was him having a conversation with DOT. Mr. Hill said this plan is also; we have to think about the facts of finding, the public health thing noting it is in your master plan, your Comprehensive Master Plan for the County and also in the Comprehensive Master Plan for the Health Department that we do need more opportunity for exercise, health and wellness and recreation; this is a big opportunity and of course, he said he hasn’t met a situation yet where putting a park or a health or wellness amenity in a community has hindered the safety of that particular community. He said if anyone can tell him of one in Person County where it has hindered the safety, then he’s been here a long time and hasn’t seen it yet, so all it does is enhance the overall health. Mr. Hill asked if anyone had any questions for him. Commissioner Puryear asked Mr. Hill to address if there is going to be any outdoor lighting to which Mr. Hill stated there would not be any outdoor lighting. Mr. Hill said this is a passive park, just like a state park or a national park. Mr. Hill said when your gate closes, they want you to get the hint and you gotta be out. He added the signage will say, you have to be out, it will be a sunrise to sundown park. Mr. Hill said in his experiences with lighting for park areas, the more lighting you have, specific types of parks, passive parks, lighting brings crime. He said when you have lighting, you have more crime, as you have a hangout now because this thing is down the road at Moores Mill. When you have lighting in urban or inner-city park, for example, the Huck Sansbury, you are reducing crime, if that makes any sense. He said they go by the standards in talking to other parks’ professionals. Mr. Hill said criminals don’t want to cross the gate and go a mile into a dense wooded area that they cannot see in by foot. When the gates close and lights are off, they will get the picture. Another part of that, too, is also, is we still have to have a conversation with Wildfire and also the Sheriff’s Department. He said the lighting situation at the front gate will also depend on what they want as well. If they say, we are hearing there are problems down here, can you put us a light, so on and so forth, so when we pull up, it comes on or when somebody else pulls up, it might be a motion light; something to communicate with the Sheriff’s Department about. At this time, Mr. Hill said no. With this being a passive park, Commissioner Puryear asked Mr. Hill will any permits be issued for any concentrated events at the park that will conflict with the harmony of the community or traffic flow. Mr. Hill said community events, if there was a community event, it would be Parks and Recreation doing the event and would be something like very periodic, i.e., like Mayo Park 5K trail races every now and then, or the school, the RCS or the high school may want to do a cross country event on there; that would be the only types of events. At this time, Mr. Hill said they do not have a rental agreement nor a permit agreement or contract that the public can come in and actually rent. At this time, Mr. Hill said that was not in their plans. Commissioner Puryear said that was not the intent of the park to which Mr. Hill that was not the intent of the part; it is a passive park. 57 January 3, 2023 19 Vice Chairman Sims asked Mr. Hill about a couple things he touched on, one thing in particular he liked was that the posting that property would prevent illegal hunting and gives the game warden, Wildlife Resources Officers, the ability to go in and enforce that posting; the other thing that was mentioned was water safety noting his understanding that we would not allow, (of course, you can’t control because there is no fence), access to the river from that property as far as your trails and things of that nature. Vice Chairman Sims said the water safety was mentioned and not allow someone to take their canoes on that property and carry it down to the river, is that correct? Mr. Hill stated that was correct. At this time, Mr. Hill said you can see on the site plan, a 50ft. riparian buffer, with one of the #1 projects that we are trying to accomplish with the storm water program under the URNBA, and have increased that to 100ft. He noted we are only required 50ft. by Falls but we actually made it 100ft so we will have a primary and then we will have a secondary educational in some type of buffer there, but we don’t plan at this time, to start advertising canoe and kayak access. Mr. Hill said the plan has totally morphed, if you can say, from water to mountain biking and hiking so that is more our concentration at this time. Vice Chairman Sims said you can’t control people that put kayaks on the river and paddle up but can control any parking of boats, and the water using access to the park; something to address with that to which Mr. Hill confirmed. Vice Chairman Sims mentioned Commissioner Puryear mentioned about the lights noting the landowner that the County got the access to easement but if he wanted to put up lights on his property, obviously he has that right to which Mr. Hill said that is correct. Vice Chairman Sims said that would not be the County. Mr. Hill noted he has had a number of conversations with the landowner, Mr. Tilley and said we would work with Mr. Tilley any way we can. Vice Chairman Sims said someone mentioned earlier about a cemetery on the land and asked Mr. Hill if that was taken care of to which Mr. Hill said the plan, which is not seen on the site plan, is working with the Register of Deeds, and of course working with our GIS Sallie to clean up that cemetery and make that part of the trail system so that could be a historical part of the trail system, similar to what is at Mayo noting there is a cemetery on that particular trail system as well. Mr. Hill said that was our plan, our intentions and obligated by law to take care of that since it is on our property. Vice Chairman Sims said the other question that was brought up was an easement of a future quarry access road and asked Mr. Hill if that was a possibility at all or what are we looking at there? Mr. Hill said they have done some research on that and reached out to Martin Marietta and they said they do indeed have a legal access across that property but other conversations with other attorneys say that is not the case. Mr. Hill said we haven’t gone down the road long enough to really dig into that issue as we haven’t heard from Martin Marietta whether they will exercise anything or not and was sure, if they do, they will have to give us some kind of really long notice and go through some type of process with the Department of Environment & Natural Resources. In a worst case scenario, Mr. Hill says they do plan to move forward, he would assume they would have to go through special use permit process, like this because that easement goes through a park which goes through a residential section; he said he did not know how that works. Second part, Mr. Hill said the community may be upset about that so Martin Marietta may have to deal with that. Third thing Mr. Hill wanted to mention 58 January 3, 2023 20 is also in the agreement with Martin Marietta; if they were to exercise that agreement, they have to give the landowner full access to that easement, and that easement has to be paved within one year to DOT specification. Mr. Hill reiterated giving access for us to utilize it. He said that was way down the road and he did not anticipate, in his professional opinion, would have to do that, but never say never. But that is where we are with that Mr. Hill said. Vice Chairman Sims said he would hope not, that was a big deal to which Mr. Hill agreed noting the community would have a lot to say about that. Mr. Hankins posed some hypothetical questions to Mr. Hills about that easement that may or may not exist. Mr. Hankins asked hypothetically if this park is approved, developed and comes into operation and if Martin Marietta, a possible holder of an easement goes through the process and receives from the state a permit to operate the quarry, and then seeks to make sure of an easement partly across this county park property, would it be your intention, if you are still a county employee to work with that company to try to negotiate the least harmful path for such an easement so that it would have minimal impact on park operations and on the abutting property? Mr. Hill stated absolutely and that was one of the first contingencies we talked about in this project, first and foremost, if the company actually did want to come here, they want to be good stewards of the community and our plan would be to talk with that company and on the best plan to put that road in, like you said with minimal impact. Of course, on the other side of the ticket, Mr. Hill said we have a card in our pocket because this is a storm water program with the URNBA and DENR may have issue if they are not willing to work with us to put that easement in a manner that is good for the environment and for the people. Vice Chairman Sims stated one more question to bring up and mentioned from gentleman out here today about the financial responsibility down the road; he asked Mr. Hill what was the thoughts on that knowing we have grant money and things of that nature; what is the thoughts on what it will cost down the road for us to maintain that park as far as your planning five years, six years down the road, whatever? Mr. Hill stated he was actually will be submitting a budget number since we are in the budget process. He said he intention was that dealing with maintenance will probably, not wanting quote this close in the game, or this far out in the game but if you need to add additional part-time staff, you are looking at about $15,000 per year for one; this is a passive park, one of those pack it in, pack it out trash kind of a deals. Mr. Hill said they wanted to try to keep it like that natural national park, state park feel to it so he thinks their maintenance will be fairly minimal. He said they will do trash pickup everyday but of course, they won’t pick up the entire Moores Mill Road and specifically the right-of-way in and out the park. He said maintaining trails is not that expensive, with the biggest expense maybe the bathrooms, eventually, if that comes to fruition, if we put running water or electricity down there. Mr. Hill said he didn’t want to come up with that number, like here, but would be minimal. He said he would not be like maintaining the Sportsplex where you are cutting grass every day or you are fertilizing every day. He said the idea was to keep it as natural as possible and that is based on the IAIA program. 59 January 3, 2023 21 Mr. Hankins said he wanted to draw his attention to the first finding of fact criterion for public health or safety; he said one of the witnesses asked about restroom facilities and asked Mr. Hill to address the likely solution to that issue, please. Mr. Hill asked if the question will there be a restroom noting at this time the first phase you will probably gonna see a porta-john for a restroom facility; the second phase will be down the road, and it all depends too. Mr. Hill stated he would like to have a restroom facility there supporting the parking lot and the facility. Mr. Hill said he was proposing in our Parks & Recreation Trust Fund Grant this coming March/April deadline for a restroom facility to be put down there and already started to get cost figures to run electricity and started talk with environmental health about what it would take to put a restroom there, so on and so forth. Mr. Hankins stated, still on the first finding of fact, public safety, one of the witnesses asked about public safety and potential county liability along the waterfront and asked Mr. Hill to comment about what steps the county would likely take. Mr. Hill said they would be working with Timberlake Volunteer Fire Department and of course, our emergency services to come up with some type of protocol for an emergency that would take place on County property. Having said that, Mr. Hill said he was not saying there is not going to be an emergency and gave Mayo as an example, with a large shoreline; he said they deal with water access, deal with a lot of situations where people are utilizing water, but we don’t create an attractive nuisances is their big thing. For example, Mr. Hill said if we are saying, stay off the riparian buffer, this is an eco system here, utilize the observation decks to take a look at the water, then we are trying to prevent them from getting into the water. He added if they mention using a boat, Mr. Hill said the closest access from a trail to the nearest parking area to the water is almost half-mile/quarter-mile. Mr. Hill said you would have to pick up your kayak and if you are determined enough to walk quarter-mile with your kayak and go across the riparian buffer, which we will enhance, he couldn’t do anything for situations like that. That would be similar to a situation where someone would go down to Moores Mill Bridge noting he did not see any difference in liability between this park, emergency wise and Mayo Park. Following up, Mr. Hankins asked if it was fair to say that the staff has abundant experience with those potential waterfront public safety issues and potential County liability issues and learned lessons and engages in best practices to which Mr. Hill said that was correct as they do engage in best practices. Commissioner Palmer stated he knows the area well, and that the water gets really high there during wet-weather seasons noting he has seen it probably 10ft. over the banks before; he asked as it would be a 100 ft. buffer from the river to keep hikers out of the water to which Mr. Hill affirmed. Number two, Commissioner Palmer said we can’t control what happens on the other side of the river to which Mr. Hill responded correct. With no further questions, Mr. Hill thanked the Board. Mr. Andy Oakley said he used to work for the City of Roxboro and now works for Thomas and Hutton who are the Landscape Architect Engineers working on this project for the County. Mr. Oakley said you have heard a lot of testimony and a lot of people in favor 60 January 3, 2023 22 of this project and really don’t have anything to add to Mr. Hill’s testimony unless the Board has any questions for him. Mr. Oakley said the Planning Director has noted the two special conditions that he intended to meet all permit and environmental requirements including North Carolina Department of Transportation and Environmental Health. He added this was just one-step in a process. He asked the Board if they had any technical questions about the project itself. Mr. Hankins commented about procedures while the Board was still in the public hearing noting the Board, if wished, could close the public hearing and proceed to make a decision on the matter or the Board may, if wished, continue the public hearing to a future meeting, if, for example, the Board were to ask the staff to review the materials that have been submitted, and in particularly suggestions for other conditions and ask staff to speak again at the continued public hearing and inform the Board whether in response to the comments and materials submitted, the staff may wish to recommend additional conditions. He said it was up to the Board on how to proceed. Chairman Powell said he wasn’t sure if that would come after the closing of the public hearing. Mr. Hankins said if the Board were to do the second option, he suggested the Board to continue the hearing and then have staff testify again as part of the public hearing. Chairman Powell said a continuation is probably good and did not think any of the Board are opposed to this project noting he keeps hearing some of the same concerns as noted in the public meetings prior to this and still don’t have any answers to those questions so that would be his suggestion to continue the public hearing with the question information back to the Board so to make a decision. He added this park would not maintain itself, not control what is going on in there; the County will have to do that; traffic control, sure, but how? Chairman Powell said the Board needed specifics and needs directions on how to move forward with this and just at this point, does not have it. Again, Chairman Powell said he was not opposed to the park itself but if they were going to do it, he wanted to do it right because it is a County liability so the Board was left holding the bag, so to speak with some of the issues aren’t addressed and something does happen down there, we might have thoughts on how we will maintain it, thoughts on how we are going to control from law enforcement side, traffic side, whatever it may be or restroom facilities, all these things are hypothetical and unanswered. He said that would be his recommendation, not knowing about the rest of the Board. Vice Chairman Sims stated he had questions. Was there a timeline or anything of that nature that will affect any grants or any money coming in, any deadline to look at as far as how soon we need to meet again to talk about this? Mr. Hankins said probably a question for Mr. Hill. Mr. Hill stated their first application review is going to be in March for the Parks & Recreation Trust Fund Grant so he was hoping to have the application in place with all of the cost estimates, so on and so forth, that would include things like restrooms, parking areas, traffic signage, all of those things. Then, on top of that, Mr. Hill said they recently received $100,000 with Piedmont Conservation Council and I will have to figure out what their timeline is for starting that particular project as well, and that is for the riparian buffer. He added