County board to honor J.D. Evans
By Steve Herring
Published in News on September 19, 2016 9:53 AM
Wayne County commissioners will be in Mount Olive Tuesday to pay tribute to the late J.D. Evans, who served on the board for 12 years.
A portrait of Evans will be unveiled and dedicated at 2 p.m. in the J.D. Evans Community Room at Steele Memorial Library at 119 W. Main St. in Mount Olive.
Evans, a retired school teacher and administrator, was known for is support of libraries. He helped lead the push to have the new Steele Memorial Library built.
Tuesday's meeting will begin at 8 a.m. with an agenda briefing followed by the formal session at 9 a.m. Both will be held in the commissioners' meeting room on the fourth floor of the Wayne County Courthouse Annex.
Evans, 71, died in December 2012 following a period of declining health.
He was first appointed to the board of commissioners in 2000 to replace Jimmie Ford, who was appointed to a seat in the state House.
Evans taught science and math at the former Carver High School in Mount Olive and was assistant principal at Southern Wayne High before becoming director of the diagnostic center for school administration.
Also while in Mount Olive, commissioners will tour the old Carver High School campus at 612 S. Breazeale Ave.
The town is currently leasing the property, now known as the Carver Cultural Center, from the Wayne County Board of Education for a nominal annual fee.
The town has used grants to help renovate and make improvements at the campus including air conditioning the gym that is used for community events and for the town's Parks and Recreation programs.
It is also a polling location for the Wayne County Board of Elections.
The Carver High School Alumni Association and Friends has its headquarters there.
The nonprofit ADLA also uses a portion of the campus, including the former cafeteria, for its youth-oriented programs and its culinary arts program.
Other programs on the campus include Head Start and the Men of Faith, Integrity and Character.
In other business Tuesday, commissioners will consider the purchase of a 2016 Ford E-450 ambulance for Wayne County EMS. The vehicle was budgeted in the county's 2016-2017 fiscal year.
"The OES department would like to take advantage of excellent pricing by requesting to 'piggyback' the purchase of this additional ambulance as allowed by North Carolina General Statutes 143-129(g)," County Manager George Wood said in a memo to the board. "This provision in the statutes allows state or other political subdivisions of the state (counties and municipalities) to forego the formal bid process on the purchase of any items that have been previously bid out within the past 12 months and where a comparable or more favorable price can be obtained by the unit of government.
"Within the past six months, the county has formally bid and awarded a contract on an ambulance unit of the same specifications requested of this additional unit needed. As such, the OES office is requesting the board of commissioners approve the purchase of the above referenced ambulance under the 'piggyback' procedure in the amount of $133,006.82."
The board also will consider raising the fee for regular copies of documents from 10 cents to 25 cents per page.
Public comments will be taken at 9:15 a.m. Speakers will have four minutes to comment on their topic of choice.
Consent agenda items include: Applications for Disabled Veteran Exclusion; applications for Elderly or Disabled Exclusion; applications for Property Tax Exclusion; applications for Present Use Value; Wayne County ABC Board travel policy; fire service funding agreements for fire departments through October 2017; and budget amendments.