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From YouTube: Board of Commissioners' Regular Meeting (Jan. 4, 2022)
Description
Regular Meeting of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners for January 4, 2022. To view the meeting agenda or view previous meetings you can visit buncombecounty.org/commissioners.
A
A
All
right
I
want
to.
I
wanted
to
announce
that
if
folks,
who
are
attending
the
meeting
parked
in
the
county's
parking
facility
or
use
public
transit
to
attend
the
meeting,
you
can
get
validation
for
your
parking
or
transit
passes
by
seeing
one
of
the
officers
who's
here
with
us
this
evening
to
get
a
validation
for
those
I'd
like
to
read
the
ethics
reminder
for
the
board.
A
A
Does
any
board
member
have
a
financial
interest
in
any
public
contract
coming
before
the
board?
Today,
there
being
none
all
board.
Members
have
a
duty
and
obligation
to
vote
on
any
matters
voted
on
by
the
board.
At
the
commission
meeting
this
evening,
I'd
like
to
make
a
note
that
county
commissioner
jasmine
beach
ferrara,
is
going
to
be
participating
in
the
meeting
this
evening.
C
A
The
time
limit
for
individual
comment
to
the
board
is
three
minutes.
If
your
time
expires,
you
can
leave
any
question
along
with
your
name
address
and
phone
number
with
our
county
manager
board.
Members
are
not
expected
to
comment
on
any
matters
during
the
public
comment
period.
This
is
the
chance
for
the
public
to
speak
to
the
board
and
we
have
one
person
who
is
signed
up.
A
D
Okay,
so
I
don't
really
have
any
prepared
comments
today.
I
know
that
you're
going
to
be
addressing
the
mask
issue
and
back
in
august
when
you
decided
to
extend
the
state
of
emergency
or
renew
it.
Rather,
I
testified,
along
with
several
of
my
colleagues
who
are
doctors,
nurses.
There
were
mental
health
professionals
here
very
respectable
members
of
the
community
and
it
didn't
matter
what
science
we
presented.
It
didn't
matter
what
we
had
to
say.
D
D
You
are
one
abusing
your
powers
in
my
opinion
and
two,
your
inciting
mass
fear.
I
live
in
a
beautiful
community.
My
neighbors
will
no
longer
come
in
my
home,
they're,
afraid
people
are
afraid.
My
own
parents
have
not
seen
my
children
in
almost
two
years.
They
got
together
for
christmas.
They
sat
outside
in
30
degree
weather
six
feet
apart.
My
parents
were
masked,
they
have
not
hugged
their
own
grandchildren
in
two
years
they
might
die,
never
hugging
their
own
grandchildren.
D
So
I'm
asking
you
when
you
are
thinking
about
the
safety
of
buncombe
county,
to
think
about
the
health
of
all
of
your
residents
about
the
total,
complete
health
and
know
that
people
are
suffering.
They've
got
mental
health
issues,
they've
got
addiction,
issues
and
they're
also
afraid,
and
by
perpetuating
the
state
of
emergency
and
making
everybody
wear,
masks
which
it's
just
they're,
not
effective.
They're
like
the
vaccines
are
not
working.
The
masking
is
not
working.
What
you
are
doing
is
you
are
perpetuating
a
state
of
fear
in
creating
divisiveness
in
the
community.
D
If
you
want
people
to
get
healthy,
ask
them
to
take
care
of
themselves
with
measures
that
go
beyond
masking
and
go
beyond
getting
vaccinated
and
let's
return
bunkum
back
to
a
place,
that's
friendly
and
where
people
embrace
other
people,
I've
I've
had
it
and
it's
it's
very
disappointing
and
if,
if,
if
you're
not
here
to
represent
your
constituents,
I
don't
know
here
who
you're
here
to
represent,
but
we're
going
to
vote
you
out
of
office.
That's
all.
I
have
to
say
we're
tired
of
this,
so
thank
you.
A
E
E
E
E
A
F
F
And
as
we
go
into
this
230th
year,
staff
would
plan
when
the
weather
gets
better
staff,
would
plan
a
day
of
impact
where
staff
can
volunteer
in
in
our
community
and
show
what
buncombe
county
is
about
and
what
our
staff
can
do
so
more
to
come
on
that
later
as
we
go
through.
But
if
you
look
at
the
slide
deck
you'll
see
what
buncombe
county
downtown
asheville
looked
like
back
in
1890
and
now
present
day.
G
H
A
Thank
you,
commissioner,
wells
for
reading
that
and
thank
you
to
the
staff
for
helping
to
craft
that
and
the
pictures
were
really
cool.