if we don’t hit that mark, then our opportunity for that grant which is in the amount of close to $400K, then we are looking at next year, pushing it back. Mr. Hankins asked 61 January 3, 2023 23 Mr. Hill if the Board were to decide this at the next meeting on February 17th, correction, January 17th, to which Mr. Hill said it would have to be. Commissioner Puryear questioned what improvements and staff recommendations and direction was this Board asking if the Board delayed the public hearing; what are we asking the applicant to take a more in-depth view of, i.e., such as a traffic study or an environmental study, questions, that may take more than two weeks to come up with answers. Commissioner Puryear said he could only speak for himself and respected Chairman Powell’s opinion as well. Commissioner Puryear stated Mr. Hill and all the witnesses answered all the direct questions as they were presented to them. If the direction of this Board to continue this public hearing, Commissioner Puryear asked what direction are we asking the staff to do and two weeks is a very limited timeframe, especially with the great opportunities are in front of us as well. Mr. Hankins said the Board, as he said, may do whatever the Board wishes, act now or continue the hearing if the Board wants to do that until the next meeting. He said at least one of the witnesses did recommend some things and he put it in writing that could be construed as suggestions for additional conditions. Mr. Hankins questioned whether the Board wishes the staff to review those suggestions and report back to the Board in a continued public hearing noting they do not have to do that. Commissioner Puryear asked Mr. Hankins if he was referring to Mr. Allen’s comments to which Mr. Hankins affirmed. Commissioner Puryear asked Mr. Hill if his staff and the applicant’s staff be able to address these facts of opinion that were presented by one of the witnesses tonight by the time of the Board’s next meeting takes place on January 17th to which Mr. Hill said he has not had the chance to look at it and asked if he could take a look, which Commissioner Puryear affirmed. Mr. Hill said he would have time to do a detailed report but he felt he has addressed these as discussing the traffic impact issue and started that ball rolling with the DOT. Mr. Hill said they do not have a park there yet so there was no reason to even have a conversation with law enforcement yet to coordinate some type of protocol schedules or advocate for them to do traffic control for the park. He said those are protocols that typically take place during the development of a park and that is one of those imponderables that you don’t know how to fix it until you are dealing directly with it. Mr. Hill said the Board could do a traffic study all day long noting he has done traffic studies in town, specifically for the rec center, etc., looked at Depot Street, looked at others, those things are only telling you what the counts are so if a traffic study was done, it’s just going to tell me how many people go down that road. Mr. Hill said he and Andy actually talked about this this past week about the traffic study. Mr. Oakley said this project would not require any kind of traffic study from DOT; the volume of traffic is so low, they consider it almost negligible. The average daily traffic on Moores Mill Road is over 2,000 cars a day and this park would generate probably less than 40, so DOT will only be involved in reviewing the driveway permit and it is not even considered to be a commercial driveway from DOT’s perspective. 62 January 3, 2023 24 Vice Chairman Sim stated his concern was that he did not want to see the County lose the opportunity for $400K for this project and time was important here. He asked how in-depth would they go into the findings trying to get answers and all of sudden the timeline; he does not want to lose the money or the opportunity, so, anyway. Mr. Hill said they also addressed the adjacent zoning, the Martin Marietta and we also talked about the cemetery, the plans to turning the cemetery into part of the history of Person County and part of that trail system. Mr. Hill said they discussed the lights and the noise as Person County already has a noise ordinance but we discussed the lights with no plan for a lighting system until after they talk to law enforcement; he did not anticipate they will have lights even after they talk to law enforcement unless they actually want them. If they do want them, then we have a conversation with the landowner. Mr. Hill said they talked about the effect of the financial of the devalue of property, #3 of the adjoining and abutting properties, and has given the Board some studies that going ahead and illustrating how it will enhance the property value. Also, creating a riparian buffer project and enhancing that riparian buffer will actually help the property owners on the other side of the river as well, as the river will be enhanced as well. Mr. Hill said fences were addressed as well as a contractual obligation based on the purchase. Regarding the collaboration, Mr. Hill said they were going to have two more public meetings that the engineering firms will conduct for public information and take the information already talked about through two public meetings and make sure consistent with what we are hearing. Mr. Hill said looking at the site plan, in his professional opinion they have addressed concerns above and beyond even in their preliminary non-specific site plan addressed those. Mr. Hill said in the purchase agreement, that has been addressed as well. Vice Chairman Sims stated agreement with Commissioner Puryear to proceed and go ahead and have a vote. Mr. Hankins stated the proper motion would be to close the public hearing. A motion was made by Commissioner Puryear and carried 5-0 to close the public hearing for Petition SUP-01-23, a request by Person County Government, property owner of +281.5-acres (subject property), located at Tax Map and Parcel No. A76 15, to approve a Special Use Permit in an R (Residential) Zoning District for a passive recreational park use. 63 January 3, 2023 25 CONSIDERATION TO GRANT OR DENY REQUEST BY PERSON COUNTY GOVERNMENT, PROPERTY OWNER OF ±281.5-ACRES (SUBJECT PROPERTY), LOCATED AT TAX MAP AND PARCEL NO. A76 15, TO APPROVE SPECIAL USE PERMIT SUP-01-23 IN AN R (RESIDENTIAL) ZONING DISTRICT FOR A PASSIVE RECREATIONAL PARK USE: A motion was made by Commissioner Puryear and carried 5-0 to approve Special Use Permit (SUP-01-23) for the County Farm site for a passive recreational park use, with the following conditions: 1. The applicant obtains all required permits from the County Environmental Health Department, Planning & Zoning Department, and Inspections Department. 2. The applicant obtains required permits from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and any other agency to achieve construction, operations, and maintenance of the Subject Property.” INFORMAL COMMENTS: There were no comments from the public. DISCUSSION/ADJUSTMENT/APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA: A motion was made by Commissioner Puryear and carried 5-0 to approve the Consent Agenda with the following items: A. Approval of Minutes of December 5, 2022, B. Budget Amendment #12, and C. Grant Opportunity for Feasibility Study of paved trails and pedestrian connectivity in Person County 64 January 3, 2023 26 NEW BUSINESS: MRF EXPANSION FEASIBILITY STUDY PRESENTATION: Amanda Everett, Person Industries (PI) Director introduced Mr. Matt Todd and Ms. Sherry Yarkosky with Resource Recycling Systems (RRS) and Mr. Jeff Marxreiter with Tina Bernard Designs to present, discuss, and answer questions regarding the MRF Feasibility Study and building addition for PI/Person County Recycling Center (PCRC) merger. Ms. Everett said the MRF Feasibility Study was performed due to the outdated machinery at PCRC, for a more effective business model for MRF, as well as to improve recycling flow. Relative to the merger of PI/PCRC, Ms. Everett stated the facility lease of the current Person Industries location at 601 N. Madison Blvd., Roxboro will expire May 25, 2025. Not including the building purchase price, Ms. Everett noted close to $1,000,000 of updates and repairs are needed to outfit the current location for safety, ADA, and to provide adequate services. Merging the two locations creates the ability to utilize staff more efficiently as well as provide additional production and recycling based jobs for adults with disabilities. Mr. Todd of RRS shared the following slides of the presentation with the Board: 65 January 3, 2023 27 66 January 3, 2023 28 Ms. Yarkosky with RRS described the project background, the technical evaluation, technical requirements and the cost estimates. 67 January 3, 2023 29 Ms. Yarkosky updated the estimated costs to $1.3M with the addition of a truck scales and conveyor. 68 January 3, 2023 30 69 January 3, 2023 31 70 January 3, 2023 32 Mr. Marxreiter of Tina Bernard Designs provided a brief description of the schematic design integrating 20,000 sq. ft. to the current design of the Recycling Center facility. 71 January 3, 2023 33 72 January 3, 2023 34 Chairman Powell noted the value of the vocational services to the community’s citizens with special needs. He asked the presenters if there was a way to make this service more self-sustainable to which Mr. Todd said that was a myth and recycling was more of a service, a utility from which recycling materials can be sorted and sold as a commodity. 73 January 3, 2023 35 PROPOSAL FOR PERSON COUNTY FIRE PREVENTION AND PROTECTION ORDINANCE: Adam Morris, Person County Fire Marshal presented a proposal to the Board for a Person County Fire Prevention and Protection Ordinance. He said the proposed Fire Prevention and Protection Ordinance outlines the duties of the Fire Marshal’s Office as well as explains procedures for enforcement of fire codes, inspection frequency, civil penalties, false fire alarms, open burning, permits, Knox Boxes and response to hazardous materials incidents. Mr. Morris introduced the proposed ordinance for discussion and input from the Board. He noted the County Attorney, the County Manager and the Office of the State Fire Marshal have reviewed the proposed ordinance. Mr. Morris stated the only documentation on file with the Office of the State Fire Marshal is a letter, dated August 12, 1992, which lists the frequency of various types of inspections. The County also has in place a False Fire Alarm Ordinance and a Resolution Authorizing the Fire Marshal to Implement a Local Burn Ban, both of which are included in the proposed new Fire Prevention and Protection Ordinance and if adopted, would be recommended to be repealed. Following approval by the Board of Commissioners, the new ordinance would be submitted to the North Carolina Building Code Council for approval in March 2023. County Attorney Ellis Hankins stated the draft ordinance was before the Board for review, consideration at this time or at a future meeting; he said a public hearing was not required for approval of this ordinance however, the Board may schedule a public hearing if so desired. A motion was made by Commissioner Puryear and carried 5-0 to call a public hearing to be scheduled and advertised for the Board’s February 6, 2023 meeting to hear public comments related to the proposed Fire Prevention and Protection Ordinance. 2023 COMMISSIONER COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS: Chairman Powell presented the 2023 Commissioner Committee Assignments for approval. 74 January 3, 2023 36 Person County Board of Commissioners 2023 COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS Chairman Gordon Powell Airport Commission Board of Health Economic Development Commission Research Triangle Regional Partnership Vaya Health Regional Board Vice Chairman Derrick Sims COG Board Environmental Issues Advisory Committee Fire Chief’s Association Region K Workforce Development Board UDO Steering Committee Commissioner Kyle Puryear Board of Equalization and Review Home & Community Care Block Grant Adv. Committee Juvenile Crime Prevention Council Library Board Local Emergency Planning Committee Person County Senior Center Advisory Council Commissioner Charlie Palmer Community Services Block Grant Advisory Council Extension Advisory Committee Person Area Transportation System Board Recreation Advisory Board Commissioner Jason Thomas Animal Services Advisory Committee Person County Partnership for Children Kerr Tar RPO – TAC Social Services Board Upper Neuse River Basin Association Presented for approval on January 3, 2023 A motion was made by Commissioner Puryear and carried 5-0 to accept Chairman Powell’s recommendation for the 2023 Commissioner Committee Assignments, as presented. 75 January 3, 2023 37 APPOINTMENTS TO BOARDS AND COMMITTEES: Clerk to the Board Brenda B. Reaves presented to the Board interested citizen and agency applications for consideration for appointment to boards and committees in response to an ad published in the local newspaper and on the county website. Ms. Reaves requested the Board to nominate for appointment as deemed appropriate. Adult Care Home Community Advisory Committee 1-Year Initial Term; 3-Year Reappointment: 2 positions available – no applications Agricultural Advisory Board A new advisory board established by the Board’s adoption of the Farmland Preservation Ordinance on Oct. 17, 2022. The county solicited for interested individuals for the broadest possible representation of the geographical regions of Person County and to represent, to the extent possible, all segments of agricultural production existing within the county. For consideration per the ordinance requirements, the applicants are to be a Person County citizen or a landowner. 2-Year Term: 2 positions for county residents or landowners 3-Year: 2 positions for county residents or landowners 4-Year Term: 3 positions for county residents or landowners Applications for consideration for a staggered 2/3/4-year terms included: Cal Berryhill; farm operator, field crops, tobacco, cattle Norman Boyette (does not qualify per the ordinance as a Person Co. citizen and/or landowner) Roy S. Carver, III: farm operator, tobacco, beef cattle production, hay production and sales Fred Fox, Jr.; part-time cattle and hog farmer Hunter Thomas; farm operator, tobacco, hog, field crops Bruce Whitfield; farm operator, firewood, hay and field crops A motion was made by Commissioner Puryear and carried 5-0 to appoint Cal Berryhill to the Agricultural Advisory Board for a 4-year term. A motion was made by Vice Chairman Sims and carried 5-0 to appoint Hunter Thomas to the Agricultural Advisory Board for a 4-year term. A motion was made by Commissioner Puryear and carried 5-0 to appoint Fred Fox, Jr. to the Agricultural Advisory Board for a 4-year term. A motion was made by Chairman Powell and carried 5-0 to appoint Roy S. Carver, III to the Agricultural Advisory Board for a 3-year term. A motion was made by Commissioner Thomas and carried 5-0 to appoint Bruce Whitfield to the Agricultural Advisory Board for a 3-year term. 76 January 3, 2023 38 Airport Commission 3-Year Term: 1 citizen at-large position available; Dusty Wall requested reappointment 1 position for a licensed pilot that flies at least monthly, holds current FAA pilot and flight medical certificates (light sports pilot and student FAA licenses do not qualify): Steven Watkins requested reappointment A motion was made by Chairman Powell and carried 5-0 to reappoint Dusty Wall as the citizen at-large representative and Steven Watkins as the licensed pilot representative to the Airport Commission, each for a 3-year term. Board of Adjustment 3-Year Term: 1 position for a citizen at-large Cynthia Lynch requested reappointment A motion was made by Commissioner Puryear and carried 5-0 to reappoint Cynthia Lynch to the Board of Adjustment for a 3-year term. Environmental Issues Advisory Committee 3-Year Term: 1 position for a citizen residing in each of the following townships: Cunningham: Stephen Evans requested appointment Holloway: No applications Mt. Tirzah: David Thomas requested appointment A motion was made by Commissioner Thomas and carried 5-0 to appoint Stephen Evans as the Cunningham Township representative on the Environmental Issues Advisory Committee for a 3-year term. A motion was made by Commissioner Puryear and carried 5-0 to appoint David Thomas as the Mt. Tirzah Township representative on the Environmental Issues Advisory Committee for a 3-year term. Industrial Facilities and Pollution Control Financing Authority 6-Year Term: 7 positions available – no applications 77 January 3, 2023 39 Juvenile Crime Prevention Council 1-Year Initial Term: 2-Year Reappointment 2 positions available for a citizen under the age of 21(one may be a member of the public representing the interests of families of at-risk juveniles): no applications, 2-Year Term: 1 position available for a Juvenile Defense Attorney: no applications, 1 position for a substance abuse professional: Martha Pickett requested reappointment 1 position for County Manager’s designee: Katherine Cathey requested reappointment And, up to 5 citizens-at-large positions: no applications A motion was made by Commissioner Puryear and carried 5-0 to reappoint Martha Picket as the substance abuse professional representative and Katherine Cathey, County Manager to the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council, each for a 2-year term. Kerr Tar Regional Council of Government Board 1 citizen-at-large alternate position representing private sector business – no applications Nursing Home Advisory Committee 1-Year Initial Term: 3-Year Reappointment; 4 positions