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11-01-2021 Meeting Minutes BOC November 1, 2021 1 PERSON COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS NOVEMBER 1, 2021 MEMBERS PRESENT OTHERS PRESENT Gordon Powell Heidi York, County Manager Kyle W. Puryear Brenda B. Reaves, Clerk to the Board C. Derrick Sims S. Ellis Hankins, County Attorney Charlie Palmer Patricia Gentry The Board of Commissioners for the County of Person, North Carolina, met in regular session on Monday, November 1, 2021 at 7:00pm in the Person County Office Building Auditorium. Chairman Powell called the meeting to order and offered an invocation. Commissioner Sims led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance. DISCUSSION/ADJUSTMENT/APPROVAL OF AGENDA: A motion was made by Vice Chairman Puryear and carried 5-0 to approve the agenda. PUBLIC HEARING: REVIEW AND ADOPTION OF THE PERSON COUNTY AND CITY OF ROXBORO JOINT COMPREHENSIVE LAND USE PLAN: A motion was made by Vice Chairman Puryear and carried 5-0 to open the duly advertised public hearing for review and adoption of the Person County and City of Roxboro Joint Comprehensive Land Use Plan. Planning Director, Lori Oakley recalled that in 2001, the City of Roxboro and Person County each adopted separate Land Use Plans. In 2019, the Person County Commissioners and Roxboro City Council approved the request to collaborate on a joint update to the Land Use Plan, and in late 2019, Benchmark was selected as the consultant to draft the update. Ms. Oakley said a steering committee was formed consisting of five individuals from the county and five individuals from the city. The project officially kicked off with a virtual steering committee in May 2020. Several steering committee meetings and public input meetings were held throughout 2020 and 2021. Ms. Oakley stated the draft of the Comprehensive Land Use Plan establishes future goals for both the City of Roxboro and Person County. It includes both a land use plan vision and a new updated future land use map. November 1, 2021 2 Ms. Oakley noted the FLUM (Future Land Use Map) is an important tool that staff utilizes when reviewing legislative and quasi-judicial land use requests, such as a text amendment, rezoning, special use permits and conditional district rezoning. Ms. Oakley further noted the plan includes an implementation overview along with specific goals and objectives. Ms. Oakley said the Planning staff recommended adoption of the Person County & City of Roxboro Joint Comprehensive Land Use Plan. The plan establishes a common vision, goals and overall objectives for the County and City with implementation strategies to fulfill the shared vision. She added that the Planning Board at its meeting on October 14, 2021, voted unanimously (4-0) to recommend adoption of the Person County & City of Roxboro Joint Comprehensive Land Use Plan. Ms. Oakley introduced Mr. Jason Epley with Benchmark Planning to share the following presentation: November 1, 2021 3 November 1, 2021 4 November 1, 2021 5 November 1, 2021 6 November 1, 2021 7 November 1, 2021 8 November 1, 2021 9 November 1, 2021 10 November 1, 2021 11 November 1, 2021 12 November 1, 2021 13 November 1, 2021 14 Commissioner Gentry asked the cost of the contract with Benchmark Planning to which Ms. Oakley and Mr. Epley estimated the costs at $170,000 with the county paying 60% of the costs and the city paying 40% of the costs. Commissioner Gentry questioned the goals in the plan related to population and growth to which Mr. Epley stated the state of NC projected the figures that were used and the plan promotes efforts to facilitate the projected growth. Commissioner Gentry stated there was a lot of work to be done to meet all the goals. Commissioner Palmer asked who would be responsible for day-to-day updates to which Ms. Oakley said it would be the Planning staff. Commissioner Palmer voiced his major concern related to the dilapidated water/sewer infrastructure across city limits. He said this has been a concern since 1982 and urged the city to replace portions of the pipe versus patching the system as it falls apart. He also mentioned that a pump station would have to be added at the airport to get back to the city. Chairman Powell announced a three-minute time limit per speaker for the individuals signing up to address the Board during the public hearing. Speaking in favor of the review and adoption of the Person County and City of Roxboro Joint Comprehensive Land Use Plan was the following: Mr. Barry Allen of 4391 Moore’s Mill Road, Rougemont appeared before the Board to say his comments were about the process, less about the plan, because the process was incomplete. Mr. Allen said he read on the Planning Department’s website that a planner’s job is to work with residents and elected officials. Mr. Allen considered himself a well-informed citizen however, he did not know that the Comprehensive Land Use Plan was being revised nor was he asked to participate in discussions, or asked to respond to a survey, or told about a website that he could access. He said he only learned about the Plan revision when he read it in the Courier-Times. He asked the