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042718 Legislative MattersSpecial Meeting — Legislative Matters — April 27, 2018 The Randolph County Board of Commissioners met in a duly advertised special session at the Randolph County Office Building, 725 McDowell Rd., Asheboro, at 9:00 a.m. to meet with Randolph County's State Senate and House Representatives to discuss local legislative matters and those emphasized by the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners. Commissioners Allen, Frye, Kidd and McDowell were present, as well as, County Manager Hal Johnson, Assistant County Manager/Finance Officer Will Massie, Associate County Attorney Aimee Scotton, and Clerk to the Board Amanda Varner. Commissioner Haywood was absent County Departments in attendance: County Engineer Paxton Arthurs, Tax Department Director Debra Hill, Public Health Director Susan Hayes, Assistant Public Health Director Tara Aker, and Social Services Director Beth Duncan. Legislators present: Senator Jerry Tillman, Representative Pat Hurley, and Representative Allen McNeill. Senator Rick Gunn had a prior obligation. Chairman Allen called the meeting to order for the County and welcomed everyone. He stated that the County wanted to host a formal session to review items affecting counties statewide and some specific to Randolph County. NCACC 2018 Short Session Priorities County Manager Hal Johnson stated that he appreciated the great communication he and the Commissioners have with our legislators. Mr. Johnson facilitated the discussion starting with the top five 2018 Short Session priorities established by the NC Association of County Commissioners (NCACC). Commissioner Frye stated that he had served on a sub -committee with the NCACC to help narrow down the hundreds of issues to the five most important and feels that these affect all 100 counties. Public Education: • Seek legislation to establish a new state -county partnership to address statewide public school capital challenges --including but not limited to maintenance, renovation, construction and debt-- through a dedicated, stable funding stream that is consistent from county to county and sufficient to meet the school facility needs for all 100 counties. Passage of H866IS542 bonds for school capital and H333 local sales tax flexibility for education. Mr. Johnson explained that the Randolph County Board of Commissioners is dealing with more capital projects at one time than any other time in history. Commissioner Frye stated that the County will be on a tight budget for the next several years due to trying to catch up on capital projects it is behind on. He gave the following list of capital projects: a new middle school in the Archdale -Trinity area; addition and renovations to the Asheboro High School; other school capital needs; renovations at Northgate Plaza for Board of Elections, Day Reporting Center and the State's Probation and Parole offices; addition and renovations to the Detention Center; and a regional agricultural center. The County also spent a lot of money to prepare a megasite for Randolph County's economic benefit. The Board will consider a bond referendum for 4/27/2018 the November ballot to fund an agricultural center. The recently approved K-12 legislation means there will be a need for additional classrooms and the County has no money for those. Chairman Allen explained that the NC School Bond - HB 866/SB542- would invest $1.9 billion to begin addressing these critical needs all across the state. It is estimated that Randolph County could receive $33,750,458 toward the shortfall of school capital needs. (Randolph County School system would receive $26 million and Asheboro City Schools would receive $7.5 million.) Commissioner Frye explained the county schools want to build a new middle school for the Archdale -Trinity district, which now has just one middle school supplying two high schools. Asheboro has plans to renovate and expand Asheboro High School. Our share of the bond revenues would go a long way in assisting the schools get caught up on construction, renovation and maintenance. Commission Frye stated that it had been 22 years since a statewide bond referendum for schools had taken place. Alamance County and Moore County were two named that were looking at doing their own referendum for school capital. Montgomery County has the need for a new high school and the bids came in around $80 million, $10 million over their budget. He added that school capital needs are also needed for safety improvements. Senator Tillman, who filed the bill, said he had talked to boards across the state. He said schools are an attractant to new residents and they should be safe for the children. He said a statewide bond referendum would help all counties because all have the same issues. He said the state budget and debt capacity is in good shape and they would not have to raise taxes to do a statewide school bond. He said it will not likely be heard in the short session but could be in the long session. Senator Tillman suggested he plan a face-to-face meeting with Senator Phil Berger, NCACC's Kevin Leonard, and a County Commissioner to get a commitment to move forward. Commissioner McDowell said the state could use its clout of the AAA bond rating to get the best borrowing rate and better than each individual county would. "It makes perfect sense to use it." Representative McNeill said the education lottery was to take care of school construction but over the years it has changed. A bill has been passed to restore it but it is a ten-year plan. He said if the bill for a bond referendum comes to a vote in the house, he will vote for it. Representative Hurley also indicated support for the statewide referendum. All agreed to speak with leaders in the House and Senate to put it for a vote in the Legislature. Senator Tillman said there will be some opposition because some don't like debt and do not think the state should take on any more. Chairman Allen said the interest rate and construction costs will continue to rise the longer they wait. • Repeal the statutory authority under NC G.S. II5C-431(c) that allows local school boards to file suit against a county board of commissioners over county appropriations for education and implement an alternate process such as the one recommended by the PED report. 