available – no applications Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee A new advisory committee established by the Board on October 3, 2022 to discuss opioid related health concerns impacting the residents of Person County and to advise the Board on options to expend the funds to remedy opioid impacts as well as to plan and host an annual meeting open to the public to receive input on the proposed uses of the settlement funds and to encourage collaboration between local governments. Representatives from following community agencies request appointment: Emergency Services: Thomas E. Schwalenberg, EMS Director Sheriff’s Office: Benjamin Massey, Narcotics Sergeant Person Co. Schools: Jenna Regan, Sr. Exec. Director of Student Support & Secondary Education Roxboro Police Dept.: Chief David Hess Health Dept.: Janet O. Clayton, Public Health Director Mental Health: Elliot Clark, Vaya Community Relations Regional Director Person Memorial Hospital: Kasey Sharp OQuinn, Director of Pharmacy Dept. of Social Services: Carlton Paylor, Social Services Director 2 citizens-at-large with lived experience (personal or family member): no applications 1 substance use treatment provider representative: no applications 1 employer/business leader representative: no applications 1 representative from a community group working on opioid-related concerns: no applications 78 January 3, 2023 40 A motion was made by Vice Chairman Sims and carried 5-0 to appoint the following to the Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee or an unspecified term: Thomas Schwalenberg, Emergency Services representative Benjamin Massey, Sheriff’s Office representative Jenna Regan, Person County Schools District representative Chief David Hess, Roxboro Police Department representative Janet Clayton, Health Department representative Elliot Clark, Mental Health representative Kasey Sharp OQuinn, Person Memorial Hospital representative Carlton Paylor, Social Services representative PATS Transportation Advisory Board 3-Year Term: 1 position available for an occupational affiliation representative for a medical related service and 1 citizen-at-large position: no applications Clerk to the Board noted an application was received from Mr. Froncello Bumpass however his term was valid to December 31, 2023 noting no need to reappoint at this time. Commissioner Thomas requested to recuse himself from the vote for appointments for the Tourism Development Authority and the Workforce Development Board to which the remaining commissioners consented. Tourism Development Authority 3-Year Term: 1 position for a representative of a hotel/motel/B&B/lodging Claudia Berryhill, DVM requests reappointment 1-Year Term: 1 position available for a citizen at-large Autumn Gentry requested appointment Allison Thomas requested appointment A motion was made by Chairman Powell and carried 4-0 to appoint Claudia Berryhill (hotel/motel/B&B, lodging representative) for a 3-year term to the Tourism Development Authority. A motion was made by Commissioner Puryear and carried 4-0 to appoint Autumn Gentry, citizen at-large, for a 1-year term to the Tourism Development Authority. Workforce Development Board 1-Year Initial Term/2-Year Reappointment 1 position for a member or an officer of organized labor: no applications 1 position for a business/industry representative: Allison Thomas requested appointment 79 January 3, 2023 41 A motion was made by Commissioner Puryear and carried 4-0 to appoint Allison Thomas to the Workforce Development Board for an initial 1-year term as a business and industry representative. UTILITY EASEMENT REQUEST FROM CITY OF ROXBORO: General Services Director Ray Foushee stated the Roxboro western sewer project crosses Highway 57 at the County’s Senior Center property. The proposed sewer line crosses under Hwy 57 and follows the property line between the Senior Center and TKTK Associates property, goes around the former Pepsi property, and eventually on to Leasburg Road. Just as it crosses Hwy 57, the sewer line will be just inside the Senior Center property, but as it proceeds down the property line, it will be mostly on TKTK Associates property. For Board consideration, and if the easement agreement is approved, Chairman Powell, Clerk Reaves, and a Notary will need to sign the necessary documents, including the Permanent Utility Easement as presented. A motion was made by Commissioner Puryear and carried 5-0 to approve Utility Easement Request from the City of Roxboro, as presented. 80 January 3, 2023 42 81 January 3, 2023 43 82 January 3, 2023 44 83 January 3, 2023 45 COURTHOUSE WIRELESS EXPANSION (WAVE) PROJECT: Ray Foushee, General Services Director presented the Courthouse Wireless Expansion (WAVE) Project noting Network Services was embarking on another transformational technology deployment to dramatically expand AOC’s wireless capabilities statewide, known also as the WAVE project. Mr. Foushee stated where WIFI was only available in the courtrooms currently, WAVE would expand that service to all Judicial office space within the courthouse campus covering the Clerk of Court offices, District Attorney Offices, the Guardian ad Litem offices, Magistrate and any other judicial office space, and allow staff much more mobility. Mr. Foushee noted this expansion of WIFI would not cover large common areas or county office space through this initiative. In the case of Person County’s Courthouse, most areas of the courthouse will be included except the Probation areas on the ground and 1st floor. Although the cost of the actual equipment will be covered by the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts (NCAOC), individual counties are responsible for the installation of the necessary communication cabling. However, the NCAOC is willing to manage the contract with a vendor for the installation if the Board approves the project and County will reimburse the NCAOC for actual expenses once the project is complete. In Person County, the estimated installation cost for the courthouse was $32,900 however; a $5,000 contingency was requested for increased costs or for unforeseen challenges with the older facility. This brings the request up to $37,900. The Finance Director recommended the use of Undesignated Contingency as the source of funds for this expenditure. Upon approval, the Finance Director will amend the budget as follows: LINE ITEM # LINE ITEM DESCRIPTIONS EXPENDITURE BUDGET 1009910‐499100 Undesignated Contingency (37,900) 1004260‐435400 Gen Svcs‐Special Bldg Projects 37,900 Clerk of Court Deborah Barker was present in the audience, for questions; she told the Board that the future of the courts includes e-court and paperless filings and the WAVE initiative was a step closer. Ms. Barker thanked the Board for its consideration and requested approval of the funds for this project. A motion was made by Commissioner Palmer and carried 5-0 to approve the use of Undesignated Contingency up to $37,900 as the source of funds for reimbursement to the NCAOC after successful installation of the cabling and equipment related to the Courthouse Wireless Expansion (WAVE) project. 84 January 3, 2023 46 CHAIRMAN’S REPORT: Chairman Powell had no report. MANAGER’S REPORT: County Manager, Katherine Cathey reported the following: Commissioner Thomas’ orientation has taken place over the last few weeks with conclusion with the Essentials of Government course next week. Expressed her appreciation of the Board and those serving on boards and committees noting the importance of participating to assure a quorum to conduct business. She recognized Person County’s Emergency Services Director, Thomas Schwalenberg to share a few comments. Mr. Schwalenberg recalled the weekend of December 23rd, Person County experienced dangerously frigid temperatures as part of an arctic cold front that impacted the entire nation. Nighttime temperatures dropped into the single digits as a storm front moved through the area which was further impacted by high winds causing power disruptions due to downed trees on power lines. Prior to the storm moving in, staff from Person County and the City of Roxboro met and Prior to the storm moving in, staff from Person County and the City of Roxboro met and developed a plan to open two warming centers for citizens, if needed. A plan was to open two warming centers that would stay open for 36 hours during the coldest parts of the storm and then be reevaluated based on citizen need. A message was sent out to our first responder community to see if they had capacity to open their buildings up as warming centers. Roxboro/Person County Rescue Squad and Hurdle Mills Volunteer Fire Department answered the call and agreed to open their buildings and staff them over this very cold holiday weekend. Ceffo Volunteer Fire Department brought hot food to the two warming centers in case citizens needed a meal. Other volunteer fire departments did offer to open their buildings if the power outages lasted longer than anticipated and citizens needed refuge. Mr. Schwalenberg reported two individuals did come to the warming center at Roxboro/Person County Rescue Squad that needed additional assistance besides a warming center. One person heated their home by a kerosene heater and had run out of kerosene and did not have the means to purchase more. A member of Person County Emergency Medical Services went and purchased a container and filled it with kerosene for the individual so they would be able to heat their home for the night. This person, having expended all their kerosene, showed up the next night and a member of the Rescue Squad paid to put them up in a hotel for the night. Another individual, that is homeless, showed up at Roxboro Fire Station #2 on that Friday looking for shelter from the cold. The Captain at that station, and his crew, assessed the situation and decided to pay to put him up in a local hotel for the night. On the way to the hotel they stopped and bought him a hot meal. A member of Person County Emergency Services then voluntarily covered the cost for his hotel room on Saturday and Sunday and brought him food and other provisions. On Christmas Day they 85 January 3, 2023 47 took him a hot meal and spent some time with him so he would not be alone on Christmas. They even allowed him to use their cellular phone so he could contact his family in California and let them know he was safe. A member of Roxboro/Person County Rescue then paid for an additional three nights at the hotel for this man while behind the scenes Emergency Services worked to identify services for this homeless individual. Eventually, the gentleman was linked together with Freedom House, Person County Social Services and the Mobile Crisis Team to address his needs to the best of their abilities. Mr. Schwalenberg quoted Mother Teresa “None of us, including me, ever do great things. But we can do small things, with great love, and together we can do something wonderful.” He added that on Christmas weekend we saw people come together to help those less fortunate. Many of these were public safety first responders stepping in to care for their community as that is what they are called to do. These individuals are not looking to be recognized by name but the Manager and I felt it was important tonight to tell you their story. COMMISSIONER REPORT/COMMENTS: Vice Chairman Sims asked the County Manager to update the board on the status of the broadband grants from the state. County Manager Katherine Cathey noted that all counties with broadband providers awarded a grant are await the state to finalize the agreement. Vice Chairman Sims also asked for an update on the zoning permits. Commissioner Palmer had to report. Commissioner Thomas thanked the County Manager for her time and help guiding him through the orientation process. He challenged his fellow commissioners to visit the recycling center to see the facility and the plan noting Person Industries is an important asset to the community. Commissioner Puryear request an update from the County Manager on the Inspections’ process. 86 January 3, 2023 48 ADJOURNMENT: A motion was made by Commissioner Puryear and carried 5-0 to adjourn the meeting at 9:47pm. _____________________________ ______________________________ Brenda B. Reaves Gordon Powell Clerk to the Board Chairman (Draft Board minutes are subject to Board approval). 87 January 17, 2023 1 PERSON COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS JANUARY 17, 2023 MEMBERS PRESENT OTHERS PRESENT Gordon Powell Katherine M. Cathey, County Manager C. Derrick Sims Brenda B. Reaves, Clerk to the Board Kyle W. Puryear S. Ellis Hankins, County Attorney Charlie Palmer Jason Thomas The Board of Commissioners for the County of Person, North Carolina, met in regular session on Monday, January 17, 2023 at 9:00am in the Person County Office Building Auditorium located at 304 S. Morgan Street, Roxboro, NC. Chairman Powell called the meeting to order and offered an invocation. Commissioner Palmer led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance. DISCUSSION/ADJUSTMENT/APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Chairman Powell advised due to illness of the presenter that item #2, Vaya Health Update and Dashboard Presentation should be removed from the agenda. A motion was made by Vice Chairman Sims and carried 5-0 to remove the Vaya Health Update and Dashboard Presentation from the agenda and to approve the agenda as adjusted. INFORMAL COMMENTS: The following individual appeared before the Board to make informal comments: Mr. Frank Stoltmann of 131 Rosewood Drive, Roxboro and a local residential builder asked the Board the status of the permitting software, Energov, noting Person County was the only county in this area that did not have online submission of permits. Mr. Stoltmann stated his concerns related to the future of business in the County with his opinion of a decline in residential homes being built or planned; he asked the Board what is being done to bring new business to the county, and in particular, to the Mega Park. 88 January 17, 2023 2 DISCUSSION/ADJUSTMENT/APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA: A motion was made by Commissioner Puryear and carried 5-0 to approve the Consent Agenda with the following items: A. Budget Amendment #13, and B. Written Decision Approving Special Use Permit Application SUP-01-23 Approving a Passive Recreational Park on +281.5-acres located at Tax Map and Parcel No. A76 owned by Person County NEW BUSINESS: TELAMON/TRC NOTICE OF INTENT TO RE-APPLY FOR COMMUNITY SERVICES BLOCK GRANT PROGRAM FISCAL YEAR 2023-24 APPLICATION FOR FUNDING: Jodi Springer, Career Advisor for the Community Service Block Grant (CSBG) with Telamon Corporation provided an overview of the mission of the program was to increase self-sufficiency among from program participants (age 18 years old and above) with the goal of participants rising above poverty level. Ms. Springer said program funds were primarily used for basic educational attainment, employment supported related expenses such as books, day care, uniform costs as well as emergency assistance. Latorya Carter, Program Manager for the CSBG program provided notice of intent to re-apply for CSBG funding from the NC Office of Economic Opportunity for program year 2023-2024. This funding will allow Project PRIDE to continue to provide support to low-income residents in North Carolina counties of Caswell, Person and Rockingham who are 125% of the Federal Poverty Level or below. The CSBG program application for funding (planning process narrative) was included in the board agenda. Ms. Carter said the CSBG funds requested was $304,725. The Board extended its gratitude for what the CSBG was doing to assist individuals in Person County. AMENDMENTS TO THE ANIMAL SERVICES ORDINANCE: Kelli Oakley, Animal Services Director presented to the Board amendments to the Animal Services Ordinance. Ms. Oakley stated Person County Animal Services (PCAS) Board and staff proposed to discontinue the Spay and Neuter Voucher Program. The voucher system began as a way to offer low-cost spay and neuter services for adopted animals. Until recently, when an animal was adopted through PCAS, they were issued a voucher for the spay/neuter services that covered the costs of the surgery and either Feline Leukemia/FIV testing or Canine Heartworm Testing. Ms. Oakley said the department primarily worked with two local veterinary clinics to offer this service for adopters. 89 January 17, 2023 3 Currently, the department works with four animal hospitals (two in Person County and two outside of the county). Adoption fees are $150 ($50 of the fee covers the vaccinations and services provided at the shelter and $100 is paid to the participating veterinary clinics for the spay/neuter services). Ms. Oakley stated due to ownership changes, the rising costs of supplies, medications and the increasing veterinary staffing shortage nationwide, it has become difficult for the veterinary practices to maintain this service and only receive $100 as payment. All the hospitals recently requested that PCAS allow the voucher to still pay $100, but that it only pays towards the costs of surgery, not the costs in full, requiring the adopters to pay the remaining balance. The department agreed to this temporarily and communicated that PCAS would revisit the voucher system. With this new process in place, PCAS have only had one pet returned for inability to afford surgery, and this was still after providing more resources to assist. Along with the requests from the hospitals, PCAS received lots of feedback on the adoption fees. PCAS adoption fees are much higher than most shelters in surrounding counties, and it has begun to affect the number of adoptions. PCAS tested lower adoption fees over the past 2-3 months and have seen a significant positive response from the public and increased adoptions as a result. Ms. Oakley proposed that PCAS discontinue the voucher system, and to permanently reduce adoption fees ($50 or less). The adopters will still be required to have the pets spayed or neutered within a specific time frame (currently three months due to scheduling backups with veterinary practices), and PCAS will provide information on low- cost options available in the area, if needed. Ms. Oakley requested the Board to approve the proposed Animal Services Ordinance amendment to discontinue the program and require adopters to complete spay/neuter at a vet of their choice. For the Animal Services Ordinance to be adopted at the meeting at which it is first introduced, this ordinance must receive unanimous approval of the Board. If the ordinance does not receive the unanimous approval, it shall be considered at the next regular meeting of the Board at which time a majority of the votes cast will determine if the ordinance is amended, as presented. A motion was made by Vice Chairman Sims and carried 5-0 to approve the amendments to the Animal Services Ordinance, as presented. 