Board of Commissioners to allow citizens to have a voice in the process. Speaking in opposition to the review and adoption of the Person County and City of Roxboro Joint Comprehensive Land Use Plan were the following: November 1, 2021 15 Ms. Cynthia Lynch of 395 Union Grove Church Road, Hurdle Mills said she did not really oppose the plan and focused her remarks on the implementation part of the plan, specifically Guiding Principle #1: Celebrating Our Rural Character and Lifestyle, which seeks to promote the preservation of the county’s prime agricultural land, noting she took issue with the title as farming is a tough job. Ms. Lynch said farming is a critical component of society that is demanding and a catastrophe can hit with the next storm; she said she wasn’t sure how the plan maintains productive farms and the objectives may help to retain the appearance of farm-like areas but not enough thought to actually retain working producing farms. Ms. Lynch stated the county may not be able to help farms with more land or equipment, but the county could help to keep the cost of farmland reasonable. Ms. Lynch stated agreement with the rural future land use category description that rural and supported services should be permitted without limitation noting typical rural commercial enterprises should be tightened in the current lists of permitted uses of the county. In summary, Ms. Lynch advocated for less support for developers and more support for farmers in rural designated areas presented in the plan. Mr. Chris Weaver of 342 Satterfield Farm Road, Timberlake said he would like to see more involvement with residents. Mr. Weaver said he had not had a chance to look at the plan and requested an opportunity to go through the plan and asked the Board to kick adoption of the plan down the road to their next meeting. A motion was made by Commissioner Sims and carried 5-0 to close the public hearing for the review and adoption of the Person County and City of Roxboro Joint Comprehensive Land Use Plan. RESOLUTION OF ADOPTION OF THE PERSON COUNTY AND CITY OF ROXBORO JOINT COMPREHENSIVE LAND USE PLAN: Commissioner Gentry requested to postpone a vote until the public had ample time to review the Joint Comprehensive Land Use Plan draft. Mr. Jason Epley of Benchmark Planning noted the process included broadcasted live steering committee meetings, which were posted to the website. Planning Director, Lori Oakley stated the draft was added to the website over a month ago prior to the County and City Planning Board meetings which resulted in no changes to the draft. Commissioners Palmer and Sims and Vice Chairman Puryear agreed with Commissioner Gentry’s request to postpone action to the Board’s November 15, 2021 meeting. County Manager, Heidi York asked for any questions to be submitted to her and she would circulate and have ready for the Board’s November 15, 2021 meeting. November 1, 2021 16 A motion was made by Commissioner Gentry and carried 5-0 to postpone action of the Board of Commissioners to adopt the Person County and City of Roxboro Joint Comprehensive Land Use Plan until the Board’s meeting on November 15, 2021. INFORMAL COMMENTS: Chairman Powell noted that informal comments are statutorily required to be conducted at least once a month and that Person County conducts informal comments at all of its regular scheduled meetings for the purpose of addressing county issues and/or matters of public concern. Chairman Powell stated he would maintain order and decorum and he would rule out of order for any individuals making comments related to anyone’s personal lives and anything not relating to county business. Chairman Powell announced all individuals making informal comments would have a three-minute time limit. The following individuals appeared before the Board to make informal comments: Mr. Don Bradsher, Jr., of 976 Estate Road, Semora said he grew up in Person County, left in 1971 for school, returned in 2019, built a home and was disappointed in things he came back to, i.e. the closing of the semi-private Roxboro Country Golf Club, which was not essential to the workings of the county noting the county was headed in the wrong direction when such a golf club was no longer afforded. He stated he worked a couple of summers in high school at Crown Aluminum which now sits empty; he said 8,500 county residents commute to jobs outside the county and came back to the realization that the county itself is the largest employer in the county which is a sign of a county on economic life support and will be made much worse when the power plants close in a few years. Mr. Bradsher said if nothing changes, this county would essentially become a ward of the state and the responsibility of that will be on the Board of Commissioners. Mr. Bradsher respectfully urged the commissioners to vote in favor of the Task Force recommendation to establish a separate entity with the capability to get the job done, which would present less opportunities for self-dealing among the members of that entity and to mandate to bring private employers, private investment into the county to attract people to grow. Ms. Liz Bradsher of 976 