4/27/2018 Mr. Johnson said Randolph County has a great working relationship with its school boards and them with each other so the next topic currently doesn't apply to this county but was one of the NCACC's priorities. The General Assembly's Program Evaluation Division (PED) has completed a study and report on the issue. The study recommends limiting school board's ability to sue and establishes a funding mechanism in the event that the dispute resolution is not successful. Representative Hurley said she has been involved in a proposed bill to implement PED recommendations to help resolve disputes between county commissions and school boards relative to budgeting. On April 9th, the Joint Legislative Program Evaluation Oversight Committee (JLPEOC) met and Representative Hurley motioned to delay voting on the bill and the amendment until their May 14th meeting so she could get input from Commissioners and local school boards. Yesterday, Representative Hurley emailed the Commissioners this bill and amendments along with some draft wording from those minutes to review and asked for input on this legislation as soon as they can review. • Support legislation (H375) providing flexibility to align K-12 and community college calendars. Mr. Johnson said families involved would benefit if the systems were allowed to coordinate their school calendars to best meet their needs. The flexibility would allow for more effective use of continuing technical education resources, allow high school students to take community college courses during their normal school day, and improve the efficiencies combining community college students, early college students, and high school students for instruction. Chairman Allen said that with programs such as Pathway to Prosperity, "it makes sense to do that and have a seamless calendar." Representative McNeill said almost every House Representative filed a local bill to put pressure on this matter. H375 passed the House but has seen no action in the Senate. H389 established a pilot program authorizing school calendar flexibility in 20 school districts and also passed in the House and was included in the House budget. Both are eligible for consideration in the short session. Representative Hurley said the tourism industry is against this legislation and did a "save our summer" campaign the last time an effort was made to make this a local matter. Senator Tillman stated that school calendars should be a local matter and not prepared at the state level. General Government: • Seek legislation, funding, and other efforts to expand digital infrastructure/broadband capability to the un -served and under -served areas of the state. The passage of H390IS208 would support the access for residents and businesses through policies and funding that allow counties to invest in digital infrastructure. Mr. Johnson said Randolph County was fortunate to have multiple internet providers. Service was widely available in Randolph County with a few exceptions. Johnson said he had discussed 4/27/2018 the issue with the County Information Technology Director and the need for the bill (H390/5208) would be to allow the county to lease or rent some of its digital cables to private providers if in the interest of the county. This would not place local government in competition with private providers, but would strengthen a public/private partnership for access. Children are having a hard time completing homework assignments without seeking a public location with Wi-Fi and are believed to be at a disadvantage when studying, completing homework, and applying to college. As the shift continues to digital textbooks, this gap will grow. Commissioner Frye stated that this is a big issue for other counties, especially in the mountains, where it is harder to install infrastructure. Tax and Finance: • Support efforts to preserve and expand the existing local revenue base of counties, and oppose efforts to divert to the state fees or taxes currently allocated to the counties to the state. Oppose efforts to erode existing county revenue streams and authorize local option revenue sources already given to any other jurisdiction. The passing of H333 or similar legislation to expand flexibility for counties to use Article 43 and Article 46 sales taxes for educational and general purposes is suggested. Mr. Johnson said three bills (H437, 5166 and H333) were all aimed at expanding local revenue flexibility, including using revenue now earmarked for public transit for education, without raising the overall cap on sales taxes. H333 passed the House and is eligible for short session in Senate. Chairman Allen said the County doesn't want to become too dependent on tax revenues. The megasite needs infrastructure and other things that the County doesn't have the resources to develop due to all the other capital needs it has right now. Issues Specific to Randolph County Mr. Johnson then presented additional issues specific to Randolph County. Economic Development: Greensboro -Randolph Megasite State support for related Randolph County infrastructure development. Mr. Johnson said the ability to provide infrastructure is crucial to what happens at the megasite. Chairman Allen said all parties learned a lot from the last client (Toyota -Mazda) that looked at the property and everyone has been working together to improve the weaknesses. He said the County "needs a commitment" to develop infrastructure when an advanced manufacturing company chooses to locate at the megasite. He said he feels that would also bring the supply businesses. Senator Tillman said funds have been set aside for development of the megasite. Senator Tillman said all the partners have worked well together. There is an available site, there is avail - 4/27/2018 able funding, and the County has a "golden egg" that the world now knows about. Commissioner Kidd reminded Senator Tillman that the state may "help us court the lady, but we have to live with her. All these people will be moving in" if a major manufacturer comes here. He said from Randolph County's perspective, it has to plan