6-7-21 BOC Budget Work Session - Laserfiche WebLink

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Elections - 4:15 p.m. Elections Director Jeni Harris provided a handout detailing a synopsis of what the Elections Department does. The purpose of the department is to be sure everyone has a fair and honest election. Municipal elections are coming up this year. The Sanford elections are still pending but may be pushed to next year. Broadway is still taking place in November and there will be a primary next year. She suggested having the elections staff possibly run one-stop voting for Broadway due to the expense it would take if poll workers were needed to run it off site. Currently there is a primary in March but there may be some issues at the County level related to the census and redistricting. The dates for the primary may change. Emergency Management/Fire Marshal - 4:30 p.m. Emergency Services Shane Seagroves, Emergency Management Director, stated that some of the requested increase in the Emergency Services budget is due to upgrades needed for the mobile command post. The mobile command post was purchased in 2006 with grant funds. The mobile command post went from being in use 4-6 times a year to using it every week. Other than routine maintenance, the department has not needed to spend a lot of money on it. Department Staff have worked with IT to determine some upgrades that are needed for the communications equipment and the radio system. The other item included is Viper radios. The State of North Carolina created an unfunded mandate which will result in the current radios no longer functioning. The viper system is a state- wide system. Mr. Seagroves stated that Lee County is now the dot in the middle surrounded by other counties that have adopted the radio system. All the infrastructure is maintained by the State. The County is responsible for all radios for law enforcement, EMS, and fire. The current radios were purchased in 2007. In 15 years, this is the second upgrade. The first upgrade was about 7 years ago and was basically due to running out of IDs. With this upgrade, the security of the network will improve. Fire Marshall The Fire Marshall budget includes a $4,000 increase for routine maintenance and the purchase of fire gear for investigations and the upgrade of equipment. The biggest change over the years is workers'compensation, which is also covered for the rural fire departments. Each Fire Department pays a proportional amount for the fire marshal's office so people in the City of Sanford will not pay for the fire marshal's office twice. The Deputy Fire Marshal, Aaron Bullard, has stayed busy especially serving the local industries'expansions. If the fire marshal didn't perform fire inspections in all fire districts, each fire department would be responsible for performing them. 2