Estate Road, Semora stated support of her husband’s comments noting she signed up to give him more time if needed. As he did not need additional time, she urged the Board of Commissioners to listen very carefully to what is being said about where the county’s economic development needs to go and the progress that the county needs to make. Ms. Bradsher said that in 2000 when NAFA came through, it hurt the small towns in NC and because of that small towns pivoted to find other means to find manufacturing and industry and she said Person County had to do the same, and if the county doesn’t do so, Person County will become a ward of the state. November 1, 2021 17 Mr. Paul Lynch of 395 Union Grove Church Road, Hurdle Mills stated a new approach was needed in the county’s economic development noting the EDC, as currently configured, has had very little success in bringing any significant economic development to Person County. Mr. Lynch said the county was facing ongoing economic stagnation, rising taxes and nothing more than a suburb of Durham. He urged the Board of Commissioners to adopt common sense, successful ideas that works in surrounding counties. Ms. Anderson Clayton of 1416 Stone Drive, Roxboro, and Chairwoman of the Democratic Party offered her concerns that access to broadband was not addressed in the economic development task force handout. Ms. Clayton noted the Task Force committee representatives included a real estate and developer, hospital CEO, Duke Energy, VP of Finance for Roxboro Savings, co-owner of Legacy Builders however there were no young adults who were the target that the Board wants to return to this county or the average joes, i.e., teachers, hospital and healthcare workers, front line pandemic workers. DISCUSSION/ADJUSTMENT/APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA: A motion was made by Commissioner Palmer and carried 5-0 to approve the Consent Agenda with the following items: A. Approval of Minutes of October 18, 2021, B. Budget Amendment #8, and C. Person County Health Department Fee Requests associated with COVID-19 vaccinations for the administration of the both the COVID-19 pediatric and booster dose vaccinations NEW BUSINESS: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TASKFORCE PRESENTATION: Commissioner Gentry, Economic Development Task Force liaison, presented the following findings and summary to the group. November 1, 2021 18 November 1, 2021 19 November 1, 2021 20 November 1, 2021 21 Commissioner Gentry stated the appointed Task Force Members include Tommy Winstead, Cecil Barker, David Ziolkowski, Keith Epstein and Randy King from the private sector. She said the mission of the Task Force was to investigate other available methods of promoting and funding economic development. Commissioner Gentry said the Task Force met for six weeks reviewing four economic models of surrounding counties and all meetings recorded and posted to the county website for public viewing. Commissioner Gentry said the model selected by the Task Force was to enlist and encourage the county’s local chamber of commerce to develop and lead a coalition of the business community to become involved with the process of recruitment and retention. These efforts would work in cooperation in local government offices to help make the deals. Commissioner Gentry noted success in economic development is a result of private sector participation. Economic development, member services, educating the members and engagement in government affairs were all touted by the retired CEO of the Cary Chamber for their success. Commissioner Gentry further noted that the state of NC has a public- private non-profit run under contract with the NC Dept. of Commerce with private funding mechanism for marketing and recruitment, under their umbrella, they have relocation, expansion, marketing, tourism, financing, all under one roof. Commissioner Gentry asked why Person County could not do something similar on the scale to fit the size of the county needs. Commissioner Gentry opined of a decade of failure behind the county noting the government cannot build your businesses. She said it was imperative to incorporate changes before change happens to Person County and questioned what kind of businesses does the county want and what fits best for Person County? Commissioner Gentry stated currently there was no expertise on the Board of Commission or within the government departments to design and implement a program for this type of success. She said the county needs to hire, consult and learn from the experts to recreate the same type of success. Commissioner Gentry introduced Mac Williams, former President of the Alamance Chamber to share with the Board the processes, growth and milestones experienced under his 17-years tenure. Mr. Mac Williams recalled the Alamance Chamber experiences in forming and operating the public/private partnership since 2005 when he joined that organization. He noted work began in the development of the public/private partnership prior to his arrival. Mr. Williams said planning for the public/private partnership included visioning forward, countywide surveys similar to what