2011 - 01-18-2011 Reg. Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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eoc,, 23 FAU 501 Aye: Hayes, Oldham, Parks, Paschal, Reives, and Shook Nay: None Absent: Womack The Chairman ruled the motion had been adopted unanimously. Pursuant to N.C. General Statute 153A -52.1, Chairman Shook opened the floor for Public Comments. No one signed up to speak during this time. The Board considered an appointment to the Environmental Impact (RC &D) Board. The Environmental Impact (RC &D) Board is asking Commissioners to appoint a voting member to their Board. Action on this item was deferred from the January 3 rd meeting until more information could be provided on the exact duties /responsibilities of what the RC &D Board does. It was noted from additional information provided by Environmental Impact that Lee County, along with Anson, Richmond, Montgomery and Moore counties, has been a sponsor since FY 2004 -05. The sponsorship has been $3,000 each year. The RC &D Board identifies issues and needs of the service area communities, develops projects to rectify the issues or satisfy the needs, and then secures funding to implement the projects. More than 250 projects have been implemented in the service area to date. Tommy Brooks from Soil and Water Conservation and Mr. Lynn McCaskill, Chairman of the non - profit RC &D Board discussed duties of the Board and the process for obtaining and funding projects. After much discussion, the consensus of the Board was to see if someone from the Voluntary Agriculture Board (VAD) would like to serve on the RC &D Board. Cooperative Extension Director Susan Condlin was asked to poll VAD members and see if she could find someone to serve on the RC &D Board. No action was taken. The Board considered the transfer of animal control duties to the Sheriffs Department. County Manager John Crumpton stated that recent discussions by the Board of Health on the Animal Control Ordinance revisions revealed that there was a major problem with the enforcement of animal control laws in Lee County. Mr. Crumpton stated the main issue with enforcement is that Animal Control Officers have very little authority to enforce state and local laws. A review of the Animal Control Law handbook from the North Carolina School of Government shows that the laws are better enforced by use of sworn law enforcement officers. Since the officers must be under the supervision of trained law enforcement professionals, these positions need to report to the Sheriff. Mr. Crumpton further stated that under this proposal, three (3) positions will be created in the Sheriff's Department for the purpose of running the Animal Control Shelter. All vehicles, except one, along with all enforcement expenses and property will be transferred to the Sheriff's Department by July 1, 2011. The Sheriff will begin the transition to enforcement with the transfer of one position immediately, in order to allow the department to begin preparations to take over these responsibilities. The remaining two positions for enforcement will start on April 1, 2011, which will allow a 90 -day training period for the new sheriff positions and a smooth transition. The 2010 -11 budget impact will simply be the transferring of the budget from the Health Department to the Sheriff's Department on the timeline that has been addressed. The addition of the new position will be covered by lapsed salary expenses in the FY 2010 -11 budget. The Health Department is currently budgeted for five positions, but only four are filled. The effect on the FY 2011- 12 budget will be the increase of one position, plus the increase in salary for the positions to pay for sworn law enforcement officers. The total increase in next year's budget will be $59,579.03. The City of Sanford will be asked to cover half of the Increase ($29,689.51) due to the fact that half of the enforcement calls are generated within the city limits of Sanford. After discussion, Commissioner Hayes moved to authorize the transfer of Animal Control enforcement responsibility from the Health Department to the Sheriff's Department over the next 5 'h months so the transfer will be completed by July 1, 2011. Upon a vote, the results were as follows: 2