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06-07-2023 Meeting Minutes BOC June 7, 2023 1 PERSON COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS JUNE 7, 2023 MEMBERS PRESENT OTHERS PRESENT Gordon Powell Katherine M. Cathey, County Manager C. Derrick Sims Brenda B. Reaves, Clerk to the Board - ABSENT Kyle W. Puryear - ABSENT Charlie Palmer Jason Thomas The Board of Commissioners for the County of Person, North Carolina, met in recessed session on Wednesday, June 7, 2023 at 9:00am in the Commissioners’ Boardroom 215 in the Person County Office Building located at 304 S. Morgan Street, Roxboro, NC. Chairman Powell called the recessed meeting to order. He announced Commissioner Puryear was absent and read the following statement from Commissioner Puryear: “I sincerely regret that I am unable to attend today’s budget work session due to that I will be out of town for a mandatory meeting for work. I have expressed my concerns to the County Manager and other commissioners, which I have been assured that it will be discussed in the work session.” Positions County Manager Katherine Cathey shared the following handout illustrating the FY24 New Positions Requests; she said 28 new positions were requested and 14 of these were recommended in the FY24 budget. Ms. Cathey indicated from discussions with commissioners that there may be interest in adding a couple of positions. Later in the meeting, Ms. Cathey said the Board would be hearing from the Department of Social Services about needed positions and the expected revenue to assist with those positions due to Medicaid expansion. June 7, 2023 2 June 7, 2023 3 Ms. Cathey said a board member indicated interest in adding to the FY24 budget a position for an Animal Services Program Coordinator in the Animal Services Department with an annual cost of $59,381. Ms. Cathey explained two animal control officers would be transferred to be under the direction of the Sheriff and this new position would be a full- time staff member at the Animal Shelter coordinating, planning, organizing and implementing all aspects of the daily operations of the Animal Services Rescue outreach and volunteer programs. Vice Chairman Sims questioned the functionality of the Animal Services Advisory Board and its support to the Animal Services Department to which Ms. Cathey affirmed that the advisory board would remain in place. Chairman Powell commented that the shift of personnel from Animal Services to the Sheriff’s Office left a gap in personnel that needed to be addressed and noted his support of the added position. Commissioner Palmer asked why two animal control officers were transferred to the Sheriff’s Office to which Ms. Cathey noted these officers carry guns under the Sheriff’s authorization and do not receive the same level training as law enforcement officers; this transfer will enable the animal control officers to be trained as BLET officers and act as additional resources in the Sheriff’s Office with the same authority as Sheriff’s deputies in the community. The enforcement arm of animal control complaints would fall under the Sheriff’s purview with the animal services focus on animal welfare and adoption at the shelter. Ms. Cathey stated the second position being considered was a Grant Writer positon, which was not a requested position. However, a grant writer position has been discussed for many years and would benefit many county departments. Ms. Cathey gave the Board a job description for a Grant Writer/Coordinator position within the Finance Department at an approximate starting salary of $45K ($60K with benefits). Vice Chairman Sims said he asked for this position feeling that there was much grant funding available that county departments and volunteer fire departments could take advantage of but staff with other duties did not have time to look into grants. He said he would like to have a full-time staff that knew how to research and work grants. Ms. Cathey noted agreement with Vice Chairman Sims and added that coordination of all county contracts would be another responsibility of this position as well. Vehicles Ms. Cathey stated the Board has indicated interest in adding more vehicles to the FY24 budget for the Sherriff’s Office. She stated the Sheriff requested 14 replacement vehicles and 7 were recommended in the budget. Ms. Cathey referenced the Person County Vehicle Replacement Policy, which has been used as a guideline to evaluate the mileage and age of vehicle as well as the mechanical condition to prioritize vehicles for replacement each year in the budget process with consideration of the county’s financial resources. Ms. Cathey noted Ray Foushee, Director of General Services, was responsible for the fleet fund; she noted Mr. Foushee received all county vehicle requests and analyzed per the Vehicle Replacement Policy and made his recommendation for 7 vehicles to be replaced in the Sheriff’s Office and she agreed with his recommendation. June 7, 2023 4 Commissioner Palmer noted the Dodge Chargers were high-pursuit vehicles and were his highest priority. He recommended adding three more vehicles to the seven recommended vehicles in the FY24 budget for the Sheriff’s Office. June 7, 2023 5 Commissioner Thomas said he was told that over $39K has been spent on maintenance of the