90 January 17, 2023 4 91 January 17, 2023 5 92 January 17, 2023 6 93 January 17, 2023 7 94 January 17, 2023 8 95 January 17, 2023 9 96 January 17, 2023 10 97 January 17, 2023 11 98 January 17, 2023 12 99 January 17, 2023 13 100 January 17, 2023 14 101 January 17, 2023 15 102 January 17, 2023 16 103 January 17, 2023 17 104 January 17, 2023 18 REPORT ON THE NC UTILITIES COMMISSION CARBON PLAN ORDER: Patrick Buffkin, Person County’s retained outside counsel was present to provide a concise briefing about the NC Utilities Commission (NCUC) Carbon Plan Order and the implication and options for Person County. Mr. Buffkin shared the following presentation titled “Update on County’s Advocacy Efforts related to Duke’s Carbon Plan.” 105 January 17, 2023 19 106 January 17, 2023 20 107 January 17, 2023 21 108 January 17, 2023 22 Mr. Buffkin stated this Board recognized the potential impacts to Person County and has worked six to eight months to protect the County’s interest in recognizing these generating plants represent significant investments, tax value, employment and ancillary economic development features of the local economy noting that both Mayo and Roxboro plants are key generation assets for Duke Energy providing reliable and economical power for its customers. 109 January 17, 2023 23 As Mr. Buffkin summarized, the County intervened and pursued three items: 1) to extend the proposed closure dates for the Mayo and Roxboro coal-fired plants, 2) require replacement generation assets to be located in Person County, and 3) provide community support for those affected by the pending closures. Mr. Buffkin said the County’s requests were not granted and the NCUC did not change the plants’ retirement dates nor provided direction on the replacement generation other than requiring Duke Energy to assess retiring plant sites for future generation. The NCUC did not require any community support but directed Duke Energy to continue engagement. Mr. Buffkin explained all parties to the proceeding have the option to appeal the decision to the state Court of Appeals, which requires identifying an error of the law. Parties also have the option to ask for reconsideration, which would require new evidence or a changed circumstance. Vice Chairman Sims asked Mr. Buffkin, if an appeal was filed, could that appeal possibly extend the closure deadline for Person County’s coal plants. Mr. Buffkin said the varying closure dates are based upon developing technology, i.e., small modular nuclear and battery storage. Mr. Buffkin told the group that the General Assembly has given the NCUC, should they recognize an opportunity for emerging technology and it takes longer than expected, the ability to extend the carbon reduction deadline beyond 2030 however, the NCUC declined to do that. Was there sufficient evidence to support the Utilities Commission decision and/or does the Order comply with policy and intent of the General Assembly are two other angles for an appeal. County Attorney Ellis Hankins said the County may participate in any proceedings should any other party appeals, however it is unlikely that any environmental group that appeals would push for keeping the coal plants open longer than the proposed closure dates. Mr. Hankins surmised that the coal fired plants will likely close sometime around those dates as stated in the NCUC Order. Mr. Hankins stated that he, Chairman Powell, Vice Chairman Sims and County Manager Katherine Cathey have met with Duke Energy representatives and had a cordial and productive discussion noting Duke Energy leadership has agreed to a follow-up meeting. Commissioner Palmer asked Mr. Buffkin for the timeframe for taking down the plants to which Mr. Buffkin responded it was a long process, and estimated three to five years. Mr. Hankins added that Duke Energy has tied up costs in the local power plants and transmission infrastructure in the County and the Order contemplates the possibility of converting some plants to natural gas power. Mr. Buffkin noted that the Order requires Duke Energy to file a new proposal with the UC by September 1, 2023 with a bi-annual review thereafter. 110 January 17, 2023 24 Mr. Buffkin stated this public presentation was to inform the citizens on the current status of the proceeding as Person County has very significant interests with Duke Energy being a major employer and taxpayer. The Board thanked Mr. Buffkin for his informative presentation. CONSIDERATION TO SET THE LOCATION OF THE FEBRUARY 21, 2023 BOARD MEETING FOR THE ANNUAL RETREAT: County Manager Katherine Cathey stated when adopting the Board’s 2023 Schedule of Meetings, a location was to be determined for the Board’s February 21, 2023 meeting that was set for the annual retreat. Ms. Cathey requested Board action to announce the location of the Board’s February 21, 2023 annual retreat to be held in either the County Office Building Auditorium or the Kirby Cultural Arts Main Hall (Upstairs area). The start time of the meeting remains unchanged at 9:00am with a half-day agenda planned focusing on the upcoming fiscal year budget and associated goals. A motion was made by Commissioner Puryear and carried 5-0 to set the location for the Board’s February 21, 2023 annual retreat to be held in the Kirby Cultural Arts facility in the Upstairs Main Hall. RETAINING LEGISLATIVE LOBBYING FIRM TO REPRESENT PERSON COUNTY: The NC General Assembly enacted HB 951 – Energy Solutions for North Carolina in the 2021 session, and the Governor signed it into law (S.L. 2021-165). The act ordered the NC Utilities Commission (NCUC) to hold hearings and issue a Carbon Reduction Plan to retire Duke Energy coal fired plants in the near future to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by target dates, with provisions for replacement generation and alternate energy sources. County Attorney Ellis Hankins said the Board of Commissioners recognized the serious implications and potential opportunities for Person County, and retained outside counsel to represent the County’s interests actively in the NCUC proceeding. The NCUC issued its Order on December 30, 2022. Mr. Hankins noted there continues to be intense public interest in these issues, and the legislative discussion is likely to continue in some form during the 2023 session of the General Assembly. He further noted the Board previously directed staff to seek proposals from legislative lobbying firms to represent Person County on issues directly and indirectly related to the NCUC Order, including coordinating continued productive discussions with representatives of Duke Energy and seeking legislative guidance about siting of replacement generation in Person County and transition financial assistance. The Commissioners understand that Person County needs to have a seat at the table in every discussion about these issues that affect the future of the community. 111 January 17, 2023 25 Mr. Hankins stated that 11 proposals were received; he along with the County Manager Katherine Cathey and outside counsel Patrick Buffkin interviewed several firms on January 11, 2023 to make best efforts to determine which firm is best able to work productively with Duke Energy representatives on mutual interests, keep County officials well informed about legislative developments and potential opportunities and threats, and represent Person County effectively, acting ethically and in compliance with ethical principles and applicable laws, without conflicts. Mr. Hankins presented to the Board for consideration to authorize engagement of the recommended legislative lobbying firm, EQV Strategic, and introduced Mr. Chris Wall, one of EQV Strategic’s Principals, present in the audience. Mr. Hankins said he sent to the Board a proposed agreement outlining the scope of lobbying services from EQV Strategic. A motion was made by Vice Chairman Sims and carried 5-0 to approve the agreement to authorize engagement of the recommended legislative lobbying firm, EQV Strategic, with Chris Wall as the firm representative for Person County. Mr. Wall said he has gotten up to speed on the challenges facing Person County and understands the needs going forward and appreciative of being a part of the team to help address those challenges. 112 January 17, 2023 26 113 January 17, 2023 27 114 January 17, 2023 28 CHAIRMAN’S REPORT: Chairman Powell reported he recently attended a VAYA Region 4 meeting in Burlington as well as joined Commissioner Thomas and County Manager Katherine Cathey in a training session and a Martin Luther King, Jr. event. MANAGER’S REPORT: County Manager, Katherine Cathey reported that the state’s Great Grant project was moving forward with expanding broadband by sending the agreement templates to ZiTel and Person County in the next week or so. Ms. Cathey said she was working with staff in the development services departments to evaluate the progress made since the Board had an update as well as identify improvements needed for those processes to provide a high-level of customer service with another update for the Board in the next month or so including an update on the Energov software system. Ms. Cathey stated the Inspections Director Dale Tillman and Recreation, Arts and Parks Director John Hill are working with the contractor of the cargo lift at the Kirby to evaluate and determine any issues with the installation resulting in any restrictions. COMMISSIONER REPORT/COMMENTS: Vice Chairman Sims requested a report on the permitting process as well as the online system by the Board’s next meeting. He commented that the EDC was working diligently to get someone at the Mega Park site noting it just takes time. Commissioner Palmer had no report. Commissioner Thomas thanked County Manager Katherine Cathey and Chairman Powell for going with him to the training at the UNC School of Government. Commissioner Puryear asked for a presentation on the status of the permitting software, Energov, for implementation. CLOSED SESSION #1 A motion was made by Vice Chairman Sims and carried 5-0 to enter into Closed Session #1 at 9:58am per General Statute 143-318.11(a)(3) for the purpose to consult with an attorney employed or retained by the public body in order to preserve the attorney-client privilege between the attorney and the public body, which privilege is hereby acknowledged; the following individuals are permitted to attend: County Manager Katherine Cathey, Clerk to the Board Brenda Reaves, County Attorney Ellis Hankins, Retained Attorney Patrick Buffkin and Retained Lobbyist Chris Wall. 115 January 17, 2023 29 Chairman Powell called Closed Session #1 to order at 10:10am. A motion was made by Vice Chairman Sims and carried 5-0 to return to open session at 10:34am. A motion was made by Vice Chairman Sims and carried 5-0 to recess the meeting at 10:36am. Chairman called the meeting back to order at 10:47am for the joint session with the Economic Development Commission. JOINT SESSION WITH ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION: The purpose of the joint session with the Economic Development Commission (EDC) will be for a motion to enter Closed Session #2 discussion of matters relating to the location or expansion of industries or other businesses in the area served by the public body, including agreement on a tentative list of economic development incentives that may be offered by the public body in negotiations per General Statutes 143-318.11(a)(4) with the following individuals permitted to attend: County Manager Katherine Cathey, Clerk to the Board Brenda Reaves, County Attorney Ellis Hankins, Interim Economic Development Director Brandy Lynch, and members of the EDC: Merilyn Newell, Phillip Allen, Jody Blackwell, Donald Long, Jay Poindexter, Sherry Clayton, Scott McKinney, Kenneth Perry as well as ex-officios, Brooks Lockhart, Dr. Claudia Berryhill, Dr. Pamela Senegal, Dr. Rodney Peterson and representatives of an industry or business prospect. CLOSED SESSION #2 A motion was made by Vice Chairman Sims and carried 5-0 to enter Closed Session #2 at 10:49am for discussion of matters relating to the location or expansion of industries or other businesses in the area served by the public body, including agreement on a tentative list of economic development incentives that may be offered by the public body in negotiations per General Statutes 143-318.11(a)(4) with the following individuals permitted to attend: County Manager Katherine Cathey, Clerk to the Board Brenda Reaves, County Attorney Ellis Hankins, Interim Economic Development Director Brandy Lynch, and members of the EDC: Mayor Merilyn Newell, Phillip Allen, Donald Long, Jay Poindexter, Sherry Clayton, Scott McKinney, Kenneth Perry and representatives of an industry or business prospect. Chairman Powell called the Closed Session #2 to order at 10:49am. A motion was made by Commissioner Puryear and carried 5-0 to return to open session at 11:52am. 116 January 17, 2023 30 CLOSED SESSION #3 A motion was made by Vice Chairman Sims and carried 5-0 to enter into Closed Session #3 at 12:04pm per General Statutes 143-318.11(a)(4) for the purpose of discussion of matters relating to the location or expansion of industries or other businesses in the area served by the public body, including agreement on a tentative list of economic development incentives that may be offered by the public body in negotiations and 143-318.11(a)(5) to establish, or to instruct the public body's staff or negotiating agents concerning the position to be taken by or on behalf of the public body in negotiating the price and other material terms of a contract or proposed contract for the acquisition of real property by purchase, option, exchange, or lease with the following individuals permitted to attend: County Attorney Ellis Hankins, County Manager Katherine Cathey, Clerk to the Board Brenda Reaves, Interim Economic Development Director Brandy Lynch and Tax Administrator Russell Jones. Chairman Powell called Closed Session #3 to order at 12:04pm. A motion was made by Vice Chairman Sims and carried 5-0 to return to open session at 12:38pm. ADJOURNMENT: A motion was made by Vice Chairman Sims and carried 5-0 to adjourn the meeting at 12:39pm. _____________________________ ______________________________ Brenda B. Reaves Gordon Powell Clerk to the Board Chairman (Draft Board minutes are subject to Board approval). 