So
thanks
for
taking
time
to
recognize,
recognize
this
occasion
and
reflect
on
our
history
all
right,
we
do
not
have
any
public
hearings
there.
Any
other
items
under
the
county
manager's
report,
ms
pender.
A
The
first
item
on
our
agenda
is
discussion
and
consideration
of
an
item
related
to
county
commissioner
districts
and
governance
structure,
and
specifically
consideration
of
entering
into
an
engagement
letter
with
pointer
sprul,
which
is
a
law
firm
that
has
some
expertise
regarding
issues
around
county
governmental
structures
in
north
carolina
and
associated
legal
issues.
So
the
question
before
the
board
tonight
is
whether
or
not
to
retain
their
council
to
provide
legal
guidance
to
buncombe
county
commissioners
on
issues
related
to
these
matters.
A
Districts
of
the
county
commission
itself
are
directly
tied
to
the
electoral
districts
created
by
the
north
carolina
general
assembly
for
the
north
carolina
state
house
members
about
a
decade
ago.
A
local
bill
was
passed
that
basically
stated
that
the
county
commission
districts
would
be
the
same
as
the
buncombe
county
state
house
districts.
A
So
there's
a
couple
of
different
matters
here,
but
one
of
the
issues
is
if
the
if
the
newly
drawn
maps
by
the
general
assembly
are
also
determined
to
be
unconstitutional,
as
the
previously
drawn
maps
from
the
general
assembly
were
determined
to
be
unconstitutional,
we
want
to
make
sure
the
the
legal
case
that's
going
on
around.
This
is
mostly
being
sort
of
thought
out
between
different
sides
who
have
perspectives
on
the
general
assembly.
A
That
they're
aware
that
those
same
unconstitutional
maps
are
in
effect
as
it
relates
to
buncombe
county
commission.
So
we
want
the
courts
to
be
aware
that
we're
potentially
effectiveness
affected
by
this,
in
a
way
that
no
other
county
governments
in
the
state
are
separately
from
that
there
are
protocols
under
north
carolina
general
statutes
that
allow
county
that
allow
counties
to
go
through
different
processes.
To
think
about.
A
The
kind
of
governance
structure
they
may
want
to
use
for
the
future
pointers
pool
could
also
provide
guidance
to
the
commission
about
different
options
that
could
be
potentially
available
to
us
even
consistent
with
the
local
bill
that
was
passed
10
years
ago.
So
those
are
some
of
the
matters
that
this
firm
might
be
able
to
provide
guidance
on.
A
Or
is
there
we
would
need
a
motion
to
approve
entering
into
the
there's
two
separate
engagement
letters.
One
is
related
to
pointer,
sprul,
notifying
the
courts
through
a
briefing
about
how
the
county,
how
buncom
county
is
sort
of
uniquely
connected
to
the
statewide
redistricting
process
and
the
other
is
their
ability
to
provide
more
general
counsel
to
the
county
around
how
state
statutes
work
in
terms
of
determining
future
governance
structures
that
that
could
be
considered
consistent
with
state
policies.
C
A
So
my
understanding
is
that
the
on
the
issues
around
the
statewide
redistricting
that
the
the
sense
is
that
and
I'm
not
an
attorney,
but
just
you
know
kind
of
trying
to
follow
this-
is
that
it's
it's
moving
pretty
fast.
The
and
ultimately
it
is,
I
think,
folks
have
have
shared
that
it's
most
likely.
These
issues
will
wind
up
in
front
of
the
state
supreme
court,
probably
in
the
very
near
future.
A
If
there's
a
brief
filed,
notifying
the
courts
about
buncombe
county's
connection
to
that
that
it
would
be
pretty
short
and
simple.
So
I
I'm
not
anticipating
that
this
is
going
to
be
a
matter
that
is
going
to
be
like
a
very
protected
or
very
require
an
extensive
amount
of
legal
time.
I
don't,
I
don't
know
that
we
would
be
prepared
to
or
if
anyone
could
estimate
exactly
what
that
might
be.
But
it's
not
something
that
is
expected
to
be
a
very
long
or
protracted
kind
of
legal
endeavor.
A
J
And
I
I
I
don't
know,
and
it
it's
not
restrained
to
how
many
hours
they
might
serve.
I
mean
mr
spees
and
miss
mackie
are
are
constrained
by
rules
of
professional
conduct
through
the
north
carolina
state
bar.
They
can't
do
extraneous
hours.
They
have
to
do
stuff
purposefully
for
the
matter
of
the
scope
of
engagement.
But
as
the
chair
mentioned
the
way
I
would
understand
it
for
both
the
amicus
brief
portion
and
the
and
the
any
any
resolution
for
the
optional
structures
of
board
is
authorized
by
statute.