was described when discussing the land use plan. In that plan there was a specific focus on escalating and enhancing the funding and resources that were devoted to the traditional economic development process. He said prior to 2005 for 20 years, funding had been solely the function of the county commissioners and economic development was handled through a contract with a chamber. November 1, 2021 22 In 2005, the business community, government officials went through a process of trying to leave economic development with the chamber or remove it from the chamber or make it a public sector position. Mr. Williams said the decision was made to keep the economic development with the chamber but to bolster resources with the private sector and to request government entities to increase its contributions to the effort, they would match it. The county increased its commitment and the cities within the jurisdiction came in for the first time resulting in a lot more government funds to resource the whole operation and it was matched. From 2005-2008, they focused their efforts on fundraising from the private sector. In 2008, the economy did not sustain fundraising and Mr. Williams said they rode it out for a year or two and pressed pause on the fundraising. In 2010, Mr. Williams approached his leadership to restart fundraising for the created economic development foundation, a separate non-profit entity to which they agreed to replenish the foundation coffers and to double down. In 2011 for a five-year period, Mr. Williams noted they engaged a third party, private sector fundraiser to come in and do the fundraising. He further noted they set a goal that was he did not believe possible of not only money raised, jobs, capital investment but the fundraiser raised three-times the funds they raised themselves. Mr. Williams said they repeated this process in 2016 and as he walked out the door for retirement, they were well into their third public sector fundraising campaign with a private sector fundraiser to keep the foundation funded. He added the local government entities maintained the same level of funding since 2005 and was a key partner going forward. Mr. Williams, who served as the Chamber Executive and the Economic Developer for Alamance said if a broader program was desired, he encouraged a public/private partnership noting it worked for Alamance County and they have since broadened the chamber staff to hire and split his previous job to have a both a Chamber President, who has hired an Economic Developer and they will also have a small business entrepreneur on staff, all housed under a private sector agency, i.e. the Chamber. Mr. Williams spoke to the Alamance efforts to identify land and increase the level of readiness as their site readiness program and used private funds to improve the attractiveness of areas to be more appealing to industrial users noting site selectors want sites ready to go and will not wait a year for get a site ready. He added Alamance local governments collaborated on bringing infrastructure for gravity sewer and water services, and the state made road improvements, Venture Capital backed a firm, and a spec building developer built a facility that is now occupied, all on a 1,100-acre piece of land. Mr. Williams said economic development is a process, not an event, supported by a vision with engagement to be as competitive as can be. He said even as you do all these things, industrial site selectors would still ask for a financial incentive package. Mr. Williams stated the organization and the funding and the structure, which is the result of the public/private partnership, is what makes success more attainable. November 1, 2021 23 Mr. Williams said private funding helps with continuity as professional staff build on a temporary basis and through political elections changes. Commissioner Sims asked Mr. Williams about the cost to hire a third party fundraiser to which Mr. Williams noted they were paid on a flat monthly fee contract plus expenses including per diem and staff, as needed, for a period of time, i.e. 6 months, and paid out of the funds raised. He added whatever was paid to the third party fundraiser was more than satisfied by the committed funds. Vice Chairman Puryear asked Mr. Williams what was the population of Alamance County, which he said, was at least three-times the population of Person County, currently in the range of 170,000. Vice Chairman Puryear asked Mr. Williams how many interstates are in Alamance, which he replied two interstates plus two metropolitan areas with airports to offer noting their economic development created product around those assets that made companies feel like they could locate there. When asked why was the Board comparing Alamance to Person, Mr. Williams stated Person County was trying to get a structure and a committee together to come up with what the plan should be for this county. Mr. Williams said his presentation to the Board was to outline the importance of the partnership, the funding efforts in an ongoing and assertive approach. Vice Chairman Puryear stated the Board did not have the opportunity to view the presentation