Sheriff’s vehicles since November 2022, which is consistent with high- mileage vehicles. He agreed with Commissioner Palmer’s recommendation to add three more to the FY24 budget noting the three requested vehicles to be added are the two remaining Dodge Chargers and the prisoner transport van. Chairman Powell noted a good succession plan for vehicle replacement was extremely important noting if 10 vehicles are purchased in FY24 for the Sheriff’s Office, that in around five years or so, those 10 vehicles would come around for replacement again at the same time. He noted his support to add the requested vehicles to the FY24 budget with a succession plan for vehicle replacement to be considered in the near future. Vice Chairman Sims stated personnel safety is of most importance noting his support to add the requested vehicles to the FY24 budget; however, he desired to have a plan in place so not to be in this same situation next year or in the future. Ms. Cathey stated staff could review the Vehicle Replacement Policy that was approved in 2011, noting it was time to review and update the policy; she said one reason the county was behind on vehicle replacement was due to the supply chain issues that has taken place in the last few years. Vice Chairman Sims asked about the vehicles being replaced then being sold in surplus. Ms. Cathey and Mr. Foushee confirmed vehicles are sold at surplus with a declared minimum value and those funds are placed in the Fleet Fund to be used as needed, i.e., for example, for a wrecked vehicle along with insurance proceeds to replace the wrecked vehicle. Ms. Cathey noted the Board, at its meeting on June 5, 2023, approved a FY23 Fund Balance appropriation for the purchase of an ambulance. She said Thomas Schwalenberg, Director of Emergency Services would be updating the Board on the status of the EMS fleet with consideration to keep the ambulance purchase that is in the FY24 budget; Ms. Cathey said the budgeted amount has been decreased by $150K which can offset any additions to the budget. Mr. Schwalenberg shared the following presentation with the Board: June 7, 2023 6 June 7, 2023 7 June 7, 2023 8 June 7, 2023 9 June 7, 2023 10 June 7, 2023 11 When asked about staffing long hours and factoring into driving an ambulance, Mr. Schwalenberg stated he did not have the staff to implement a mandatory rest break; he noted all EMS employees complete an emergency vehicle-operating course. Of the three accidents reported, Mr. Schwalenberg stated only one was at the fault of an EMS employee. June 7, 2023 12 Medicaid Expansion Ms. Cathey provided the Board with a handout for the new positions requested for the Department of Social Services (DSS) in preparation for Medicaid expansion. The Medicaid expansion legislation signed into law (House Bill 76) by Governor Cooper in March 2023 included funding available after October 1, 2023 to offset counties’ administrative costs associated with implementing expansion. Carlton Paylor, DSS Director, said Medicaid expansion is anticipated to increase the current caseload by 27% in Person County. Currently, Person County has 11,941 Medicaid cases. He requested the following positions to be added to the DSS Medicaid Child and Family and Adult units: In the interim, Mr. Paylor said the state has provided $246,060 in bridge funding prior to the anticipated Medicaid expansion funding starting October 1, 2023. Ms. Cathey stated federal funding will be 75% reimbursable and these state interim funds are to be used for the county’s 25%. Funding received this fiscal year will be carried-forward into the next fiscal year. With the monthly state allotments dedicated to Medicaid expansion, Ms. Cathey anticipates Medicaid expansion will be a fully-funded mandate; however, there are still some unknowns with this mandated program. Mr. Paylor stated the amount of the monthly allotments are not known at this time. Mr. Paylor said he would like to request the Board to add these positions in the FY24 budget so that he can seek approval from the state for these positons, begin recruitment for the positions and have time to train the new employees so as to be ready for the increase in the Medicaid caseload. June 7, 2023 13 VFD & Rescue Paid Staffing Ms. Cathey stated the county received a proposal from the Fire Chiefs related to the paid personnel line item within the Fire Tax District that was approved in the current fiscal year budget. The Fire Chiefs convened a committee to review the VFD & Rescue paid staffing and brought forward the following proposal. Ms. Cathey stated there was $790K currently in that budget line and not even 50% spent this fiscal year due to the timeframe for recruiting paid staff. She indicated there was no request to change the recommended budget of the line item of $790K. Ms. Cathey shared the following presentation on behalf of the Fire Chiefs’ committee for the VFD & Rescue Paid Staffing proposal: June 7, 2023 14 June 7, 2023 15 Ms. Cathey stated she did not anticipate the full $790K to be expended using Option A or Option B as noted above. June 7, 2023 16 Ms. Cathey asked the Board if they would be supportive of Option A (equal allocations noting Semora is a Caswell County department that provides coverage in Person County for one paid staff) or Option B (Timberlake