117 2/6/2023 Dept./Acct No.Department Name Amount Incr / (Decr) EXPENDITURES General Fund Public Safety 44,145 Cultural & Recreation 5,941 Transportation 15,000 Human Services 63,000 Environmental Protection 63,000 Self Funded Health Insurance 58,000 REVENUES General Fund Intergovernmental Revenues 107,145 Interest Earnings 31,750 Other Revenues 3,000 Charges for Services 2,941 Fund Balance Appropriation 104,250 EXPENDITURES Person Industries & MRF Fund Material Recovery Facility 335 REVENUES Person Industries & MRF Fund Intergovernmental Revenues 335 Explanation: Account Number Account Description $Revenues incr. (decr.) (cr.) dr. $Expenditures incr. (decr.) dr. (cr.) 10025-333262 2022 GCC Grant 23,520 1004310-428415 Spec Supp/2022 GCC Grant 23,520 10025-335250 EMPG-S Grant 20,625 1004330-428881 Spec Supp/Serv - EMPG-S 20,625 10090-399991 Fund Balance Appropriation 15,000 1004530-435100 Airport: Maint & Repair/Buildings & Grounds 15,000 10045-340332 NC Soil & Water StRAP Grant 63,000 1004960-449922 2022 StRAP Grant 63,000 10055-361330 PCTDA-P&R Contribution 3,000 10055-361422 Rental/Kirby Auditorium 616 BUDGET AMENDMENT #14 Recognize 2022 Governor's Crime Commission Grant for the Sheriff's Department ($23,520); recognize funds received from EMPG-S grant for Emergency Management ($20,625); apply grant funds from appropriated fund balance from the Airport ARPA Grant for additional maintenance costs at the Airport ($15,000); recognize NC Division of Soil & Water Conservation Grant for the Streamflow Rehabilitation Assistance Program ($63,000); recognize PCTDA contribution ($3,000) and excess Recreation Fees ($2,941) that will support related Recreation and Kirby professional service and supply expenses; apply Community Development Project funds (-$23,242) received from Republic Services for PI-Household Hazardous Waste Day ($23,242); appropriate fund balance to cover cost of DSS security guard services ($63,000); appropriate fund balance ($26,250) and recognize excess interest earnings ($31,750) in the Self-Funded Health Insurance Fund to cover HSA Contribution payments to employees; and recognize Scrap Tire Grant for MRF ($335). BUDGET ADJUSTMENT DETAIL BA-14118 10055-361408 Recreation Fees - Trips 2,325 1006120-420000 Parks & Rec: Supplies 1,000 1006122-420000 Kirby: Supplies 616 1006120-419000 Parks & Rec: Prof Svcs 2,000 1006122-419000 Kirby: Prof Svcs 2,325 1074270-559850 Reserve for Future Projects (23,242) 1074270-559820 PI-Household Haz Waste Day 23,242 19090-399991 Fund Balance Appropriation 63,000 1905310-434800 Contracted Serv-Security Guard 63,000 200-381491 Interest Earnings 31,750 200-399991 Fund Balance Appropriation 26,250 2004123-489720 HSA Contrib to Employees 58,000 23045-379713 MRF-Scrap Tire Disp Grant 335 2305281-429056 Scrap Tire Disposal 335 Totals 249,421 249,421 BA-14119 AGENDA ABSTRACT Meeting Date: February 6, 2023 Agenda Title: Person County Health Department Fee Request Summary of Information: The Person County Health Department’s proposed fee schedule amendment is associated with COVID-19 vaccinations. The proposed fee is for the administration of the COVID-19 Pfizer Bivalent vaccination for ages 5-11 and will be utilized to submit claims to insurance companies in an attempt to cover the cost of the vaccine administration. The proposed fee will allow PCHD to receive reimbursement for the administration of the COVID-19 Pfizer Bivalent vaccination. Individuals will not be charged a fee. Medical providers are not allowed to bill for the vaccine as it is provided by the federal government. The Board of Health approved the Fee Schedule Amendment on Monday, January 23, 2023, and in accordance with the North Carolina General Statute 130A-39(g), the Board of Health requests the approval of the Board of Commissioners to implement the proposed fee which are attached. Recommended Action: Approve recommended fees. Submitted By: Janet Clayton, Health Director 120 DescriptionCPT Code Medicaid RateProposed Updated NotesImmunization administration of COVID‐19 vaccine‐Pfizer‐BioNTech Bivalent ages 5‐110154A 65.00$ 70.00$ Charge is consistent with current admin fee.121 AGENDA ABSTRACT Meeting Date: February 6, 2023 Agenda Title: Report of Unpaid Taxes Summary of Information: G.S. 105-369(a) requires that Tax Collector report to the Board the amount of unpaid 2022 taxes that are a lien on real property during the first meeting in February. This is simply a checkpoint for the Board as to the progress that the Tax Office is making on collections and a way to alert the Board if collections are down. As of January 26, 2023, our collection rate was 95.38 %, with unpaid county taxes for tax year 2022 of $1,812,046.18. Recommended Action: Accept the report. No motion needed. Submitted By: Russell Jones, Tax Administrator 122 AGENDA ABSTRACT Meeting Date: February 6, 2023 Agenda Title: Advertisement of Unpaid Real Estate Taxes Summary of Information: A motion is required to order the advertisement and set the advertisement date for delinquent 2022 real property taxes. The Tax Office requests the order to advertise be set to March 9, 2023. The newspaper advertisement is required under G.S. 105-369(c) and can be placed anytime between March 1st and June 30th. This is a great collection tool and the sooner we advertise, the better our ending collection rate will be. The cost of the advertisement is charged to the delinquent real estate bills. Recommended Action: A motion set the Advertisement date for March 9, 2023, if appropriate. Submitted By: Russell Jones, Tax Administrator 123 AGENDA ABSTRACT Meeting Date: February 6, 2023 Agenda Title: Tax Adjustments for February 2023 Summary of Information: Attached please find the tax releases and motor vehicle pending refunds: 1. February 2023 tax releases. 2. February 2023 North Carolina Vehicle Tax System (NCVTS) pending refunds. Recommended Action: Motion to accept reports and authorize refunds. Submitted By: Russell Jones, Tax Administrator 124 NAME BILL NUMBER OPER DATE/TIME DISTRICT VALUE AMOUNT 50562201 2018-36599 DY: PERSONAL PROPERTY SA 11/22/2022 3:44:40 PM KARANGELEN GRACE MICHELLE DOUBLE CHARGED FIREPEN FEE 11,260.00 0.09 DOUBLE CHARGED DOG FFEEFEE 11,260.00 2.04 DOUBLE CHARGED FIREADVLTAX 11,260.00 0.76 DOUBLE CHARGED C ADVLTAX 11,260.00 53.61 DOUBLE CHARGED C PEN FEE 11,260.00 5.36 RELEASED BILLED ON ACCT 7788 TOTAL RELEASES:61.86 50562201 2019-36599 DY: PERSONAL PROPERTY SA 11/22/2022 3:48:41 PM KARANGELEN GRACE MICHELLE DOUBLE CHARGED C ADVLTAX 10,598.00 77.37 DOUBLE CHARGED C PEN FEE 10,598.00 7.74 DOUBLE CHARGED FIREADVLTAX 10,598.00 2.91 DOUBLE CHARGED FIREPEN FEE 10,598.00 0.29 RELEASED BILLED ON ACCT 7788 TOTAL RELEASES:88.31 50562201 2018-36599 DY: PERSONAL PROPERTY MP 11/22/2022 3:55:33 PM KARANGELEN GRACE MICHELLE C PEN FEE 11,260.00 -5.36 C ADVLTAX 11,260.00 -53.61 FIREADVLTAX 11,260.00 -0.76 DOG FFEEFEE 11,260.00 -2.04 FIREPEN FEE 11,260.00 -0.09 TOTAL RELEASES:-61.86 50562201 2018-36599 DY: PERSONAL PROPERTY SA 11/22/2022 4:50:16 PM KARANGELEN GRACE MICHELLE DOUBLE CHARGED FIREPEN FEE 11,260.00 0.11 DOUBLE CHARGED DOG FFEEFEE 11,260.00 3.00 DOUBLE CHARGED FIREADVLTAX 11,260.00 1.13 DOUBLE CHARGED C ADVLTAX 11,260.00 78.82 DOUBLE CHARGED C PEN FEE 11,260.00 7.88 RELEASED BILLED ON ACCT#7788 TOTAL RELEASES:90.94 6428304 2022-498 DY:0RP:A58 68 SA 12/6/2022 10:37:09 AM SHOTWELL MARVA JO LIFE ESTATE EXEMPTION ADDED C ADVLTAX 72,778.00 524.00 EXEMPTION ADDED FIREADVLTAX 72,778.00 36.39 LATE SR EXEMPTION TOTAL RELEASES:560.39 202250895300 2022-508953 DY:21 PERSONAL PROPERTY SA 12/6/2022 12:35:04 PM TRONCOSO MILAGROS ARIAS C ADVLTAX 10,350.00 248.40 CI50ADVLTAX 10,350.00 224.25 WAS TAGGED IN PA. TOTAL RELEASES:472.65 46928117 2022-41312 DY: PERSONAL PROPERTY RH 12/13/2022 11:43:42 AM SPUNTECH INDUSTRIES INC C ADVLTAX 129,630.00 933.34 FIREADVLTAX 129,630.00 64.82 RELEASE FORKLIFT VALU BILLED DIR TOYOTA TOTAL RELEASES:998.16 RUN DATE: 1/26/2023 9:09 AM RELEASES REPORT Person County 125 NAME BILL NUMBER OPER DATE/TIME DISTRICT VALUE AMOUNT 69782302 2022-200994 DY:22RP:A9 124 MP 12/28/2022 4:28:25 PM DAVIS DEBORAH COLEY APPRAISER ADJUSTED LAND C ADVLTAX 28,460.00 204.91 APPRAISER ADJUSTED LAND FIREADVLTAX 28,460.00 14.23 LAND CODE ERROR F/2022 TOTAL RELEASES:219.14 69782302 2022-200994 DY:22RP:A9 124 SRJ 12/28/2022 4:56:34 PM DAVIS DEBORAH COLEY FIREADVLTAX 28,460.00 -14.23 C ADVLTAX 28,460.00 -204.91 TOTAL RELEASES:-219.14 202250975300 2022-509753 DY:21 PERSONAL PROPERTY SA 12/30/2022 11:28:52 AM LONG WALTER TALMADGE DOUBLE CHARGED C ADVLTAX 2,030.00 14.62 DOUBLE CHARGED FIREADVLTAX 2,030.00 0.56 NO GAP TOTAL RELEASES:15.18 6124101 2022-33937 DY: PERSONAL PROPERTY RH 1/5/2023 12:44:11 PM COLONY CAR WASH C ADVLTAX 13,476.00 97.03 CI50ADVLTAX 13,476.00 94.33 BUSINESS CLOSED TOTAL RELEASES:191.36 61891201 2022-39647 DY: PERSONAL PROPERTY RH 1/20/2023 11:25:06 AM WILSON JOE C ADVLTAX 7,592.00 54.66 FIREADVLTAX 7,592.00 3.80 BOAT SOLD 11/21 DEL 22 BILL TOTAL RELEASES:58.46 8426201 2022-34615 DY: PERSONAL PROPERTY SA 1/20/2023 2:29:05 PM BRIGGS KENDALL A DOUBLE CHARGED C ADVLTAX 3,570.00 25.70 DOUBLE CHARGED FIREADVLTAX 3,570.00 1.79 DOUBLE BILLED LISTED AS PERSONAL TOTAL RELEASES:27.49 71767301 2022-26533 DY:0RP:A65A 138 MP 1/20/2023 2:38:29 PM PEARSON ROBERT MICHAEL EXEMPTION ADDED C ADVLTAX 45,000.00 324.00 EXEMPTION ADDED FIREADVLTAX 45,000.00 22.50 DVET EXEMPTION ADDED TOTAL RELEASES:346.50 202250975100 2022-509751 DY:21 PERSONAL PROPERTY MP 1/20/2023 3:24:14 PM BRIGGS KENDALL ALAN DOUBLE CHARGED C ADVLTAX 3,570.00 98.53 DOUBLE CHARGED FIREADVLTAX 3,570.00 3.76 LISTED AS PERSONAL TOTAL RELEASES:102.29 66701101 2020-33607 DY: PERSONAL PROPERTY RH 1/24/2023 11:44:36 AM EARTH N MOON C ADVLTAX 1,058.00 7.62 C PEN FEE 1,058.00 0.76 CI50ADVLTAX 1,058.00 7.09 CI50PEN FEE 1,058.00 0.71 BUSINESS CLOSED IN 2019 TOTAL RELEASES:16.18 RUN DATE: 1/26/2023 9:09 AM RELEASES REPORT Person County 126 NAME BILL NUMBER OPER DATE/TIME DISTRICT VALUE AMOUNT 66701101 2021-33607 DY: PERSONAL PROPERTY RH 1/24/2023 11:45:15 AM EARTH N MOON C ADVLTAX 857.00 6.17 C PEN FEE 857.00 0.62 CI50ADVLTAX 857.00 5.57 CI50PEN FEE 857.00 0.56 BUSINESS CLOSED IN 2019 TOTAL RELEASES:12.92 66701101 2022-33607 DY: PERSONAL PROPERTY RH 1/24/2023 11:45:48 AM EARTH N MOON C ADVLTAX 709.00 5.10 C PEN FEE 709.00 0.51 CI50ADVLTAX 709.00 4.96 CI50PEN FEE 709.00 0.50 BUSINESS CLOSED 2019 TOTAL RELEASES:11.07 NET RELEASES PRINTED:2,991.90 TOTAL TAXES RELEASED 2,991.90 RUN DATE: 1/26/2023 9:09 AM RELEASES REPORT Person County 127 C ADVLTAX - County Tax TAX YEAR RATE YEAR REAL VALUE RELEASED PERS VALUE RELEASED TOTAL VALUE RELEASED REAL TAX RELEASED PERS TAX RELEASED MV VALUE RELEASED MV TAXES RELEASED TOTAL VALUE RELEASED TOTAL TAXES RELEASED 2018 2018 0 22,520 22,520 0.00 86.70 0 0.00 22,520 86.70 2019 2019 0 21,196 21,196 0.00 85.11 0 0.00 21,196 85.11 2020 2020 0 2,116 2,116 0.00 8.38 0 0.00 2,116 8.38 2021 2021 0 1,714 1,714 0.00 6.79 0 0.00 1,714 6.79 2022 2021 0 15,950 15,950 0.00 361.55 0 0.00 15,950 361.55 2022 2022 117,778 155,686 273,464 848.00 1,116.34 0 0.00 273,464 1,964.34 DIST TOTAL 117,778 219,182 336,960 848.00 1,664.87 0 0.00 336,960 2,512.87 CI50ADVLTAX - City of Roxboro TAX YEAR RATE YEAR REAL VALUE RELEASED PERS VALUE RELEASED TOTAL VALUE RELEASED REAL TAX RELEASED PERS TAX RELEASED MV VALUE RELEASED MV TAXES RELEASED TOTAL VALUE RELEASED TOTAL TAXES RELEASED 2020 2020 0 2,116 2,116 0.00 7.80 0 0.00 2,116 7.80 2021 2021 0 1,714 1,714 0.00 6.13 0 0.00 1,714 6.13 2022 2021 0 10,350 10,350 0.00 224.25 0 0.00 10,350 224.25 2022 2022 0 14,894 14,894 0.00 99.79 0 0.00 14,894 99.79 DIST TOTAL 0 29,074 29,074 0.00 337.97 0 0.00 29,074 337.97 FIREADVLTAX - Fire District Tax TAX YEAR RATE YEAR REAL VALUE RELEASED PERS VALUE RELEASED TOTAL VALUE RELEASED REAL TAX RELEASED PERS TAX RELEASED MV VALUE RELEASED MV TAXES RELEASED TOTAL VALUE RELEASED TOTAL TAXES RELEASED 2018 2018 0 22,520 22,520 0.00 1.24 0 0.00 22,520 1.24 2019 2019 0 21,196 21,196 0.00 3.20 0 0.00 21,196 3.20 2022 2021 0 5,600 5,600 0.00 4.32 0 0.00 5,600 4.32 2022 2022 117,778 140,792 258,570 58.89 70.41 0 0.00 258,570 129.30 DIST TOTAL 117,778 190,108 307,886 58.89 79.17 0 0.00 307,886 138.06 GRAND TOTALS:235,556 438,364 673,920 906.89 2,082.01 0 0.00 673,920 2,988.90 RUN DATE: 1/26/2023 9:09 AM RELEASES REPORT Person County 128 Payee Name Address 3 Refund Type Refund Reason Create Date Tax Jurisdiction Levy Type Total Change 01 Tax ($24.12) 60 Tax ($1.68) $25.80 01 Tax ($24.70) 60 Tax ($0.94) $25.64 01 Tax ($53.00) 60 Tax ($2.03) $55.03 01 Tax ($10.15) 60 Tax ($0.39) $10.54 01 Tax ($98.87) 60 Tax ($6.87) $105.74 01 Tax ($48.78) 60 Tax ($3.39) $52.17 01 Tax ($15.26) 60 Tax ($0.58) $15.84 01 Tax ($84.61) 60 Tax ($3.23) $87.84 01 Tax ($33.62) 60 Tax ($1.28) $34.90 01 Tax ($43.43) 60 Tax ($3.02) $46.45 01 Tax ($124.74) 60 Tax ($4.76) $129.50 01 Tax ($436.32) 50 Tax ($424.20) 50 Vehicle Fee ($30.00) $890.52 LIBRA MARKETING LLC RALEIGH, NC 27617 Adjustment >= $100 Change of County 11/23/2022 JOHNSON, SHARON ANN TIMBERLAKE, NC 27583 Proration Vehicle Sold 12/02/2022 INMON, JEFFERSON PITTMAN JR ROUGEMONT, NC 27572 Proration Tag Surrender 12/28/2022 HOWARD, ROBERT EARL ROXBORO, NC 27574 Proration Vehicle Sold 12/02/2022 FRANKS, NORMAN DANIEL TIMBERLAKE, NC 27583 Proration Vehicle Sold 08/19/2022 FOUSHEE, JASON RAY HURDLE MILLS, NC 27541 Proration Vehicle Sold 01/06/2023 FORD, WILLIAM SCOTT ROXBORO, NC 27574 Proration Vehicle Sold 12/22/2022 FIRST CHOICE LEASING DURHAM, NC 27717 Proration Vehicle Sold 01/09/2023 FERRELL, KENDELL CABLE TIMBERLAKE, NC 27583 Proration Vehicle Sold 11/30/2022 EVANS, LEAH SOLOMON ROXBORO, NC 27573 Proration Vehicle Sold 12/30/2022 CREDENDINO, SANTO ANTHONY SEMORA, NC 27343 Proration Vehicle Sold 01/09/2023 CHAMBERLAIN, JAMES FRANK TIMBERLAKE, NC 27583 Adjustment < $100 Over Assessment 11/29/2022 129 Payee Name Address 3 Refund Type Refund Reason Create Date Tax Jurisdiction Levy Type Total Change 01 Tax ($21.24) 60 Tax ($0.81) $22.05 01 Tax ($8.33) 60 Tax ($0.32) $8.65 01 Tax ($48.78) 50 Tax ($44.04) 50 Vehicle Fee $0.00 $92.82 01 Tax ($8.38) 60 Tax ($0.32) $8.70 01 Tax $0.00 50 Tax ($6.30) 50 Vehicle Fee ($30.00) 60 Tax $0.45 $35.85 01 Tax ($4.25) 60 Tax ($0.30) $4.55 01 Tax ($45.48) 60 Tax ($3.16) $48.64 01 Tax ($1.98) 60 Tax ($0.14) $2.12 01 Tax ($28.34) 60 Tax ($1.97) $30.31 01 Tax ($28.89) 60 Tax ($1.10) $29.99 01 Tax ($56.82) 60 Tax ($3.95) $60.77 01 Tax ($81.59) 60 Tax ($3.12) $84.71 WEST, TERRI LEIGH ROXBORO, NC 27574 Proration Vehicle Sold 12/05/2022 WADE, ROBERT EDWARD ROXBORO, NC 27573 Proration Vehicle Sold 11/14/2022 SMITH, ALICIA SHANTA ROXBORO, NC 27573 Proration Vehicle Sold 11/14/2022 SEVER, CHARLES THOMAS ROXBORO, NC 27574 Proration Vehicle Sold 01/04/2023 SANDERS, ROY JUNIOR ROXBORO, NC 27574 Proration Vehicle Totalled 12/01/2022 PHELPS, BILLIE WINTERS ROXBORO, NC 27574 Proration Vehicle Sold 01/23/2023 PERKINS, LINDA HUMPHRIES ROXBORO, NC 27574 Proration Vehicle Sold 01/09/2023 PARHAM, SUE ANN ROXBORO, NC 27574 Adjustment < $100 Situs error 12/19/2022 OVERGARD, JANET MARY ROXBORO, NC 27574 Proration Vehicle Sold 12/01/2022 OQUINN, DAVID JARED ROUGEMONT, NC 27572 Proration Vehicle Sold 11/14/2022 MILLIGAN, HANS JURGEN ROXBORO, NC 27574 Proration Vehicle Sold 01/04/2023 MANGAN, AMANDA JANE OXFORD, NC 27565 Proration Vehicle Totalled 11/29/2022 130 Payee Name Address 3 Refund Type Refund Reason Create Date Tax Jurisdiction Levy Type Total Change 01 Tax ($4.92) 60 Tax ($0.19) $5.11 01 Tax ($12.67) 60 Tax ($0.88) $13.55 ZUEHLKE, CHRISTINE BROCK LEASBURG, NC 27291 Proration Vehicle Sold 11/23/2022 ZUEHLKE, CHAD MADEEN LEASBURG, NC 27291 Proration Vehicle Sold 11/23/2022 131 AGENDA ABSTRACT Meeting Date: Feb. 6, 2023 Agenda Title: Resolution Supporting Compression Increases for Division of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Detention and Youth Development Center Staff Summary of Information: Based on a request from the Person County Juvenile Crime Prevention Council (JCPC), the attached resolution proposes that Person County express support for compression increases for State Division of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Detention and Youth Development Center staff. The Division of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (JJDP) provides short term secure confinement in Juvenile Detention Centers and long term commitment services in the state’s Youth Development Centers. The current vacancy rate in Direct Care Facilities is 50%, causing reassignment of employees from Court Services to ensure provision of the mandated level of care and oversight for juveniles in youth facilities. While similar salary adjustments or increases were approved for Department of Public Safety staff in adult facilities, compression salary increases for Division of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention facility staff were removed from the state budget prior to final approval. Recommended Action: Approve the attached resolution and authorize the Chair to sign the resolution. Submitted By: Katherine M. Cathey, County Manager 132 PERSON COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS RESOLUTION SUPPORTING COMPRESSION INCREASES for DIVISION OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION DETENTION AND YOUTH DEVELOPMENT CENTER STAFF WHEREAS, the Division of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention provides short term secure confinement in Juvenile Detention Centers and long term commitment services in the State’s Youth Development Centers; and WHEREAS, the overarching mission of the Division of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and the local Juvenile Crime Prevention Council is to provide services and programming to ensure the protection of the community and rehabilitation of youth offenders; and WHEREAS, State juvenile facility staff have been passed over for pay increases that would recognize and reward the experienced staff, and make compensation more competitive as well as ensure qualified staff recruitment and retention; and WHEREAS, the current vacancy rate in Direct Care Facilities is 50%, causing reassignment of employees from Court Services to ensure provision of the mandated level of care and oversight for juveniles in youth facilities; and WHEREAS, Compression Salary Increases for Division of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention facility staff were removed from the State’s budget prior to final approval; and WHEREAS, similar salary adjustments or increases were approved for Department of Public Safety staff in adult facilities; NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that Person County Board of Commissioners supports the adequate and timely increase of the salaries of juvenile facility staff across the State of North Carolina to make those positions competitive and to ensure qualified staff are compensated adequately for years of experience for the purposes of retention, as well as lay the groundwork for recruitment of qualified staff for youth facilities which will ensure the immediate and ongoing protection of the community and strengthen rehabilitative services for those juveniles most in need. Adopted by the Board of Commissioners this, the 6th day of February 2023. Attest: ______________________________________ _______________________________________ Brenda B. Reaves, Clerk to the Board Gordon Powell, Chairman Person County Board of Commissioners 133 AGENDA ABSTRACT Meeting Date: February 6, 2023 Agenda Title: Teens Space Initiative State Library EZ Grant Application Summary of Information: The Person County Public Library is applying for a $50,000 EZ Grant provided through the North Carolina State Library. The grant does ask for a 10% matching fee of roughly $5,500 from the county. Funds that are already budgeted for the library will be used for this match. Through the grant, the library aims to address ADA concerns and created a positive and safe place for the teens that visit the library after