ahead of the meeting, thus his many questions. Vice Chairman Puryear asked how many members did Alamance have in its chamber and what were the membership dues. Mr. Williams said there were 600 members in the chamber with a sliding scale for the dues ranging from $300 to $1,200 annually with varying levels of benefits to match the dues’ structure. Mr. Williams said the work elected officials have before them was not easy work and the Task Force was a starting point noting success was due to the local people caring enough to start the conversation. Mr. Williams offered his assistance should the Board desire going forward. Commissioner Gentry asked if any of the Task Force members present in the audience would like to make any comments. Mr. Tommy Winstead stated appreciation of the Board’s confidence in him and the others serving on the Task Force. Mr. Winstead noted his experience with participating with the TDA (Tourism Development Authority) and the unilateral common goal for success for the County, City, TDA was teamwork noting a win for one was a win for all. Mr. Winstead commented on a model with a diverse board with representation from farmers, medical field, education, engineers and young people noting industry may be looking at any of those fields and their expertise would be invaluable. He stated self dealing was a problem in the past but he viewed that a minor concern being taken care of with putting parameters in place to prevent. Vice Chairman Puryear asked Mr. Winstead if he November 1, 2021 24 had seen the handout prior to this evening and he said no. Commissioner Gentry stated she had emailed the Task Force members the prior week. Vice Chairman Puryear asked Mr. Winstead did he agree with what was in the handout to which Mr. Winstead stated he would like to have time to review again before answering that question. Commissioner Gentry read a statement from Task Force member Cecil Barker who was unable to attend due to recovering from a roofing accident noting he enjoyed the meetings and the various presentations from counties and it was very interesting to see what similar sized counties were doing for economic development. He said most cities and counties that gave presentations were utilizing a private/public model to help reinforce the economic development for their counties. He said Person County and Roxboro had a lot of very positive attributes and a lot to offer to attract businesses to our area. He strongly agreed with the Task Force recommendations to utilize the private/public model and this will help streamline the development process and attract businesses to our area. He said this would take cooperation from all parties and make our county more attractive. Commissioner Gentry told Vice Chairman Puryear that the Task Force was just an information gathering process; the information (final summary) was put together and presented and they have been passing it out to the public for weeks and she believed someone posted it on a website and she was sorry if he didn’t get a copy. Vice Chairman Puryear said the Task Force final summary was an attack on the Chamber; he read as written in the summary “the Chamber abdicated its role in economic development in Person County;” Vice Chairman said abdicated means to fail to fulfill. He read on the summary as written that the Chamber needs strong leadership; Commissioner Gentry asked if anyone with the Chamber has strong economic experience. She added no one here has strong experience or we wouldn’t be 10 years behind the eight-ball. She asked why we would continue to do the same thing for ten years when we have nothing to sell, or rent. Commissioner Gentry asked what is the goal, what are we trying to accomplish? She said Person County needs to identify its niche. If Person County wants to be a retirement community, then say that or if you want to be a small business community, then state such. She told her fellow commissioners to not go around promoting economic development as we sit around waiting for leads from the state of NC. Commissioner Gentry noted 84 or 88 leads in the last 12 months with four of them landed making it .04% when anyone in sales would expect a 10% return. She said it was frustrating and there needs to be a solid push in the private sector to seek fresh ideas to avoid complacency; what do you really want here? November 1, 2021 25 Mr. David Ziolkowski, a member of the Task Force and a member of the Roxboro Area Chamber Board stated he wanted to set the record straight in that when they spoke to other communities, the Chamber does play a role. He wanted to clarify that this was not any kind of an attack on the Chamber. He stated in economic development, there is a logical step to utilize the Chamber as they have connections and are engaged with the business community. Mr. Ziolkowski said the spirit of the recommendation was to ask if there was a way to extract more value from the Chamber to level the connection with 350 business to help with economic development. Vice Chairman Puryear asked Mr. Ziolkowski if he had seen the summary before the Board meeting to which he said yes, as it was sent out via email on the 25th