060619 dept pres budgetJune 6, 2019 Budget Meeting (County Department Presentations)
The Randolph County Board of Commissioners met at 6:00 p.m. for a special budget session
in the 1909 Randolph County Historic Courthouse Meeting Room, 145 Worth Street, Asheboro,
NC. Chairman Darrell Frye, Vice -Chairman David Allen, Commissioners Kenny Kidd, Maxton
McDowell, and Hope Haywood were present. Also present were County Manager Hal Johnson,
Finance Officer Will Massie, County Attorney Ben Morgan, Clerk to the Board Dana Crisco, and
Deputy Clerk Sarah Pack. County department heads were given the opportunity to present their
budget requests.
Administration
Finance Officer Will Massie said that he was pleased to report a minimal increase to the budget
for Administration.
Human Resources
Jill Williams, Human Resources Director, provided an overview of employee compensation
and benefit considerations. The main goal for human resources is to recruit, retain, and develop a
highly qualified workforce. She provided information on advanced degrees held by County
employees, merit pay in the past, and Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) in previous years.
Ms. Williams talked about the three year classification study and said that this is the final year
of the study. She also said that the Proposed Budget included a 1.5% COLA.
Ms. Williams addressed the cost of turnover saying that hiring costs, training costs and lowered
productivity all factor into the expense. She said there have been challenges in recruiting and
retaining qualified candidates. She discussed benefits packages, COLA, and salary studies as ways
the County can remain competitive in the workforce.
Information Technolo2y (IT)
Mr. Rowland, IT Director, thanked the Commissioners for the IT budget and understood the
pressures of funding the Proposed Budget. He was satisfied with his budget. He said last year a
Business Analyst position was not funded. In an effort to maintain services with the IT department,
a Project Manager position had been reclassified. If that change did not work as hoped, he would
be asking again for an additional position next budget year. Projects for the upcoming year
included implementing Office 365 and some infrastructure software upgrades. He stated that the
911 Board at the State level has continued to cut funding and that has been absorbed by IT and
EMS budgets.
Tax
Debra Hill, Tax Assessor, thanked the Board for the opportunity to speak. She stated that she
was satisfied with her budget and said that she had done some internal money shuffling in order to
meet departmental needs.
Elections
Melissa Johnson, Elections Director, thanked the Commissioners for her Proposed Budget and
the use of the Northgate Complex location for early voting. She said that it had provided ample
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space for training and voting. She noted that 2020 is a big election year and her department is in
the process of preparing for that.
Register of Deeds
Krista Lowe, Register of Deeds, said she was satisfied with her budget and that her budget was
remaining at the same level.
Public Buildings (Maintenance)
Robert Cross, Maintenance Director, said that he was satisfied with his budget.
Sheriffs Department
Sheriff Seabolt asked that three Detention Officer positions be reclassified, since three new
special jail positions were not included in the Proposed Budget, These three new classifications
were Transportation, Detective, and Substance Abuse Advocate. He said by reclassifying these
three positions, he would only be requesting an additional $83,323, as opposed to requesting the
three positions as new positions, which would cost in excess of $197,000. He stated that there is
expected to be another $96,000 revenues from Paytel, which would cover the additional cost of
the reclassified positions.
Emergency Services
Donovan Davis, Emergency Services Director, said that he was satisfied with his budget. He
discussed the paging system aging out and mentioned that eventually it would have to be replaced.
Building Inspections
David Bryant, Building Inspections Director, requested a Specialist position. He said his
department was struggling and was not able to keep up with new State requirements.
Adult Day Reporting Center
Julie Alston, Adult Day Reporting Center Director, said that her department had no additional
funding requests.
Juvenile Day Reporting Center
Terra Lataille, Juvenile Day Reporting Center Director, said that she wasn't requesting any
changes be made to her budget, but noted that the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council was cutting
$30,000 worth of funding from their budget.
Planning and Zoning
Jay Dale, Planning and Zoning Director, said he was satisfied with his budget.
Cooperative Extension
Sam Groce, Cooperative Extension Interim Director, said he was satisfied with his budget. The
Board expressed appreciation for the work he's done during his time with the County.
Soil and Water
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Craig Frazier, Soil and Water Board Chairman, spoke on behalf of Soil and Water. The
department had requested $1,000 to cover recurrent Soil and Water due and for $12,500 to cover
the cost of a drill for small producers to rent. These requests were included in the Proposed Budget.
Commissioner Allen agreed that having a drill could be beneficial and it would pay for itself over
time.
Public Works
Paxton Arthurs, Public Works Director, said he was happy with the Public Works' budget and
had no additional requests.
Public Health
Susan Hayes, Public Health Director, was happy with the budget. She noted that the Proposed
Budget included her request for three additional Animal Services positions.
She also said there were modifications to the proposed fee schedule. Since fees are based on
costs, the changes are due to variation in the costs of either the service, vaccine, or medication.
Social Services (DSS)
Tracie Murphy, Social Services Director, thanked the Board for the opportunity to speak. She
recognized her Department Managers. She credited her staff for outstanding work they had done.
She asked for three additional Social Workers to help ease the strain on her department. She said
that Social Services scored well on performance measures and she gave credit to her staff.
Commissioner McDowell said that some of the things that Social Services sees every day are
terrible and the staff deal with a wide variety of circumstances.
Veterans Services
Chad Gurley, Veterans Services Director, was not in attendance, but Chairman Frye said that
Mr. Gurley had relayed that he was satisfied with his budget and said that the proposed budget
included one full-time and one -part time position, which the department desperately needed.
Child Support Enforcement
Damon Brown, Child Support Services Director, was pleased with what was included in the
Proposed Budget for Child Support.
Public Library
Ross Holt, Public Library Director, said he was satisfied with the Library budget which
included a request for an additional $12,216 for supplies and two reclassified positions.
Adjournment
At 7:39 p.m., on motion of Allen, seconded by Haywood, the Board voted unanimously to
adjourn.
Darrell Frye, Chairman David L. Allen
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Kenny Kidd
Hope Haywood
Maxton McDowell
Sarah Pack, Deputy Clerk to the Board
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