Observations of July 15 Watauga County Commission Meeting
The board officially approved and announced a new clerk of court, a former middle school math teacher, Katie Hancock.
David Graham reported on the need for comprehensive transportation plans to let the North Carolina State Department of Transportation know our priorities. Most is funded by the gas tax. There have been a lot of funding challenges lately, partly because transportation construction costs are now “through the roof.” Plus, some of the previously agreed upon contracts had inaccurate cost estimates, so future funding remains uncertain. The board shared comments that this process has been frustrating because locals can give input, but see little progress. Graham provided (and the full report is in the board packet) an overview of the top projects (if they were ever to get funding). Another point of concern for this board was the prospect of making Highway 421 four lanes, which a few thought was in the works, but it is not, apparently for reasons related to both funding and right-of-way challenges.
The board approved multiple grants funded from outside sources but under its oversight. One was an unusual situation, in which our sheriff’s department hired a canine deputy from Avery County for a job that was not a canine job. There was a moving story about the deputy’s desire to keep the dog, having lost almost everything else due to Helene, and a donor had volunteered to pay the $20,000 Avery apparently required for the purchase of this highly trained dog. Despite the donor’s action, Avery required the purchase to be channeled through our county, hence the need to discuss and approve this change.
I include here the full report from Will Holt on the Helene Hurricane recovery, copied from the packet:
“I would like to offer a brief update on the status of recovery in Watauga County from the Emergency Services perspective. It is hard to imagine that it has been over nine months since Helene struck our County and while we have made great progress we know we still have a long way to go. A few key points:
*County staff continue to work with our insurance provider, most claims have received their determination and this information has been passed along to FEMA as we work through our Public Assistance (PA} projects. *Right-of-Way debris removal continues and new debris placement ended March 2nd. We have shared multiple concerns with overall progress with the vendor. It is noted other counties are having similar or worse concerns with the same vendor and we are coordinating that flow of information with NCEM for future operations. Staff have been validating the punchout list provided by SOR.
*Waterway debris removal with the Corps of Engineers (USACE) is winding down. All eligible debris sites have been completed and final closeout of the temporary debris sites is nearing completion.
*PPDR has had a delay due to federal funding changes. With that, the contract has been awarded to the same contractor who performed waterway (Bering Strait) and they are ready to go once the task orders are completed. Over 1000 applications were received and so far 500 projects have been awarded in the contract. At time of writing, work is expected to occur within the week.
*Staff continues to coordinate weekly with USACE, Watauga County Soil and Water, NRCS, and FEMA on debris management and future steps in restoring our waterways. At time of report, over 400,000 cubic yards of debris have been removed from our waterways.
*The first batch of Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) projects have been approved by NRCS; staff is coordinating with Soil and Water on an RFP to bid these projects out.
*FEMA has stood up a landslide taskforce to assist State and local governments with tracking landslide damage and potential paths forward for remediation. The path forward is unclear though as a funding mechanism for remediation of these slides has not been identified
*The NCEM Private Road and Bridge program is on the ground doing inspections in Watauga County. At last report, we have 507 projects submitted with 477 of those already being assessed by the PRB team. *Hagerty Consulting is working with staff to complete PA projects. We currently meet bi-weekly to discuss progress and priorities and have meetings with FEMA every two weeks. To date, not including debris operations, Hagerty has secured $540,488.62 in reimbursement payments committed to the County and our partner agencies.
*The Multi-Agency Resource Center {MARC} remains open 8-12 on Fridays, however use data is being monitored to ensure this is the best use of resources . We have requested the MARC stay open through the summer and will monitor continued use. Currently, the MARC sees very few applicants for services and had zero visits the week prior to the decision to reduce operation to a half day on Fridays.
The Emergency Services Department is grateful for the partnership with our local, State, and federal partners specifically as they focus efforts to get money flowing into our community to restore what was lost and also build an even more resilient future.” (source: board packet)
There was also the need to purchase the rather expensive truck plus add-ons necessary for it to be used for emergency services. I admit, seeing these costs is eye-opening, and it makes me (uneasily) curious considering that our county now owns its ambulance service when the federal government has cut Medicaid and aspects of Medicare are also at risk, both programs are major funders of such emergency services. It may well be that a county-owned approach is superior given this funding climate, but it makes me think that planning ahead for so many unknowns could be even more challenging.
I was very interested to hear an update on the plan to create a committee to evaluate the fire appendices the planning board has provided a list of people they recommend to serve, which I will copy from the packet and post here:
“Fire Chiefs (Recommendation will be coming from Fire Board)
Two Commissioners (Internally decided within BoC)
County Manager Deron Geouque
Fire Marshall Shane Garland
Planning Director Jason Walker
One Surveyor 1. Alex Crowe 2. Donald McNeil 3. Rick Snider
One Engineer 1. Patrick Warren 2. Derrick Goddard 3. Mike Trew
One Developer 1. Patrick Warren 2. Jeff Fisher 3. Todd Rice 4. Bill Aceto 5. *Jay Harrill (recommended by Matt Vincent after PB meeting)
One At-Large Member 1. Mike Wilson 2. Joseph Greer 3. Chuck Campbell 4. *George Bartholomew (emailed Deron requesting to be on committee) *” (source: board packet)
After sharing this list, it was reported that the fire commission recommended Steve Marsh from Cove Creek and Matt Aldridge from Foscoe. The commissioners said that they would need to know more if those recommended wish to serve, so they will return to this next time.
Given that extreme fires and floods lie in our future forever, I hope this group will take seriously that workable and effective safety regulations are essential.
There was a brief report on tax collections, all sorts of mandatory processes. including a paperwork requirement called the annual settlement of tax collector, so the board packet included extra reports related to that. The Howard Park proposal needed some work in terms of the contract, so it was postponed. Multiple appointments to boards were approved after waiving the second reading.