The Craven County Board of Commissioners heard a presentation on a jail diversion program, received departmental reports and requests, and discussed other topics during the Nov. 18 meeting.
The Board of Commissioners declined an opportunity to purchase property, approved budget amendments, provided an update on a recent lease with the hospital authority and discussed other items during their meeting on Nov. 18, 2024 at the Craven County Administration Building in New Bern, NC.
Chairman Jason Jones responded to a letter from the president of CarolinaEast Health System to hospital employees that talked about a recent lease agreement between Craven County and the hospital authority as previously reported here.
The commissioners considered an offer to purchase property at 902 and 907 North B St. in Bridgeton from the Craven County Board of Education. Chairman Jason Jones of District 2, Vice Chairman Dennis “Denny” Bucher of District 7, Commissioners Thomas “Tom” Mark of District 1, Beatrice “Bea” Smith of District 3, Ettienne “ET” Mitchell of District 4, Shevel “Sherry” Hunt of District 5 and Chadwick Howard of District 6 voted to decline purchasing the land as reported here.
The board approved the consent agenda, which included a budget amendment related to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing’s Nurse Practitioner Residency program; tax refunds and releases and past meeting minutes. The agenda and packet are published here.
Pastor Gene McClendon, executive director of Hope Mission of Coastal Carolina, said he was “delighted to address the citizens of Craven County through our substance use jail diversion program” and introduced John Sotirkys, the director of recovery services.
Sotirkys said they offer faith-based recovery programs that are led by certified peer support specialists.
The Hope Recovery Homes program is a six-month substance abuse recovery program that offers a place to live, counseling, a 12-step program and other services, according to their website.
Sotirkys said they have ten residential treatment and transitional homes located between Morehead City and Havelock. Residents are offered employment transition opportunities; education opportunities and housing opportunities and they work with the sheriff’s office “to make sure those places are appropriate.”
They’re working with community colleges and the Craven-Carteret Re-Entry Program “to provide a rounded opportunity for that individual to have success in their long-term recovery,” he said.
“I’m a 21-year Marine veteran and mental health recovery was where I gained a lot of my success and wide strides in, but we know that Jesus is the way every day and he is what we build our foundation on. That’s where a lot of us has have gained wide strides in our recovery,” Sotirkys said.
He said the program costs about $35 per night to house a person for 180 days. The peer support specialists live with clients, meet with them regularly and transport them to substance intensive outpatient treatment and mental health treatment facilities. They also take clients into the community.
He said they currently have 23 clients who have spent 2,261 nights with them and the total costs have been $79,135. The cost of housing an inmate in the county jail for the same amount of time is estimated at $158,270.
He said sixteen of the clients came from a jail, five of which came from a Craven County contract, five came from a Comprehensive Opioid Stimulant Substance Use Program contract and six have come from an Opioid Settlement contract.
John Sotirkys said peer supports go into the jails and meet with inmates and provide classes, engage with them and give them homework to get “them to a place where they are ready to find their recovery.”
He said Hope Mission also has a Peer Recovery Center in Morehead City, which is a recovery hub and peer support specialists are engaged in Carteret, Craven, Jones, Onslow, Pamlico, and Beaufort Counties. He also mentioned other services and programs.
Commissioners Hunt, Mark and Chairman Jones spoke in support of the organization.
Scott Harrelson, the health director, proposed new fees for the Respiratory Syncytial Virus vaccines; lab tests for creatinine levels in urine samples to be contracted out to LabCorp and COVID-19 testing fees. The board approved the new fees.
John Stucky, the environmental health director, introduced Margareta Slagle, the environmental health supervisor, to present a request to apply for a $300,000 grant for a retail program standards coordinator position.
“The goals of the grant program are to support strategies to reduce the occurrence of food born illness risk factors and promote uniformity in the National Integrated Food Safety System and leverage state, local, tribal and territorial government and retail protection agencies,” Slagle said.
