Board to schedule bond hearing
By Steve Herring
Published in News on April 3, 2017 9:57 AM
Wayne County commissioners Tuesday are expected to schedule a public hearing on their plans to borrow $42 million for several projects, including schools and the Maxwell Regional Agricultural and Convention Center.
The board will be asked to set the public hearing for 9:15 a.m. Tuesday, April 18, in their meeting room on the fourth floor of the Wayne County Courthouse Annex.
A public vote is not required for the board's plan to sell limited obligation bonds to finance the projects.
Tuesday's meeting will begin with an 8 a.m. agenda briefing. Commissioners will meet as the Wayne County Board of Equalization and Review at 8:30 a.m.
The formal session will start at 9 a.m. All of the meetings will be held in the commissioners' meeting room.
One of the first orders of business will be for commissioners to recognize Efton Sager.
Sager, a former commissioner and state legislator, has been awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine -- the highest award presented by the state.
The bond includes $20 million for a new Meadow Lane Elementary School, and a wing to house Edgewood Community Developmental School and $12,042,604 for the Maxwell Regional Agricultural and Convention Center.
It also includes:
* $2,615,869 for a sewer line between Grantham Middle School and the county landfill at Dudley.
* $610,000 for an information technology project for the public safety offices fiber optic loop and extension to the Maxwell Regional Agricultural and Convention Center.
* $1.3 million for software for the Sheriff's Office, dispatchers, 911, EMS and the jail.
* $2.22 million for the Canterbury Village street repairs. This will be repaid by residents of the subdivision through a special property tax levy.
* $3.2 million for a new gym and six classrooms at Southern Wayne High School.
* $400,000 to install HVAC systems in three middle school gyms.
Repayment of the bonds over a 20-year period will not require a tax increase.
In other business, commissioners are scheduled to hear presentations from ABC Board Business Manager Mike Myrick and Marl Schillinger of Geosyntec Consultants on behalf of Duke Energy.
Myrick will talk about ABC revenue distributions on the local and state levels.
Schillinger will update commissioners about map revisions at Duke's H.F. Lee plant property.
Also on Tuesday, the board will consider motions to:
* Authorize the Wayne County Development Alliance to begin the necessary studies and cost analysis on Lot I at the Mount Olive Industrial Park for a future pad ready site.
* Adopt a proclamation for Wayne County Recognition Day for National Service.
* Adopt a proclamation for Gardening Month in Wayne County.
* Authorize Wayne County Manager George Wood to negotiate or contract with an architect or engineering consultant to develop a master plan for a public safety training facility on property owned by Wayne Community College.
* Approve renewal, premium rates and plan adjustments for the medical insurance plan.
* Refuse right of first refusal on the old Carver High School in Mount Olive. The school board has discussed plans to surplus the property. The town of Mount Olive has asked for the property and commissioners have told the school they agree with deeding the property to the town.
Consent agenda items include budget amendments; approval of a resolution to Allow Hale Artificier, Inc. to use fireworks on April 29 in the town of Pikeville; approve a request from the North Carolina Department of Transportation to add Stillwater Creek Drive and Stillwater Creek Circle to the state maintained secondary road system.
Public comments will be taken at 9:05 a.m. Speakers will have four minutes to comment on their topic of choice.