J
A
So
I
guess
I
would
just
suggest
you
know
at
this
if
we
enter
into
this-
that
we
would
ask
mr
fruit
to
keep
the
commission
advised
on
the
number
of
hours
that
are
being
spent
on
it,
so
that
we
can
be
routinely
updated
on
this
over
the
next
few
weeks.
The
expectation
again
is
that
this
is
not
a
long-term
kind
of
scope
of
work.
A
A
B
A
All
right,
thank
you
very
much
and
mr
free
thanks
for
your
thoughts
on
that
as
well.
All
right.
The
next
item
on
the
agenda
is
consideration
of
hiring
dan
kyster,
or
is
it?
How
do
you
pronounce
his
last
name?
Kaiser,
okay,
as
internal
audit,
director
and
kendra
ferguson,
the
chair
of
the
internal
audit
committee,
will
help
us
with
this
item,
thanks
for
being
here
this
evening,
hi.
K
K
We
have
advertised
that
position
for
a
total
of
four
months
locally
and
nationally.
We
had
13
individuals
who
applied
for
the
position
and
six
underwent
a
screening
interview
with
myself,
commissioners
white
size,
commissioner
presley
as
well
as
avril,
and
the
top
five
scoring
candidates
from
those
were
given
the
option
to
do
in-person.
Interviews
of
that
we
had
a
couple
of
in-person
interviews
and
one
finalist
kind
of
rose
to
the
very
tip
top,
and
that
was
dan
kyster.
K
So
he
actually
came
in
person
to
meet
with
the
entire
audit
committee
on
december,
the
7th,
where
he
scored
extremely
high
on
his
presentation,
his
interviews,
as
well
as
all
around
feedback
that
he
had
with
everyone
he
met
with.
He
actually
met
with
the
audit
committee
that
day,
as
well
as
the
members
of
the
mag
team
and
avril
as
well.
K
A
L
K
One
additional
thing
I
do
want
to
add
really
quickly.
One
of
the
things
that
really
stood
out
to
me
with
dan
is
his
ability
to
communicate
to
different
groups
of
people.
So,
as
I
mentioned
before,
he
presented
to
the
audit
committee
with
a
very
specific
kind
of
technical
presentation
that
day
and
then
he
also
met
with
members
of
the
management
advisory
group,
who
aren't
experts
in
internal
audit
and
he's
great
at
communicating
concepts
and
internal
audit
audit
concepts
to
different
groups
of
people,
which
is
to
me
a
really
key
trait
for
the
position.
L
And
what
impressed
me
about
him
is
that
at
this
point
in
time
he
is
by
far
the
best
person
for
us,
because
when
you
look
and
see
now,
the
only
employee
left
in
internal
audit
is
now
taking
another
job
with
the
county,
where
she
will
help
even
more
in
the
risk
a
job.
But
he
will
be
a
good
one
too.
Let's
face
it,
he's
going
to
reshape
the
whole
internal
audit
department
and
it'll
be
for
the
better.
So
with.
B
A
A
K
M
M
M
So
this
amendment
is
to
increase
that
revenue
budget
by
two
and
a
half
million
dollars
to
eight
and
a
half
million
dollars.
We'll
increase
our
expenditure
budget
by
1.225
million
dollars,
that's
the
49
to
remit
to
the
state
of
north
carolina
and
we
will
lower
our
appropriated
fund
balance
by
1.275
million
dollars.
M
So
we
will
receive
452
172
dollars,
of
which
sixty
nine
thousand
nine
hundred
ninety
one
dollars
can
be
used
for
administration.
Eblin
charities
will
administer
this
program
and
provide
payments
directly
to
the
water
and
wastewater
providers.
This
funding
b
period
begins
this
month
january
until
whichever
time
the
all
of
the
funds
are
expended,.
N
M
Certainly
that
this
will
be
administered
through
health
and
human
services,
so
so
folks
can
contact
health
and
human
services
for
information
about
how
to
access
the
services.
Eblin.
Also
already
does
our
low-income
heating
assistance
programs,
so
they're
they're.
They
have
worked
with
many
of
the
same
folks,
who
might
be
impacted
by
this
particular
program
program,
but
contacting
health
and
human
services
would
be
the
best
way
to
figure
out
how
to
access
these
services
for
these
dollars.
N
M
N
A
A
F
So,
commissioners,
during
the
briefing
public
health
director,
stacy
saunders,
mentioned
two
dates.
We
could
go
to
the
first
meeting
in
february,
but
we
really
as
a
staff,
would
recommend
that
we
go
to
the
end
of
february
because,
as
you
heard
from
dr
hathaway
and
from
stacey
bill,
we're
now
we're
not
even
seeing
a
peak
get
up
omicron.