She said the grant will allow them to hire a full-time employee, which will increase conformance with program regulatory standards.
She detailed the costs of the base funding and add-on options related to the grant.
Commissioner Mark said he wants staff to return each year to provide progress updates.
Commissioner Mitchell said she was concerned about the cost of attending conferences.
Slagle said their budget pays for them to go to conferences throughout NC and the grant allows for networking opportunities across the country.
Vice Chairman Bucher thanked staff for performing inspections and said, “programs that have grants have a habit of hanging around after the grant is gone.” He said he wanted to terminate it after the end of three years.
The BOC authorized staff to apply for the grant.
Dail Booth, the water superintendent, reported there are over 4,700 new meters in Brices Creek and James City.
Booth said they currently have three people who read 15,000 meters each month, which is an exorbitant amount and noted some utilities read meters on a quarterly basis.
He asked the commissioners to approve a new meter data support specialist position for the automated metering infrastructure meter project. The position will cost $35,763. The specialist will be responsible for monitoring and managing the software and creating reports.
He said once the meters are installed, the three individuals will shift from reading meters to becoming meter technicians. They will troubleshoot the meters to determine if a transmitter needs to be replaced.
He said, if you live in the Neuse River or Brices Creek area, you may notice a small black puck on top of meters. The puck talks to antennas on water towers that have base station collectors.
“Just like any other computer equipment, they don’t always communicate. People run over these with lawnmowers, there will be a whole bunch of things that can happen,” he said.
The specialist would see if the meters needed attention and would send work orders to the three technicians who would decide whether the transmitter needed to be replaced, if someone parked a car on top of the meter or if the box is covered in dirt.
Hunt asked if the county charges residents if they run over a puck with a lawnmower.
Booth said the issue hasn’t been addressed.
He said the puck is designed to break and the transmitter falls in the box, not to be damaged. Then you put a new puck on and pop the transmitter in.
“The transmitter fits inside of your (meter) box and addresses that puck and that puck; it can’t read through those metal meter boxes. So, when somebody runs over it and breaks it, I think they’re around $20. The transmitter is very expensive,” he said.
“I had a neighbor run over his with a lawnmower cost him over $300 to replace, so I’m paranoid of this puck now,” Commissioner Hunt said.
“That puck, from what I understand and from what I’ve seen, the few instances we’ve had since they’ve been installed, that’s designed to break. If the transmitter falls, you don’t have to replace that transmitter, so you’re just doing the puck,” Booth said.
The BOC approved the position.
Dwayne Alligood, the county engineer, reported that NC Department of Transportation is working on the US 70 widening project between Old Cherry Point Road and Carolina Pines to bring it up to interstate standards. They made an offer of $46,050 to acquire easements, rights of way, and other site improvements that are part of the Craven County Water System in the Stately Pines, Flanner Beach and River Bluffs areas. The board approved the NCDOT offers and authorized the county manager to execute the agreements.
Steve Bennett, the information technology director, asked the commissioners for $84,000 in additional funding so they can complete the last phase of the Tyler Enterprise Resource Planning project. The project was designed to consolidate the finance, human resources, planning and utility billing systems into one software package. They had to pause the planning and inspections project for seven years due to Hurricane Florence. They are now ready to complete the project. The Board of Commissioners approved $84,000 in additional funding for the Tyler ERP project and the project ordinance amendment. The board approved a budget amendment in the amount of $168,166.
Amber Parker, the human resources director, asked the board to approve changes to the Recruitment and Retention Bonus Policy. She said it would “improve the county’s ability to attract and retain skilled employees” to positions that are deemed to be difficult to fill.
She said employees that fill positions that are deemed difficult to fill will receive a recruitment bonus after they complete a probationary period or six months on the job. Employees will receive a retention bonus after they complete a year of employment. Rates are set at $750 for full-time positions and $250 for part-time positions. A combined retention and recruitment bonus of $1,500 for FT and $500 for PT positions.
