HARNETT COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

Minutes of Regular Meeting

March 3, 2014

The Harnett County Board of Commissioners met in regular session on Monday, March 3, 2014, in the Commissioners Meeting Room, County Administration Building, 102 East Front Street, Lillington, North Carolina.

Members present: Joe Miller, Chairman

Jim Burgin, Commissioner

Beatrice B. Hill, Commissioner

Gordon Springle, Commissioner

Member absent: Gary House, Vice Chairman

Staff present: Tommy Burns, County Manager

Joseph Jeffries, Deputy County Manager

Dwight Snow, County Attorney

Kimberly Honeycutt, Finance Officer

Margaret Regina Wheeler, Clerk to the Board

Chairman Miller called the meeting to order at 9:00 am. Commissioner Burgin led the pledge of allegiance and invocation.

Chairman Miller called for additions and deletions to the published agenda. Commissioner Burgin moved to approve the agenda as published. Commissioner Springle seconded the motion which passed 4 - 0.

Commissioner Hill moved to approve the items listed on the consent agenda. Commissioner Springle seconded the motion which passed 4 - 0.

  1. Minutes: February 17, 2013 Regular Meeting
  1. Budget Amendments:

227 Cooperative Extension

Code 110-7310 -465.11-00 Salaries & Wages 108 increase

110-7310-465.21-04 Group Insurance, HSA 500 increase

110-7310-465.21-05 Employee Clinic 1 increase

110-7310-465.22-00 FICA 6 increase

110-7310-465.23-00 Regular Retirement 149 decrease

110-7310-465.25-10 Unemployment 171 decrease

110-7310-465.41-11 Telecommunications & Postage 65 increase

110-7310- 465.58-14 Travel 360 decrease

228 Public Buildings

Code 110-4700-410.41-25 Operating Utilities – Economic Dev. 3,392 decrease

110-4700-410.41-42 Operating Utilities – Boone Trail Elem 12,000 decrease

110-4700-410.43-15 Operating Repair & Maint-Building 20,000 decrease

110-4700-410.43-17 Operating Repair & Maint-Grounds 13,000 decrease

110-4700-410.43-24 Operating Repair & Maint-Boone Trail 3,000 decrease

110-4700-410.74-74 Capital Outlay – Equipment 51,392 increase

229 Health Department/Aging

Code 110-7552-441.33-45 Contracted Services 5,940 increase

110-0000-331.75-52 HCCBG Nutrition 5,940 increase

230 Sheriff’s Office

Code 110-5100-420.43-21 Maintenance & Repair – Vehicle 931 increase

110-0000-356.30-00 Insurance Claims 931 increase

231 Public Utilities – PU0901 SWEST NTA/Cameron Hill Capital Proj.

Code 572-9100-431.45-80 Contingency 26,741 decrease

572-9100-431.45-01 Construction/Sanford Contractors 26,741 increase

  1. Tax refunds, rebates and release (Attachment 1)
  1. Resolutions to add roads to state system (Attachment 2, 3 & 4)
  1. Senior County Staff Attorney, on behalf of the Harnett County Sheriff’s Office, requested approval of the Harnett County Detention Center Medical Plan. Harnett County contracts with Southern Health Partners to provide medical care to the Harnett County Detention Center. The medical plan is developed by Southern Health Partners and has been reviewed and approved by the Harnett County Sheriff’s Office, Local Health Director of the Harnett County Department of Public Health and reviewed by the Harnett County Legal Services staff.

Chairman Miller opened the floor for informal comments by the public, allowing up to 3 minutes for each presentation up to 30 minutes.

- Sharlene Jones of 2370 Old Buies Creek Road in Angier addressed the group regarding health insurance for county employees. Mrs. Jones said she hopes that the Board will do something different for the employees other than what they have had for the past two years as she said believes it has hurt a lot of county employees. Mrs. Jones said there has got to be a better alternative; she said you can make several choices with insurance and have more than one plan or a lot of options. She also said people are making good money off of the backs of employee. Mrs. Jones said employees are tax payers and she thinks our tax money could be better spent on a better plan. Mrs. Jones said she understands the need to give incentives but asked how does Rooms-To-Go not paying taxes for 5 or 10 years helping the County.