receiving a higher amount for the two additional days to their staffing model). She added each Fire Chief has signed off in support of Option B acknowledging that their department would receive specific funding that they would be responsible for managing in conjunction with the Fire Marshal throughout the year and not to exceed that amount. Vice Chairman Sims stated the original intent of the paid part-time staffing at VFDs and Rescue was for an equal distribution as an incentive with the support and help for them to continue to work toward lowering the ISO fire rating. He noted an agreement was needed as to how the Board wants to disburse funds to the VFDs and Rescue. He further noted when the Board implemented the fire tax district, the Board wanted to see improvements in the VFDs and Rescue. With some VFDs and Rescue having more members than others, Vice Chairman Sims reiterated the same intent was for those VFDs that have a higher ISO rating to be lowered for their district. Mr. Schwalenberg said there were three VFDs with a state inspection scheduled in August. In addition, Vice Chairman Sims said there was an additional incentive for the $7,500 bonus per point reduction in the ISO fire rating. Related to the request for $18 per hour rate for paid part-time staffing, Vice Chairman Sims noted the importance to stay competitive. Chairman Powell asked for the categorized data related to the VFD & Rescue calls. Mr. Schwalenberg stated he could provide that data to the Board but ventured to say 80% of the calls were medical related with the remaining being actual fire, investigations, etc. Mr. Schwalenberg stated the Fire Chiefs Association President stated with their support of the proposal that they would not come back to request any additional support next year. Chairman Powell confirmed the VFDs & Rescue were receiving a 2% increase in the FY24-25 budgets to which Ms. Cathey affirmed. Finance Director Amy Wehrenberg stated $1,137,789 was currently in the Reserve Fire Tax Fund Balance at this time. She further affirmed any unspent funds in the Fire Tax budget lines this fiscal year would revert to the Reserve Fire Tax Fund Balance at end of the current fiscal year. Ms. Cathey requested Board feedback related to supporting the VFDs & Rescue proposal to go with Option B, increasing the part-time paid staff rate to $18 per hour, maintaining the current reporting process and giving the Fire Chiefs some flexibility within the amount allotted to their VFD or Rescue to schedule staff according to their needs. It was the consensus of the Board to support the Fire Chiefs proposal for VFD & Rescue paid staffing, as presented. June 7, 2023 17 Adjustments to the Recommended Budget It was the consensus of the Board to add new positions and more vehicles to the County Manager’s Recommended FY24 Budget. To cover the added expenditures the Board elected to increase the fund balance appropriation in the budget by $222,960 without new revenues. The Board added an Animal Services Program Coordinator position that was not in the County Manager’s Recommended Budget due to the unintended consequences of moving two animal control officers over to the Person County Sheriff’s Office. This added position increased the budget by $59,381. The Board also added a grant writer position to the Finance Department’s roster to aid in searching and applying for grant opportunities; staff estimated the value of the position at $60,000. In addition, the Board considered a request related to future Medicaid expansion in NC and consented to five new positions in the Department of Social Services, which will consist of a supervisor, two new caseworkers and two staff developmental specialists to accelerate the training for new employees. The County will receive $246,060 or more in bridge funding to assist in the financial impact of the Medicaid expansion. The positions add $284,216 in expenses (nine months of funding) to the new fiscal year budget. The Board upped the vehicle allotment for the Sheriff’s Office from seven to ten in the budget; the costs associated for the additional vehicles add to the budget totals $180,368. Following Board action on June 5, 2023 to purchase an ambulance using current fiscal year funding, the Board consented to keeping a new ambulance purchase in the next fiscal year budget with the anticipated cost of $433,000, which saves $152,945 in the recommended budget. Ms. Wehrenberg stated the need to make an adjustment to the recommended budget for an increase in the county’s property and liability insurance by $38,000. With the adjustments consented by the Board, Ms. Wehrenberg recommended funding the $222,960 with a Fund Balance appropriation. Adding the above noted adjustments to the FY24 Budget, the FY24 Fund Balance appropriation would now be $3,628,395. The adjustments are illustrated in the following picture: June 7, 2023 18 Ms. Cathey stated with the Board’s consensus the adjusted changes would be incorporated into the Budget Ordinance that would be before the Board for adoption at its meeting on June 19, 2023. ADJOURNMENT: A motion was made by Vice Chairman Sims and carried 5-0 to adjourn the meeting at 11:21am. _____________________________ ______________________________ Brenda B. Reaves Gordon Powell Clerk to the Board Chairman