school and on weekends. With the funds the library would be able to purchase more shelving for the young adult collection, purchase additional furniture that allows teens to safely collaborate with each other, and purchase some décor that draws teens to the space. Recommended Action: Approve submittal of the grant application to the North Carolina State Library Submitted By: Kayli Reyna, Person County Public Library Director 134 Project Name: Teen Space Initiative Project Abstract: The need to address and create a teen space area in Person County is evident in the library's statistics, ADA evaluation and requests from Person County residents. Addressing these needs will allow Person County to meet the needs of a target population that has not been addressed in the past. By providing and including teens in the creation of a teen space will ensure, teens become lifelong library users and supporters and will enhance the quality of teens' library experience for the decades to come. Who are the library users?: The current and potential library users this project will benefit are teens in Person County. In the Person County School System there are 999 middle school students, 1,248 high school students, and 2,085 elementary students that will go through the middle and high school schools (North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) website). In total, Person County educates 4,332 students below the age of 18. Of this total, Person County Public Library current supplies library cards to 42 teens and 75 juveniles. The library has seen an increase in teens and juveniles attending library programs with a total of 1,735 juvenile and teen participants in the last six months. What is the need?: Teens around the world are experiencing a rapid physical, emotional and social changes while simultaneously developing their intellectual capabilities and personal values, understanding and accepting their sexuality, and identifying their educational and occupational options (ALA, 2012). Public libraries are essential for today’s teens to successfully transition from childhood to adulthood (ALA, 2012). As a public library we must offer the resources, programs and proper environment that can foster their positive intellectual, emotional and social development to become active adults in Person County. Currently, the library does not have a youth space which has led to teens not feeling welcomed at the library. Of the teens that do visit the library, regularly circulation staff members hear from them that they wished they had their own space to meet with their friends to do projects as the library is one of the few places in town that their parents feels that it is safe enough for them to walk to after schools. In addition, from the continuous conversations with the teens, due to the lack of space at times they are have to use the children tables because all of the adults have taken the limited tables that are available. With the increase in program attendance and 4,332 potential teen users, the library aims to increase the number of teens that visits and uses the library by addressing the need of a teen space. All of these factors contribute to the need for a distinct teen space in Person County Public Library. 135 What do you plan to do?: The Person County Public Library aims to solve this need by following the ALA teen physical space guidelines. First the library will solicit teen feedback and create a teen committee to design and create the teen space in the library. Second the library will encourage emotional, social, and intellectual development of teens by communicating that the space is teen-owned, by ensuring the space can accommodate an individual as well as group use for socializing and learning, by contributing to a sense of teen belonging, community involvement, and library appreciation, by being appealing to both users and non-users and provide resources for customers from diverse social groups, backgrounds and interests and by meeting all ADA compliance requirements. Third, the library will ensure that the teen space reflects the Person County community. Fourth, the library will use the increase space to purchase more resources that support their educational needs. Fifth, the teen space will have the appropriate policies approved by the library's advisory board to make sure teens feel welcomed and safe. Finally, sixth, the library will ensure that there is appropriate furniture and technology that can be adapted over time to remain relevant to the growing needs of future teens. Why this approach?: This solution was selected based on the recommendations of the teens in Person County and ALA guidelines developed by the members of the Teen Spaces Guidelines Taskforce developed by the Young Adult Library Services Association in 2011 located on the ALA website. The guidelines will be followed closer due to the formal recommendation and study conducted by the taskforce. Due to the nature of the problem another solution would not be possible because the need is for a teen space that does not currently exist in the library. What outcomes will come from a successful project?: Outcomes are changes in the user's behavior, attitudes, skills, knowledge, status, or life condition. If the project is successful, the outcome will be a teens space that meets the ALA teens space guidelines and will be adaptable for the decades to come. The goal is to create a teens space that creates sense of teen belonging, community involvement, and library appreciation that does not exist currently. For some teens the library is the one place where they feel safe and can relax. By creating a teen space, teens will be able to utilize library resource safely without having to unnecessarily interact with adults they do not know which will improve life condition. For example, part of the teen space will have computers repurposed by the library where they can practice core computer skills and complete school assignments. Finally, by creating a teens space, the library hopes to increase teens attitudes towards the library as a place they will invest time and care into. How will expenditures support your goal?: Mobile Shelving $30,000: Mobile Shelving will allow the library to expand the YA collection and rearrange the space in the years to come. MS comes highly recommended for an accessible space. Furniture $14,700: The addition of appropriate furniture will allow teens to sit alone and in groups to socialize and finish projects, and utilize library resources. The furniture will be voted 136 upon by the teen committee. Décor $1,000: Creates a personal touch that teens require to feel like the space is their own. The decor will be voted upon by the teen committee. Movers $10,000: Movers will be necessary to build and move the new furniture into place. How will the library sustain this project?: To sustain this project long-term, the library will continue to budget an appropriate amount of funds that allows the Youth Services Librarian to develop a successful teen program. In addition, when the teen space needs to be updated, the library will apply for new grants, fundraise, and request support from the county. Who are your partners?: N/A- While there are no direct partners for this renovation. The county will be providing the matching funds What output data will you collect? We will continue to monitor the number of teens that attend teen programs, obtain library cards, and informally monitor the numbers of teens that use the library regularly before and post the teens space. Three months post the opening of the teens space, the library will use the data collect and conduct a linear analysis to determine growth. What outcomes will you collect? At the unveiling ceremony, the library will hand out a staff created survey reflecting the outcome-based evaluation that is recommended that reviews the ALA teen spaces guidelines to all teen attendees to fill out and give back to us. The survey will also ask questions on a likert scale regarding potential behavior, current attitude towards the space and the library, knowledge of library resources, and perception of life condition. The scores will be totaled and reported in the final report. Timeline July: 1. Give out teen space inquiry survey and ask for teen volunteers to serve on teen space committee. 2. Host weekly committee meetings to go over possible design and supplies. August-June: 1. Reach out to vendors. 2. Purchase supplies. 3. Configure teen space. 4. Advertise opening ceremony. 5. Hold opening ceremony. 6. Review survey results and report findings to NCSL. Budget Table 1. Salaries/Wages/Fringe 137 N/A 2. Consultant Fees N/A 3. Travel N/A 4. Supplies Mobile Shelving: $30,000 Furniture: $14,200, $500 Matching Décor: $800, $200 Matching 5. Equipment N/A 6. Services Movers: $5,000, $5,000 Matching 7. Total Direct Costs Matching Funds: &5,700 + LSTA Funds: 50,000 = Total Funds 55,700 8. Indirect Costs The library chooses not to include Indirect Costs 9. Total Project Costs Matching Funds: &5,700 + LSTA Funds: 50,000 = Total Funds 55,700 10. Matching Calculator Year 1: Budgeted Match 10.2%, Required Match 10% or 25% 138 AGENDA ABSTRACT Meeting Date: February 6, 2023 Agenda Title: Solar Energy and Person County Summary of Information: Harrison Cole with Cypress Creek Renewables will provide a presentation on how solar energy and Person County can work together. Recommended Action: Receive presentation. Submitted By: Harrison Cole, Cypress Creek Renewables 139 1 Cypress Creek & Person County February 6, 2023 THIS DOCUMENT IS PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL |©2023140 Salt Point Solar and Storage, New York,3MW, Community Solar Baker Point, Maryland, 11MW, WGL Energy Services, Monumental Sports and National Geographic RangeballSolar and Storage, North Carolina, 1MW, Brunswick Electric Membership Corporation Cascade, Texas, 10MW, Engie and Starbucks Madison, Virginia, 81MW, Fortune 100 Aerospace Company Crooked Run, North Carolina,105MW, Duke Energy Wagyu, Texas, 162MW, Starbucks and hedge Palmetto Plains, South Carolina,106MW, Dominion Select Community Projects and OfftakersSelect Transmission Projects and Offtakers 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 DEVELOPMENT EXPERIENCE Our capabilities have been refined through years of successful development CYPRESS CREEK 2021 Corporations are a major driver of solar energy growth. Cypress Creek and Starbucks have teamed up on two solar projects in Texas that are now producing enough energy to power 360 Starbucks stores annually. “At Starbucks, we are proud of our 30- year legacy in environmental leadership as we know the planet is our most important partner. Our long-standing commitment to renewable energy supports our greener retail initiative and demonstrates our aspiration to sustainable coffee, served sustainably. Now, we are investing in new, renewable energy projects in our store communities, which we know is something our partners and customers can appreciate for their local economy and for the environment.” Rebecca Zimmer, Director of GlobalEnvironmental Impact, Starbucks Corporations Push to Decarbonize the Grid SPOTLIGHT ©2023 2 Transmission project developed Community project developed 12GW of Solar Energy Projects Developed to Date 1 2 4 3 1 2 3 4 141 PROJECTS DEVELOPED We develop solar and storage projects of all shapes and sizes ©2023 3 Shakes, Texas, 270MW Vale Air, Oregon, 13MWBullock, North Carolina, 75MW Transmission Community Select projects developedInnovative Solar 46, North Carolina, 100MWDouble Eagle Solar and Storage, North Carolina, 0.7MW with a 500kW/1000kWh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS)142 4©2023 We strive to support communities where we live, develop and operate Benefiting Communities “The long-term lease will help ensure that the property will stay in my family for my children and grandchildren while helping to provide for my retirement. I am also pleased that having this solar farm on my property will greatly increase the tax base and provide much needed revenue that can be used to improve the infrastructure and services for this small rural town in which I grew up. I can think of no better use for this property and no better company with whom to work.” Wannelle Witt Lefkowitz, Landowner “Creating paths to well-paying jobs is a priority. Solar energy will be a bigger part of Illinois’ energy mix, and through our partnership with Cypress Creek, KCC graduates will go to work doing what they love. It’s a point of pride that we’ve prepared them for a bright future.” Dr.John Avendano,Kankakee Community College President "Your donations and match will pay for over 1,300 bags of food for the elementary children in the Orangeburg School District... We rely totally on the donations of caring people like you and your employees to fund our mission. We are proud to say 100% of all funds donated are used to purchase food. All administrative costs are donated by our very committed board.” Melissa Cain, Executive Director, Into the Mouth of Babes Our impact through end of year 2021: 7.3M METRIC TONS of carbon dioxide offset by our internal fleet since inception1 $65M invested in communities including annual property tax payments and annual land lease payments We seek to establish sustainable relationships with our community partners. We focus our community engagement efforts on four focus areas: Environmental Sustainability STEM Education and Workforce Development Economic Development and Community Investment Veterans Initiatives 1 Calculated using the U.S. EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator 143 5©2023 Brief History of Solar in North Carolina 2012-2018 •Up until 2018, most solar was built to sell power to Duke under a state program, capped at 5 MW of solar power, that was set up to comply with a federal law called PURPA. •These 5 MW sites were smaller, but there was no competition encouraging solar developers to sell power to Duke at better prices. •NC Legislature passed House Bill 589 in 2018 and then House Bill 951 in 2022; these bills set up competitive procurements of solar power by Duke Energy. Duke would then select the most competitive projects based on 1) cost to connect to the utility grid and 2) the proposed price to sell the energy. •While there are other programs available to solar developers, this competitive procurement program will continue for years to come. The competitive procurement encourages solar developers to develop competitive sites that can “win” contracts to deliver low- cost solar power to Duke Energy and its customers. 2018-Present Bizzell Church; 5MW; Johnston County, NC Rutherford Solar; 75MW; Rutherford County, NC144 6©2023 What are the constraints and opportunities for solar in Person County? •There are a number of high-voltage transmission lines running through Person County. Even with existing plants, there is some additional capacity available to solar projects. •Due to the existing power plants within the county, there are a number of high-voltage transmission lines running through the county •While the existing power plants are quite large, there is some amount of additional capacity that would allow for some additional amount of solar. There is not an unlimited amount of capacity and we think there is only room for a few large solar projects. •Any potential solar project located within Person County would not directly compete with the existing power plants. •Due to population density in certain parts of Person County, there are limited areas with sufficient open land and limited neighbors for solar projects. •With the potential decommissioning and/or conversion of the Hyco or Mayo plant as indicated in the filed Carbon Plan, solar can provide tax revenue and jobs that support the County at a local level •Next iteration of the Carbon Plan is set to be published in 2024 and every two years after that 145 7©2023 Common Concerns with Solar Common Concerns with Solar Mitigants to Common Concerns Visual Impact Person County requires a substantial vegetative buffer requirement for a Tier 3 Solar project. We can comply with this request and have hired a landscape architect to help visualize the buffer Property Values We have hired a 3rd party licensed appraiser that has certified that the potential project in Person County will not impact neighboring property values Distrust of Developers While there has been an influx of new developers to North Carolina, Cypress Creek has been operating in North Carolina since 2014 and has worked closely with over 40 counties to date. Loss of Farmland In a 2022 study, it was concluded that solar took up 0.28% of agricultural land in NC (even less if you include all land types). Since this is a temporary use, after the lifespan of the project, the land will be converted back to it’s original use Erosion Erosion Control measures will be put into place during the construction phase and will consist of the best available practices including temporary and permanent basins to filter any runoff. Decommissioning Each site control agreement has a clause that protects the landowners in the case of decommissioning. We would plan to meet the County requirements for decommissioning and have done so in the past with other Counties. Wildlife Protection During the development process, we contact with the US Fish and Wildlife Services to identify any potential endangered/threaten species. If species are anticipated to be impacted a specific species survey will be completed to ensure that there is no impact Heat Island We have contacted several 3rd party Professional Engineers previously and all have testified under oath that a heat island effect will not be produced outside of the array area. 146 8©2023 Roxboro