January 10
January 10, 2011 1
PERSON COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS JANUARY 10, 2011 MEMBERS PRESENT OTHERS PRESENT
Jimmy B. Clayton Heidi York, County Manager
Kyle W. Puryear C. Ronald Aycock, County Attorney B. Ray Jeffers Brenda B. Reaves, Clerk to the Board
Samuel R. Kennington
Frances P. Blalock
The Board of Commissioners for the County of Person, North Carolina, met in recessed session on Monday, January 10, 2011 at 10:00 a.m. in the Person County Office Building Auditorium for the purpose of meeting jointly with the Economic Development
Commission (EDC).
Chairman Clayton called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. A motion was made by Commissioner Jeffers, seconded by Vice Chairman
Puryear and carried 5-0 to recess the meeting and relocate the meeting to the FEMA
Room due to the County Office Building not having heat.
Chairman Clayton called the meeting to order at 10:15 a.m.
EDC voting members present were:
Jim Stovall
Phillip Allen, Jr.
Kenneth Perry
Shady Terrell Ray Wilkins
Randy Reynolds
Jeff Fitzgerald
Danny Talbert
Sam Kennington
Ex-Officio EDC members attending were:
Heidi York
Kyle Puryear Jon Barlow
Henry Daniel
Marcia O’Neil
January 10, 2011 2
DISCUSSION/ADJUSTMENT/APPROVAL OF AGENDA: A motion was made by Vice Chairman Puryear, seconded by Commissioner
Jeffers and carried 5-0 to approve the agenda.
PERSON COUNTY BUSINESS & INDUSTRIAL CENTER, INC. (PCBIC) NON-PROFIT AND CONTRACTING OUT PERSON COUNTY ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR POSITION:
Chairman Clayton asked Mr. Stovall to give some background about the non-
profit, PCBIC. Mr. Stovall stated the Department of Commerce recommended Person
County in the late 1980s to develop a public private partnership for using public and
private resources to promote local economic development. Mr. Stovall noted Durham
County, Wake County, and RTRP have all been very successful using such. Mr. Stovall stated advantages of such partnership include grant opportunities to each sectors, public
and private that may not be valid otherwise, favorable by the Department of Commerce,
favorable by site selectors as well as maintains client confidentially which is vital in
recruiting industry. Mr. Stovall stated the unique opportunity for the county to save funds
which he highly recommended the concept of hiring the economic development director through contracting with PCBIC. Mr. Stovall recommended an annual budget of $60,000
which includes $40,000 salary and $20,000 for training, memberships, reimbursement for
mileage, access to copier, computer and telephone as well as possibly covering any
shortages in budget for PCBIC (mowing, utility costs at PCBIC). Mr. Stovall felt the
remainder of the 2010-2011 fiscal year could be funded with $25,000 or less.
Mr. Stovall noted the following items as tasks the dedicated staff would
implement for economic development:
• Setting up industrial visits
• Create new brochures and DVDs
• Major website and database updates
• Increase marketing
• Develop concept for southern part of county
• Dan River water issue
• Market cell towers
• Start capital funds
• New strategy for 501 N
• City and County joint economic projects
• Networking with Durham, Raleigh and RTP
• Promote more local business
• Schedule more regular scheduled meetings (propose quarterly EDC, monthly PCBIC)
January 10, 2011 3
Chairman Clayton asked the County Attorney, Ron Aycock to address personal
liability for members of a non-profit board. Mr. Aycock stated his research resulted his opinion of a very minimal opportunity for members of a non-profit to be held personal
liable. Mr. Aycock stated a board member would have to disregard fiduciary
responsibility, or have personal finance dealing or gross mismanagement to be held
personally liable. Mr. Alan Hicks, attorney, added that PCBIC purchases liability
insurance for its board members as well as its premises.
County Manager, Heidi York, stated the structure of the contract for the economic
development director would include accountability standards and reporting requirements.
Ms. York confirmed that no new funding sources are needed as the $60,000 annual
budget would be achieved by using $20,000 currently in the economic development budget, $22,500 funds appropriated for the previous Community Development
Coordinator position and the remainder funds through the savings generated by the
County Manager’s reduction in hours.
A motion was made by Commissioner Jeffers, seconded by Vice Chairman Puryear, and carried 5-0 to approve $25,000 to be appropriated for the purpose of
contracting out the economic development director position for the remainder of 2010-11
fiscal year as well as directing the County Manager to prepare a contract for Board
approval.
Board members Kennington, Blalock, and Jeffers requested assurance of the By-
Laws and Articles of Incorporation to be updated and followed. Mr. Stovall confirmed
and noted his desire to add seats on the EDC/PCBIC boards for the PCC President and
Chamber of Commerce
Ms. York confirmed the contract employee would not be a county employee with
performance oversight by PCBIC. Mr. Stovall requested the office space adjacent to
Gene Hodges office (previously occupied by Paul Murray) noting office hours for this
employee would typically be 4 days a week with the 5th day on call working from home.
Commissioner Kennington stated his concerns of losing the position that was
responsible for implementing the Person Futures Strategic Plan. Ms. York noted with
economic development being taken away from the Assistant County Manager, this would
allow the Strategic Plan and grant writing duties to be added in its place.
January 10, 2011 4
CLOSED SESSION:
A motion was made by Vice Chairman Puryear, seconded by Commissioner
Jeffers, and carried 5-0 to enter Closed Session pursuant to General Statute 143-318.11(a)(4) to discuss matters relating to the location or expansion of industries or other
businesses in the county at 10:58 a.m.
A motion was made by Commissioner Jeffers, seconded by Vice Chairman
Puryear, and carried 5-0 to return to open session at 11:09.a.m.
ADJOURNMENT: A motion was made by Commissioner Kennington, seconded by Vice Chairman
Puryear, and carried 5-0 to adjourn the meeting at 11:09 a.m.
_____________________________ ______________________________
Brenda B. Reaves Jimmy B. Clayton
Clerk to the Board Chairman