So
we
would
like
to
go
a
little
bit
longer
and
give
us
some
time
to
work
through
that.
F
F
A
I'll
just
say
you
know,
I'm
eager
for
this
to
be
done
as
anybody,
I
I
you
know,
I
find
it
all
really
like
it's
not
enjoyable
like
it's
not
pleasant.
Nobody
enjoys
doing
this
right
so,
but
and
I've
you
know,
since
we,
the
policy,
I've
been
hoping
that
the
numbers
would
get
to
a
place
where
we
could
comfortably
feel
responsible
in
letting
it
go,
and
but
I
don't
think
that
we're
we're
not
in
that
moment
right
now.
A
O
I
just
want
to
say
I'm
looking
at
our
metrics
for
folks
who
didn't
see
the
briefing
today
and
I
think
the
650
cases
per
hundred
thousand
population
was
very
sobering
to
see
in
that
red
block,
and
I
very
much
agree.
I'm
ready
for
this
to
be
over
too,
but
looking
at
that
number
was
very
staggering
and
certainly
makes
an
impact
in
my
decision
making
this
evening.
A
I
have,
I
have
personally
known
more
people
in
the
last
two
weeks
who
have
contracted
covet
and
I
think
I
have
known
over
the
last
year
I
mean
it
is
it
is.
It
is
just
very
pervasive.
It's
very
contagious,
so
just
really
urge
people
to
please
please
be
safe
over
the
coming
weeks,
and
hopefully
the
worst
will
be
will
be
beyond
us
fairly
soon.
But
it's
it's
it's
a
risky
time,
commissioner
b
ferrara
I'll
ask
you
to
vote
to
get
us
started
on
the
voting.
B
B
I
I
I
said:
well,
good
news
is
none
of
us
like
it,
but
we
all
know-
and
I
said
you
know-
one
thing
is
chairman
newman
made
a
comment
that
no
matter
what
the
outcome
was-
and
I
know
we
can't
see
the
future-
we've
seen
a
big
spike
here
and
you
know
through
what
I
read
that
you
said
that
no
matter
what
we
would
probably
can
you,
we
will
not
see
the
mask
after
february
4th.
So
now
I'm
going
to
go
back.
Tell
everybody
that's
asking
about
this.
A
Yep,
I
I
think
I
think
what
I
said
was
you
know
if
the
trends
continued
in
the
way
that
were
at
that
point
in
the
past
I
wouldn't
support.
I
would
not
support
continuing
the
mass
mandate
into
february.
I
think
that's
that's
the
comment
that
I
made.
I've
tried.
I
think
I've
been
not
fairly
consistent
on
that,
but
you
know,
but
they
unfortunately
they
haven't.
I
mean
I
think
this
is
this
is
unfortunately
you
know
it's
a
really
major
reversal
of
what
we
had
as
very
good
trends.
B
A
Maybe
I
I
should
not
have
painted
that
potentially
optimistic
scenario,
but
I
think
I
have
been
clear
about
the
the
reasons
I
would
support,
continuing
it
or
or
not
continuing
it.
So
how
do
you
vote
on
it?
Okay,
all
right,
all
right!
Commissioners!
Thank
you.
That's
all
the
items
under
new
business,
we
do
have
a
couple
of
board
appointments.
A
G
L
O
B
P
The
comprehensive
steering
committee
we
had
one
resignation
on
that
position:
we
have
continued
to
advertise
and
the
advertisement
is
ongoing.
We
didn't
end
that
advertisement,
but
just
want
to
let
you
know
that
we've
only
had
one
applicant
to
come
in
application
to
come
in
during
that
time
period.
So
right
now
we're
just
looking
at
one
application
for
that
resignated
position.
P
B
A
I
think
that's
a
good
suggestion
so
we'll,
let's
keep
it
open
between
now
and
our
next
meeting,
and
then
anybody
who
applies
between
now
and
the
next
meeting.
We
would
we
could
interview
the
person
who
applied
and
anybody
else
who
applies
assuming
we
don't
get
50
applications
in
the
next
two
weeks,
which
doesn't.
P
A
A
I
think
that's
a
good
idea,
so
if
anybody
knows
anybody
who
might
be
interested
in
serving
on
this,
we
really
encourage
them
to
reach
out
and
have
them
imply,
submit
an
application
so
that
we
can
go
ahead
and
schedule
interviews
and
and
make
a
decision
on
filling
that
seat.
Okay,
all
right!
Thank
you,
mr
joiner.
Mr
frew
there's
a
need
for
a
closed
session.