Hyco Lake General Project Location Hyco Solar: Potential Project in Northwest Person County •Potential 80 MW project •The project parcels total 1,250 acres. The disturbed area is anticipated to be around 700 acres; this includes fence line, vegetative buffer, etc. The area in solar panels will only be 380 acres. •Two landowners under option contracts; the two landowners are residents of Person County. •Based on statewide solar tax abatement, this project would contribute to the tax base of Person County between $5.4M and $7.2M over the 40-year life of the solar project. •Project would cause over 100 direct jobs during construction and a handful of permanent jobs. There is additional indirect jobs and investment from equipment rentals, accommodations, local support, etc. 147 9©2023 Cypress Creek as a long-term partner Cypress Creek is committed to good stewardship, collaboration with local communities, and making positive impacts •Cypress Creek funds scholarships at community colleges, joins the chamber commerce, and encourages ourselves and our contracts to hire locally •Cypress Creek engages with EMS services before, during, and after construction and requires an emergency response plan for every project •Cypress Creek sets up workforce development initiatives and encourages STEM learning; we are especially excited about a new partnership with BetaBox learning that we are expanding throughout North Carolina Cypress Creek’s planned partnership in Person County: •Minimum of $50,000 in local giving to support Person County organizations (food banks, veterans groups, etc.) •Setting up either one or both:1) a K-12 learning initiative with BetaBox or similar organization or 2) a workforce development program •Constructions jobs that pay at or more than prevailing wage Images: BetaBox Learning at East Wayne High School and North Duplin Middle School in Wayne County, NC 148 10©2023 What would be required for the project to proceed? •The Conditional Rezoning process requires the project to go first to the Planning Board for consideration and then to the Board of Commissioners for approval. This is a discretionary process, meaning the Board of Commissioners would have final say on which projects proceed. First, a text amendment that allows for larger sites than 100 acres to be considered for approval If this text amendment is considered and passed, any solar project would still need to go through a conditional rezoning AND receive a special use permit •The current solar ordinance has language that says “The maximum size of a level 3 solar energy system shall not exceed one hundred (100) acres measured around the exterior perimeter of the panels (outside of the buffer area).” •Our recommended change is to add language allowing for larger sites to be considered. If a project receives zoning approval from Person County, the project would still require to get an interconnection agreement AND be awarded a Power Purchase Agreement from Duke Energy. •Projects that are submitted into the Competitive Procurements still need to go through the study process with Duke Energy. During this process, the projects are studied to determine the cost of upgrades required to interconnect. If the price is too high, then the project would not be eligible to move forward. 149 Thank you. 150 12©2023 Appendix 151 13©2023 Vegetative Screening to protect viewsheds •We have already engaged with an external landscape architect to design an initial design for a vegetative screening to protect the viewshed of adjacent neighbors. •We plan to continue developing our vegetative screening with input from County Commission, neighbors, and other parties. 152 OUR BUSINESS A Mission-Driven Integrated Renewable IPP Platform 2014 Team MembersFounded 330+ Business Units 3 ©2023 14 EQT Infrastructure acquired Cypress Creek, becoming the sole owner, in October 2021. Our values are the guideposts as we work across hundreds of individual projects Care We take care to be safe. We care for the well-being of our team, our communities and the environment and we carefully deploy our resources. Courage We take smart risks; we speak up and we make decisions. We learn and constantly improve. Creativity We innovate to create valuable projects. We embrace new ideas and find solutions to hard problems. Conviction We are committed to making the world cleaner and healthier. We do the right thing when our values are challenged. Collaboration We come from different backgrounds to do our work together as one team.153 SOLAR AND STORAGE GROWTH Our projects make the energy transition possible SPOTLIGHT •We strive to go above and beyond to support communities where we live,develop and operate solar and storage projects•In permitting our Palmetto Plains project in Orangeburg, SC, Cypress Creek worked alongside development partners to hold community meetings to garner community feedback and support•Based on conversations with community members, we supported organizations including the County Engagement Fund and Orangeburg Tech, the community college near the project•We also made contributions to improve the youth baseball field and to purchase electronic signage for Main Street Our Approach to Community Engagement Solar accounted for 46% of all new electricity-generating capacity added in the US in 2021,the third year in a row that solar has made up the largest share of new capacity2 Solar is the most cost-effective form of new generation, with the levelized cost decreasing by about 90% since 20091 Battery storagetechnology costs have decreased 80% from 2010 to 2020.3 ©2023 1 5 1Lazard's Levelized Cost of Energy Analysis, Oct. 20212SEIA3McKinsey Power Solutions4 WoodMac Q4 2022 full report Battery storage is growing rapidly in the US, with utility-scale battery storage to more than double in 2023 to 11.6GW of installed battery power with a projected additional 59.1GW installed from 2023-2026.4 Shoe Creek, 92MW project In North Carolina Birdie, a Solar + Storage Project in North Carolina. 154 CORE COMPETENCIES We are a fully integrated platform, from development to operations O&M SERVICES •Services for internal fleet and third-party customers •4GW of projects under contract •State-of-the-art NERC-registered Control Center with 24 / 7 / 365 operations •Business services, including warranty administration and compliance •Industry-leading drone program to provide best-in-class asset oversight •TRIR: 0.0 (2019-2021) ©2023 1 6 Holistic Approach to Health, Safety, Security and Environment DEVELOPMENT •Includes Project Development, Structured Finance and Engineering, Procurement and Construction management •12GW of solar energy projects developed to date •55MW/161.3MWh of storage developed to date. •Selective market entry based on policy-driven strategy •Diversified experience with both transmission and community solar as well as storage •Award-winning Structured Finance team •Innovative pre-construction design and third- party EPC contracting FLEET •2GW portfolio spanning 217 projects, 14 states •Enough energy produced in 2021 to offset 1.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide •Fleet optimization via optimized performance to create stable and recurring operating cash flows •Long-term owner mindset Operational Feedback Loop 155 SELECT PARTNERS Deep relationships provide optionality for offtake, financing, construction and O&M services ©2023 17 Andrew Kessler, Acting President |NY Green Bank We look forward to expanding our support of community-based projects, particularly those that include a storage component, and companies like Cypress Creek, as we work collaboratively to realize the state’s climate and clean energy goals. ““ 156 AGENDA ABSTRACT Meeting Date: Feb. 6, 2023 Agenda Title: Permitting Process Update Summary of Information: In mid-2021, staff responded to concerns raised by the Board of Commissioners and Homebuilders Association about the permitting process. After reviewing and updating processes, adding positions and continuing with implementation of Energov, permitting timeframes improved in late 2021. The average timeframe for completing an environmental health site evaluation was reduced from 10 weeks to 7 weeks, zoning permits continued to be issued in 2 to 3 business days, and the timeframe for issuing a building permit were reduced from 20 business days to 10-14 business days. For each step in the permitting process, when the customer has something missing or wrong on the paperwork, timeframes depend on how soon they make the corrections. Over the course of 2022, timeframes increased again, mainly due to higher workloads and staff turnover in Environmental Health and Planning & Zoning. This report provides an update to improvements being implemented in these departments and addresses the permit timeframes that can be expected. Staff will provide a public demonstration of the Energov customer self-service (CSS) portal. The system is available for customers to submit permit applications online for Environmental Health and Inspections. Customers may also submit payment, correspond with staff, update information, and track the status of their application through the web-based portal. (Planning & Zoning is in the process of configuring their processes in the CSS portal with an anticipated completion date of March 1, 2023. The department is issuing permits and accepting payments through Energov.) Recommended Action: Receive the information and provide feedback to staff. Submitted By: Katherine Cathey, County Manager 157 Inspections Current: 7‐10 business days Target: 7‐10 business days Planning & Zoning Current: 7‐10 business days Target: 7‐10 business days Environmental Health Current: 12 weeks Target: 30 calendar days Permitting Process Update In mid‐2021, staff responded to concerns raised by the Board of Commissioners and Homebuilders Association about the permitting process. After reviewing and updating processes, adding positions and continuing with implementation of Energov, permitting timeframes improved in late 2021. The average timeframe for completing an environmental health site evaluation was reduced from 10 weeks to 7 weeks, zoning permits continued to be issued in 2 to 3 business days, and the timeframe for issuing a building permit were reduced from 20 business days to 10‐14 business days. For each step in the permitting process, when the customer has something missing or wrong on the paperwork, timeframes depend on how soon they make the corrections. Over the course of 2022, timeframes have increased again, mainly due to higher workloads and staff turnover in Environmental Health and Planning & Zoning. The charts below reflect the current timeframes and targets as well as history. Permitting Timeframes Environmental Health Environmental Health Environmental Health Environmental Health P&Z P&Z P&Z P&Z Inspections Inspections Inspections Inspections 0 1020304050607080 Target December 2022 August 2021 April 2021 Business Days Permitting Process Timeframes 158 Concurrent Review Process The development services departments recently implemented a concurrent review process. With a reduction in the Environmental Health timeframe, the target length of the permitting process is less than 25 days (5 weeks). Please note, the target for Planning & Zoning has increased from 2‐3 business days to 7‐10 business days to reflect current demands and establish realistic expectations. When Planning & Zoning begins their review process concurrently with Environmental Health, they are ready to issue a permit within 1‐2 days of Environmental Health’s approval, as long as there are no significant changes to the plan. Likewise, with a concurrent review process, Inspections is positioned to issue a permit within 1‐2 days of Planning & Zoning’s approval. Within this process, GIS assigns an address, which must be done before permits are issued. Development Services Staffing Environmental Health Planning & Zoning Inspections # Full‐time Positions 7 3 6 New Positions 1 Environmental Health Specialist position added May 2021 1 Environmental Health Specialist position added July 2022 Part‐time position added Jan. 2023 Utilized other Health Department staff for support Contract code enforcement officer added July 2022 1 Senior Code Enforcement Officer (Level 3) added May 2021 Staffing Levels Have not reached full staffing Jan. 2023 – 1 new hire and 1 offer pending to fill all positions Fully staffed since Nov. 2022 All 3 employees are new to their positions Fully staffed since Aug. 2022 (with the exception of medical leave) 159 Energov Implementation Environmental Health, Planning & Zoning and Inspections all utilize the Energov system. The system is available for customers to submit permit applications online for Environmental Health and Inspections. Customers may also submit payment, correspond with staff, update information, and track the status of their application through the web‐based customer self‐service (CSS) portal. (Planning & Zoning has 34 applications within the CSS portal that need updating and to match the Fee Schedule before making available online. They are in the process of updating their processes in CSS with an anticipated completion date of March 1, 2023. The department currently has 18 applications available in PDF through the department’s page and is issuing permits and accepting payments through Energov.) Paper applications are still accepted in each department and are manually entered into Energov by staff. Staff has spent countless hours on implementing Energov. There are still bugs in the system that need to be worked out by Tyler Technologies, and staff has requested a weekly standing appointment with our customer service representative until all issues have been addressed. Environmental Health Summary Since Dec. 2021, Environmental Health has experienced a retirement, a resignation, and a promotion resulting in continual recruitment efforts for the vacant Environmental Health Specialist positions. There have been four offers and declinations. On Jan. 17, an Environmental Health Specialist Intern joined the organization and will begin State training in February. The remaining vacant position has been offered and accepted. The estimated timeframe for completion of the authorization process for both new employees is approximately one year. Environmental Health currently has 32 open applications. 15 of those applications are waiting on a Soil Scientist Report for A2 permitting option. Once received, permits then will be completed within 10 business days. Only 7 of these applications are from 2022. With the addition of a part‐time employee and assistance from other Health Department staff, Environmental Health has been catching up on the backlog of site evaluations. Weather plays a factor in site evaluations, and it has been a wet couple of months. Priority is given to failing septic systems and installation inspections. In 2022, there were 47 repair applications, 166 septic system installations, and 253 site/soil evaluation applications. The Emergency Preparedness Coordinator collected water samples in an effort to help alleviate Environmental Health’s workload so they could focus on site evaluations and other duties. 123 water samples were collected by the Emergency Preparedness Coordinator in 2022. Other Health Department administrative staff helped with office coverage for 2 weeks when the Administrative Assistant was out in July 2022 to provide office coverage and allow Environmental Health staff to continue working in the field and applications to continue to be processed and completed. This is a great example of interdepartmental cooperation and commitment to providing a high level of customer service. The Energov CSS link has been on the Environmental Health website since Aug. 2021. Applicants have the option to email paperwork, pay online and electronically sign permits. Staff help clients with online completion of paperwork and site plan and credit card payment submittals. Environmental Health makes sure that there is always office coverage. The Supervisor and Specialists cover the office during lunch hours, with the exception of mandatory trainings and meetings. Staff thoroughly explain the application process and current timeframes, give applicants other available permitting options such as A2 soil scientist option, EOP (engineer option), and AOWE option (similar to 160 EOP but does not involve and engineer). These options have faster turnaround time of 10 business days and 15 working days. Planning & Zoning Summary Following two resignations and one promotion, the department has been fully staffed since Nov. 2022 with all three employees filling new positions. This turnover has increased permitting timeframes in the department. New employees in new positions may interpret policies and procedures differently, and this has led to some confusion for the public. Staff is actively reviewing all planning and zoning ordinances, policies, procedures and forms with the goal of streamlining processes, aligning application forms with policies and the adopted Fee Schedule, and improving communication with the public. The revised streamlined process will be included in the Unified Development Ordinance. Inspections Summary The Inspections Department implemented an express review process in 2021. When staff receive an application with engineered plans, they put it at the front of the line, and it receives expedited approval for a building permit. Builders who have taken advantage of this process have been happy with the quicker turnaround, and the process has not delayed other plan reviews. For FY23, the department has completed 34 express reviews out of the 255 reviews submitted (both residential and commercial plans). Customer Service Improvements All departments will continue to reinforce expectations for promptly serving walk‐in customers, answering the phone and/or returning messages, and sharing information via email. Staff juggles demands from many different directions, and they understand the importance of being responsive. Staff has submitted a new position request for FY24 to add a Customer Service Representative (CSR) position that would staff the counter, providing a physical presence to greet the public and serving as an answering point for general calls and emails for all development services departments. The CSR would serve as the intake person for permit applications submitted on paper or through Energov and would be available to help customers navigate the application process on public kiosks or remotely. In addition, the CSR would be cross‐trained on the basics for each department and prepared to answer questions as they arise or direct questions to the appropriate staff member. The CSR would monitor the flow of permit applications through Energov, follow‐up when there is a delay (internally and with the applicant), and facilitate a quicker approval process and more timely communication. The support provided by this new position would free up time spent by current staff who are manually entering applications and taking credit card payments, provide a more seamless experience for the public, and improve overall satisfaction for all involved in the permitting process. Feedback Staff will continue to improve services to the public, welcomes feedback, and will use it constructively. 