Commissioners approve plans to assess the water system and discuss accidents near landfill during meeting in December.
The Board of Commissioners met on Dec. 16, 2024 in the Craven County Administrative Building in New Bern, NC.
The Craven County Board of Commissioners approved a request from the Craven County Board of Education to amend the budget in the amount of $104,250 for renovations to the air conditioning system in the West Craven High School Band Room.
Health Director Scott Harrelson reported that the Federally Qualified Health Center awarded the department $32,566 to provide quality improvement services, which included staff training, supplies and costs related to the Clinically Integrated Network system. He initially said the FQHC has a health center owned CIN and it will cost the county $10,000 to join as well as $750 for the five providers that the health department will have in it for primary care.
He later told NewBernNow.com that, “We were initially quoted $10,000, but we just found out that the initial buy in has been dropped to $1,500.”
He said there are 5,500 members in the CIN and the county will receive $150 for each covered member every month. This will come to about $100,000 over the course of the year. The county is not getting that from the current CNI.
The commissioners approved a budget amendment for the FQHC award of $32,566.
The Craven County Sheriff’s Office received a $300 donation which will be used to purchase items needed by Animal Protective Services.
Human Resources Assistant Director Jennifer Morris reviewed updates to the Technology, Device and Network Policy to reflect recent changes to state law. She said the county has a policy that governs technology resources that prohibits pornography from being viewed on devices and networks. She said the new law includes exemptions for employees or officials that engage in the activities in the course of their official duties. She noted that the description of disciplinary actions that will be taken if the policy is violated must be included.
Water Superintendent Dail Booth said the department will be conducting an Asset Inventory Assessment to study the county’s existing water infrastructure and determine if they need to replace or repair assets. They will develop a ten-year capital improvement plan to address the needs. He said a request for qualification process was conducted. They recommended CJS Conveyance to conduct engineering services for the projects due to their knowledge of the county’s water system and their experience in conducting services AIA and CIP projects. He said they budgeted $180,000 for the cost of the study.
Chairman Bucher asked about the system’s age and Booth said he believed the system is relatively young with piping dating back to the late 1970’s. He said some of the piping in James City is probably older, but most of the system is PVC. He said New Bern has stuff in the ground that dates back to the colonial days. He said the biggest issue is the wells are 50 years old.
He said the assessment was very important because when they seek federal and state funding, the state looks to see if you’re doing your due diligence to maintain the system. He said there’s basically a score sheet and when you apply, these are some of the first items they look at. If you don’t have it, you’re starting behind everyone else.
The board approved the award of the AIA and CIP projects to CJS Conveyance and authorized staff to execute the agreement.
Commissioner Hunt said a resident told her they were very happy with the water system and the water, but said they can’t pay their bill online and asked if something changed.
Dail Booth said they recently changed the payment system. He said the original payment system is there but with ACI Payments. We’re trying to transition to what is resident access. So, we did the Munis integration and part of the Munis integration was a payment portal where customers can view their bill. With ACI you can’t view your bill, you can just call this number and put in your account information and then pay whatever’s on your bill. Now they can access that and actually see what their bill is and when it’s due, they can set up reminders where there’s a whole lot of customer service things.
The commissioners approved a $21,000 budget amendment to account for an increase in membership for the Eastern Carolina Council and the cost of commissioners travel and training.
They appointed Brent Manning to the Vanceboro-Craven County Library Board.
Jack Veit was reappointed to the Coastal Regional Solid Waste Management Authority Board.
Tyler Harris was reappointed to the Coastal Carolina Regional Airport Authority Board.
Albert Lester and Lieutenant Robert Holton Jr. were reappointed to the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council.
Jackie Anderson was reappointed to the Voluntary Agriculture District Advisory Board District 1 seat and Dale Dawson to the District 2 seat.
The Board of Commissioners authorized County Manager Jack Veit to execute a lease agreement with the city of New Bern so the county can use the old New Bern Firemen’s Museum as a temporary location while they renovate the senior center starting in January. Veit said there is no cost involved in the lease.
Jack Veit said the Coastal Regional Solid Waste Management Authority does great work. He said they have “accelerated some of the landfill space that’s available,” so they are looking at an expansion.
He said there was a fire at the Transfer Station where the trash from Carteret County flows through before it comes to Craven County.
He said they’re also working on an expansion project that has been on the table since Hurricane Florence.
Commissioner Beatrice Smith was appointed to the Aging Planning Board, East Carolina Workforce Development Board, Juvenile Crime Prevention Council, Dix Crisis Center Board, Partners in Education Board and Smart Start Board.
Chairman Denny Bucher appointed to Craven County Health Board, C1A Boad, Swiss Bear Board, Alcohol Beverage Control Board and CarolinaEast Medical Center Board.
Vice Chairman Jason Jones was appointed to the Coastal Regional Solid Waste Management Authority Board, Cove City Library Board, Craven-Pamlico Regional Library, Kellenberger Foundation, Tryon Palace Commission and Coastal Regional Airport Authority Board.
Commissioner Chadwick Howard was appointed to the Down East RPO Board, Havelock City Library Board, Realize U252 Board and Eastern Carolina Council of Governments.
Commissioner Sherry Hunt was appointed to the Local Emergency Planning Committee, Havelock City Library Board, Trillium Board and Military Civilian Community Council.
Commissioner ET Mitchell was appointed to the New Bern Area Metropolitan Transportation Organization Board, Allies for Cherry Point’s Tomorrow Board, New Bern Craven County Library Board and Craven Community College Board of Trustees.
Commissioner Tom Mark was appointed to the Tourism Development Authority Board and Vanceboro Library Board, Highway 70 Corridor Committee and CarolinaEast Medical Center Board of Directors.
Commissioner Howard thanked Sheriff Chip Hughes for tackling the bus passing issue in Carolina Pines. He thanked the county manager for addressing concerns that a resident had with posting live meetings. He thanked Planning Director Chad Strawn for helping people. He also said he attended an eagle scout ceremony for Erica Smith and was glad to see young people doing fantastic things in the community.
Commissioner Smith thanked Chad Strawn for his work in her district and seeing that the Baptists on a Mission is helping the family in her community who needed repairs on their house. She also thanked the sheriff, the county manager and Assistant County Manager Gene Hodges.
Commissioner Hunt said she’s looking forward to a new year in Craven County.
Commissioner Jones said CRSWMA was paying for trash pickup along the highway.
Jones said they’ve had a number of accidents at the intersection of Old US 70 and Dry Monia Road. There was a really bad accident on Dec. 13. He met with staff and NCDOT at the location in 2023 and it continues to be a problem. He said trucks have been trying to turn in and out of the nearby landfill and it’s a busy intersection. He asked the board’s permission if the planning department, administration department and the NC Department of Transportation could meet and review the crash data at the intersection and come up with ideas to address the problem. The board agreed.
Chairman Bucher also asked the county manager if NCDOT could update the board on Highway 70 improvements.
The board went into closed session for attorney client privilege.
They approved a budget amendment and authorized the county manager to execute an agreement to pay the city of New Bern up to $191,000 for a fuel invoice.
Video recordings of county meetings are available on YouTube here.
By Wendy Card, Editor. Send an email with questions or comments.