“Eligible full-time positions would receive a total combined recruitment and retention bonus of up to $3,000 while eligible part-time positions could receive a combined bonus up to $1,000,” Parker said.
Commissioner Mark said, “You mentioned there was an area that was a lot.”
“Our largest area is the detention officers, this request was something that the sheriff has asked us to look into,” Parker said.
“I would just like to see some specifics on the positions being open for 30 days, 60 days, 90 days then we’ll apply it like an actual formula. I just think it would be more effective,” Commissioner Howard said.
He said he didn’t know there was a retention problem, except for the jailers.
Jack Veit, the county manager, said there isn’t a countywide retention problem, there are two specific areas, detention officers and part-time CARTS drivers.
The board approved the policy changes.
Craig Warren, the information technology director, asked the commissioners to approve $165,000 in funding for the Craven Pamlico Regional Library’s technology needs.
He also asked the commissioners to approve $388,292 to be used to pay out the compensatory time balance for position vacancies, increased workloads and assisting in response to Hurricane Helen relief efforts.
“When you’ve been deployed in a situation like western North Carolina, particularly for our sheriff’s office folks and health folks, we’ve got to come back and fill out paperwork that’s required to be submitted by FEMA, so we haven’t got all that paperwork because we still have folks cycling through. When all that’s done, we’ll get a grand total and bring that to you,” Jack Veit said.
The commissioners approved the requests.
The Board of Commissioners welcomed Shane Digan as the public information officer and assistant to the county manager.
Digan reported on the Completing Access to Broadband project. He said the state told the county in August that the CAB 2.0 project will move forward with a Stop-Gap Solutions program. The state didn’t require a county match. They said Craven County’s match was $500,000 and that would be covered by their Stop-Gap Solutions program.
He said the county told a broadband service provider that they wanted broadband access more areas. The provider said it would cost $300,000.
The governor vetoed House Bill 10 in September. The North Carolina General Assembly is expected to override the veto on Nov. 19. If they do, it will remove the county’s match requirement, and it would increase the total cost between $2.8 – $3.57 million.
Digan said they were looking at hotspots off Bear Hole Road, Honolulu Road, Joyner Drive, Mile Road and NC 43, New Liberty Road, State Camp Road, Chris Road, Waterway Drive and Wilis Road.
The commissioners authorized the county manager to commit up to $300,000 to the Completing Access to Broadband project.
House Bill 10 became law on Nov. 20.
The Board of Commissioners approved the following appointments:
-Coastal Regional Solid Waste Management Authority: Steven Aster
-Craven County Health Board: Dr. Julia Sheffield
-Craven/Pamlico Regional Library Board: Denise Smith
-Craven County Planning Board: Curt Stegemann
-Craven County Recreation Advisory Board: Carolyn Squires
-Fireman’s Relief Fund Board of Trustees: Justin Goodrich
-Fire Tax Commissioners: Justin Goodrich
-River Bend Planning Board (ETJ): Bernard Bush
The county manager said they’re preparing to reopen the library.
He said the Coastal Regional Solid Waste Management Authority passed a resolution to honor the late Mayor John Kirkland. He said Jason Jones was appointed as the vice chairman of CRSWMA board and he was appointed to be the interim chairman.
Commissioner Mark said the Craven County Tourism and Development Authority has been showing improvements and said they need more hotels.
Commissioner Hunt thanked the poll workers. She said Commissioner Howard and her were working on an after-action report on the elections.
Vice Chairman Bucher said Realize U 252 has brought in a Tony Hoffman to speak to eight graders in Craven County. He said since there is no way to measure the results, they can’t use Opioid Funds.
Chadwick Howard left the room because he serves on the RU 252 board and the commissioners recused Howard from voting. Bucher made a motion to give $6,200 to RU-252 so they can hire Hoffman as a guest speaker.
The board went into a closed session to discuss personnel matters.
Watch the meeting video here:
By Wendy Card, Editor. Send an email with questions or comments.