161 FY 17 FY 18 FY 19 FY20*FY21 FY22 Description TOTAL TOTAL TOTAL TOTAL TOTAL TOTAL July*Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May June YTD Avg/Mo 255 184 162 257 340 296 28 24 11 14 26 3 106 18 0 0 0 4 0 0 8 10 10 11 12 12 0 9 Site Evaluations (1)311 242 196 254*330 324 15 9 23 7 19 12 85 14 OSWW Evaluations 218 155 133 171*238 261 21 11 21 14 11 6 84 14 19 24 27 19*23 44 4 1 0 0 4 2 11 2 237 179 160 190*261 305 25 12 21 14 15 8 95 16 Operation Permits ( Septic Finals)144 164 159 180*159 150 14 15 18 17 19 7 90 15 Additions/Mobile Home Replacements 76 107 93 100*135 135 5 22 13 9 10 8 67 11 Table V Inspections 16 14 2 2*0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Additional Site Visits (not listed above)336 369 340 331 444 428 28 36 26 32 33 23 178 30 EH Complaint Investigations (2)41 32 32 22*20 34 1 2 2 3 1 0 9 2 New Wells Approved (finals)79 97 111 133*117 114 13 8 13 8 6 5 53 9 Water Sample Collected 428 388 340 259*259 327 15 33 32 15 25 17 137 23 Additional Site Visits (not listed above)255 303 223 205*219 383 18 19 15 10 1 2 65 11 Total Restaurant Inspections (3)286 257 230 143*147 122 10 8 6 12 33 33 102 17 Number Restaurants 114 114 114 114 114*114 114 114 114 114 114 114 114 114 Total Facility Inspections 93 83 86 49*68 81 5 5 7 7 13 18 55 9 Number of Facilities (4)76 76 76 76 76*76 76 76 76 76 76 76 76 76 Permit Activities (5)35 21 17 22*17 31 0 0 1 1 4 2 8 1 Site Visits/Complaint Investigations 41 54 18 10*13 21 0 10 5 1 15 10 41 7 Fees received (all EH services)$170,870 $168,745 $137,106 $155,809 $202,272 $206,550 $16,105 $17,890 11,765$ $11,060 11,350$ 6,160$ 74,330$ 12,388$ * Numbers not yet available or subject to revision. Notes: (1) Includes all soil/site evaluations (new, repairs and expansions). (2) Includes environmental health related compaints (indoor and outdoor air quality, failing systems, illegal discharges, solid waste, animal complaints) (3) Total restaurant inspections includes any establishment which prepares and sells food. (4) Includes daycares, schools, residential cares, lodgings, nursing homes, and the jails. (5) Includes transitional, operational and temporary permits and plan reviews. Person County Environmental Health Monthly Activity Report Fiscal Year 2022-2023 Permits Issued Permits Denied Total Evals Completed ONSITE WASTEWATER WELL PROGRAM FOOD & LODGING Fees for Services Applications Received (new lots) Turnaround Time (weeks) 162 Jul-22 Aug-22 Sep-22 Oct-22 Nov-22 Dec-22 Jan-23 Feb-23 Mar-23 Apr-23 May-23 Jun-23 Inspections 766 917 803 856 749 912 Walkins 161 174 100 127 73 85 Phonecalls 666 804 476 658 343 330 Plan Reviews 54 63 55 46 37 50 CensusData: SFD 7 24 14 6 32 4 Two Unit 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Three/Four Unit 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Five & Up Unit 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total Value July August September October November December January February March April May June FY2022-2023Person County Building Inspector Activity & Census $8,635,800.00 $3,630,949.00 $3,225,727.00 $2,494,940.00 *Shows building permit totals for that month by SFD etc* *Information that applicants provide to us with job cost for these above* (SFD = Single Family Dwellings- no manufactured homes included) Single Family Dwellings Two Units $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $4,436,953.00 $2,680,495.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 Three/Four Units Five & Up Units $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 163 Planning & Zoning Application Tracking SheetCurrent Through 01/27/23Date & Time Fee Permit Date Issued/Communication w/Applicant Property Tax Map &Watershed Plat ReviewReceivedPaidIssuedDeniedApplicantNameAddressParcel #N/R/T Y/N1/5/2023 Yes Waiting on Applicant's Signature Kimberly Roberts 120 William Jones Rd A97 33 N & T N1/5/2023 Yes Yes 1/13/2023 Emailed signed permit (Adobe)Marshall Gurley 3747 Old Allensville Rd A71 8 R N1/11/2023 Yes Yes 1/24/2023 Emailed signed permit(Adobe)Clayton Homes 6693 Burlington Rd A30 94 N N1/12/2023 Yes Yes 1/24/2023 Emailed signed permit (Adobe)Yates Homes 496 Jones Lester Rd 135 88 R N1/17/2023 Yes Yes 1/25/2023 Emailed signed permit(Adobe)John Collins 332 Rock Pointe Dr A14 105 R N1/18/2023 Yes Yes 1/25/2023 Emailed signed permit (Adobe)Elite Construction 19 Harriett Gentry Ln A84 253 N N1/18/2023 Yes Yes 1/25/2023 Emailed signed permit (Adobe)Elite Construction 114 Chappels Creek Ln A63 386 N N1/18/2023 Yes Yes 1/25/2023 Emailed signed permit(Adobe)Elite Construction 117 Chappels Creek Ln A63 389 N N1/18/2023 Yes Yes 1/25/2023 Emailed signed permit(Adobe)Elite Construction 98 Chappels Creek Ln A63 385 N N1/18/2023 Yes Awaiting EH Approval Tony Wesley 185 Clearwater Dr A29 260 R N1/18/2023 Yes Yes 1/26/2023 Emailed signed permit(Adobe)America's Home Place 150 Arrowhead Trail A97 22 N N1/23/2023 Yes Jacob Dunlap 1991 Lucy Garrett Rd A62 308 N N1/23/2023 Yes Steven Hall 200 Fairway Dr A47 133 R N1/23/2023 Yes Henry Lewis 526 White Oak Dr 134 7 R N1/23/2023 Yes Darrie Burton 1080 Saint Paul Church Rd A93 56 R Y1/24/2023 Yes Clayton Homes 21 Fox Crossing Ln A16 205 R N1/24/2023 Yes Jonathan Leiss 531 Terry Rd A42 315 N N1/24/2023 Yes Michael Clayton 35 Brunswick Ln 92 45 N N1/24/2023 N/A Yes 1/25/2023 Emailed signed permit(Adobe)Mike Whitt Jr.192 Aubrey Clayton Rd A9 96 R N1/25/2023 Yes Jerry Davis 7487 Virgilinia Rd A79 31 R Y1/25/2023 Yes Randy Moore 59 Audubon Dr A14C 39 R N1/25/2023 Yes 1/25/2023 Barry Oakes Range Rd A99 227 N Y1/25/2023 Yes Jeffrey Hall 198 Bragg Ln A42 260 N N1/26/2023 Yes Legacy Building Co. LLC 102 Forest Shore Dr A14C 29 R N1/27/2023 Yes Jamie Potts 561 Robert Gentry Rd A75 214 N Y1/27/2023 Yes CHI Construction 144 Squirrel Pathway A16 231 R N 1/27/2023 Yes Donald Robinson Huff Rd A40 27 N Y 1/27/2023 Yes Yates Homes 1230 Snipes Rd A19 118 R N 1/27/2023 No Emailed Invoice for payment/Advised needed site planJAD Builders 767 Chub Lake Loop Rd 144 120 R N164 AGENDA ABSTRACT Meeting Date: Feb. 6, 2023 Agenda Title: Charters of Freedom Summary of Information: On July 18, 2022, David W. Streater, PhD, Education Director with Foundation Forward presented a proposal to the Board of Commissioners to build a replica of the Charters of Freedom in Person County. Foundation Forward’s mission is to build replicas of the Charters of Freedom across the United States, synonymous with the originals, in the National Archives in Washington, DC. The founding documents include the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. The scope of the project is to design and build replicas that are central and open to the community 24/7, with high visibility, voluminous foot traffic, and easy access for schoolchildren, veterans and all others. The displays are engineered and built to last 300-500 years with all documents made to original size etched in bronze, each weighing 60 pounds and covered by engineered industrial viewing glass. The middle display measures 4’x16’ and each side display measures 4’x4’. Also included with the displays is a vault with a time capsule sealed inside to be opened on Constitution Day, Sept. 17, 2087. The board voted to move forward with selecting a location and entering into a letter of agreement to begin the process. Representatives of the county and Foundation Forward toured an evaluated the following sites in Person County: 1) the Person County Courthouse, 2) Huck Sansbury Recreation Complex, and 3) the Person County Veterans Memorial Park. Huck Sansbury was identified as the ideal location due to its location, accessibility, and visibility (rendering attached). Foundation Forward considers the Charters of Freedom settings to be a gift to the county from Foundation Forward. There will be expenses incurred by the county. At a minimum, the county will be responsible for site preparation to include removal of existing sign, monument, shrubs, and sidewalk and ensuring the site is level and free of standing water. The county will then be 165 responsible for ensuring the site is accessible by restoring the sidewalks. Adding electricity, landscaping, benches, etc. to enhance the area will be at the county’s expense. Project Components Estimated County Expenses Site preparation (clearing, grading and relocation of existing features) $5,000 Reconstruction of accessible approach and construction of apron around settings (labor, grading, construction, and materials) $12,000 Landscaping (optional, pavers, shrubs, benches, etc.) $12,000 Electricity (optional, to light display cases and/or flagpole) $5,000 Flagpole and flag (optional) $10,000 Funding for this project is not included in the FY23 budget. To proceed with the project prior to July 1, the board will need to appropriate funding from undesignated contingency (remaining balance: $24,503) or fund balance. The process of receiving a Charters of Freedom setting begins with signing the letter of intent (attached) and establishing a point of contact (POC) whom Foundation Forward will coordinate with throughout the process. Per the agreement, the POC must form a committee for promoting community involvement and planning the Dedication Ceremony, Time Capsule Ceremony, and any other related events. Foundation Forward's Resources and Communications team will work with the POC and committee. Recommended Action: Discuss interest in moving forward and timeline. Consider the following actions: 1. Approve location for Person County Charters of Freedom 2. Determine desired components (landscaping, electricity, flagpole, etc.) 3. Identify funding source for county expenses 4. Approve letter of intent 5. Designate a point of contact for the Charters of Freedom Project Submitted By: Katherine M. Cathey, County Manager 166 167 168 169 Huck Sansbury Recreation Complex – Preferred Site Charters of Freedom – Rendering 170 AGENDA ABSTRACT Meeting Date: February 6, 2023 Agenda Title: Person County Office Building Auditorium Renovation Summary of Information: County Commissioners have expressed an interest in relocating their meeting quarters from room 215 to the County Auditorium, in order to capitalize on the larger available meeting space. Not only would Commissioners enjoy the use of a much larger space, but everyone, including all County and Public patrons that use the auditorium would benefit from the proposed upfit and renovations. In summary, this proposed renovation would include: 1) Install sheetrock walls, 2) Install new drop ceiling with new LED lights, 3) Install new HVAC system with new registers in ceiling, 4) Convert the stage to a conference room with windows overlooking auditorium, 5) Convert the storage room on the right side of the stage to an IT room, and 6) Equip the meeting room with modular furniture for the Commissioners and Staff. This proposed arrangement will be semi-permanent; thereby, allowing for disassembly and removal of the tables/furniture for the functions that require use of the entire auditorium. These modular tables hook together and have a wiring channel under the table for all the network of IT wiring. The tables also have a privacy screen in front. (see attached pictures) Last year, Commissioners appropriated $120,000 in the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for this project. Projected estimates are currently totaling $150,000, which includes all the new IT network and equipping the new IT room. Recommended Action: Provide direction on how to proceed with this option or some modification thereof, or to continue holding meetings in Room 215. Submitted By: Ray Foushee, General Services Director 171 172 173 AGENDA ABSTRACT Meeting Date: Feb. 6, 2023 Agenda Title: Public Comments Rules and Procedures Summary of Information: G.S. 153A-52.1 requires that boards of county commissioners provide at least one period of public comment each month at a regular meeting of the board. The Person County Board of Commissioners includes an “Informal Comments” section on each regular meeting agenda. Regular meetings take place one or two times per month. The public comments section established by the Person County Board of Commissioners is “a 10- minute segment which is open for informal comments and/or questions from citizens of this county on issues, other than those issues for which a public hearing has been scheduled. The time will be divided equally among those wishing to comment. It is requested that any person who wishes to address the Board, register with the Clerk to the Board prior to the meeting.” The board has expressed an interest in more clearly defining this segment of the meeting agenda. The attached Public Comments Rules and Procedures document outlines current board practices and provide detailed expectations for the period of public comment. Recommended Action: Approve the Person County Board of Commissioners Public Comments Rules and Procedures. Submitted By: Chairman Gordon Powell 174 PUBLIC COMMENTS RULES AND PROCEDURES PERSON COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS The Person County Board of Commissioners is committed to allowing members of the public an opportunity to offer comments and suggestions for the efficient and effective administration of government. In order to balance the need and desire for such citizen input with the necessity of disposing of its regular business in the course of the meeting, the Board does hereby establish the following Public Comments Rules and Procedures: 1.The Public Comments period will be limited to a maximum of ten (10) minutes. 2.Persons who wish to address the Board during the Public Comments period will register on the sign‐ up sheet located on the table in front of the Clerk to the Board in the Commissioners’ Meeting Room. Sign‐up sheets will be available thirty (30) minutes before the start of each meeting. 3.Each speaker will have a specified amount of time, as determined by the Board of Commissioners to make his/her remarks. The designated timekeeper will be the IT staff, or other staff member designated by the Chairman, who will begin timing the speaker; a beeping sound will be heard when the allotted time expires. 4.Speakers will be acknowledged and called up to the podium by either the Board Chairman or the Clerk to the Board in the order in which their names appear on the sign‐up sheet. Speakers will address the Board from the podium at the front of the room and should begin their remarks by stating their name and address. 5.It is recommended that groups or delegations select their spokespersons in advance of the meeting. Speakers are not allowed to yield their allotted time to another speaker. 6.Speakers will address all comments to the Board or County as a whole and not to one individual commissioner or to any individual County staff member. Discussion between speakers, members of the audience and the Board of Commissioners is not allowed. 7.Speakers will be courteous and respectful in their language and presentation and must refrain from personal attacks and the use of profanity. The Chairman will enforce these Rules and Procedures, and maintain order and decorum. Willfully interrupting, disturbing or disrupting a meeting and then refusing to leave when directed to do so by the Chairman is a criminal offense. 8.If the time period runs out before all persons who have signed up have the opportunity to speak, those names will be carried over to the next Board of Commissioners’ Public Comments period. The Board of Commissioners may in its discretion extend the time for Public Comments as deemed appropriate. 9.Speakers who have prepared written remarks or supporting documents are encouraged to leave a copy of such remarks and documents with the Clerk to the Board. 10.Copies of these Public Comments Rules and Procedures will be available on the table located in front of the Clerk to the Board in the Commissioners’ Meeting Room as well as online on the Commissioners’ webpage located at www.personcountync.gov. Adopted by the Board of Commissioners this, the 6th day of February 2023. Attest: _______________________________________ ________________________________ Gordon Powell, Chairman Brenda B. Reaves, Clerk to the Board Person County Board of Commissioners 175