and consistent with what the Task Force talked about. Commissioner Sims commented that the EDC, the TDA and the Chamber are working well together and there is communication between the groups. He added they each have their role, their niche as established and they collaborate with each other. Commissioner Sims stated Vice Chairman Puryear had legitimate questions as the Board of Commissioners just received the summary at their seats at this meeting. He said they all want to see economic development in Person County and the City of Roxboro and hearing the presentation from Alamance, he noted there was many questions and consideration of costs. Commissioner Sims noted his disappointment on how long it took to bring the Task Force recommendations to the Board of Commissioners noting he would like to have time to further review as he could not support the recommendations at this time. Chairman Powell said he could sympathize that Commissioner Gentry had recent surgery but felt the recommendations could have been brought to the Board earlier. Commissioner Gentry pointed out that none of the Board with the exception of Commissioner Palmer offered any assistance and it took her eight weeks to get with the Chamber as they were closed. Commissioner Sims noted she did not ask for any assistance from her fellow commissioners. November 1, 2021 26 A motion was made by Vice Chairman Puryear and carried 4-1 to continue this item to the Board’s next meeting on November 15, 2021 to allow leadership from the Chamber of Commerce, the Tourism Development Authority, EDC and the Uptown Development Group and any entities mentioned in the Task Force summary to read, review and provide input to the Board of Commissioners. Commissioner Gentry stated she was not asking the Board to vote on the summary. Commissioner Gentry stated she would like to make a motion from the Task Force findings and summary to approve development of a separate service contract with the focus to establish a public/private funding structure to collaborate with the Chamber and any other private association to do business and promote economic development for Person County and that could include the Chamber, Tourism, or whomever, as she felt the Board needed to enter into some type of service agreement to encourage the private sector. Vice Chairman Puryear countered that the Board has not heard from the Chamber that they would like to collaborate to which Commissioner Gentry said she had talked to Mr. Woody Jacobs two weeks prior who had presented to his board and said they liked this idea. Vice Chairman Puryear said he spoke with Mr. Jacobs and Mr. Jacobs was adamantly opposed to it. Commissioner Sims said his conversation with Mr. Jacobs five days ago was that he was against the idea. Commissioner Sims stated the Board had a motion on the floor from Vice Chairman Puryear and unless Commissioner Gentry wanted to make a substitute motion, the first motion was to be heard and then afterward Commissioner Gentry could make a new motion. The motion by Vice Chairman Puryear was passed 4-1. Commissioner Gentry cast the lone dissenting vote. WRITTEN DECISION GRANTING A SPECIAL USE PERMIT APPLICATION FOR A WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS TOWER TO APPLICANT, VERTICAL BRIDGE DEVELOPMENT, LLC: County Attorney, Ellis Hankins stated the new land use state statutes require the Board of Commissioners to approve a Written Order of the decision made when taking up the Special Use Permit application for a Wireless Communications Tower for Vertical Bridge Development, LLC. He said this action formalizes the action already taken by the Board of Commissioners on October 4, 2021 following the statutorily required public hearing. A motion was made by Commissioner Sims and carried 5-0 to approve the Vertical Bridge, LLC Written Decision Approving a Special Use Permit, as presented. November 1, 2021 27 November 1, 2021 28 November 1, 2021 29 November 1, 2021 30 CHAIRMAN’S REPORT: Chairman Powell encouraged citizens to support veteran upcoming activities. Upcoming veteran activities would be advertised through the local newspaper and the veterans’ social media platforms. Chairman Powell acknowledged November as American Indian Heritage month. Chairman Powell stated U.S. Congressman Ted Budd was at Raleigh Regional Airport at Person County supporting ongoing airport projects, i.e., runway extension and construction of the new hangar and Person County’s long-term investments. MANAGER’S REPORT: County Manager, Heidi York reported the construction of the airport hangar had broken ground and the foundation concrete should be completed this week. COMMISSIONER REPORT/COMMENTS: Commissioner Sims thanked everyone that came out to the Board of Commissioners’ meeting this evening. Commissioner Palmer commented on his frustration of his growing backlog of documentation. There were no comments from Vice Chairman Puryear or Commissioner Gentry. ADJOURNMENT: A motion was made by Commissioner Palmer and carried 5-0 to adjourn the meeting at 9:08pm. _____________________________ ______________________________ Brenda B. Reaves Gordon Powell Clerk to the Board Chairman