ahead for all the things going on behind the scenes. It may have many new residents that may require more schools. The fire departments may need additional equipment and locations; things the County has no funding left for at this time. Representative McNeill commented that infrastructure, quality schools, and the location of schools and fire departments also lure businesses here. Environment: • Expedite NCDOT acceptance of subdivision roads. • Better coordination between regulatory agencies. Mr. Johnson said one of the most frequent complaints to the County is the maintenance of roads. The County does not maintain roads. Once new subdivision roads are built to State standards and approved by the State, there is a delay for state maintenance until a certain amount of homes are built on the streets. "Roads can deteriorate in the meantime" and then the NCDOT will not take it into their maintenance system list. The problem is that the NCDOT needs to reconsider its procedure of acceptance of state maintenance since the roads were originally built and approved to NCDOT standards. Senator Tillman said "we've got to be more responsive." Randolph County has more unpaved roads than any other county our size and "a lot of roads in bad condition." Commissioner Frye stated that the majority of the complaint calls he receives are in regards to roads; something the County doesn't handle. Representative McNeill said he introduced a bill a couple of years ago that equally distributed funding to NCDOT divisions. Health & Human Services: • Opioid crisis impacts. Mr. Johnson stated that Randolph County's opioid calls, per capita, are equal to that of the Charlotte/Mecklenburg County area and all County departments have been affected by the expense of the opioid crisis. • State funding for local behavioral health services and facilities. Mr. Johnson stated that Randolph County doesn't have a facility to house patients with mental health issues and the County's Detention Center is being used as a holding facility. Chairman Allen spoke of Sandhills Mental Health's efforts to have a Facility Based Crisis Center on Walker Avenue open in September. He said renovations are in process and hopes that 4/27/2018 this will give the Detention Center a little relief. He also advocated for leaving the current service providers and systems as is so they can do what they do best for the region they serve. Commissioner Frye commented that mental health needs were more readily met when it was part of a County function. • Do not support regionalization of County Department of Social Services (DSS). Mr. Johnson stated that Randolph County is in opposition of regionalizing DSS. Having it more localized creates more efficiency. Randolph County Social Services Director Beth Duncan was in attendance and spoke in regard to the Health and Human Services (HHS) issue of regionalization of County Departments of Social Services. She said a section of the Family/Child Protection and Accountability Act (HB630) mandates that NC DHHS develop a plan for improving services at the local level through more direct oversight, support and collaboration (including transitioning the state from a county - administered system to a regionally administered system; recommendations should be final by end of 2019). The idea is to ensure quality service provision, accountability and transparency of local agency performance and outcomes. The plan includes performance contracts between local governments and NC DHHS (for DSS and Child Support Services). The draft contracts were sent out to counties by DHHS on April 26th. The contracts are due to be signed prior to the start of the next fiscal year. The State DHHS may mandate the county provide funding to the regional districts. (The Department of Public Health has some regional district Health Departments, but the money is not mandated from local governments to fund the regional district Health Departments). If the rules from the Social Services Commission (on the financial piece) end up including mandated funding of the regional offices come from the counties, then, the financial commitment will be significant to local governments. Representative McNeill commented that the Federal Government investigated the NC Social Services and everyone failed. He said the regionalization will happen in 2019 unless someone introduces legislation to stop it. Representative McNeill wanted to go on record that his initial bill started out as Rylan's Law which required DSS to do two family visits, seven days apart, before returning a child to the parent in a removal case but it morphed into much more as time went on. Again, Commissioner Frye related this to when mental health was regionalized and the County lost the control to make sure its citizens were taken care of. Tax & Finance: • Oppose efforts to erode existing county revenue streams. • Support local option revenue sources already given to other jurisdictions. Mr. Johnson explained that all counties should have the same flexibility in local option revenue sources. Senator Tillman said he'd be happy to introduce a bill and requested the County send him wording for the bill. 4/27/2018 Agriculture: • Cooperative Extension support. • Support incentives to attract agriculture related businesses. Chairman Allen urged the support of the County's Cooperative Extension and the construction of an agricultural center that would benefit the county and state. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler is looking to boost local agriculture processing and Chairman Allen said this center could be the boost needed. Conclusion Senator Tillman thanked the Board for keeping them informed of the needs and said it helps to have a list of local issues. Commissioner Kidd said he was thankful and expressed his appreciation for the relationship the Board has with legislators. He commented that other Commissioners across the state are amazed that Randolph County Commissioners have immediate contact and can call at any time. Adjournment At 10:20 p.m., on motion of Kidd, seconded by Frye, the Board voted unanimously to adjourn. David Allen, Chairman Darrell Frye Kenny Kidd Amanda Varner, Clerk to the Board Maxton McDowell 4/27/2018