Buncombe County Commissioners

The May 15 meeting of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners led off with a bit of news. To those present, Chairman Nathan Ramsey read the text of an e-mail from Ken Maxwell, community relations manager for Progress Energy, which was addressed to County Manager Wanda Greene. The power company has been involved in a years-long negotiation for an oil-fed power plant planned to be sited on county land in Woodfin.

Last month, the Woodfin Board of Adjustment refused to approve the plan. That left persistent questions about the lease agreement between Progress and Buncombe County, and the disposition of the Woodfin property.

According to Maxwell’s message, the company has “until May 24 whether or not to appeal” the Woodfin board’s decision. Maxwell stated that Progress has “not made a final determination on the appeal action,” but added that “if during that process it is determined that we no longer need this property, we plan to release our legal right to the property back to the county.”

When he was finished reading Maxwell’s statement, Ramsey said the message “should assure folks that if they [Progress] choose not to go forward with some type of power-generation facility, they’ve continued to maintain that the lease will no longer be effective and the county can pursue other options.”

Yet in the public comment period that followed, Mountain Voices Alliance member Elaine Lite said Ramsey’s assurances did little to disabuse that group’s members of the notion that backroom politics were at work between Progress and the county commissioners from the start.

“The letter from Ken Maxwell does not negate the fact that this process—I’m, ah, trying to be diplomatic here—was not done well,” Lite said.

Follow the money

The meeting moved briskly into other considerations, most notably Greene’s presentation of the county’s proposed $303,398,806 budget for the coming fiscal year. The 2007-08 spending plan, which relies on 55 percent property taxes and 15 percent sales tax, is figured at the current property tax rate of 53 cents per every $100 assessed value.

Eighty-three percent of the budget’s proposed expenditures are from the county’s general fund, with education, human services and public safety leading the way. Under the plan, Buncombe County schools would receive an additional $2.5 million in funding, for a total of $43.5 million. Asheville City schools and Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College would likewise see funding increases. Public-safety funding would rise by more than $3 million, to $47.6 million. County Finance Director Donna Clark said the additional funds would come from normal growth and increases to the county tax base.

The budget plan eliminates 35 county positions—Clark said the change comes from “normal attrition and bringing the rest of the workforce up to a 40-hour workweek”—but adds eight nurses for the county schools, bringing the county comfortably within the state average of one nurse per every 1,500 students. Commissioner David Young, however, pointed out that the new staffing level still falls far short of “one per 750 students,” a level recommended by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.

“I think it’s a solid budget,” Greene said.

On June 5, the commissioners will accept public comment on the proposed budget. They must approve a new budget by July 1.

Come together

In September 2006, the Board of Commissioners directed “planning teams” to conduct surveys on the possibility of consolidating the boards of directors of the county’s Department of Social Services and Health Department. In departmental and public meetings, commissioners “heard support” for such a move, said DSS director Mandy Stone, and at last Tuesday’s meeting, the board voted to approve the pilot measure.

According to Stone, the two agencies see “70 percent crossover” in the people they serve, adding that by meeting together, the boards might find ways to create “greater efficiencies” and “streamline access” to county services.

As it stands, the 11-member Health Department board and five-member DSS board meet separately.

Currently, state law forbids board consolidation in counties with less than 425,000 residents, but if the pilot program is a success, Stone said, commissioners may consider lobbying the state for a change in the statues allowing such an arrangement.

“It’s better for the consumers,” insisted Young. “We won’t have that wall between DSS and public health.”

Commissioner David Gantt, while saying that he had early misgivings about consolidation, added that he would give the measure his support. “You’ve done your homework,” he said, but added that he didn’t want the board “to mess up one of the country’s best health-care systems. Efficiency’s great, but taking care of poor people is greater. That’s our moral obligation.”

The board voted unanimously in favor of the resolution. In a later conversation, Stone said it would likely be early fall before the boards would meet together as one board.

It’s electric

With all the recent talk about global warming, compact fluorescent bulbs have emerged as one part of the puzzle of energy conservation. Over their lifetime of use, CF bulbs use 75 percent less energy than standard household incandescent bulbs, according to EPA statistics. Buncombe County is promoting their use, and at its March 13 retreat, the board even discussed the possibility of the county buying them in bulk for resale to county residents at lower cost.

The bulbs do have one nasty little problem, though: they contain mercury, a neurotoxin. (So, too, do standard fluorescent bulbs.) Proper disposal when they burn out, then, becomes an issue. At Tuesday’s meeting, County Environmental Manager Denise Ballew presented a plan to the commissioners (which originated with Wanda Greene) to allow citizens to drop off fluorescent bulbs at fire stations within the county for eventual recycling.

“They’re already trained to handle hazardous materials,” said Ballew, adding that the plan would cost the county about $60,000 the first year.

As Assistant County Manager/Planning Director Jon Creighton explained, “Right now in the solid waste budget, we don’t have that money. I do ask that we fund it out of the general fund.”

According to Ballew, there’s no money to be made on the recycling effort. Still, the commissioners deemed the plan worthy, unanimously adopting it and directing Greene to fund the initiative through the general fund.

Wrapping up

The board also heard about the state Department of Transportation’s plans for secondary roads around the county. NCDOT maintains a “priority list” for road repairs and improvement, including resurfacing roads, widening curves, replacing bridges and widening thoroughfares. NCDOT District 2 Engineer McCray Coates went through the list, made up of rural routes, subdivision roads and improvements to paved roads. The grand total for fiscal year 2007-08 projects in the county is somewhat more than $4.5 million. The commissioners unanimously approved the secondary road program.

In other business, the board reappointed Jerry Young to the URTV board and Ray Spells to the Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College Board of Trustees. Three alternates are needed for the county Board of Adjustment, but no nominees have come forward.

The board went into closed session at 6:10 p.m. for property acquisition and legal matters. The board’s next meeting is June 5, beginning at 4:30 p.m. Public comments begin at 4 p.m.