Victoria Whitt, Executive Director of Sandhills Center, presented the Sandhills Center FY 13-16 Local Business Plan. Mrs. Whitt reported 122C-115.2 requires that each LME develop a business plan of the management and delivery of mental health, developmental disabilities, and substance abuse services. She also reported the business plan would be in effect for at least three State fiscal years and the proposed plan must be approved by the boards of county commissioners, reviewed by the CFAC, and submitted to the DHHS Secretary for certification. Ms. Whitt also noted the Local Business Plan includes five statewide initiatives and five local initiatives. Chairman Miller requested clarification regarding data for Integration of Behavioral and Physical Health under local initiatives. Commissioner Burgin moved to approve the plan as presented. Commissioner Springle seconded the motion which passed 4 – 0.

Mrs. Whitt also noted NC G.S. 126-11 allows local area mental health authorities to petition the State Human Resources Commission to allow the authority to establish an internal system that is “substantially equivalent” to the system used by the North Carolina Office of Human Resources. Mrs. Whitt requested approval of a resolution by the Harnett County Board of Commissioners supporting their petition to the North Carolina State Human Resources Commission for substantially equivalent status for Sandhills Center human resources system in the areas of:

1.  SYSTEM PORTION 1: RECRUITMENT, SELECTION, AND ADVANCEMENT (25 NCAC 011.2401)

2.  SYSTEM PORTION II: CLASSIFICATION/COMPENSATION (25 NCAC 011.2402)

Mrs. Whitt said the reason they are interested in moving away from the State and “controlling their own destiny” is to reduce the paperwork and wait times. Mrs. Whitt said they want to stay under the state as far as personnel actions, disciplinary actions and those types of activities. Commissioner Burgin asked how quickly this would take place and Mrs. Whitt responded it would hopefully be voted on in May. Commissioner Burgin moved to approve the resolution as presented. Commissioner Hill seconded the motion which passed 4 – 0. (Attachment 5)

Regarding Broker and Insurance Services RFPs, Commissioner Springle asked who made the request to Legal to draw up this request. John Rankins, Human Resources Director, reported that Human Resources drew up the RFPs and then sent them to Legal for approval. Mr. Rankins said they used several examples to write the proposed RFPs. Mr. Rankins said when we decided to keep the plan we had last year, the Board determined they would bid everything out this year. Commissioner Springle said he did not remember that and asked if we had already discussed the fact we are not getting the service we need from the broker that we’ve got. Mr. Rankins said he doesn’t think it’s a matter that we are not getting the level of service; we just want to bid it out and see what we can get, maybe a better situation.

Chairman Miller said there are some things he doesn’t understand and he would like to do some more research. Commissioner Burgin asked to discuss the proposals separately. He also asked staff to find out how the current property and casualty broker, Surry Insurance, is being compensated. Commissioner Burgin said the County should have a $5, $10 or $15 Million umbrella. Discussions continued regarding the proposed RFPs including suggested changes as well as who would serve on the selection committee.

Jennifer Slusser, Staff Attorney, said she believes the intention of a particular term in the property/casualty/workers compensation proposal is to prevent potential bidders going out to market at this point. Mr. Rankins reiterated staff’s intent in the RFPs for broker qualifications was to make sure we would be dealing with a company where health insurance is their specialty and they are not contracting it with someone else. Mr. Rankins responded that the current broker is paid $40,000. Commissioners Burgin and Springle requested that the Employee Benefits Committee be involved in the selection process. Commissioner Springle said he thinks the committee functioned really well because they were able to see the options we have and the amount of money we have to spend and communicate it back to employees.

Commissioner Burgin recommended we make this a two year agreement again, possibly a three year agreement for property and casualty. Commissioner Hill if we go out for two years we should have these problems ironed out before we get in to that situation. Mr. Rankins said the County would have the option to come out of the agreement after the first year.

Commissioner Burgin and Mr. Rankins recognized health care is changing fast. Mr. Rankins said there may be other changes too and noted under the new Affordable Healthcare Plan an employer is not required to carry the spouse, who would be eligible to go in to the exchange, but employers must carry dependent children. Commissioner Springle mentioned the committee had discussed options including cost-share with employees but noted limitations with Affordable Healthcare. Mr. Burns said the County was criticized last time because they did not bid this out.

