Alamance County’s commissioners did more than just catch up on old business on Monday when they held a special-called meeting to make up for a regularly-scheduled gathering that was scuttled by Tropical Storm Chantal.
The commissioners also used this opportunity to address a number of items that didn’t appear on last Monday’s meeting agenda – including some prompted by the trail of destruction left in the wake of Chantal.
One of these late additions to Monday’s agenda was a proposal to temporarily waive the $90 fee which the county’s inspection staff normally charges for electrical reconnections. On the advice of county manager Heidi York, the commissioners unanimously placed a 90 moratorium on this charge for anyone whose electrical connection was scrambled during the storm.
At the recommendation of Steve Carter, the vice chairman of Alamance County’s commissioners, the board went on to issue another 90-day waiver for the permits needed to set up a temporary trailer or RV on the grounds of a home undergoing storm-related repairs.
York pointed out that the inspections department already allows a month’s grace period before it demands such a permit, although she added that an additional 60 days would ensure that storm victims have provisional accommodations as they rebuild.
York went on to inform the commissioners that members of Alamance County’s staff have been fairly busy over the past week as they help area residents recover from Chantal’s destruction.
The county manager recalled that county employees were involved in some of the 61 water rescues that took place in the wake of the storm. She also pointed to the 80-plus damage assessments that the county’s emergency management staff has conducted in tandem with their colleagues from other departments so that area residents can qualify for federal disaster relief.
York added that a county government call center has fielded 15 requests for assistance from storm victims – and has referred 13 of them to area agencies and nonprofits that can meet their specific needs. The county manager noted that all of these efforts have occurred thanks to countywide emergency declaration which the chairman of Alamance County’s commissioners originally approved in the small hours of the morning last Monday.
“I would recommend that we leave this declaration in place,” she added, “as we continue to receive reports of coming rain.”
Last-minute additions to housing consortium
The commissioners readily approved all of Monday’s storm-related proposals despite their relatively late inclusion on the special meeting agenda.
A couple of other add-ons proved more controversial, however, with commissioner Ed Priola, who reminded his colleagues about a standing policy that discourages votes on spontaneous proposals during their meetings. Priola added that the commissioners should be equally “vigilant” with last-minute submissions from county staff members – a couple of which he said he observed on Monday’s agenda.
York conceded that the city of Burlington had actually requested one of these eleventh-hour proposals in order to flesh out the delegates to a multicounty consortium that it has set up to disburse federal funds for affordable housing. The county manager added that the city had previously sought the county’s appointees to this consortium only to have the commissioners defer the request on two separate occasions.
“[The consortium’s board] needs to meet by July 31, and they need to have at least one Alamance County representative,” she went on to explain. “If we do not make an appointment, the group will be disbanded, and we will not have an opportunity to administer the funds.”
In response to York’s entreaties, the commissioners unanimously proffered Priola and fellow commissioner Kelly Allen as Alamance County’s two representatives on the consortium’s board.
Rec and parks commission
The commissioners went on to approve a number of other appointments on Monday to fill openings on the county’s own advisory boards and commissions.
They unanimously accepted three recommendations from the county’s recreation and parks commission to fill a trio of available seats in its membership.
Jamie Merchel, the county’s recreation director, conceded that her office received a total of five applications for these three posts. She added that the commission’s current members endorsed incumbents Lee Isley and Harold Kernodle for two of the slots. In the meantime, they suggested the third seat should go to Janet MacFall, a professor at Elon University who Merchel said had been instrumental in obtaining a grant for the Haw River Trail.
“She’s very experienced with the grant process,” the county’s recreation director added, “she and would make a wonderful addition to the committee.”
The commissioners approved all three of the commission’s recommendations by a margin of 5-to-0. The two applicants they passed over were Mandy Campbell and Troy Matherly.
Juvenile crime prevention council
The commissioners went on to unanimously accept a suggestion from their vice chairman Steve Carter to appoint Brittany Greene to an “at large” position on Alamance County’s Juvenile Crime Prevention Council. Carter had recommended Greene over fellow applicant Sheala James.
Library committee
The vice chairman also guided his colleagues in regard to a trio of appointments to the county’s library committee.
Although Susana Goldman, the library system’s director, acknowledged that 10 people had applied for these three available seats, Carter recommended that all three of them go to current committee members Jessica Simmons, Cheryl Sanford, and Paula Hendrick to these three seats. The rest of the commissioners voted 5-to-0 in favor of these suggestions – albeit with a cautionary note from commissioner Pam Thompson, who represents the commissioners on the committee.
“These three ladies are wonderful,” Thompson said of Carter’s suggestions. “But we have a long list of names, and I think it’s important that we look at other names when you have that many people who want to be on something.”