It was the consensus of the Board to ask staff to make the changes discussed and recirculate the information for commissioners to vote on at their upcoming special session on Tuesday, March 11, 2014.

The group watched the Legislative Update Video provided by the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners. Commissioner Springle, who recently attended the NCACC Agricultural Advisory Committee meeting, reported one of the mail goals of the NCACC for this short session is to reinstate lottery funds for school construction. Commissioner Springle said it extremely important for commissioners to attend the upcoming Legislative Day and to meet with our delegation as soon as possible. Mr. Burns reminded the group of the upcoming March 26th NCACC District Meeting in Moore County.

Mr. Burns reminded the Board of their upcoming meeting on March 11th with the Board of Education. Mr. Burns reported staff is working through the budget and noted department heads would start submitting their budgets this week. Mr. Burns also announced that Mr. Nick Dula was recently selected as the Economic Development Planner and would start on March 24th after relocating from Lenior. Mr. Dula asked Mr. Burns to thank the Board for their hospitality during his recruit visit and he is really enthusiastic about the Board’s vision and enthusiasm for economic development. Mr. Burns said staff would be monitoring the weather this week and noted schools had already decided to close early today. Last, Mr. Burns reminded the group that he hoped to be able to follow the budget calendar, recently shared with commissioners at their retreat, as close as possible with the budget ideally being adopted by June 16, 2014. He noted the only modification commissioners may be asked to consider would be rescheduling the first Board meeting in June to an evening meeting in order to hold a public hearing on the budget.

Mr. Burns presented the Tax Department’s Top 200 Owing Report and said he understands some of these were paid last week and will provide commissioners with an updated report. Commissioner Burgin had questions regarding the report and the process used to collect taxes. He asked if the County could take “unknown” property under some form and auction it to recover taxes. Mrs. Hill also shared her concerns regarding the report. Discussions regarding the report and collection and legal processes continued. Mr. Burns will invite Billy Godwin, Tax Department attorney, to an upcoming work session to talk through some of the questions.

Chairman Miller called for any new business. Commissioner Springle said Wayne County is building two middle schools for $40 Million and our cost for one is over $30 Million for one middle school. He said Johnston County has done a good job too and wondered if would be good to meet with some commissioner from those counties to see what they are doing and look at other options. Chairman Miller said he and Commissioner Springle, along with some members of the Board of Education, recently walked the property for the new Southwest Elementary School and we have got to come up with some way to keep construction costs down.

Commissioner Burgin moved that the Board make a formal request to the Board of Education to provide their financials on a monthly basis, including their fund balance. Commissioner Springle seconded the motion which passed 4 – 0. Staff was asked to draft a resolution.

Commissioner Burgin said he had been contacted by a couple of county employees about how we pay during times when the county is closed, exempt vs. non-exempt and over-time for a 40-hour week vs. the month. He said he has discussed this with Mr. Rankins and suggested we may need to tweak our employee pay policy. Mr. Burns said we receive lots of questions regarding essential verse nonessential employees during inclement weather. Commissioner Springle asked if there was a way to see what the cost would be to pay employees every two weeks instead of monthly. Chairman Miller said employees are happy with the petty leave program and appreciate the clarity of the new policy.

Commissioner Springle moved that the Board go into closed session to (1) consult with the County’s legal staff in order to preserve the attorney-client privilege concerning the handling of certain claims; (2) discuss certain personnel matters; and (3) discuss matters relating to the location or expansion of industries or other businesses in Harnett County. This motion is made pursuant to N.C. General Statute Section 143-318.11(a),(6)&(4). Commissioner Burgin seconded the motion which passed 4 to 0.

Commissioner Hill moved that the Board come out of closed session. Commissioner Springle seconded the motion which passed 4 to 0.

Commissioner Hill moved to adjourn the meeting at 11:23 am. Commissioner Springle seconded the motion which passed 4 – 0.

______

Joe Miller, Chairman Margaret Regina Wheeler, Clerk

March 3, 2014 Regular Meeting Minutes

Harnett County Board of Commissioners

Page 5 of 5